Beyond Statistics

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Joseph Stalin said that a single death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic. When people talk about Guatemala’s “civil war” it is usually in statistics—30 years of fighting, some 200,000 killed or missing. (I put “civil war” in quotes because it is a misnomer; it implies two opposing sides more or less equally matched. The guerilla forces never numbered more than 5000 even at the height of the fighting in the early 80s, and that number was divided among four mostly unrelated groups. The government reaction was not so much a fight as genocide.) One of the areas … Continue reading →

City Life

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We’ve spent the last twelve days in the highland city of Quetzaltenango, a name that is a mouthful to say and even harder to spell. It is known more by its original Mayan name, Xelajú, shortened to Xela (SHAY-la). At over 7000 feet, the air is cool at night, and our cardiovascular systems get an extra workout as we walk up and down the hilly cobblestone streets. It is a pretty decent city by Central American standards, but we probably wouldn’t stay long except that my four godchildren live here with their older brother and parents. The kids are all … Continue reading →

New Year’s Day, 2008

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For Faye and I, still in Panajachel, the old year ended with a bang, and the new one is beginning with a whimper. We were going to go on to Quetzaltenango this morning, but Faye woke up with an upset stomach, so we decided to stay put for another day. Nothing serious, just the usual minor intestinal distress that often happens about a week into a trip. It allows us to economize on the food budget for a day or so. Panajachel is a destination for partiers over the holidays, particularly around Christmas and New Year’s. There are plenty of … Continue reading →

Bus,Train, Plane, Taxi…

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We landed in Guatemala on Christmas morning after surfing our way southward by a variety of conveyances–from Ashland to Sacramento by Amtrak bus, Sacramento to Oakland by train, and a short hop to the airport by shuttle. Then the red-eye to Guatemala City with a change of planes in San Salvador, and finally a 45-minute taxi ride to Antigua. By the time we got to Antigua we had been up for more than 24 hours and things felt a bit surreal. We slept for a few hours, got up for meal, slept some more, got up and walked around again–mainly … Continue reading →

It’s beginning to feel a lot like…

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…time to hit the road. Snow has been creeping down the hilltops near home here, I’ve been scraping frost off my windshield and the days are short and gloomy. Definitely time to head south. And time to dust off the blog. The last entry was posted just after returning from my last trip. Not much of interest happened between then and now. We leave a week from today. I’ve been pretty much packed for over a month. Faye is coming with me this year and she is just getting started. We plan to spend a month or so in Guatemala, … Continue reading →