Once upon a time there was a chap called Bod, who with a bit of luck due to some kind people at work and lots of encouragement from some close friends decided to take some time out from his normal life and go and see a few bits of the world..... The first few months were a bit like an extended holiday, visiting friends here and there, drinking maybe a little too much and generally making merry. It wasnt until he decided to go to Central America for 2 months that his journey started properly. And what a journey it turned out to be.......So here i am at the end of my time in Central America. I'm actually writing this from Belize as due to the hectic nature of my last few days in Antigua i really didnt get a chance to finish of my blog from there (Sabine, Sally and Suzanne, thank you keeping me up til 2.30am on my last night drinking red wine and then letting me go home to pack before my 4am taxi, i felt truely shocking getting here i have to say!!).
I leave with very mixed emotions. Much as i crave many things from my old life (family, friends, places i know far too well, certain types of food that just dont exist in this part of the world.... privacy...) i still feel as if i have unfinished business in this part of the world. A friend of mine who spent far longer in Guatemala than i have said that my time here just wont be enough. Its turns out that she was utterly correct (something that i disputed before i went i have to say...) Never have i met so many cool, genuine people who have become good friends so quickly. I really will miss them an awful lot (maybe not all of them but certainly the majority!) and i know that most will be friends for many years to come. The whole travel thing makes you think about things in a very different way than you do normally, friendships are formed quickly often due to the transient nature of it all (in the house i've been living in i think i've had around 15 differnet housemates in 6 weeks....) and i have certainly found myself re-evaluating what i considered to be the norm before i came away. Things you take completely for granted in the "real" world (and i'm not overly sure what the real world is now....) look completely unreal when you spend some time in a poor country, struggling with huge disparities in wealth, massive amounts of corruption and just a little bit of violence thrown in for good measure.... i know that Guatemala isnt alone in having these problems... but its the only country i've seen it in first hand.
There are many things that i havent had the chance to talk about in the blog.
My new Guatemalan Mum and Dad for instance. Jose and Lucky Morales. You wont meet two kinder, hardworking, forward thinking people anywhere. They open their house to a load of overseas travellers (people studying Spanish or volunteer workers generally) and treat them as their own. Nothing is ever a problem, they laugh and joke all the time, try and make you feel as welcome as they can (some people really struggle being away from home to start with, its ok for an aging sabbatical traveller such as myself, but most people are either straight out of school or straight out of Uni and staying in Guatemala is certainly a wee bit different from doing a bit of inter-railing for the summer....) They organise for a lady to get your laundry, help you speak Spanish at mealtimes (something that i'm hugely grateful for.... my Spanish has improved immensely in the last few weeks, really due to this...) and ultimately make sure youre enjoying yourself with whatever your doing in Antigua. They also have an amazing outlook on life. Many people in Guatemala could do well to take a leaf out of their book, they think the whole macho nature of Latin America is ridiculous - it unfortunately is one of the main reasons that there are such large poor families out here - men dont really believe in birth control and women need to have babies to snare a man... all a bit of a catch 22.... especially as the men here seem to have a few families on the go at one time.... running one family of 10 on virtually no income must be hard, but 2 or 3 families of 10 at the same time.... really... They believe that there should be more done to educate the poor (as i've said before Guatemala has over 50% illiteracy rate) especially where it come to sex education and birth control (i have to point the finger slighty at the Catholic Church at this point aswell.... much as i really dont have any religious views, in this part of the world theyre still a very powerful force which results in people believing what they say unquestioned....another reason for the huge families that people cant afford to keep.... well that and the lack of television in the rural areas!!!) Jose and Lucky both survived the big earthquake here in 1976. 60,000 people were killed (well thats the official estimate, if you talk to the Guatemaltekas they'll tell you its nearer 100,000) when Antigua was flattened. 90% of the buildings were destroyed and more than 75% of the population killed. Hearing Jose talk about it one evening really did make you think about your own mortality. There was only one earthquake in Antigua while i was there (something i obviously havent mentioned to my family as yet but now i'm on my way back i guess its safe to do so!!) and it really wasnt the best 50 seconds of my life! The whole building started to shake, Jose and Lucky legged it into my dooorway (apparently the safest place to stand during an earthquake) and everyone looked just a little bit worried. Thankfully it was only a tremblor and not a terramoto (i'm sure theyre both spealt wrong but ones Spanish for earth tremor and the other earthquake!) I really will miss Jose and Lucky immensely and can only wish them all the best in everything they do.....
Other things.
The violence. Again its all rather obvious when you have a load of tourists with a bit of cash and a very poor population nearby that you'll get a mugging or two. Thankfully for me i havent really had any trouble, being followed home by a couple of cars and being threatened in the toilets of a bar by a bloke so off his face on coke that i'm not sure he knew who he was (he was later seen off by a good Norweigen amiga of mine... Stine you were truely inspired when he tried to big himself up as the biggest drug dealer in Antigua... one of the funniest things i've seen for a long time...) these really dont count. The two ladies i'd met that were mugged at the Cross for instance. One stabbed in the eye, thankfully she didnt lose her sight, but the other dragged down 30 concrete steps resulting in a broken back (she's still in hospital in Antigua now and will be for another few weeks) and for what. $40. I know people say you shouldnt go to certain areas (the Cross being one of them) without Police escorts, but i went up the Cross on my first day with a few friends and didnt have any trouble at all..... some would say i had buen suerte... i'd say that the violence embedded in some societies is really quite mad. In a country presently in uproar due to a video made by a lawyer saying that if you were watching it he'd been assinated by the President... shown the day after he'd been gunned down on the steps of his house because he knew just a little too much about some money laundering.... and you wonder why people here think its ok to use a bit of violence here and there. I had two good friends mugged in the relatively safety of Antigua, both in broad daylight infront of lots of other people. The police really dont help... some of them are more corrupt than the robbers themselves.... that said at least Antigua has the tourist police who really are there to help if you need them..... I have to say i find the whole thing very frustrating, but realise theres bugger all i can actually do about it.
The volunteer workers. Alot of the good friends i've made out here were volunteers. People working in the projects, usually with exceptionally poor children, trying to make a difference in someone else's life. The scale of the poverty i saw really is a little overwhelming. Certainly the project in the Basurero and that in San Matteo, the other rural school i spent some time in (alot of you have said that my hopping pictures are some of the best i've posted from my travels!) are places where poverty is the norm. I take my hat off to all of the volunteers, you are a truely amazing group of people making a huge difference to other peoples lives. I feel that in some ways i should have done more myself to try and help others.... next time defintely....
The parties. Ok, so i've published maybe just a few photos of me, generally with a big old gaggle of girls, having a rather good time in many a bar. I dont think i've actually had any nights in whilst being in Antigua (well ok then, maybe one). Incase you find yourself in Antigua anytime in the near future here's the general rountine... Monday, an odd night as there isnt really any one place to go, i always found the Rainbow Cafe or El Muro good for a quiet ale; Tuesday, an easy one, ladies night at Monoloco, drinks for the ladies are Q3 (thats about 20p in real money) and this is invariably followed by a bit of salsa in Sin Ventura; Wednesday, also easy, Buena Vista night in the Spanish bar infront of Rikis (the name of which i could never remember, it means the Sky or Heaven or something in Spanish), the guy who leads the band is one of the original members of the Buena Vista Social Club and is truely amazing; Thursday, again an easy one, ladies night at La Sala, bit of salsa (i really could never get the hang of it) and free drinks for the ladies (that said they are rather weak Cuba Libras but who cares, theyre free!!); Friday, bit tougher as alot of people go away at the weekend, but El Chaman is always good as long as it isnt raining and they do a wicked pizza!! Saturday, again tough but Rikis or El Chaman (they have a live reggae band on Saturday night) and Sunday, generally go to the kebab shop (amazing) followed by a quick beer in Rileys or Monoloco. So there you go, a quick night guide to Antigua for you!!
New friends.... i really cant mention them all here but i have to say that i've realised both the Dutch and the Norweigens definitely are a top group of people indeed. Always up for a laugh, as friendly as hell and generally a little nicer to look at than us English lot (sorry all my English chums from El Mundo and Jake and Louisa...!!) Perhaps the FMG isnt from England after all (and before you all ask, it has been rather quiet on that front whilst i've been away, although i have to say there were one or two who defintely could have been candidates! One especially! Maybe i'll get to see some of them again on home turf... who knows!) Joking aside, i think i'm very lucky to have met such a brilliant group of people whilst i've been ambling around Antigua and i look forward to seeing you all back in Blighty (or on your own home truf) very soon.....
My Spanish teacher Aleida. I cant really finish my blog without mentioning her, it would be like me mentioning my working life and not mentioning Harve. I've spent 4 hours a day, 5 days a week with the lovely Aleida. She speaks very little English and somehow has managed to get me to speak half decent Spanish in just 5 weeks. She certainly deserves some sort of medal for that i have to say!! I'll miss her and her frank talks about life in Guatemala, both good and bad. I just hope that i get to see her again one day and trust all her dreams for her 3 daughters end up coming true.
And thats about your lot. I'm sure theres things i've forgotton but those are things that have sprung to mind whilst tapping away here. As i say i'm now in Belize, in an Eco Resort 20 miles north of Belize City. Its exceptionally hot, 100% humidity and there's sooo many bugs you just wouldnt believe it. Infact there's sooo much wildlife you wouldnt believe it ( i spent today with some huge iguanas, some humming birds, watched howler monkeys swing through the trees whilst trying to placate the pet parrot here who is grumpy as hell!!) but its brilliant. I have my own bog and my room even has AC.... privacy is something that i think i'm enjoying once again, although i find myself missing my old life in Antigua i have to say. I fly to Miami Wednesday, have a night in the Shore Club which will be very deja vue as its the hotel i departed from to make my way to this part of the world. How long ago that now seems. I get back to London on Friday morning and any of you that read this before then, i'll definitely be drinking in Clapham somewhere so please come and join me.
As for what i do after this trip, i'm really not sure. I still have a month to run around. Spain and Ibiza feature heavily (I at last get to play in Ibiza, thank you Spudly!) as does a big wedding in Somerset that i'll be spinning the tunes at. July 1st i'll be back at my desk at MF Global wondering if all this was a dream i'm sure. Quite what life holds after that who knows, but i'm sure as hell going to have a think about it in the meantime. You cant have done and seen the things that i have the last 9 weeks or so and not have a bit of a re-evaluation of your existence.
So i'll love you and leave you. Until next time, which i'm sure will be longer than i think.. take care out there and if you see me Friday, mines a pint of stella!!
Adios
B
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