The Fellowship Disperses - Act II: Life in a Guatemalan Family

Wednesday, July 26th 2006

Now that our readers (do we have any anymore?) have been updated on the developments of our facial hair growth, our laundry situation, and the number of times I have puked so far, I will attempt to describe Guatemala a bit.

Our fellowship has dispersed slightly - so I will update you on my family stay. For the past few days I´ve been living in (what I think is) a middle class, blue collar Guatemalan household. There are approximately eleven of us in the apartment which is about 800 sqft. Price: $35USD for one week room, board - three meals per day. The apartment lies off of one of the smaller streets of the town which is about fifteen feet wide, big enough for one car to squeeze by. At night there is very little lighting (read: quite sketchy) in the streets and I´ve been advised not walk alone after 10pm and certainly not to bring my passport or credit cards with me. Around midnight, there are only a handfull of people milling about town.

Mariela is clearly the head of the household and life revolves around the kitchen. This afternoon for lunch (the big meal of the day) we ate spinach soup, potato pancakes, and more of the dried leftover tomales which we have been eating all week. Soap operas, money (lack of), the Miss Universe competition, and the newest cell phones on the market are key topics of conversation. They are also intrigued with my curly hair. Football is also of great importance and they are still recovering from a month of World Cup - aka, not getting much work done.

There are three children who grew up in the household. Carlos aged 25 works the night shift for Gallo, one of Guatemala´s famous beer companies. Antonio, age 5, is pretty infatuated with numbers and enjoys running around taking pictures of everyone with my digital camera. Ana, age 27, is looking for work. Christian, Alex, and Juanito (early twenties), who also work for the beer company, are also sorta just staying in the house for a few months while they work in Quezaltenago. While seamlessly integrating into the family, I have learned that their home is Guatemala City, and they are just her for a few months of work. Obviously there is some type of revenue being generated by hosting them, but the details of this are unclear. There are a couple grand parents, great aunt type figures who are more silent.

It has been quite cold here - mid to lower 50´s at night - and we have been pretty bundled up around the house. In the morning, I still have to come up with my own toilet paper (not exactly clear what they do) and I have to wait 2 minutes for the light in the bathroom to turn on. After a series of power switches and dials I can activate the in-line water heater for the shower. Once activated, this means that I can either shower with a small trickle of hot water, or with decent pressure of freezing cold water. I opt for trying to assume the pencil position and go for the modest trickle.

Guatemala has finally recovered from 35 years of military rule and the country is slowly getting their feet back on the ground. Their education system is not terrible, but it will take time for the economy to develop more. Guatemala is 50% indigenous Indians and racism is a very big issue here. Indigenous people are consistently denied privileges and opportunities that the Hispanics are.

Trade is also and important topic. Guatemala generally is a footnote in the US economy, but US trade policy and farm subsidies are of the utmost importance to them. They feel that they haven´t had much luck accessing the market, but they try their best and send their best produce and goods abroad, saving the leftovers for themselves. Finally, it is quite clear that Guatemalans hate Mexicans with a passion. It seems that they are treated like second class citizens by the Mexicans. As a result, Guatemalans hate being associated with Mexicans - once again, the Mexico-Guatemala football clashes are the highlights of the year.

Stay tuned for the re-uniting of the fellowship. We have now depleted 2-3rds of our Cipro supply.