Hangin' in there

Here's the next batch of photos from our May trip.
We've been home a while, and the projects continue. This week we're running through yet another paint project (we may as well have the brushes permanently implanted), and addressing our long neglected yard (so Mateo has something other than crab grass to curl his toes in). Meanwhile, we're overseesing a hardwood floor job for his Mamanona - Mateo's Italian grandma (Nona, to him) will be moving in a few blocks away this June, and the house is shaping up quite nicely.

We've had our first bureaucratic delay this month. The Guatemalan social worker's report had just come in when we were in Guatemala city last time. It was the last thing needed to go to 'PGN', the Guatemalan agency which gives final aproval to the adoption. The lawyer had spotted a few errors, and we found a couple more. Some of these were small "dot the 'i', cross the 't' " mistakes but that could be enough to hold things up in the unpredictable PGN. But of course, this means turning the report back over to the social worker for the corrections, and that in itself is a delay. We got word last week that they're still waiting for the corrected report. Not a big delay after all we've waited through, but it's the first. And comes after we got used to seeing surprisingly quick bureaucratic turnarounds.

So now we get to experience the same frustrations we see other parents describing on the Guatemalan discussion groups we read. At least we can see there that we're not alone, and we'll have plenty to talk about with those families down the road when our kids are having playdates...

Still some real photo gems from last trip on the Sony Memory Stick. We'll upload some of them in a few days.

Wow, what a difference one month makes!

We had a fantastic visit with Mateo this Mother's Day in Guatemala City. Sarah got cards from both Matt and Mateo (his in spanish) and roses to celebrate the day, but the real present for both of us was our son. He's learned so much since our last visit. His hand grasps are much less reflex, and more a conscious effort to manipulate an object he sees associates with his grasp. He really knows what he's doing with his hands (usually putting them in his mouth) and left had managed to find right. Speaking of which, the jury's still out, but we might just have a lefty. (already fantasies of Silverton High School's star southpaw quarterback of the class of 2024....)
He's also smiling and laughing more. And he's babbbling and trying out different sounds. He still loves standing, and working his feet when you hold him up, but now he bends himself over and looks down at his feet to see exactly what's happening down there while he's kicking and high-stepping. He really gives the impression of just soaking up information about how his body moves and interacts with the rest of the world, and formulating his evil plans ( getting ready to toddle ahead of his parents into all kinds of mischief, to see what breaks and what doesn't when you drop it, and to join the preschool chorus striving to drown out Father William's homilies.)
And, oh yeah: Dang, he's cute.

More Pictures from Guat

As I type, one of Xela’s afternoon thunderstorms is roaring outside. It seems to have just about passed without taking out any power lines…at least in this part of town. For all I know it’s headed for the main power plant now. I fear greatly for these bytes, but if you’re reading this, they made it through the ether….

We got our monthly report from the Lawyer today and there are new pictures. I like that mischevious smile! We’ll be seeing him in person this time tomorrow, so I’ll just post these ahead of the impending blackout, get my last minute shopping done, and head home to pack….

-Matt

Around town.

Thought I’d toss up a few more images of the city and surrounding area, seeing as how I already saved them to this computer at the Internet café. The street scene is of the Parque Centroamerica in the middle of town. The Municipal palace is the largest building and in the forefront you can see some greek-like columns and structures that are part of a building campaign funded by rich residents in the 20’s who travelled to Europe and decided that Xela needed to get some fancy architecture. The park is the center for just about everything. It´s surrounded by commerce (banks), restaurants and the other lively night-life venues, internet cafes, and a Mercado Central, where souvenirs, sundries, produce and various animal parts can be had. It was here I procured many of the ingredients of my Mom’s famous lasagne, meatballs and red sauce that were a big hit among my Guatemalan family and the international students at the language school.

Shoeshine boys are one of the omnipresent sights in the park and many other places. Xela has a lot of kids who work on the streets, shining shoes, selling things or acting as conductors on the van-shuttles that are an inexpensive cross between a bus and a taxi. These “niños de la calle” have a home to go to at night, but there are also homeless kids. Xela has a fairly active non-profit scene, working for social services, education, land reform, civil rights and on drug and domestic violence issues, doing much more than the government does.

There´s also a shot of the cathedral in Xela (white façade and bell tower on the left side of photo) which is also in the Parque Centroamerica. The façade on the left is just about all that´s left of the original colonial cathedral, which was largely destroyed in the 1976 earthquake. I felt one little tremor here, in the middle of the night. Of course I could find no one else who’d been awake that time to feel it, but matched it up with a 4.2 quake at the same time I found online, about 120km SW and 60 km underground. (God, I´m such a science geek.) To the left you can see the front of the new cathedral.

The more colourful church is in a nearby village and was build about 300 years ago with a façade much like the one on the cathedral, plain plaster and whitewash. Later on the Mayan parishioners in this indigenous village re-painted it in traditional colors. It´s the only one like it in Guatemala.

You also get a shot of a mountain town, where we saw a shrine to San Simon, a Syncretic* Catholic and indigenous Mayan belief. San Simon is an unofficial Saint who combines elements of a historic reputed miracle worker and a Mayan god.

Plus you get another market scene.

In two days, the whole family is reunited in Guatemala City, appropriately for the first Mother’s Day both Sarah and Mateo get to celebrate. Don’t tell Sarah, but Mateo got her something special.

And, Oh yeah, TODAY is Mother´s Day down here. People celebrate by serenading in the streets much like Christmas carollers - except at 5 in the morning, and with firecrackers as accompaniment.

*syn·cre·tism ((sngkr-tzm, sn-) n. Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous.

Getting Around Xela

Ah, the sacrifices we make for our children. Including our ankles. Here are some shots of the streets of Xela, and the curious sidewalks. It seems that every 5 feet of sidewalk was layed at a different time, and for a different purpose. In any block, you can come across a 3 inch high section, a 2-foot high span , a utility cover, no sidewalk, a 50% graded “driveway”(actually a cement ramp designed to drop a car the 2´ from a courtyard to a narrow street. A lot of cars here have rubbed or dented ‘corners’ from trying to make tight turns against cement walls or curbs,) an 8-inch wide sidewalk, a sidewalk partially blocked by a cement utility pole so that the only options, if you’re over 10 years old, are to jam yourself between the pole and the building or swing out into the street – and speaking of which, more often than not, there isn’t enough room to do the “slide sideways past each other” when passing someone, so you usually find yourself yielding to ladyfolk and the venerable by traipsing out into the street, most of the width of which is already required for the (swift) passage of vehicles, and paved with uneven cobblestones of various designs.

So, dancing between ankle-breakers and speeding busses I make my way to class each morning. I was still using a cane and icing my sprained ankle when Sarah and I arrived in Guatemala. But between the roads and the altitude, this town really toughens up the legs. At about a turned ankle every other day, a few outright falls, and two close calls with cars, I´ve managed to drastically improve my reflexes, increase my lung capacity, and keep my ankle somewhere between nearly healed and somewhat gimpy.

After being forced by cars out of the more level streets and into the paths of little old ladies or utility poles on the sidewalks for 3 weeks, it was a pleasure to see the vehicles themselves squeezed. The car above wedged its rearview mirror into the van (each vehicle pressed up against the curb/sidewalk) as it tried to pass. They were still troubleshooting how to get unstuck without damaging each other when I left. Maybe Guatemala should import their cars from Italy. When we traveled there, we couldn´t figure out why all the cars had rear-view mirrors that folded in. Then we drove the curving, narrow roads around the Amalfi peninsula. On streets you mighta sorta felt okay driving a single car past pedestrians, they took full sized tour busses past each other on hairpin turns, with cars parked on either side and motorbikes squeezing through cracks an octopus would have trouble traversing. The first time I was stuck in a tight spot I was sure I could not drive out of, gestures from passers-by reminded me that my rear-view mirror could fold in and provide that last tiny bit of space.

Like Europe, everyplace seems tighter here. Buildings in large cities and small towns are right up against each other. The only thing between those buildings and the other side of the street is sidewalks and pavement, dorrways are narrower and public transport cramped. A couple of the famed chicken busses are shown above. They’re essentially imported school busses. So it´s not the finest comport for a 4-hour trip. Instead, to Xela I took a ‘pullman’ bus – an imported used greyhound (without bathroom). However most people spend the 3$ it takes to go that distance on a chicken bus instead of the $7 I spent. The chicken busses are good for getting around the countryside, and we use them whenever we go on field trips with the school ( as well as pick-ups for the shorter runs.) The name comes from the fact that you´re supposedly as likely to have livestock as a person for your seatmate.

It´s great to be getting familiar with the culture, surroundings, and language that we’ll experience together when we visit as a family. I guess I picked this part to highlight today because of my aching ankle! But all of it is memorable, from the incredible colors of the textiles Mayan women wear, to the kind and open nature of the people to the rockin’ ceviche I just had for lunch.

See you all soon.

-Matt

So here are some shots of the market at ChiChicastenango. It’s about the biggest market around for handicrafts. As you can see, it’s pretty crowded and active. Lots of pressure to buy and lots of bargaining. I was able to get some neat toys ‘n’ things for Mateo that we can put away and give him as he grows. Stuff for the house, gifts. But mostly the scene itself is the attraction. There's an even bigger market in a nearby town called San Francisco. But that’s more for locals, with booths and blankets spread with daily necessities, fields of pigs, goats and cows, strolling salespeople carrying and shouting out the price of everything from sticks of gum to home satellite systems.

As you can see from the bundles the Mayan women are carrying around, textiles like the one I bought in an earlier entry come in an amazing rainbow of colors, and are used to make just about any product the gringos might want ( evidenced by the picture frames you may have seen in our house).
The scraggly guy with the backpack makes my thoughts wander back to my rambling days……….. no, actually, I didn’t look that neat.

-Matt