Winter is Coming

After nine consecutive days of rain, it was about time for something beautiful. Maybe nature doesn't really owe it to us, but it's nice to think about it that way. It's nice to call them blessings. I like that. Today we were blessed with a sunset.

I took this photo from the roof of my house. Grandma didn't know. In the heat of the moment I decided that the best way to avoid a scene was to not create one. So there I was, clambering up the door, camera in one hand, tripod in the other. But then here she came, wandering back to the pila with my white white T-shirts, calling my name, looking everywhere but up. I was caught. "Why didn't you ask me?" she said, formally. I stuttered. Later she called me a cat. "We use brooms for the cats," she said.

There's a grandpa, engineer, retired, and a daughter, and granddaughter. He likes to talk the news. She tells stories a lot. Granddaughter's in Miami, Disneyland, trying to escape the rain I'm sure.

Which is still the main subject of late. Nine days of rain and the Earth dissolves. This happened the other day, terrible. A lot of people without homes, especially the poor that have no other option but to build their homes next to rivers and vulnerable ravines. All of our partners seem to be ok. Fortunately, the rain seems to be moving out, finally.

However, the infrastructure's a mess. There are dozens of blocked roads throughout the country, unlikely to open for weeks or even months due mostly to a lack of funding for public works. The government is currently soliciting for foreign aid.

In other news, I stayed over at my friend's family's house the other night. Grandma called. She said turn to channel 7 the presidential debate is on. So we watched all this go down. In the beginning, the moderator clearly explained all the rules. So when one of the candidates, Manuel Baldizon, whipped out a piece of paper that supposedly proved the presence of some contradictory view of his opponent, all hell broke loose. It ended in an obviously forced commercial break after which the sponsor of the debate appeared in order to clarify that no candidate was allowed to present any outside source at any time, and that they reserved the right to remove either of the candidates if they violated any of these rules.

What was so horrendous was the lawlessness with which it all went down- the empty threats of the sponsor which lost more and more credibility as the law-breaking continued throughout the night. It seems to me that there are two fundamental problems: A. a man who wants to be president has no problem breaking his own country's law on national television in order to get elected, and B. the present authorities don't seem to have the necessary gusto to carry out the forpromised consequences.

It's a broader reflection of this law-is-optional sentiment here. If a particular law doesn't fit my means, I'll bypass it in the name of pursuing a utilitarian public interest. And nothing happens to me. Guatemala is a country of impunity. There's not a lot of consequences for breaking the law. There's not even a high risk you'll get caught.

So nothing works, and nothing is binding. It all comes down to the same deep-rooted mistrust; for a government to function, there has to be trust. But the government can never betray the trust of the people, otherwise all is lost. The people will not respect the government, at which point ceases to function.

On a lighter note, I successfully jailbroke my iPhone today. Rather, the store down the street did it for Q300. I simultaneously discovered just how wide and deep is the community of jailbreaking iPhone-using geeks of all nationalities. App-hacking truly unites people of all creeds. Let me tell you, it's been totally worth it. I had no idea this would happen, but the GPS works, complete with it's appropriate set of surprisingly accurate Google Maps. I can type in the longitude/latitude coordinates of any coffee Finca in the country and get directions (by car or bus). Moroever, I'll never be lost. Yes, it's true, in this case, I'm comforted by the wonderfully innovative technology and design of my mother country. There's still nothing like it anywhere else in the world.

City Mouse, Country Mouse

It's a good time now for me to reflect on my time here in Guatemala City. Classes ended this week, and I find myself inside another microcosm of change.

Sometimes I like to think about it in terms of circumstances. This week, I found myself in a car with three other people driving to El Salvador in the pouring rain. We found ourselves 15 minutes from the border when a bridge caved in and we had to turn around. The next day I found myself back in the capital, sin further plans to go to Santiago, sitting in a cafe. I was reading about the torrential rains while watching the rain. I have found myself with wet shoes alot, and wet feet and wet socks. And wet laundry that doesn't dry.

My friend Maria found herself in a new home with a new family in El Salvador. She found herself in a new city with new brothers and sisters, and a new job too. But she found herself without her Guatemalan family, and I found myself suddenly somehow within it. I hope she's doing well.

So I found myself without an English-speaking companion, thinking about the ironies of mastering a language. I was thinking about that while I was talking in Spanish, so it was then that I realized that words were coming out of my mouth. It happened while I was walking down the street talking to a friend. I didn't know who I was, but only for a split second. I think our identities have to be able to encompass that. It's a kind of forced growth- being able to say that all these things happened to me, that I met and talked to all these people and saw all these places. When are you gonna do it? When are you gonna meet people you're not gonna meet? It's a travelogue. And in some sense I had to do it. I had to meet them, in that moment, and talk to them, and eat with them. But in an another life I didn't have to, so I didn't. But it's like another variety of religious experience, and, strangely, people covet it, most likely because they're never gonna meet people they're never gonna meet.

I went to a birthday party and talked with a lot of people. I went to the mall to try and liberate my iphone. For the first time, I wasn't scared to talk to them. But, for some reason, I have this horrible fear that I'm going to forget how to speak English.

Currently, the plan is to leave for Santiago Wednesday, at which point I will finally settle in to the place in which I will live for the next 10 months. I won't be forgetting these days here in the city, though, for a long time.

It's strange thinking about what happens when you meet a goal.