Graffiti in Guate

Just a short photo-heavy post to show off some of the interesting graffiti I spotted, mostly in Xela:

"All of Guatemala resists and repudiates the murderous mining" -- this one in Guate City, Zone Ten, very near the ridiculously luxurious Oakland Mall.

This phrase is stenciled all over the place in Guatemala.  "Neighborhood organized against delinquency," which is the local term for any sort of crime or gang-related activity. Many of the neighborhoods that house foreign language students are especially prone to display these notices, and I can remember seeing the men at night with ski masks patrolling from their roof tops, looking for 'delinquents' late at night.

And this is a clever reversal of the phrase that has been stenciled several places in Xela; this one near the Maya Cafe, a block off the Central Park.  It says "Delinquents organized against the neighborhood."

Close-up

Another odd stencil that's popped up around Xela; this one across the street from Casa Babylon.

This interesting display is catty-corner to my laundry guy, on the back wall of the post office.

Another shot of the 'mural'

And a panorama shot of the entire thing.... really not sure what's going on, but it's certainly interesting!

Fuentes por bicicleta

When we're sick, our bodies tell us what to do to get better. I woke up yesterday feeling nauseous and slightly dizzy, so naturally my body said "Stay in bed! Watch movies and rest and don't move around too much!"

Unfortunately for my body, I had already made plans to make a bicycle trip to a natural hot spring about 10 miles from Xela. I'd been looking forward to the trip all week, and I saw it as my best opportunity to experience bike riding in Guatemala before I take the plunge and buy a bike in Santa Cruz del Quiché, the town I'll be living in for the next several months. So, tummy growling and without the benefit of an appetite, I decided to try and eat something so I wouldn't have to ride on an empty stomach. I figured bread would be nice and simple (and dry), and I've heard that strong, black coffee can also help with digestive problems (though I've also heard bad things about the caffeine; still, whenever there's conflicting medical advice regarding coffee, I side with the coffee!)

I went to my favorite place in Xela to eat bread: La Vienesa, a somewhat ironically named bakery/cafe that is probably as unpretentious as they come (I doubt there's ever been a true connection to Austria, and anyway chocolate comes from the Maya!). They sell only bread (their distinction is that they add yolks to the batter, which gives their bread a deep yellow color and much more flavor than the other guys) and small cups of coffee or hot chocolate, perfect for dipping the bread into. Normally I come to la Vienesa for the hot chocolate with milk and cinnamon, which is arguably the best in town (and much, much cheaper than the touristy places). Their coffee was far less exciting, but combined with a little bread roll it made for a minimalist breakfast of sorts.

After la Vienesa, I still had an hour to kill before my ride, so I went to my favorite coffee shop (El Cuartito) to order a pot of their "tea for nausea," which is actually a tea made of basil leaves. Who knew you could make tea from basil? It was ok, for herbal tea... mild, not a lot of flavor. It didn't help my nausea much, but I felt I had at least made an effort to treat my symptoms before embarking on a potentially disastrous trip.

The other riders -- two girls from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands -- and I met at the travel agency at 2 pm, where our guides loaded the mountain bikes and helmets (yes! apparently they do sell them here, somewhere!) into a pickup truck. We all hopped in the back and rode toward Almolonga, a bustling K'iche' town just south of Xela that is somewhat famous for its high agricultural output (I've heard that they're considered the breadbasket of Central America because they export a lot of veggies to El Salvador and Honduras). Just before Almolonga, we mounted our bikes and began the easy part of the ride: downhill, into the valley of Almolonga and through the neighboring (and far poorer) community of Zunil (home to the religious icon San Simon, a classic example of the blending and evolution of Catholicism and pre-contact indigenous religion). Although I enjoyed the ease of downhill riding, I knew that every meter of descent would have to be regained in ascent once we began the climb to las Fuentes. The hot springs are located nearly at the top of a short mountain ridge on the southern side of Zunil. We dismounted and walked our bikes up the very steep cobblestone streets of Zunil, and rejoined the paved road that would take us all the way up to the hot springs.

This second half of the trip was painful. Uphill, all the way, with barely any flat or downhill breaks in the terrain. Shortly after we began, I decided to try and eat one of the cherry pie larabars I brought along for the ride -- I knew I'd need some calories to work with, or I'd never make it. I split it with the guide and las chicas holandesas, one of whom gave me half a banana in return. I still had no appetite, but I managed to eat them anyway. We continued along the route and fell into a pattern of me bringing up the rear and meeting the others periodically where they stopped to wait for me and rest. I kept my bike in first gear for the entire climb, and probably single-handedly added half an hour or more to the total trip time. Still, I'm pretty proud that I was able to finish at all. And I can attest that bathing in the hot springs is all the more wonderful when you have to work so hard to reach them!

I neglected to take any photos at the Fuentes (gimme a break, I was relaxing!) but you can see some at their website: http://www.lasfuentesgeorginas.com/ Suffice it to say it is a paradise, and when I waded across the pool to the little trickling water fall that is the source of the hot water, I knew that life is beautiful and humans belong in the world.

Here are some photos I took halfway up the climb, looking down at the farm plots outside Zunil:



The lettuce growing just beside the road was looking healthy (though I had no desire to eat it or any of the other veggie patches we passed; especially the fragrant onions that contributed to my nausea). This lettuce may be coming to a grocer near you:


My co-riders:

New Year's Up North Part 1: The Great Outdoors

In keeping with a new tradition, I flew up to Michigan to spend New Year's Eve with K.  This year, we joined a bunch of friends and family Even Further Up North in the land of the Cherry Republic.  K picked me up at the airport in Chicago, which was little worse off than St Louis in terms of wintry weather.  Then we headed around the bottom of the Lake and up up up -- north toward Traverse City (the finger tips of the Michigan hand map), toward a region that must've been settled by the pioneers who were cast out of the groups that stayed further south. I gave up driving duty as soon as we reached the point where ice has probably covered the highway uninterrupted since mid-August.  Apparently, Northern drivers learn to adapt to the sliding and keep driving anyway.  Bravo, yanks! Personally, I don't even like driving in the rain; I think I'll let K stick to the northern winter driving duty (especially when we're in her car!).



I thought that living in St Louis over the past couple of colder-than-average winters had helped me acclimate to northern climates, but the sheer magnitude of wintry material in this region was unlike anything I've ever imagined.  At one point I looked out the car window at a huge field covered in an infinite array of snow and wondered what it would be like to be dropped off in the middle of it.  I'm not sure I can imagine a more bleak scenario... I'm not a good swimmer, but I think I'd prefer to be dropped off in the middle of an ocean.  At least there would be sharks to give me a quick ending. True, from an aesthetic point of view it's a marvelous thing -- nature seems incredibly still and tranquil when everything's covered in snow, when the trees glisten with ice as if they're coated in glass, and your breath has that winter-fresh thing going on, even if you haven't had a mint in days. And the kid in me still enjoys stomping around in the snow, pulling giant icicles off the overhangs and then tossing them like spears to smash into a tree (I don't think anyone witnessed this primal child-like behavior, thank goodness).  But it's not the sort of outdoors environment that's exactly welcoming in any sense; it's only enjoyable if you've got a pack full of REI gear to keep your bum toasty and your feet dry. I think I'll always be an Autumn person; there's something about September-October (back home, that is; even St Louis is far too cold by October) that beckons you to sit outside and just be. Winter, on the other hand, teaches us to appreciate the cozy indoors (of which I'll write much more in the second part of this blog). There's really nothing like a pot of coffee or hot chocolate after a hike through a frozen forest.

On to the photos...


I took this picture of Lake Michigan (or Superior? help, K?) while being blasted in the face by freezing wind at the top of a hill.  I think it may have been the coldest I've ever been in my life. Despite wearing multiple layers, the wind still chilled me to the bone. The rest of the hike was pretty normal-- I even took off my gloves for most of it because I got sweaty, but then I got cold after Riley and Bailey pretended to be stuck in a snow bank just long enough for me to climb in after them.

This was our mascot for most of the hikes, Erin and Ryan's dog Renley.  There's some magical relationship between dogs and snow; it reminds me of when I was a little kid and I got really excited whenever I woke up and saw snow outside covering everything in a fluffy white blanket of fun.

This is Renley's mommy, Erin. 

K :)

And...smiling! :D

Chilly creek flowing...this was one of those peaceful scenes that makes you forget for a moment that it's really frackin' cold outside.

Ryan, Renley's dad. 

Isn't the trail really clear and easy to see in this photo?

K really liked this view of the trees on the other side of a clearing 

Same shot without zoom... perhaps you had to be there, but it was a very serene moment (despite the presence of a burly hunter guy with his rifle a few hundred meters away. Bah.)

This last one makes me happy :)  Not sure if it's because of K or the coffee ;)

Great news

Just a quick update to share some great news I received earlier this week: I have been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant! This will cover my research expenses and allow me to begin my doctoral research over the next year.
Hurray!

What's important...

...is what's going on back home.

The whirlwind summer

So it's been a while since I posted anything to this blog. I started it my first summer in Guatemala, when I saw myself as primarily a language student / tourist preparing for graduate school. In my previous trips since then, I've either been too busy working on research-related stuff (making contacts, doing interviews, studying K'iche'...), or I felt funny about keeping a journalistic account of what I've been up to. However, I've been told in no uncertain terms by friends and family that I should post *something* online to keep them abreast of my summer activities; if nothing else, to ensure everyone that I'm still alive and well.

Fortunately, pictures speak thousands of words (and are without a doubt more interesting than my rusty English prose), so without further ado, here's a sample of what I've been up to:


Before I even left for Guatemala, I had a whirlwind couple of weeks between St Louis, Mississippi, St Louis again, Chicago, Ohio, and Ann Arbor. I brought Katherine (who grew up in Chicago and then moved even further north) down south to meet my friends and family, and fortunately the experience wasn't too horrifying for her. She had a nice time riding her bike on some of the county roads and state highways around Desoto County, and said the drivers were actually nicer than back home. (Score one for Mississippian hospitality -- on the road, at least) The roads were certainly better maintained than in Michigan. It's a sad irony that the state that brought us automobiles now has some of the worst roadways in the country, due to a combination of harsh winters and falling state revenues. It's no wonder that Katherine's poor car has lost two hubcaps!

After spending a nice, lazy week in Mississippi, we headed back to St Louis so I could pack my bags for the summer. Of course, not everyone was excited about my leaving for 2+ months:

Poor kitty. I'll bring you a present -- maybe one of those hacky sack balls, so you can litter the apartment with its contents.

From St Louis we headed to the suburb of Chicago where Katherine grew up, to visit her family and to ride bikes on Lakeshore Drive during the annual Bike the Ride event (in which I discovered that I *really* like cruiser-style seats). We also had lots of yummy food; I can see where Katherine gets her passion for trying new recipes. Here's a photo of a frittata that Katherine's mom cooked one night:


Cheese is good for you, right? :)

Katherine's cats were also in Chicago, where they stay while she's in the field:

^ Speckle (my favorite of the two) is the attention hog. ^ In fact, his demand for attention knows no bounds. Eating? No problem, he'll just hang out on the island until you acknowledge him. Sleeping? Heck, he'll keep you warm, as long as you pet him:

I also got to paint a mug at Katherine's mom's paint-your-own-pottery studio, which turned out to be something of a masterpiece:


See, Szasz, I haven't forgotten about you.

We also did a bit of sight-seeing in Chicago, and met up with friends who are living in the city (Yo Lester!)

After Chicago, we headed to the hilly Amish countryside of Ohio, where Katherine took part in a 100 kilometer (!!) mountain bike race. We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast in an old farmhouse outside "town":

While Katherine rode, her mom and I spent the day wandering around "town" (there wasn't much to see... for coffee our only option was the McCafe) and then heading to the aid stations along the trail, to wait for Katherine to pass. We caught a picture of her just after the starting line, where the riders get to climb a monstrous hill that even caused some strain for the car:


We found a shady spot under a tree and waited for Katherine to arrive. I prepped my camera for an action shot as she came down the hill.

After waiting... a while... we started to get antsy, and I climbed up the hill to the fields above to see if I could find the trail. As I neared the woods on the far side of the fields, I saw a flash of pink ahead of me in the trees. I snapped this photo in excitement and then sprinted back across the fields to reach the bottom of the hill before Katherine emerged, so I could get my "action shot." However, in retrospect, this is my favorite photo from the day:


Once I reached the bottom of the hill, I snapped photos as Katherine made her way down:^My "action shot" of Katherine as she rode over a last bump before the aid station ^


Another action shot as Katherine descended a hill near the end of the race:And some photos that Katherine's mom, Gretchen, took:



We brought Katherine a cupcake from a farmer's market / bake sale in town -- some simple sugars to help her keep going.

And finally, at the end of the day, we got to eat: Mongolian barbecue -- rice with meat and veggies. I loaded mine up w/ broccoli and onions.

We rounded out the end of our time in the States by overhauling part of Katherine's yard: installing a pebble path around her garage, building potato boxes, and digging up a new garden in her side yard, where she planted corn, beans, and squash -- the tres hermanas. This meant lots of physical labor and a bit of sunburn, but it looks like it may have paid off: the folks renting Katherine's house for the summer (and maintaining the garden) have sent her some promising photos of the emerging plants. The potatoes are especially impressive (see below).

First, a before shot of the back of the garage, leading toward the garden. This is where the footpath will begin:
Katherine had called earlier in the week and had a dump truck bring huge piles of composted dirt, mulch, and pea gravel, which took up the entire driveway. These tiny mountains taunted me the entire time we were working in the yard.
Load by load (Katherine's brand new wheel barrow got broken in pretty quickly), we [ok, mostly I] dispersed the dirt, mulch, and pea gravel to wherever in the yard it had to go.

And so, ultimately, our labor gave birth to this:

Nice and orderly, eh? Here's another view from the front:
In the garden, you can see the little greenhouse frames that Katherine built last year. Very high-tech little garden!

But wait, there's more!

After spending more than one full day trying to till up the side yard with a plain old shovel and pitch fork, we eventually decided to be sensible and rented a roto-tiller. It took me a while to figure out how to control the beast (I still remember the sensation of trying to hold it back like a charging bull), but in the end it made the job much easier. Hurray for petro-powered agriculture! Sort of. Now that the sod is up, I think Katherine will be able to maintain the garden without having to roto-till again. The maple roots may find yet another way to be a nuisance, however.

In addition to tilling and graveling and mulching... we also built several potato boxes (which involved several hours at home depot, cutting the wood). The idea is to plant potatoes in the bottom layer, and then stack new frames on top as the plants grow -- so you end up with potato skyscrapers, as it were. (This is similar to the stacked tractor tires approach)



Are we done yet??
And now, the finished products. The side garden, with some squash, beans, and corn just starting to sprout up:

And the potato boxes (on another strip of newly-tilled ground), which are overflowing!

Looks like someone's going to be eating a lot of potatoes this fall... :)

And now, just to whet your appetites, here are some photos from Guatemala. I promise to put together another post very soon, with pictures from here as well as London.





^Yes, that's a Subway -- and a Starbucks knock-off chain called the Gypsy Cafe. We spent a few days in the capital, touring museums, and one of the best was the Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena -- the museum of indigenous clothing -- which is located on the campus of the Universidad Francisco Marroquín. Having visited other private universities in Guatemala, I knew there must be a decent food court nearby.

And finally, I'll leave you with one of my favorite ancient Maya artifacts, a stamp housed at the national museum of anthropology:


Chab'ej chik iwonojel!