Primero Dia/ Yom Echad

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I warn you first: Rabbis are trained in the talmud, a series of random digressions with no intended direction ("No direction home" Bob Dylan would say). This blog will sometimes discuss my observations of Guatemala. But don´t get your hopes up.

After sharing a cab from the airport in Gua. City to a dingy little hostel in town at around midnight, I joined my cabmates Eric and Liz for a beer next door (Gallo- more or less the same as budweiser: the crappy, St. louis version, not the tasty Czech version).

So we began by recounting our prior travels, since our 15 minutes in Guatemala didn´t quite yet deserve comment.

OK, one comment: I expected Guatemalans on our plane. Maybe not in full handwoven regalia, but at least the dimuntive stature and dark, mayan features. No go. Lots of latinos blancos and gringos. I think I overestimated the cost of a flight for guatemalans (guatemaltecas en espanol).

Anyhow, Eric and Liz had been through Greece, Egypt, Europe, and liz had been to Costa Rica. I have been to Israel, Denmark, Israel, Canada, Israel, Ukraine and Russia, Turkey and Greece, Israel, all over Europe, and Israel. So naturally we got to talking about... Israel.

Boy, I wish I had more cheery things to say. Having a year full of explosions which calmed down and then turned into 1) the Gaza pullout 2) the election of Hamas 3) the rocket attacks on Sderot 4) the kidnapping of Gilad, has given me a someone dour and sad outlook on the country. Coming to a country laking any significant Jewish popultion is a bit of a challenge, and it feels more isolated when the Jewish community at large feels isolated: a captured soldier, a violent assault, and world opinion slowly turning agaist Israel. No fun.

Next morning I took off with Eric and Liz for the bus station. We got, um, lost. In fact, we pretty much meandered thru most of Zona 1 (hebrew speakers, head out of the gutter, please). We wound up at the bus depot , not the bus station, of buses bound for Antigua.

The buses in Guatemala are very familiar. Remeber the bluebird bus that took you to elementary school? Yes, the very same bus from Kenosha Wisconsin or Hamilton Ontario was driven down here by some poor schmuck to Guatemala, repainted in bright reds, yellows, greens and blues (mostly reds and yellows, I don´t know why) to be your smoking, cramped, uncomfortable ride to a Colonial mountain town.

The shirtless driver gave us a lift, and the bus filled to capacity as we plied the streets of G. City, picking up passengers every few blocks. A "pickup" is when a busker leans from the door yelling "Anitigua! Antigua!" at the top of his lungs and people who stand 5´0" with dark mayan faces pile on. And every so often, a ten year old selling lollipops gets on and off, spitting his sales rap at full speed.

So, its already been colorful and different.

I´ll write more in a bit, but right now I´ve got afternoon class with my teacher Marilee en espanol. So far I´ve done 3 hours and my brain is friend. No hay problema (Ain Baáya).

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Comments

[uncle al]

good blog
nice to see you made the bus. tell me about antigua. are rabbis celebate?

[rebster]

friend
nice to know your mind is friend and not fried... how do you say "shabbat shalom" en espanol? much love and only good.

[Rabbi Berk]

Thank God !
Dear Rabbi Goodman, we are so glad you made it safely to Central America. There was a problem with your grades at the UJ and we need you to come back and redo your course work. Be good, have fun and find holiness everywhere! Good Shabbos!