Heading off for the heat


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Published: November 25th 2006
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jumpin the firejumpin the firejumpin the fire

I hung out with these kids a bit, being nimble and quick, jumping over the huge fire! This was in Gwyn's town.
Well, at this point, I hardly know what to say. It´s been so long, and I´m so far behind in writing that it´s almost funny. it´s been 3 months already and it feels like it was nothing. First, I want to thank Tess for everything she has done for me, and for making my trip aggreable and enjoyable thus far, and my life. We have gone separate ways now. But thank you Tess for everything! I hope you are doing well.

now I have made it as far as Coban. Getting close to tikal. The trip is much slower than I imagined, I mean taking longer! I´ve been in Guatemala a month already.

One thing you probably don´t know about guatemala is that it´s cold in the high country. Lately I have been nearly freezing to death. So I invested in a nautica pullover that cost 5 dollars. I had to. I got it in Guatemala city, otherwise I would have frozen I´m sure.

From antigua, which was where Tess and I parted, I went to see an old friend and neighbor, Gwyn. As Gwyn says, when his kids were young, there was a band of kids that
.me n gwyn.me n gwyn.me n gwyn

we just pretty randomly met up. Hey it worked! Gwyn was real close, so I stopped by to see the operation. What a cool time!
corrupted his children, and I was the leader! But Ned and Cai turned out OK despite my bad influence, thank goodness. Anyway, Gwyn was working at Maya Pedal, a store that had been selling bikes some years, but is now working on nifty bike machines that can grind corn and take it off the stalks, and such. Others they have are a clothes washer, a blender, all kinds of neat things. I was waiting for Gwyn in San Carlos Itzapa. I just showed up there, and Gwyn said he would be there afternoon. I waited around a bit by the fountain, figuring I might just bump into gwyn. Suddenly, there he was walking right up. I just stood there and waited. Then he saw me. ¨Another gringo.¨He thought. Then he recognized me--it was...me! So we had a lot of fun there. There are a lot of great people there, it´s a good opportunity for volunteers. And it is not a tourist destination at all. Coming from Antigua, it was a nice change, muy tranquillo, and really just people living the life of guatemala.

There was a family there that was not well to do, with 6 children. I played
.Guatemala city, main plaza.Guatemala city, main plaza.Guatemala city, main plaza

Thank goodness you can still get fresh goatmilk here. I´m not joking, that´s really what was happening!
with them a lot, or I should say they did most of the work! The older boy got this push thing, I don´t know it´s name. But he had me sit in it over and over, and he pushed me down the hill. It had wheels, but I´m heavy, and he was really small. I kept saying, your turn, you go, or your brother, but he´d just say, you you you! I don´t know how many times he pushed me down. I would usually push him up the hill. Finally, I was the one who got tired. Also, sometimes he pushed me down with his little brother sitting on my lap in addition! Man that kid was strong. Same day after that, he and his brother ran along with us to get the laundry, and it was really far. These kids were indestructable! Later, I saw them at a bonfire with other kids jumping over the fire. I jumped over it a few times too, and got some cool pics.

It was great to see Gwyn, and to see how much the people there appreciate the work he is doing for Maya Pedal. Carlos was so grateful, it was
.GUatemal city.GUatemal city.GUatemal city

sure it´s dangerous, but there are also plenty of nice people! Here are the master of marimba playing me an awesome tune! And on the side are the books the gave me, and signed them! I felt really thankful to meet them. They were so helpful and friendly.
really touching! Also it was humbling to see the volunteer conditions. I thought I was a spartan and liked frugality! But the life they live there is very simple and good, Gwyn likes to live as the locals do, and he had a few things to teach me about it. We spent some time pondering the connectedness of all mankind, from arizona to Wales. The requirements of life bring some interesting parallelisms.

After that, I decided I had to go to Guatemala city. I had heard to many bad things about it to not go. I heard it´s dirty, deadly, dangerous, all kinds of good things. It was. I liked it a lot. Aside from all the bad things, there were good things. I met some really nice people. I got there in the afternoon, walked around, looking at the madness, the business. THere were tons of people. I took a walk until dark, then got myself back to the hotel. THat night was so cold, and I only had a small blanket which I folded over for maximum warmth. Also I had on all my new clothes. And I barely survived. In fact, there have been 5 deaths
.thanksgiving anyone?.thanksgiving anyone?.thanksgiving anyone?

Day after TG, you can get you a fat turkey! I had pasta for TG. In the market, you get the real thing.
from cold here recently, the people aren´t accustomed, and it´s been chilly! THe next day I walked around the city. I was eating a mandarine in a nice place, and this lady came by eating an orange. Hablas Espanol? She asked. Yes I said. We think the same, she said. Later she came back, and gave me a nice tour of the theater. We talked to different guards, one of whom caught me climbing a tower I shouldn´t have, but he became our friend. Then the lady took me to the art school. There we saw a room full of marimbas, which originated in guatemala, it is thought. We went in there, and the people there were great, absolutely such nice, informative, helpful people. Very gracious. It turned out they were the marimba masters of guatemala. They had about ten really nice marimbas, which they told me to feel free to play. They were working on a book about marimba playing theory, technique, everything, to teach people about it. That´s what they were all there for. I was pretty blown away, and I got to hear them play. Then they brought out these two music books for me, traditional marimba
coban, jam bamboo hostelcoban, jam bamboo hostelcoban, jam bamboo hostel

a new hostel opens and I´m the first guest. This hostel is awesome, in coban. we had some great jams, and two good parties to warm the place up.
music of guatemala, which I will be albe to play on piano. They also gave me a cd of their performances. They play in all these different countries. So, talking to them (all in spanish of course) really made my day.

The next day I decided I needed to get out of Guate. I couldn´t take the cold any more, and needed to head for warm weather (but coban is still really cold! so tomorrow I´m off again. This time I hope finally, some calor, no?) But first I wanted to see the palace, they had a free tour. I got there for the 9 oclock tour, but it didn´t start till 930. I waited, because I was there the day before, and already missed two tours. I was getting pretty fed up. Finally, 930 came, and I had a nice tourguide to myself. She was from guate, and told me a lot about the history of the palace in spanish, some of which I understood. What is really striking is the debauchery of the government, that they can spend a few million on this palace, while there are all kinds of poor people.

Anyhow, then I made it to Coban.

As soon as I stepped off the bus, I was walking along side of this guy wearing some cool african clothing. He asked where I´m from, and we started talking. He told me he was just opening an hostel and a restaurant, and so I went with him and checked it out. It was thanksgiving day! We went to the hostel, and I hung out for a while, playing guitar with his friend Gorge. There were some nice people there. Gilberto was from italy, and together, he and Gorge, and Sadie were opening the Hostel. Last night they had a good party with free pizza, music, jamming. It was the inaugaration. So that was good fun. And Gilberto is a good cook, so for thanksgiving, we had a pasta meal, and it was tasty! The pizza last night was even better. And we made a ruckus of music.


So that´s more or less there I am now, I think. Tonight there is another party there, and I´m going to stay at the new hostel. I´ve just been taking it easy the last few days. It was such a great change to come here from Guate, it´s relaxed here. Walking among the bustle of the market, it was actually really quiet and I could breathe deep. I needed time to relax, as the last few weeks have been really crazy. So...

I didn´t even get to write about my jams on Lago Atitlan yet did I? Well, first I had a great one in San Pedro. It was up on a hotel...or did I write about those. Maybe.
No, I didn´t.

So, in san pedro, I went to this hotel and they had a jam session there. I brought my guitar, but they even had a piano. So some great jams followed. Later I saw the guy from canada who brought me there, and he said I stole the show, but it was a good thing. So, oh well.

Then, back in pana, we were ate at the uruguay restaurant (i´m sure you know the one) and I brought my guitar. They had an awesome guitarist there. He was from argentina, and he was busting out some sweet classical style guitar. When we finished dinner, we talked to him. He was taking a break. He said to me, play something. I was hesitant, didn´t know what to play. He said, what else are you gunna do, walk the street. It was great how welcoming he was. He was a tough act to follow, but I started playing around. His guitar was amplified and everything, and it was a full house of maybe 30 or 40 people. I´m not used to performing with guitar, but I started getting comfortable. Finally, I sang a few songs, including, Ï thought you knew¨By my brother. The people even clapped when I finished! It was funny. Then the Argentinian, Andres, came back, and we jammed together. We did one where I did some improv singing. But we had some great jams, lots of fun. He was awesome, so I just played some rhythm. He had been travelling for 3 years in latin america, or something like that...
It was great.

Anyway, I guess that´s enough for now. Man it´s been a while!

Until later,
Colin


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