7 Days In Guatemala

I've been in Guatemala for seven days now. It seems like it's either been 2 or 15, depending on how I think about it. I'll be blogging more detailed when I return and will refer to my journal entries I'm making every day. But since I have a few minutes, I thought I'd post an update.

My Spanish was worse than I thought when I arrived, but it's been getting better every day. In the mornings we go to work. I'm on the hospital work team, which means we travel from San Miguel Escobar to Antigua and spend a few hours talking with, playing with and interacting with patients. After siesta, we go to language school, also in Antigua, where everyone's Spanish is improving.

We've done some other things, as well. We went to a garbage dump, a cemetary, some churches for Semana Santa, a market where they demonstrated a traditional Mayan wedding, hung out in a few bars and a few other things here and there. Like I said, I'll go into more detail on these when I return.

Modern Communication

I'm on my way to the airport right now. This wil be my last post before I have no access to any communication devices for two weeks. I'm really afraid I'm going to have withdrawl. My phone is my: communication device for phone, text, 3 email addresses, facebook and any internet site. It also serves as my source of all knowledge, reminder, calculator, alarm clock, watch, flashlight, period tracker, starbucks finder, gps unit, address book, camera, photo album, source of news, weather alerts, game system, tv set and many other things I'm not remembering this second.

Usually, you can contact me on my normal number, google voice number, skype, live messenger, 3 email addresses, text, facebook, twitter, blogspot, linkedin and I'm sure some other. I'm almost overwhelmed by the lack of communication I will recieve. What will I do with myself? How will I feel knowledgable without my favorite device?

So far, in order to attempt to replace what I'm used to, I have packed the following items: journal, pens, book, flashlight, watch (with alarm), spanish-english dictionary, camera, video camera, printed all kinds of into I might need and told everyone I'll see you in two weeks w/ lots of pictures!

Gringos

T-2 days until departure. Something else came up for me in our preparations. It made me think about our society and the meaning we attach to words, like “Gringo”. While we are in Guatemala, we are going to be working with local high school students. We are supposed to call them chapines and they will call us gringos. I immediately was taken aback, as I had NEVER heard this term used in a positive way and most often heard it used in a negative way.

Having recently read the book Uprooting Racism: How WhitePeople Can Work for Racial Justice, I automatically think twice about anything that is said and make sure I speak up about it rather than brushing it under the rug. I immediately said, “I take offense to that. I don’t want to be called a gringo.” They informed me that it was very neutral in Guatemala and will be used in a neutral way. I was skeptical, but they repeated over and over that it doesn’t mean anything. When I got home that night, I talked to my girlfriend about it and she said she had mostly heard it used negatively as well.

I did some checking to see what the internets had to say about it. Here’s the link to Dictionary.com where many sources are referenced. Here’s the link to UrbanDictionary.com, usually reflects the way a word is used more accurately. This led us to a wider discussion of what other terms are used for someone from the USA (whether positive, neutral or negative). Here’s the list I found: bule, cracker, gub/gubba, gweilli, haole, honky, redneck, roundeye, seppo/septic, ugly, whitey, yank, ofay, peckwood, dink, merkin. If you’re anything like me, you’re familiar with some of these and not with others. Some are obviously meant to be offensive, and others are purely neutral.

I will go with the advice of my fellow-travelers and not take offense to the term while I am on this trip, but I am reserving the right to express my opposition in the future.

Water Usage

One of the things that has come up for me before I've even left the US is the issue of water usage. In one of our planning meetings, I asked about the rule of 2-3 minute showers. I was told that was very long for the Guatemalan people we will be staying with and that we shouldn't shower every day. I asked how it was possible to take that short of a shower. More than one person said it was possible.

On Saturday, I timed myself. I didn't overly rush but I also only washed 1/4 of my body thoroughly, 1/2 pretty well and 1/2 not at all. Time: 7:18. I don't know how I'm going to do this other than turning the water on and off. Next timing will measure only the amount of time the water is on.

But when I pressed the other people in our meeting about this, they started giving me facts about how scarce water is. I don't doubt that it is, in Guatemala, but it's not up here. Especially when I drive over about a billion gallons of it every day. My biggest issue at our last condo board meeting was that people were using too much water where I have to pay a portion (because we get one water bill for the whole building).

Aside from that fact, I started thinking about how I got to the point where I would take a hot, hour long shower on the weekend and not even blink. I think it's because over the years, I have structured my life around the environment and not around people. I only cared about the plants and animals that lived on this planet. I am a rabid recycler/composter and pretty good a energy saving (although that could be improved). I buy local when I have the option between two pretty equal products. We made sure we purchased a condo (not a house) with a walk score of more than 90 (our is 92). I thought that this one transgression could be overlooked because of all the other good things I do.*

All of that being said, I realized that my new-found insight that people matter (simply because I decide they do) has not been fully applied to my life. I say that people matter, I tell them how and why I care about them, I've been trying to do more to really demonstrate that through my action. However; I haven't really taken a look at why I perform every action that I do and re-evaluate some of the assumptions I've made in the past.

Taking all of this into account and trying to determine if and how I should change my behavior, I'm thinking about how my use of water would impact people in Guatemala. If I used less water, would they get more water? Of course not. So I need to think about the real impact of me using water, here in the PNW.

* Before anyone starts critiquing my footprint, yes, I know I could take the bus more often, stop buying from Amazon.com and become veg. :)

First Post

Hello everyone,

It's T-13 days until I leave for my trip to Guatemala with Global Visionaries. Those who know me, know I love to travel! I believe that the most important part of traveling is really experiencing another culture. Sure, it's also beautiful and there are amazing landmarks. That is part of what makes up the culture you are visiting, but there is so much more!

I am on a quest to become a more responsible traveler, both environmentally and culturally. The blogs I intend to post here will detail parts of my travel, but more importantly will reflect on what I'm taking away from the experience. I hope that people will comment on my posts and start discussions that challenge people. Challenges (whether from within or external) are the only way to really grow.

Thank you for reading!

- Being Travel

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
  - G. K. Chesterton