--Panajachel, Lake Aititlan--
Hi all, I arrived by bus in Panajachel on the shores of lake Aititlan this morning. I seem to have found all those tacky tee-shirts that were missing from Antigua. I'm not sure I like Panajachel much - actually I know I don't - it reminds me of all the horribly tourist destroyed towns I've been to in Thailand. The poverty is much worse though and I'm completely sick of snobby "I'm so good for coming here I should get a medal, in fact by sitting in this cafe discussing the problems with the international development community - by which I mean the US Peace Corps, cos that's the only develpment group I, as an American have ever heard of, and no I don't think the fact that the the same country funding the peace corps work with war victims etc was the country that funded the war to begin with is at all ironic - I am single-handedly defeating poverty in the time it takes to drink my beer and shoo away 3 children selling bracelets", standoffish American 20 somethings.
And wow that was a long rant wasn't it? To tell the truth I think I'm experiencing a bit of culture shock. It'll die down in time. I don't think I'll stay here long.
Guatemala's a hard place to travel in. There's no shortage of other travellers but its very hard to meet them, (see above re majority of travellers' attitudes), there's lots to see and do but its hard to get anywhere. Without much more Spanish than I have the public buses are difficult and although there's lots of tourist shuttles, I'm not sure how safe they are. Have heard they can be a target for bandits and I don't really want all my stuff stolen, insurance or not.
The language thing is really interesting. Every traveller here speaks some spanish - most of them, since most of them are American and Americans learn it at school - speak it almost fluently at least for travel purposes. On the other side, very few Guatemalans, even those involved in the tourist industry (like the people running my guesthouse) speak any English at all. There is thus a real need to know Spanish. This is, of course, a bit difficult for me (although I'm getting there, I can now understand "The entrance fee is 30 quetzales unless you have a student card in which case it will be 15" although I couldn't possibly say that myself.) But it's a welcome change from traveling in Asia. Before I came here I'd tell Canadians where I was going and the first thing they'd ask is if I could speak spanish and then look variously pitious, dismayed or disapproving when I said I didn't. No one has ever asked me if I can speak Thai when I tell them about a Thailand trip.
Anyway I'm rambling a bit. One thing I'm finding really fascinating is the indigenous Mayan culture that has remained so strong around here. The majority of the people are Mayan (as opposed to Latino) and most where traditional costume - including a number of men. The costume - especially the huipil (skirt) reminds me alot of south-east asian costume, but then skirts made of a single rectangualar piece of fabric are pretty common everywhere.
I'm on the look out for a 'small box thing with a lid' for mum's trinket table, but Guatmala is really more of a textile place than a box place. Thankyou to Anne and Jen for writing me emails. It means a lot to me to get them, especially now when I can't speak to you on the phone and it's easy to get lonely. To the rest of you who are reading this blog (and I know you are, that's what that counter at the bottom is for) *please* write me a comment or send me an email (rjsha1@student.monash.edu.au). Especially if your last name matches mine (and get mum to write me a letter and get Melva to type it in). It's really not that difficult and it really helps me. So grr! Do it. It's so sad to log on finally after a few days and not have a single comment.
So that's my pep-talk out of the way. Will write more about my experiences soonish. We'll see.
In traveling fun - bec
And wow that was a long rant wasn't it? To tell the truth I think I'm experiencing a bit of culture shock. It'll die down in time. I don't think I'll stay here long.
Guatemala's a hard place to travel in. There's no shortage of other travellers but its very hard to meet them, (see above re majority of travellers' attitudes), there's lots to see and do but its hard to get anywhere. Without much more Spanish than I have the public buses are difficult and although there's lots of tourist shuttles, I'm not sure how safe they are. Have heard they can be a target for bandits and I don't really want all my stuff stolen, insurance or not.
The language thing is really interesting. Every traveller here speaks some spanish - most of them, since most of them are American and Americans learn it at school - speak it almost fluently at least for travel purposes. On the other side, very few Guatemalans, even those involved in the tourist industry (like the people running my guesthouse) speak any English at all. There is thus a real need to know Spanish. This is, of course, a bit difficult for me (although I'm getting there, I can now understand "The entrance fee is 30 quetzales unless you have a student card in which case it will be 15" although I couldn't possibly say that myself.) But it's a welcome change from traveling in Asia. Before I came here I'd tell Canadians where I was going and the first thing they'd ask is if I could speak spanish and then look variously pitious, dismayed or disapproving when I said I didn't. No one has ever asked me if I can speak Thai when I tell them about a Thailand trip.
Anyway I'm rambling a bit. One thing I'm finding really fascinating is the indigenous Mayan culture that has remained so strong around here. The majority of the people are Mayan (as opposed to Latino) and most where traditional costume - including a number of men. The costume - especially the huipil (skirt) reminds me alot of south-east asian costume, but then skirts made of a single rectangualar piece of fabric are pretty common everywhere.
I'm on the look out for a 'small box thing with a lid' for mum's trinket table, but Guatmala is really more of a textile place than a box place. Thankyou to Anne and Jen for writing me emails. It means a lot to me to get them, especially now when I can't speak to you on the phone and it's easy to get lonely. To the rest of you who are reading this blog (and I know you are, that's what that counter at the bottom is for) *please* write me a comment or send me an email (rjsha1@student.monash.edu.au). Especially if your last name matches mine (and get mum to write me a letter and get Melva to type it in). It's really not that difficult and it really helps me. So grr! Do it. It's so sad to log on finally after a few days and not have a single comment.
So that's my pep-talk out of the way. Will write more about my experiences soonish. We'll see.
In traveling fun - bec
posted by becsh at 7:33 pm
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