Days 17-19 June 8-10
Part 2




After the seminar, we had to take pictures. From left to right: Vinicio (Roberto's classmate), Roberto, Janine (Mauricio's sweetheart), Madjid, Mauricio, and myself.

What friendly and pleasant folk, these chapines! Janine asked us what we thought of Guatemalan women. I had a quick answer, to which Madjid wholeheartedly agreed: "Definitely among the world's prettiest and most charming!" "Son de las más hermosas e amables.."

"If you stay a little longer in this country," Roberto warned, "you'll end up bringing wives as souvenirs back to the States."




And after the pictures, dinner at the Rodeo steakhouse. This was Madjid's night of celebration and carnivorous release. The monster steak I had here must have been at least a 20-ouncer. And this after the failure to buy a single chicken in Sacapulas market!

I preferred something much lighter, but Lucio (the "white man" at left), one of Roberto's affluent buddies at del Valle, had appointed himself tour guide for the evening. He insisted on pampering us with nothing less than the juiciest steak and disco action Guatemala City had to offer. After all, were we not important guests ;-) coming from the rich and powerful El Norte?

Lucio expressed surprise when he heard about the places we had visited, in particular, the rural highlands. "My, but you've seen more of Guatemala in two weeks than I have in more than twenty years here!" Evidently, he had not ventured far from the glitzy avenues of the Zona Rosa. Sacapulas was as alien to him as the moon. I was amused by the disbelief in his face when he heard of our failed chicken hunt. Early on, I had realized that there were many Guatemalas, but the extent of their mutual isolation was for me a constant source of wonder.

The extreme contrast between opulence and abject poverty in Guatemala is surely a product of its turbulent history. Some 400 years ago, the Spanish conquered the mostly disunited Maya tribes of this country. Since then, observed a student I met in the capital, Guatemalan history has been largely that of a white settler state trying (with the military backing of several White House administrations) to impose its will on the indigenous majority. The Americans, he added, had been more efficient in dealing with their "Indian problem". (They had implemented a quick and effective solution: genocide.)

The five hours of lecturing, our bathroom's humidity, and, I suspect, the cholesterol-rich meal (when I had already gotten used to beans and tortillas) soon made me pretty sick. I had to miss the tour of the discotheques, and was in bed by 9 PM.

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Into Guatemala 1989. © 1999 J. L. Pe