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Published: July 10th 2006
Yesterday I was surveyed by an anthropology student from the University of Albany (and no, thats not a euphamism, although she was cute) about why I came to Guatemala, which, incidentally, was the number one question my friends asked me when I came here. Among the multiple choice answers was:
a) to purchase native crafts
b) to enjoy the natural splendor
c) because of the history and archaeological findings
d) to learn spanish.
I have to tell you, it ain´t any of those. I mean, I´ve always been attracted to Central America. Something about small countries with turbulent pasts just seems to interest me. What´s all the fussin´and a fightin´about? But theres also the culture, which is really different than ours and yet, because I grew up in LA, very familiar.
But really, I´m here because beer costs $1.80 a bottle at the bar. In Antigua. In a less touristy city, it's a buck. Lately I´ve been having allergy problems, so I hit the farmacia and bought an otherwise prescription only med, zyrtec, for about 1/3 what it costs in the US (ps- if anyone wants me to bring back an s-load of Viagra or some other prescription, lemmee know: I´ll be discrete, Arye).
Anyhoo. The last couple days have been muy chillero. Shabbos I walked around and got through 8 pages of Masechet Peah, which, for the uninitiated talmud folk amongst you, is a ton. Its really been fascinating. My favorite question is very relevant to life here in Guatemala. In Exodus it is written "Zeh eli, v'an-vey-hu", "This is my God and to God I will glorify". So the rabbis ask, ¿what does that mean? Rebbi Yishmoel says through Mitzvot, what has become 'hidur mitzvah', spending extra dough on a nice kiddush cup or shofar or expensive tefillin. But Aba Shaul says 'To be like God, just as God is merciful and comforting, so too must you be merciful and comforting' through gimilut chasidim (kind acts) and tzedakah (justice and charity).
That feels like life's great question: take care of others or take care of yourself. Granted, I'm here as a self serving tourist, but I'd like to think that seeing how people live with less is a part of a lesson in mussar (self-discipline) as well. Take my host family, the Mendez'es. They have 3 sons, 16, 21 and 25, who all live at home. They have a tv and cable and a computer, but no cars or expensive clothes. They conserve their electricity and water judiciously.
Funny aside: the night before my ascent of Volcano Pacaya I made some cheese sandwiches and put them in the fridge, noticing for the second time that the fridge was, basically, bare, except for some mayo and three eggs. The next morning when I went to get my sandwiches out, the inside of the fridge was room temp. I guess to save they leave it unplugged. My grandma saves dough by not using the AC, maybe I can introduce this 'unplugging the fridge at night' concept to save her even more...
The Mendezes are decidedly middle class in guatemala, but in the States they'd be on the poor side. Yet they open their home to a total strange (who is paying them) and treat me really well, feeding me three meals a day and housing me and so on. Which is gimilut chasadim of the first order. I gotta say, Guatemala seems to be both a lesson in and an opportunity for gimilut chasadim. Its nice to give the equivalent of a dollar to a beggar on the street and know that it equals three meals.
Sunday I just watched the world cup with some fellas from Guatemala City. One of them, Danilo, was, I must, quite good looking. He had arms like a pro athlete or like tree trunks. However, I didn´t really notice this untill he told me that in addition to being a University student, he was a male stripper. Awesome. He scored digits from a hot girl at the bar during the game. I must say I was much more interested in the game they were playing in flirting wordlessly across the bar than the partido de futbol. Play on, playa. Of course, that night, I spent 3 hours drinking with 4 cute anthro students from Albany, and "You like apples ? I got her number..." Now the student has become the master...
I promise my dispatches will get more action packed when I finish spanish school on Wednesday. Until then, I can only kvetch about the lack of hot water in the showers and regal with stories of cute backpacker chicks I buy beers for. Hope that´ll suffice. But if you prefer, I'll just give you my perush on the Gemara instead.
ps- Isai is not Isaiah, but rather Jesse, father of David. So one rasha and two royalty. Good enough.
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anonymous
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Mark... male stripper? I think that's the beginning of a Joke... a rabbi and a male stripper walk into a crazy bar in Guatemala..... We miss you up here. HOpe you're having a ton of fun.