Perhaps, dear readers, you may feel that I have abandoned you, as I have not written in some days (can you tell I’ve been reading a 19th Century British novel?). But never fear, I come again to the computer to send out into the universe another comment on what I’ve been doing this past week. Which basically consists of hours in the library. Not much to tell, really, except that after a while I start to get sloppy with my notes and realize I need a break so I don’t have to come back the next day and code the same news articles again. But I’ve finally gotten some interviews, or at least the start of some interesting things, so at least I’m making some headway. As of right now I’m sitting in my hotel room (I think the people at the hotel don’t know what to make of me because I haven’t given them a timeline and am just paying by the day…the hotel isn’t busy so that don’t have anyone waiting for the room, I just keep telling them one more day, one more day). Thank god there’s a TV with some movie channels, because that’s all I do at night. I don’t really like to be out by myself after dark, so it’s an hour or three of working on the computer and then a movie or something before bed. Also thank god for wi-fi otherwise I’d be going mad. How did anyone make it through doing fieldwork before technology pulled us out of the Stone Age? (Don’t answer that please)
Every Sunday during Lent in Guatemala there are these religious parades throughout the city, both in the capital and in other places around the country. It’s a pretty incredible thing to see…I’ve never seen anything like it. There are men in purple robes, men in black robes and hoods (slightly resembling the klan except, well, the robes are black), men in black suits and white gloves, and women in black skirts and black lace veils that look like they are in mourning. The men in black suits, or sometimes the men in purple or even the women (in high heels) carry these huge wooden floats, some of which are very old. The floats weigh hundreds (lots of hundreds) of pounds and are carried by thirty or forty people. They sway with the steps of those who carry them, back and forth with each stride, a little like a boat on choppy water. A marching band follows the floats and plays music that I think is particular to the parades. I’m not sure, I’ll have to look up some of the history and post it here. Over all of this lays a heavy layer of smoke from the incense they swing in front of the floats. Even if you don’t see the crowds or hear the music you can find a parade by following your nose.
I went to sit in the big park in front of the cathedral here in Guatemala City (if you remember I’m staying in the historic center, zone 1) on Sunday, but the place had turned in to an open-air market. Those who don’t head out of town for the weekend seem to end up in the city center, I guess. Perhaps it was also because of the parades. There were so many people I couldn’t find a place to sit down (which is pretty amazing considering how big the park is). The park is not what you would think a park would look like. I read in a guide book that this is because they dug much of it up to put in a parking garage underneath the park. On one end lies the cathedral, opposite to that is another small park and the National Library. To the right of the Cathedral is the Presidential Palace, a big green building that no one actually lives in. To the left is a strip of offices and shops. The interview I had today was in an office in one of those buildings…it had a nice view of the palace. There’s a huge fountain in the center of the park, and what seems to be a permanently staged protest by former citizen patrol members who had not been paid for their service during the civil war. Around the park you can find everything from newspapers sellers and food vendors to men claiming to tell your fortune with a cage of parakeets (I have no idea how this works) and fifty kids willing to shine your shoes.
Zone 1 is not considered to be one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, but neither is it one of the most dangerous. You just have to be on the lookout for pickpockets, mostly. I haven’t had any trouble, nor felt unsafe. The sixth avenue (two streets down from where I’m staying) is famous for its black market street vendors. The avenue, know in Spanish as sexta avenida (literally 6th avenue), is lined with make-shift stalls selling clothes, shoes, bags, pirated CDs and DVDs, jewelry, and anything else you could image. It’s an interesting walk, that’s for sure, but worth at least one stroll. I’m glad I took a gander, otherwise I would have never found the local movie theater! The fanciest places to eat are mostly all in zone 10, where the biggest and fanciest hotels are, but there are lots of little comedores that serve $2 and $3 lunches and dinners. What with the $12 hotel and paying not much more than $3 for any meal, it isn’t all that terribly expensive to float along here as long don’t do anything but eat and sleep. Although that’s not a terrible life, I suppose.
Anyway, that’s all for now. I won’t suffer you to have to read much more in one post. So, until later, then…
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