Antigua
I had misgivings about paying for special transportation from Guatemala City to Antigua. What´s next? Taking a tour bus? But Steve, who shared the ride with me, told me that friends of his had taken one of the chicken busses to Panajachel and that the bus had been stopped, passengers told to lie down, and then their baggage was rifled. I didn´t feel bad anymore. Plus, our driver´s name was Elvis, so how could I have afforded to miss that?
The weather continued sunny and perfect until early afternoon. I had plenty of time to check in, wander around and get lost, and finally fine the Parque Central, the Ayuntamiento and other official buildings in the center of Antigua. The city had served as the capital of most of Central America under the Spanish. Time and a few earthquakes have left their marks. Still, the city has plenty of color and interest. It looks like a city in Latin America, which is gratifying, but it also offers plenty of comfort for travelers.
About 1 P.M. I had finished making arrangements for a volcano trek and was trying to figure out where to eat when a middle-aged man co-occupied the ledge in front of the administrative building where I had perched. Antonio turned out to be a Spanish teacher, who gave private lessons (¨I used to work for a school, but then I opened my eyes and realized that I was making money for someone else.¨) He gave me a few pointers as we talked (Spain ¨se hizo rico¨ NOT ¨se puso rico¨), but these didn´t really intrude on a very cordial talk (Spain came up because he was complaining about Spanish immigrants and mocking thei Castillian accent).
Antonio had an educated viewpoint on Guatemala´s present circumstances. Thirty years of war in the late 20th century took a heavy toll here. Even now, though, the class system locks the country into a severe disparity in wealth. ¨We have the rich,¨ said Antonio, ¨and the poor, the seriously poor, and the poor at greatest extremity of suffering.¨ His analysis can´t surprise anyone familiar with Latin American history. The gaping distance between those who have and those who don´t makes for glaring injustices even in relatively successful countries like Mexico. It makes a mockery of democracy, a word that Antonio pronounced with quotation marks.
But in addition to the corrupt political system, Guatemala also suffers from a conservative social system among the indigenous. Antonio certainly revealed nothing but respect for the Maya people, and shared my hope for the preservation of their culture. But, ¨the families have many children and the parents see no value in education. They want the children to help, and then they send the boys to work in their early teens and the girls to marriage.¨ And, if a program emerges to spread family planning, ¨the church says NO! It´s against morality.” Antonio didn´t see much to choose between Catholic and evangelical churches. As we say in Guatemala, he told me, “militar y cura, comida segura.”
Later in the afternoon I sat down with a testimony to Guatemala´s struggles. The central park here has plenty of vendors and children offering shoeshines. It reminds me of Cusco, except that the children are not as aggressive. One little boy asked if I wanted a shine. This might have seem superfluous since my boots are not black (the only polish color available) and, as I pointed out, ¨they aren´t made of leather.¨ Orlando, age 8, sat down anyway and we talked a little. “Tu mucho dinero?¨he asked. I assured him that wasn´t the case, but he ignored that and asked if I would buy him some shoes. Okay, so I´m not very smart. I gave him some money. Then he asked if tomorrow I would buy him a ball. I said probably not.