Some words about Guatsie
Innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm.
- Graham Greene
And so I wandered safely in to and out of Guatemala. I decided to go there knowing almost nothing about it except its name and (very approximate) geographical location. Jo and Pete were going there, and I thought "why the hell not?"
Thanks to Jo's friend Michael, who was an excellent tour guide, I now know a little bit more. Michael and Jo did a volunteer project together in Costa Rica about 4 years ago, and have kept more or less in touch since then. Jo is working for an Australian tsunami relief group in Indonesia, and Michael is working for an aid organisation in Guatsie. Hence the visit, which Pete and I hitched ourselves on.
Brief history: With the 1996 cease fire, Guatsie came out of a 35 year long civil war/attempted genocide of the indiginous population, orchestrated by the CIA and U.S. Special Forces (something to do "stopping communism" i.e. training fascists to overthrow a democratically elected government because it didn't cooperate with the United Fruit Company). Depending on who you ask, it is or isn't heading back towards civil war. Regardless, it remains a fairly dangerous place, with lots of gang killings, extremely corrupt police, ineffective government and a rise in vigilante "justice".
One of Mike's recent jobs at his aid agency: some time ago, a transvestite prostitute was shot dead by police for some reason. A second prostite witnessed it, the police shot her through the shoulder and the jaw, and left her for dead, but she somehow survived. Being a witness to a crime done by police is pretty dangerous, and there is a high chance she will be killed if she is recognised. Mike's job is just to escort her around as she goes about town, shopping or whatever, since she is less likely to be shot if she is with a westerner (i.e. someone rich and important).
Pretty fricken hard core job, if you ask me! Muchos respect to him.
Before doing aid work, Mike had worked as a tour guide in Guatsie, so he really was a valuable friend to have.
He was also very very gay, which apparently is quite taboo in Guatsie. Hence, on our first night in Guat city we went to the enter-through-a-cage, anonymous gay club I mentioned in a previous post. I think it was Guatsie's entire gay community compressed into one small club. Lots of seedy old men offering suggestive looks and lingering touches from dark corners, I commented on this to Jo and she said "Now you know what its like to be a chick in a club". Fair call.
Anyway, that was Guat City, but there is a huge contrast as you head out into the mountains, mostly inhabited by indiginous people still living rural lives in the Mayan tradition (more or less), completely indifferent to the goings on in the capital. (Except when the military comes and performs their trademarked "scorched earth" massacres, but that hasn't happened much since the 80's.) Out in the mountains people generally seem content, and are very kind.
One advantage of a country known for death squads is that its not very touristy yet. Out on the street in mountain towns there were always local women coming up to us with baskets of stuff to sell, and you assume its gonna be crappy plastic trinkets or some such, but more often than not it was wonderful home-baked banana cake or carrot cake or something like that.
After a few days in the mountains, Pete and Jo headed towards Honduras (where they still are, doing their diving cert) and Mike and I headed back to Guat city, me for my flight out, him to get back to work. Before parting ways, we went to a little pub owned by a friend of his, who told us about an awesome piece of artwork, apparently currently on display in Venice
A few years ago, on a particular day, there was supposed to be a big military parade through the streets of Guat city. Somehow, in the dead of night before the parade, the artist arranged to have tones of coal and ash dumped on one of the streets they were supposed to walk down. So the soldiers had to clean it all up. So, lots of real Guatemalan soldiers in full uniform sweeping up ash from the streets. The artist was waiting for this, and was hiding nearby and took heaps of photos. The photos are then arranged as a collage with the title "scorched earth", representing all the villages the military burnt to the ground in the early 80's massacres.
Quite a courageous project, I think. I've tried in vain to find anything about it on the web, gots to get the name of the artist from Mike.
Anyway, that post turned out bloody long. Hope it was interesting! In other news, my parents were here over the weekend, and we had a lovely time. Full report later. On Friday, Jo (not the Guatemala one, the Spain one) and Jeremy arrive for a few days here, then we head over to Norway for a bit.
- Graham Greene
And so I wandered safely in to and out of Guatemala. I decided to go there knowing almost nothing about it except its name and (very approximate) geographical location. Jo and Pete were going there, and I thought "why the hell not?"
Thanks to Jo's friend Michael, who was an excellent tour guide, I now know a little bit more. Michael and Jo did a volunteer project together in Costa Rica about 4 years ago, and have kept more or less in touch since then. Jo is working for an Australian tsunami relief group in Indonesia, and Michael is working for an aid organisation in Guatsie. Hence the visit, which Pete and I hitched ourselves on.
Brief history: With the 1996 cease fire, Guatsie came out of a 35 year long civil war/attempted genocide of the indiginous population, orchestrated by the CIA and U.S. Special Forces (something to do "stopping communism" i.e. training fascists to overthrow a democratically elected government because it didn't cooperate with the United Fruit Company). Depending on who you ask, it is or isn't heading back towards civil war. Regardless, it remains a fairly dangerous place, with lots of gang killings, extremely corrupt police, ineffective government and a rise in vigilante "justice".
One of Mike's recent jobs at his aid agency: some time ago, a transvestite prostitute was shot dead by police for some reason. A second prostite witnessed it, the police shot her through the shoulder and the jaw, and left her for dead, but she somehow survived. Being a witness to a crime done by police is pretty dangerous, and there is a high chance she will be killed if she is recognised. Mike's job is just to escort her around as she goes about town, shopping or whatever, since she is less likely to be shot if she is with a westerner (i.e. someone rich and important).
Pretty fricken hard core job, if you ask me! Muchos respect to him.
Before doing aid work, Mike had worked as a tour guide in Guatsie, so he really was a valuable friend to have.
He was also very very gay, which apparently is quite taboo in Guatsie. Hence, on our first night in Guat city we went to the enter-through-a-cage, anonymous gay club I mentioned in a previous post. I think it was Guatsie's entire gay community compressed into one small club. Lots of seedy old men offering suggestive looks and lingering touches from dark corners, I commented on this to Jo and she said "Now you know what its like to be a chick in a club". Fair call.
Anyway, that was Guat City, but there is a huge contrast as you head out into the mountains, mostly inhabited by indiginous people still living rural lives in the Mayan tradition (more or less), completely indifferent to the goings on in the capital. (Except when the military comes and performs their trademarked "scorched earth" massacres, but that hasn't happened much since the 80's.) Out in the mountains people generally seem content, and are very kind.
One advantage of a country known for death squads is that its not very touristy yet. Out on the street in mountain towns there were always local women coming up to us with baskets of stuff to sell, and you assume its gonna be crappy plastic trinkets or some such, but more often than not it was wonderful home-baked banana cake or carrot cake or something like that.
After a few days in the mountains, Pete and Jo headed towards Honduras (where they still are, doing their diving cert) and Mike and I headed back to Guat city, me for my flight out, him to get back to work. Before parting ways, we went to a little pub owned by a friend of his, who told us about an awesome piece of artwork, apparently currently on display in Venice
A few years ago, on a particular day, there was supposed to be a big military parade through the streets of Guat city. Somehow, in the dead of night before the parade, the artist arranged to have tones of coal and ash dumped on one of the streets they were supposed to walk down. So the soldiers had to clean it all up. So, lots of real Guatemalan soldiers in full uniform sweeping up ash from the streets. The artist was waiting for this, and was hiding nearby and took heaps of photos. The photos are then arranged as a collage with the title "scorched earth", representing all the villages the military burnt to the ground in the early 80's massacres.
Quite a courageous project, I think. I've tried in vain to find anything about it on the web, gots to get the name of the artist from Mike.
Anyway, that post turned out bloody long. Hope it was interesting! In other news, my parents were here over the weekend, and we had a lovely time. Full report later. On Friday, Jo (not the Guatemala one, the Spain one) and Jeremy arrive for a few days here, then we head over to Norway for a bit.
posted by I-Rock at 11:33 PM
5 Comments:
I KNEW it - i thought he was good looking! Which naturally makes him gay!
Posted before read whole thing - that was very interesting!
Learnt a lot this morning.
Have fun with your pez.
x
What an interesting time! So fantastic to have such a good guide. It really must make all of the difference to how much you are able to get out of the experience. Especially when it is such a culturally alien society, where it is easy if you don't know what is going on to simply wander around looking at trinkets. Hope your friend looks out for himself!
spot on tangles, I think there are different benefits to travelling with a "local" guide on one hand, or arseing it on the other.
Arseing it can be fun if you've got plenty of time to spare, But in this case, with a limited schedule of 4 days, we saw and learnt and experienced way more than we possibly could have by finding our own way.
Also - since I just hitched myself on the trip at the last minute (I booked my flights the day before we went), mike didn't even know I was coming and only booked three beds for the first night in Guat city, meaning I was sharing a bed with Pete (steve's bro, wife-beater wearer).
So, twas quite funny that at the gay club there were three guys in our group, one was gay, the other two slept together that night!
To save costs and increase the love, the whole trip was very love-in oriented, especially for pete: he and I had shared a bed in San Diego the previous night, and for the whole week before that he had shared with either his brother or his sister.
Did Michael and Jo do a project with Youth Challenge Australia in Costa?
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