User:Vagrant/Guatemala - Revision history

Vagrant: salida guatemala

2006-07-02T18:41:36Z

salida guatemala

Vagrant: almuerzo y cafta

2006-07-02T18:22:20Z

almuerzo y cafta

Vagrant: casa argentina, lago atitlan, reparo computadora

2006-06-29T20:03:11Z

casa argentina, lago atitlan, reparo computadora

Show changes

Vagrant: formatting

2006-06-29T19:56:45Z

formatting

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Vagrant: linux en español

2006-06-17T18:29:06Z

linux en español

Vagrant: homesick and luces

2006-06-17T18:12:17Z

homesick and luces

Vagrant: history lesson

2006-06-17T17:55:49Z

history lesson

Vagrant: compost in the dark

2006-06-11T17:31:30Z

compost in the dark

Vagrant: BANG

2006-06-11T17:24:46Z

BANG

Vagrant: mountains

2006-06-11T17:18:32Z

mountains

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:41, 2 July 2006
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	these high-mountain rural areas would possibly make up for the loss of local		these high-mountain rural areas would possibly make up for the loss of local
	economies.		economies.
		+
		+	==salida guatemala==
		+
		+	my last full day in xela was full of errands i had put off till nearly the last
		+	minute. it would be inconsistant with nearly every trip in my life otherwise.
		+
		+	so, i woke up, made some "huevos gringos", and put on my fancy chilean wool
		+	suit pants, with my classy debconf6 t-shirt, and took my clothes to the
		+	lavendaria.
		+
		+	then, i went on my dual mission to find fingernail clippers and granola. i
		+	arrived at "El Bake Shop" and read that it wasn't only open two days a week,
		+	and one of those days was not this day. fortunately, signs can be decieving
		+	and someone was actually there and very eagre to sell me everything, though the
		+	shelves were a little sparse- i think they're only open two days a week or
		+	something, "normally". granola achieved. i was tempted to get some queso
		+	fresco, but i had a cold and thought better of it. fingernail clippers were
		+	nowhere to be found, though i didn't really look at that hard, or even attempt
		+	to ask anyone.
		+
		+	i wandered my way back, picked up a pineapple, mango, some bananas and some
		+	avocados. i was a bit sick, still, and felt like pineapple might kick it. so i
		+	made some banana pineapple smoothie sort of thing. i didn't add enough water to
		+	really qualify it as a licuado, i think. it was good, though i think the top
		+	half of the pineapple wasn't as potent as the bottom half.
		+
		+	so, feeling like i had more or less accomplished the most crucial errands, i
		+	figured i'd drop by the school, make use of the intarweb, and say my goodbyes
		+	to folks. that was definitely good, though goodbyes are sometimes a bit
		+	awkward, especially in a foreign language.
		+
		+	back at the hostal, i made a vegetable soup for dinner, largely left over from
		+	the previous day, but i added a few more vegetables and a lot of hot sauce to
		+	try and burn out the cold. it helped some, though i definitely felt a little
		+	dizzy from the spice.
		+
		+	instead of attempting to pack that night, i of course just decided to just go
		+	to sleep and wake up early and pack then. i haven't got much to pack and i know
		+	just how to do it, having been traveling for two months.
		+
		+	i woke up around 6, made some pineapple banana granola for breakfast,
		+	chopped the rest of the pineapple and put it in several layers of plastic
		+	bags, and began packing my backpack. around 7, someone kept ringing the
		+	doorbell to the hostal, and i had a suspicion that my driver showed up a
		+	half-hour early. i kept packing, and when i was nearly ready to go, someone
		+	found me and asked if i was expecting a microbus. sure enough, the guy was
		+	early. i quickly finished up, and off i went. i kept packing, and when i was
		+	nearly ready to go, someone found me and asked if i was expecting a
		+	microbus. sure enough, the guy was early. i quickly finished up, and off i
		+	went, wondering if i'd run into some of the folks from the lake atitlan
		+	hike, as we were planning on heading to san cristobal about the same time.
		+	sure enough, not too much further away, we stopped, and there two of them
		+	were. another short drive, and the fourth person. off we went to cuatro
		+	caminas. where we changed into a much more cramped bus.
		+
		+	many hours of gorgeous guatemalan mountain scenery passed, and i had no idea
		+	if i was recognizing things, or just thinking i was recognizing things. we
		+	stopped for a breif rest, and i peed and got a bag of some guatemalan brand
		+	of potato chips. they were really greasy and not overly salty. we hopped
		+	back in, and eventually got to la mesilla... la fronterra. getting my exit
		+	stamp from guatemala went smoothly.
		+
		+	our connection to mexico was actually there on time this time, or we were
		+	perfectly late. this microbus was definitely more cozy and plush. so i was
		+	back in [[User:Vagrant/Mexico\|mexico]], er... that weird place between the
		+	border and the place where they actually let you into the country.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:22, 2 July 2006
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	seems to be working so far.		seems to be working so far.
		+
		+	==almuerzo y cafta==
		+
		+	so i met up with someone from the extended freegeek family for lunch. she and
		+	her freind were studying spanish as for work in schools back in portland, where
		+	some of the programs have a very high latino population.
		+
		+	we went to the restaurant that was practically part of the hostal i was staying
		+	at, only to find it wasn't quite as vegetarian-freindly as i'd thought. i got a
		+	large fresa pina licuado, and huevos mexicanos (frijoles, huevos con tomate y
		+	tortillas). a good standby, though i had eggs for breakfast. very high protein
		+	day. the licuado was great. also, i seemed to have the best spanish skills of
		+	the three of us, and was feeling highly functional for once, which felt kind of
		+	good.
		+
		+	conversations was multifaceted and varied. life being injected into a
		+	guatemalan family as part of spanish school, school systems, buerocracy,
		+	corrupt and arguably evil governments (domesticly and back home), a bit about
		+	free software (specificly in schools), and surely other things i've already forgotten.
		+
		+	as a bonus, she picked up the check, after the "do we have to ask for the
		+	check?" phase. they pretty much only bring it when you ask. so they rummaged
		+	around for a bit in a guide book, and i just asked, and all was well.
		+
		+	i showed them around the slightly bizzarre casa argentina a bit before they
		+	left, and they invited me to a conference at their school about nafta (well,
		+	actually cafta, but the family resemblance is remarkable).
		+
		+	it was in a part of town i was only slightly familiar with, but i found the
		+	place without trouble, only about a half-hour too early. i thought it was near
		+	"el bake shop" where i'd needed to pick up granola the next day, so i figured
		+	i'd wander around a bit and see if it was open, or at least re-onfirm my idea
		+	of where it was. i wandered around a bunch, got slightly lost and found myself
		+	again, eventually found the bake shop, and then got more lost. and more lost.
		+
		+	and i kept wandering around and around, with this little tourist map of the
		+	area, and after about 45 minutes stumbled upon the school where the conference
		+	was. only about 20 minutes late, and what starts on time?
		+
		+	so i wandered in, waited while some folks had a conversation, they broke off,
		+	and i walked into the conference. it was in spanish, with english translation,
		+	but i found i didn't need the translation too much (though it certainly
		+	reconfirmed a lot of things i was unsure of).
		+
		+	he went into detail of the background of the situation in guatemala- that 60%
		+	of the population is indigenous, another sigificant percentage is mixed
		+	indigenous, and the ruling elite is generally a tiny fraction of the
		+	population, that 70% of the population lives in poverty. and that the
		+	government doesn't really acknowledge these figures(which are often accepted by
		+	international organizations sucha as the UN), always something lower.
		+	otherwise it would have to do something, maybe. he explained how corruption in
		+	government, on many levels, means that what programs are in place often don't
		+	quite make it to the people who need it, especially foreign assistance. the
		+	short of it is people are barely scraping by. it's not an uncommon story.
		+
		+	so, with cafta(central america free trade agreement), central american farmers
		+	who are barely able to make enough money selling their corn at the market will
		+	have to compete with US-subsidized industrial farms, with some of the fanciest
		+	(though arguably short-sighted) technologies available. it's crazy, but it's
		+	actually possible to grow corn in the US, ship it all the way to guatemala, and
		+	still sell it cheaper than the locals. this also does some interesting things
		+	like introducing hybridized or genetically modified strains of corn to a region
		+	that has been developing local strains of corn for thousands of years.
		+
		+	another topic is that generic medicines are commonly used here, even though
		+	sometimes the patents in the US haven't yet expired. cafta would likely require
		+	this to change, which means in many cases tripling the prices of medication.
		+
		+	essentially, cafta would be economic sabotage on an already economically
		+	challenged region. it's highly doubtful that what few jobs could be brought to
		+	these high-mountain rural areas would possibly make up for the loss of local
		+	economies.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:29, 17 June 2006
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	the other night when i went to sleep, i kept seeing a bright flash out of the corner of my eye. a little disturbed that i might be having hallucinations or something, i investigated further and figured out it was a very large firefly that had snuck into my room. it was comforting to me to see it. i remembered a time when i had been in the northwest for several years, and returned to the midwest at the right time, and realized that i had totally forgotten fireflies existed. i was such a wonderful rediscovery, and i felt a bit of that again.		the other night when i went to sleep, i kept seeing a bright flash out of the corner of my eye. a little disturbed that i might be having hallucinations or something, i investigated further and figured out it was a very large firefly that had snuck into my room. it was comforting to me to see it. i remembered a time when i had been in the northwest for several years, and returned to the midwest at the right time, and realized that i had totally forgotten fireflies existed. i was such a wonderful rediscovery, and i felt a bit of that again.
		+
		+	==linux en español==
		+
		+	so, working with my instructor, we convinced (they were pretty willing) the school to let us install linux on the second computer. so now i have at least one mostly working linux environment. por supuesto, i installed debian sarge. unfortunately, it was a little more difficult that i expected. so far, i´ve only gotten X to work at 640x480@16. the network card is some weird model, encore 10/100, that doesn´t work with the standard sundance module in debian sarge (hmmm... maybe i should try a newer kernel from backports.org). there´s some talk about recompiling a module for it from different sources on the intarweb. fortunately, i had a USB ethernet device that i´m currently loaning the school. hopefully i can figure out how to get this card working or find an alternative before i leave.
		+
		+	getting a working linux install is a crucial step towards getting my laptop working again. all i need now is that USB disk caddy for laptop drives that my instructor´s freind has... it´s suffering a little from the mañana syndrome. mañana notwithstanding, i hope i´ll be able to install linux on an extra partition, and then fsck my borked partition.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:12, 17 June 2006
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	to know that this military is US trained and supported is simultaneously no surprise, and repulsive. and i know the situation in guatemala is not unique.		to know that this military is US trained and supported is simultaneously no surprise, and repulsive. and i know the situation in guatemala is not unique.

−	so what to do? what to do....	+	so what to do? what to do...
		+
		+	==homesick==
		+
		+	ok, i´ve been pretty homesick this week. not that i really have a home. but yet, there are people, there are communities, and vegetables in sufficient quantities somewhere out there, and it´s a little difficult for me to really find it here. i mean, i know there are possibilities here, but as much progress as i´ve made on my spanish, it´s still pretty basic.
		+
		+	i both want to stay here longer in the hopes of getting over this phase, but also just want to race back immediately (well, as immediate as bus trips can be, anyways).
		+
		+	i spend a lot of time just lying in bed, thinking about so many things. and my old standby, default behavior when i don´t know what to do with myself, working on free software, isn´t so possible with my computer broken still(which has in many ways, been a good thing).
		+
		+	i´ve been living with a family for two weeks, and i barely know anything about them. it´s also really hard for me, the gender stereotypes- the women cooking, cleaning, everything domestic, and the men presumably going off somewhere to work, and when they come home, they´re expectant... not that they´re cruel or even disrespectful really. personally, i´m not even allowed to wash my own dish or clear the table or help in much of any way. it feels so awkward.
		+
		+	i´ll be staying in a hostel this coming week, just so i can cook for myself and eat vegetables, and maybe be more likely to stumble upon opportunities to get into these beatiful mountains. i´ll only be studying spanish for three days instead of five. depending on funds, i might study at the school for another week.
		+
		+	==luces==
		+
		+	the other night when i went to sleep, i kept seeing a bright flash out of the corner of my eye. a little disturbed that i might be having hallucinations or something, i investigated further and figured out it was a very large firefly that had snuck into my room. it was comforting to me to see it. i remembered a time when i had been in the northwest for several years, and returned to the midwest at the right time, and realized that i had totally forgotten fireflies existed. i was such a wonderful rediscovery, and i felt a bit of that again.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:55, 17 June 2006
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	i´m too tall for these parts.		i´m too tall for these parts.
		+
		+	==history lesson==
		+
		+	Guatemala has some brutal colonial history that still effects them to this day. from the spanish conquistadores, to involvement from the US as early as the 1820s, up through more recent times.
		+
		+	i often get this impression that there is US involvement in nearly every latin american country caught up in internal military strife. it´s part of my ambient shame with being a US citizen. but to know more specifically, to learn about exactly how it has effected individuals, entire communities, countries and ecosystems, it tears me up a bit more.
		+
		+	the following is information i learned from two sources, a movie(in english) about a survivor of one of the 1982 massacres, as well as from a talk (en español) by an ex-combatante involved in in the armed resistance to opression in guatemala. i haven´t verified much of this information with other sources.
		+
		+	as i understand it, during 1945-1955, there was a democratically elected government making wide-sweeping social changes for the health and welfare of it´s people, including novel ideas like giving women voting rights and major land reforms for the agrarian workers. somewhere in the late 50s and early 60s, with the help of a US trained military, this style of government was swiftly turned into a military-dominated government that continued on through the 70s, 80s, 90s, and quite possibly through the present day. it´s not infrequent that i see armed military walking around town on any given day.
		+
		+	in the 1960s up till 1996, there were small groups of poorly armed resistance. their numbers quite possible totaled around 2,000 individuals. in individual conflicts, the numbers were often 4 or more to 1. poorly funded and fed, they walked great distances in through mountainous regions. exactly how or what they accomplished, i unfrotunately couldn´t discern. but they struggled for beliefs for better education, health care, land rights, and other reforms which were largely either turned back, or simply not implemented. they certainly believed in what they were doing.
		+
		+	one of the large examples of oprression, one could even go so far as to call it genocide, was a series of massacres by the military, primarily in rural indigenous mayan villages in and around 1982. an approximate count of the lives directly effected includes 1.5 million displaced from their homes, about 50,000 missing, and 200,000 murdered. the dead were buried in mass graves, and there´s been recent international efforts to unearth these graves as proof in an attempt to hold those involved responsible.
		+
		+	to know that this military is US trained and supported is simultaneously no surprise, and repulsive. and i know the situation in guatemala is not unique.
		+
		+	so what to do? what to do....

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:31, 11 June 2006
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	p.s. i´m finally at a keyboard that´s properly configured. i can figure out how to make an ¨@¨, ¨´¨ and even square brackets. most are us keyboards with latin american mappings, or latin american keyboards with an inappropriate latin american mapping.		p.s. i´m finally at a keyboard that´s properly configured. i can figure out how to make an ¨@¨, ¨´¨ and even square brackets. most are us keyboards with latin american mappings, or latin american keyboards with an inappropriate latin american mapping.
		+
		+	==compost sin luces==
		+
		+	so, not knowing what to do with myself, i finally sat down and wrote a little something about the [[User:Vagrant/Compost\|church of compost]]. contrary to usual practice, i actually made a few revisions. then the lights went out, which i took as a sign that it was done.
		+
		+	i´ve been thinking about the church of compost a lot because i´ve been engaging in so much more than usual sacrilidge. it´s doesn´t cover everything, but it´s a pretty good fundamental premise.

	==comienzo a las moñtanas==		==comienzo a las moñtanas==

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:24, 11 June 2006
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	so this morning i pointed in a direction towards some mountains and started walking. in about a half-hour, i was walking along a mountain pass with little steep-sloped farm plots all over the place. it was beautiful, with sun streaming down, and mountain mists hanging in every nook and cranny. the farms mostly were growing some leafy green looking thing, and of course, corn and possibly potato. i got far enough to see another city in the distance, and then decided to turn around.		so this morning i pointed in a direction towards some mountains and started walking. in about a half-hour, i was walking along a mountain pass with little steep-sloped farm plots all over the place. it was beautiful, with sun streaming down, and mountain mists hanging in every nook and cranny. the farms mostly were growing some leafy green looking thing, and of course, corn and possibly potato. i got far enough to see another city in the distance, and then decided to turn around.
		+
		+	==dolore en mi cabeza==
		+
		+	so, after a nice brunch (platos vegetarianos) in this little place near el parque central, i hopped up the little steps to leave, and BANG, smack my head very hard into a metal roof beam. next thing i knew, i was sitting in a small puddle, and everyone was looking at me. surely it was pretty loud. i took me glasses off, felt for blood (thankfully none), sat for a bit, stood up, tried to say something funny in spanish and failed, and they were still staring at me, so i simple said ¨esta bien¨, and started walking off. it´s a little raw.
		+
		+	i´m too tall for these parts.

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:18, 11 June 2006
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	p.s. i´m finally at a keyboard that´s properly configured. i can figure out how to make an ¨@¨, ¨´¨ and even square brackets. most are us keyboards with latin american mappings, or latin american keyboards with an inappropriate latin american mapping.		p.s. i´m finally at a keyboard that´s properly configured. i can figure out how to make an ¨@¨, ¨´¨ and even square brackets. most are us keyboards with latin american mappings, or latin american keyboards with an inappropriate latin american mapping.
		+
		+	==comienzo a las moñtanas==
		+
		+	so this morning i pointed in a direction towards some mountains and started walking. in about a half-hour, i was walking along a mountain pass with little steep-sloped farm plots all over the place. it was beautiful, with sun streaming down, and mountain mists hanging in every nook and cranny. the farms mostly were growing some leafy green looking thing, and of course, corn and possibly potato. i got far enough to see another city in the distance, and then decided to turn around.