Masa Critica takes to the streets in Guatemala City May 4, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Biking, Guatemala , add a commentGUATEMALA CITY – Between the black smoke-belching chicken buses and the mass of cars that congest the streets of Central America’s largest capital, it’s hard to imagine a bicycle, much less a mass of them. With one of the highest crime rates in Latin America, it’s not a place I was planning to explore on two wheels.
But there’s safety in numbers, and that’s the idea behind Critical Mass, a bicycling movement launched in 1992 in San Francisco that has now spread to more than 300 countries.
“We don’t block traffic; we are traffic!” is the group’s motto, and as an urban bicyclist confronted with rude, honking or just heedless motorists I’ve enjoyed expressing that sentiment, alone and in mass rides in San Antonio (MS 150), Houston, Texas (Bohemeo’s Bicycle Club) and Guadalajara, Mexico (Al Teatro en Bici and GDL en Bici).
So when I saw on Twitter that Masa Critica Guatemala was planning a ride my first weekend here, I decided to drop them a line to see if they might have a bike to spare.
(more…)
A day of cultura in Guatemala City May 2, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala , 2commentsGUATEMALA CITY – My first day in the city, my couchsurfing host Cristina whisked me off to a day of culture, beginning with the beautiful Popol Vuh and Ixchel museums on the beautiful and modern Francisco Marroquin University and ending with a night of dance at the National Theater and lively conversation in an all-night diner.
I have assignments due and I had planned to stay home and write, saving the museums for Saturday, but Cristina set me straight. These museums, two of the best according to Cristina, are closed on Saturday. And when she offered to accompany me, how could I resist?
(more…)
Surfing the couches in Guatemala City May 1, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Consumer travel, Guatemala , 1 comment so far
Mealtime is a special occasion with Cristina Diaz, here in the beautiful and eclectic home she helped to design.
GUATEMALA CITY – The city sparkled below me like a carpet of diamonds, flung carelessly over the valley and clinging to the surrounding mountains. This is probably as beautiful as Guatemala’s capital city gets, I thought, then scolded myself for the unwelcome thought. I only know the city from reading about it, and from a single pass through to the airport. Hardly enough to judge. I should know by now that you can’t judge a city by the media coverage – look at Mexico City, for example, which I’ve come to love.
And indeed my first night in the Guatemala City has put the lie to the widespread condemnation of Central America’s largest megalopolis. Thanks to Couchsurfing.com, I had friends waiting for me with dinner and directions, maps and guides and ideas for my project. I took a taxi to their beautiful home next to a park in a leafy neighborhood in Zona 2 and received a family welcome.
(more…)
From Guatemala to Missouri: Swallowing the sadness April 13, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala , add a comment
Goodbye, Livingston
GUATEMALA CITY – I greeted the sunrise at the Livingston boat dock with a heavy heart, clambered aboard the lightweight skiff that passes as a ferry and braced myself for the sea-spray-slamming commute to Puerto Barrios, where I would catch the bus to the capital, spend the night in a hostel and grab the first flight home to Missouri.
There in the harsh and sterile environment of a hospital lies my grandfather, the farmer, a man who can’t stand to lie still or be indoors for too long. Weakened to the point of surrender by a string of virulent infections, he asked the doctor yesterday to give him a pill to end it all. Hardy as an old oak tree, he’s weathered many a storm, and this isn’t like him. He’s going home with my parents tonight on hospice care. Two days might be too long, but there’s no help for it. I’m praying to be able to see him once again, but more importantly, for the pain to end.
(more…)
Holy Week Garífuna style: Where Jesus is Black April 4, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala , 4comments
LIVINGSTON, Guatemala – I knew I had finally found the place when I heard the music. Completely unlike the punta drums and reggae blaring from the bars and restaurants a few blocks away, a dramatic instrumental selection drifted through the dusty streets. A crowd had begun to gather around the place they call The Minerva – a small building undistinguishable to my eye from any of the others, except that the door was covered with a white sheet and palm fronds, and guarded by a young boy with a spear in a red robe, white kneesocks and sandals and a red cowboy hat, pinched up into a pointy crest.
Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a grand affair throughout Latin America, with spectacular processions and dramatic reenactments of the Easter story taking over the streets and lasting for days. Here in Livingston, the event is traditionally organized by the Garifuna community, and carried out with an unusual African-Caribbean flair.
(more…)
Loving Livingston, Guatemala April 2, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala , add a commentEmancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
–Redemption Song, Bob Marley
LIVINGSTON, Guatemala — I arrived by boat five days ago to this half Garifuna, half Maya fishing village on the Caribbean. The only way to arrive, in fact, is by boat. 
The 45-minute trip from Punta Gorda was a carnival ride without the safety features, and by the end, we were all soaked with sea spray, clutching each other and exhausted from screaming, so I was in no mood to deal with the hustlers trying to get me to go on their tour or head to their hotel. I strapped on my pack and headed straight up the hill to immigration, past the stalls of Bob Marley T-shirts, Rasta hats and finely embroidered and woven Maya crafts.
Boats, buses and banana plantations March 12, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Belize, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras , add a comment
It’s hard to believe it was just two days ago I awoke at 2:30 a.m., had one last coffee with my new friend Homero (host of a highly recommended casa particular, more info below), and headed for the Havana airport. The trip to Belize would be a long and grueling one – there are no direct flights to Belize from Havana, and I had to pass through Mexico City, then spend the night in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
The contrast could not have been greater. The Cuban landscape is free of commercial clutter; aside from a few billboards proclaiming the values of the revolution, or lamenting the Yanqui bloqueo (embargo) or the imprisonment of the Cuban Five, there is no advertising anywhere. For a Yanqui traveler, it’s at once a shock and a relief to the eye.
From the moment I landed in Honduras, on the other hand, my eyes were assaulted with ads for cell phones, soft drinks, snack foods, cars, and any number of consumible items. Dos Molinas Guest House – also highly recommended if you find yourself in Honduras’ second city, the gateway to Roatan, Copán and many other tourist destinations – is located in a typical dusty Honduran street but just two blocks from the City Mall, a brightly lit megaplaza filled with Guess jeans, StrideRite and PayLess shoes, Starbucks coffee and the like. I thought I had stumbled into a forgotten corner of the Galleria by mistake, with blonde, scantily-clad models around every corner.
(more…)
