Deep Thoughts and Random Pictures

I'm a little disappointed we didn't fall in love with Guatemala.  Had lots of good talks about the hardships here and what we could tolerate and what we're looking for in a place to retire.  Guatemala has an abundance of natural beauty but a dearth of basic infrastructure.
This has nothing to do with the above, but is a beautiful work of art by Pablo Swezey:

Most people come here for altruism, not tourism.  They come dressed up in camo or khaki, with a Jesus something or other on their lapel, hat or bag.  Other than one group of birders, mission trippers were all we saw. However, the beautiful local girls dress like this:

I've come to dislike the homogenized America: a Walgreens and a Walmart on every corner of every town in every state. That said, I know there are certain advantages to standardized signage and evident branding that I take  for granted when I'm in the USA.  When you give up standardization, you get a feast of little stores but it seems chaotic and hard to navigate. What might Tienda Sandrita sell?  Tienda Emmanuel or Tienda Ebeneezer, who will have ice? Not better, just different.  One would get used to it, but at the outset it's hard to tell what's what. Digging through the freezer section of Tienda Ebeneezer is a bit like paleontology, I imagine.

Poverty here is crushing, but unlike India, the people here have sad, worried faces.  Very little freestyle joy flowing around Guatemala.  Except with this lady:

Of the two,  we would choose a Catholic nation over a Muslim nation.   Most people here are serious about their faith and even the poorest of the poor tithe weekly.  I sat in four different churches and was always surrounded by a low murmur of people praying.  It's a crazy mixture of big time religion and ancient indigenous beliefs here, but it works.

I asked Ev what his thoughts were about what we were trying to accomplish by moving to a foreign country.  Why do we leave almost every vacation longing and scheming about how we could move "there". Naturally, it's the vacation state of mind, but it's more for us.  

I have feelings but they haven't crystallized into thoughts and words.  Getting away from and moving towards.  I want to be of service and I feel called to work with literacy and ESL.  I want to be surrounded by gratitude, not entitlement.  Needs are greater outside the US.   Tired of being associated with the greed, consumerism and "police of the world" attitude we have in our country.  Looking for a simpler, slower pace with a closer horizon.  It's been heaven not knowing a thing about the "news" for ten days.  Don't want to be sucked in to the medical industrial complex in the US.  Those were all themes that kept popping up as we drove and talked.  

Maybe it's something as simple as wanting the adventure of experiencing a life out of the United States.

After ten days in smallish towns surrounded by women in long skirts and loose huipils, I was shocked to note I was shocked when we came back into Guatemala City and saw tight pants, short skirts and exposed skin.  I did double takes at men in their unders on the billboards.  Taken aback at the traffic, noise and filth.  Weird.  After just ten days.  

Signing off for now, but the story will continue in 4 short days.  Headed to Guadalajara.