Guatemla City

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A long flight...short connections...shorter flights...rubbish American food...yummy sushi...New York skyline sillouetted with dusky pink, linear clouds...

...Guatemala City. Arrived at night to the usual hustle and bustle of airports, people pushing to take your bags...heavy for the Gringo girls! It´s strange arriving at a city at night, no taste of what it´s like, only the smells and lights. Settled or rather flopped into the little single bed twin room with Rosanna, and just as we´re relaxing, a mozy...GRRR...so a few more minutes spent hunting, slapping, cursing, then FINALLY...nod.

Guatemala City is violent. With on average 17 murders everyday, it´s not somewhere to walk around at night. The political instability has heightened in the last few months (against the current president) due to the recent assassination of an anti-corruption lawyer (Rosenburg)...search youtube! There is rife gang-warfare. A law came into action only last year to force motorbikers in the city to wear helmets and no passengers becuase of the amount of drive-bys! This does not seem to be heeded though, still the man, woman and child balancing act, although no where near as agile, skilled or impressive as in Vietnam! The is certainly a difference between the amount of cars over bikes compared with Asia, i.e. mostly cars, few bikes. This is an outocome of the marked difference between the rich and poor. There is no middle-class. The oppressed (indigenous Mayans) and the oppressees.

The city is at fairly high altitiude (900m), so good for our first climb this Friday (up Pacaya). You can see her smoking from the city, a thin spiral of black smoke like a genie´s ponytail. The climate is warm and a little humid, about 26 at midday...but chilly at night (sleepinginhoodyandblankettemperature).

The first day was an acclimatisation and exploration of the city. It´s dusty, westernised, overwhelmed with adverts, polluted, chaotic and no real differentation to any other developing city. You can really see the difference in features between the indigenous Mayans, proud, sturdy faces, with strong broad noses. They look proud and haughty, but when they smile, their faces shatter into friendliness and warmth. We are attracting a lot of attention, but all positive so far! Many people beg at lights and junctions with roses or candyfloss...mainly the cutest kid with a forlorn face, whilst the family sit under a shady tree. Driving around the city is a challenge...few signs, even fewer signals!

The Barrachas are hard to miss...shanty towns built upon unconsolidates ash from past eruptions, on ridicuolously steep topography, literally overhanging deep valleys. Every couple of years an earthquake or hurricane completely obliterates them, only to rebuilt by those lucky to survive, using their dead neighbours´corrugated iron. They are the hub of drug making, with no management, left alone by the government and enforcers.

The Archaelogical museum has the greatest zoomorphilogical Mayan artefacts...but was still tediuous...one ceramic pot and you have seen it all! The models of Tikal were pretty cool though!

Day 2 gave a real insight into the actual working of a FEMA-like organisation. Visited the geological HQ-INSIVUMEH, which houses the out-of-date, second hand from USGSseismometers and seismographs. There are limited scientists, knowledge and funding to fully operate this station, even though all the cities along the volcanic belt are in constant risk. Villager volunteers man the observing stations aorund the volcanoes, not the scientists, so there is frequent problems of mis-interpretations. CONRED is the disater relief center nearby, and this was fascinating. We were greeted with such respect and friendliness. The entire early warning system for Guatemala as well as the entire Latin Americas was demonstrated. The system relies on communication bottom-up, i.e. villages detailing observations of ´their´volcanoes and river systems. There were massive warehouses full of supplies ranging from inflatable dingys and jet-skis to dehydrated salsa. Many of the boxes were bound for Haiti.

In the afternoon we drove pick-up trucks (4 in a convoy) to the countyside, passing volcanoes, fields of corn, maize, dead dogs, adorable grubby tots, cows in the road, patchworked fields, green valleys of terraced farming, JoesphcoatstyleMayanclothes, burning fields and herded cattle, baskets of heavy somethings adorning women´s heads to Mayan ruins. The 3 active volcanoes out of the 29 in Guatemala were clearly visible, two smoking and ominous, blanketed by clouds. There is a speed limit I think here, but not at all heeded-great fun around hair-pin bends, and siding steep ravines (aka ´Romancing the Stone´).

A whole paragraph could be dedicate dothe Chicken Buses...pimped out, mad drivers, people hanging out of windows, yes live chickens, probaby live pigs, multicolured lights, tuned horns etc etc...but just come and see them!

Outside of the city limits, the people are mainly subsistence farmers, working in the fields till well after dark. The chilldren school in the morning, and help their families in the field during the afternoons, hence the education here is appalling. Oh, and they ALL carry machetes, although apparently used more as a tool and deterent...hmmm.

The ruins of C...are peaceful, still and ethereally beautiful. The long afternoon shadows emphasied their mystery, and long beams of dusty sunlight invoked feelings of time warps and lingering souls. Steel is stronger than gold, as the Mayans found out, the history is vast and insightful on how powerful civilisations can easily fall.

Day 3....trip to the Pacaya Volcano...taking SO2 measurements of the enormous ash plume. My first experience in a 4x4 pick-up was driving up ash and scoria slopes up a volcano-sooo much fun! Most people got pretty burnt today...lovely and hot, with a warm breeze, walking around lava flow deposits that cover the landscape, and fill a caldera. You could see the lava spilling over the crater.

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