Swaying with Marimba to the New Year

Viernes, 2 de enero 2004

I awoke this morning to see the reflection of palms dancing in the wind. Still beautiful full of possibilities. Today I am going to a Volcanic Lake called Lago Atitlan. It should be interesting. Someone let me know about I really cool fair trade finca (farm) for coffee.

I promised to relate more bit by bit bout what's been happening here so far. To let a little tease out, I was observing elections in Guatemala. One thing that really bothered me is the lack of information between here and the USA. In most of the important papers, headlines ran something like important right-wing business man wins presidency. That's it. No name or anything. You know you are hard pressed when you are president and not even your name comes into the article.

I am reminded more and more each day that there are many truths and not all of them will be exposed, which is why you must speak to many people and find out things. Dig a little bit below the surface.

We met this black Guatemalteco yesterday. There is a lot of them from Livingston on the Caribbean. Apparently, you are considered to be a murderer or something parecido if you are black here. I knew generally speaking people of Hispanic backgrounds have prejudices towards non-whites and do other cultures towards the unknown, however I thought the treatment of that man was a tad bit harsh.

So we were walking around the main square yesterday and it was like a mini Carnival came out to greet us. There were food stands, bands, vendors. The main music in Guatemala is Marimba. The group playing it had a harp, guitar and a huge xylophone with 4 guys playing it. There was a slightly tipsy man swaying back and forth in the centre doing little dancing and we were almost betting when the pins would drop, but he stayed up there, blowing kisses into the wind and shuffling around from time to time.