A sense of colonialism

Destination: Antigua! 

Well- another experiment survived: 4 hours in a chicken bus through the highway 1 in the Guatemalan Highlands- directly next to a mother which suckled his baby  and an older farmer lady which had a living rooster in a plastic bag. Not to mention the people offering strangely colored vitamin pills and the abs workout caused by the serpentine. 

Finally but safely arrived in Antigua one of the perhaps most beautiful cities i have ever seen arose:

The entire city is covered by cobblestone pavement, the facades and storefronts, sometimes magnificent and high-quality - sometimes old and crumbly, are shining bright and friendly in pastel colours.
The three Volcanoes Fuego, Aqua and Acatenango, kind of surrounding the city, raise majestically over the city while their hilltops are covered in clouds and fog.
In between the shops, restaurants and churches you will find the countless ruins of convents, former official buildings and even more churches. The atmosphere reminds on a mixture of a south-Spanish town, Florence and Kloster Chorin.   Not to forget the ridicules amount of Gringos, buying everything which seems to be Guatemalten, even tho it might be Indian, Mexican or just nonsense...!

The beauity of the city is however, amazing and timeless.

Considering the fact that the city used to be the political, social and religious epicenter for more than 200 years I can understand better now the colonial power structures in those times:
Build and maintained by the rural Mayas, the European colonial masters exploited and robbed the local communities and forced them to believe in the catholic church while they celebrated the "Life" and "Art" of the supposingly high cultural in their colourful and glorious properties. Like the Cologne Cathedral the city was supposed to demonstrate colonial power and superiority.

-Now that I have seen the city I have gained an insight in the former colonial rule which will hopefully provide me with a better understanding of colonialism, and therefore also for post colonialism.

I also roasted today some Marshmallows on the top of the active vulcan Pacaya, but that is another story...

During the next week I will stay in Xela- before going up into the mountains for 2 weeks and stay in a rural area to learn Spanish and support the local community...

Buen Dia!

Little bite for the meantime:

 

Podran cortar

las flores

pero no podran

defener

la primaveria

(They will be able to cut

the flowers

but they will not be able

to stop

the spring)

*Pablo Nerude

9 out of 150 days

Considering my first reflexions I would say that Guatemala definitely does not support my bipolar disorder in a healthy way!

Being torn between homesickness, loneliness, adventures, adrenalin, fun and breathtaking landscapes makes me feel intensively alive.

What has happened the last few days?

I realized that even by trying to be cultural sensible the stigmas and prejudices are fixed in my mind. By visiting San Simon i thought in the first place that this religious believe in a stupid man size doll, wearing sunglasses and flags of America is ridiculous. Later i found out that people ask San Simon for miracles by offering him gifts: when someone tries to immigrate into the US people will offer San Simon a flag in order to ensure a safe pathway. When people give him shades- someone might have become blind and relatives which for a miracle....

The ignorance and haughtiness  people care with them, including myself, is invisible.

I felt really bad and realized that there is a huge gap between thinking to be cultural sensible and actually being cultural sensible...

The other day, Saturday we went with the school to Laguna Chicabal, a former volcano in which now is a lake. For the Mayans that place is one of the most sacred places since they believe that earth and the skies come together at this spot. It is truly magical to see the quite water of the lagune, the thick impervious forest surrounding the lake and the clouds rushing by. Sometimes the fog comes into the crater and files the area with a mystic thick  and coldish atmosphere...seriously a unique experience!

Another quite unique experience is my newly most preferred way of transportation: on the back of a Pickup! Next to former US schoolbusses- which are lovingly called Chickenbusses, it is one of the most common way of transportation between the villages. It is amazing to stand on the back, rapidly drive through the clouds and have the scents of fresh vegetables and flowers in your nose.

Next to all those exitments the poverty and post-armed conflict environment is permanently sourounding me: mass graves in between the forests of the Laguna Chicabal, old women working in the fields for 2 Quetzales an hour (20 Euro Cent) or the lack of education and medical services is frustrating and the cycle of exploitation seems never to end...

However, I am curious to explore more of the country and share more impressions with you!

For now:  Hasta Pronto!!

My dear US-friends...

...sometimes your country just sucks!

What your government has done to Guatemala is hard to believe, but visible in the eyes of the rural people, hearable in the voices talking about suffer and loss and perceptible in any Guatemalteco fighting for truth, reconciliation and human rights.

From Wiki:

The 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état (18–27 June 1954) was the CIA covert operation that deposed President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, with Operation PBSUCCESS — paramilitary invasion by an anti-Communist "army of liberation". In the early 1950s, the politically liberal, democratically elected Árbenz government had effected the socio-economics of Decree 900 (27 June 1952), such as the exproperation, for peasant use and ownership, of unused prime-farmlands that national and multinational corporations had earlier set aside, as reserved business assets. The land-reform of Decree 900 especially threatened the agricultural monopoly of the United Fruit Company, the multinational cooperation that owned 42 per cent of the arable land of Guatemala; which landholdings either had been bought by, or been ceded to, the UFC by the military dictatorship who preceded the Árbenz Government of Guatemala. In response to the expropriation of prime-farmland assets, the United Fruit Company asked the U.S. governments of presidents Harry Truman (1945–53) and Dwight Eisenhower (1953–61) to act diplomatically, economically, and militarily against Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán.The thirty-six-year Guatemalan Civil War, which began on 13 November 1960, resulted in the deaths of 140,000 to 250,000 Guatemalans.

From Amnesty International:

In this context, Amnesty International documented widespread human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity – including extra-judicial executions, disappearances and torture – carried out by Guatemala’s armed forces and their supporters in armed “civil patrols”.

Massacres of whole villages of indigenous non-combatants were commonplace, with troops often torturing the inhabitants – including by raping women and girls –
before systematically killing them.

Among the worst massacres took place in the village of Plan de Sánchez, near the central Guatemala town of Rabinal, in July 1982, leaving 268 rural and indigenous people dead.

Early in the morning of 18 July 1982, two mortar grenades were dropped on Plan de Sánchez as rural peasants were making their way to trade at the market in Rabinal. That afternoon, some 60 people in military uniforms and brandishing assault rifles descended on the village and began rounding up its Maya-Achí indigenous inhabitants.
Around 20 girls between the ages of 12 and 20 were taken to a house where they were abused, raped and murdered. Other children were beaten to death, while some adults were imprisoned in a house before troops fired on them indiscriminately and attacked them with hand-grenades.

Nine months into General Ríos Montt’s rule in December 1982, a Guatemalan elite army unit entered Dos Erres in the northern Petén region, where they tortured and killed some 250 men, women and children over the course of three days before razing the village. Again, many of the women and girls were raped, and numerous villagers, including children, were thrown into the village well.

When I listened to the cruel and bloody detailed story of the "Operation Scorched Earth", taking place here in Guatemala in the 1980, as one of the aftermaths of the interference from the US Government, I had tears in my eyes!

Of course your could argue: "It was not me" or state "I cannot be responsible for the things happened in the past"...

...But let me tell you: from my own cultural experience as a German and my experience about dealing with my cultural history: You have a responsibility!

- Firstly to remember and to remind everyone about what has happened in the past and secondly to support the victims of your own cultural heritage in any way.

Rarely before I have been so touched by the courage Guatemaltecos have by revealing the truth, by the beauty of their culture and the nightmares entire communities have had to go through.

Until today communities face problems caused by the greed and ignorance of Western governments and multinational companies. The peace agreement from 1996 is in many eyes just a piece of paper, legitimizing further discrimination and human rights abuses. The health care system as well as the education system are close to break down while international companies granting free access to natural resources while the corrupt national and local governments as well as regional stakeholder receive all the money and adventages. Those extraction sites are highly criticized worldwide, see for example the Grasberg Mine in West Papua, BP in the Niger Delta, the timber conflict in Cambodia or Columbias issues with the extraction of coca, poppy and oil.

However, just the other day the government passed a law allowing to install a new secret police: just like one of those responsible for massacres and killing fields. 

Support the cause of the Gualtematecos, learn for yourself about the hurtful history

and stand up for the truth!!!

 

If you want to learn more, look for Roberta Menchu

Taking Guatemala

Travel time

I didn`t really anticipated how intense a travel time of 26 hours can be, until  I tried it. Luckily, and completely unexpected none of the four flights was delayed nor did I lost my luggage. Instead, I had quite interesting chitchats and some breathtaking views out of the window. Weird thoughts crossed my mind tho: how will it be it Guatemala City, will everything work out with the pick up from the airport and so forth...but all went well and i felt asleep in a cozy little hotel room in Guatemala City...

The first morning

The hotel I stayed for one night was a little cozy place, run by some old hippies believing in love peace and harmony. Their employee, Victor, is in charge to pick up the guests from the airport and make sure they arrive safety the next day at the central bus station. He is friendly, polite and talked to me in Spanglish about the performance of the German soccer team. We crossed several intersections secured with checkpoints run by private security companies and heavily armored, went by the historical civic centre, again secured by heavily armored military. But i will never forget when Victor showed me the huge volcano which surmount the city and the proud he had in his eyes about his hometown. The entire city seemed to be a mess, even tho it was Sunday hundreds of chicken-busses went by, 3 or 4 people on one motorbiked was not a rarity. Everything was noisy, chaotic but pretty in ts own terms.

Arriving in Xela

The ride with the bus from Guatemala City to Xela took 4 hours, having a half our lunch break after half of the trip. I saw just beautiful landscapes: green valleys paired with huge volcanos on the horizon, little villages with women caring food and goods on their heads, wearing colorfully and expressive traditional clothing. Again hundreds of chicken buses packed with people passed our bus in a ridiculous speed...I would have died most probably if i would have sit in one of those...

First Encounter

Getting from the bus station to the school was not difficult- the city is packed with US Americans, all eager to learn Spanish. As a matter of fact i shared a cap with 2 girls from California...At the school i got picked up by one of the nephews of my host mom. Not speaking one word Spanish at all was the most difficult part, for them as well as for me. Thanks to Google Docs we helped ourselves and could share some information. In the evening i finally met my host mom- Aldina. She is the most lovely, warm-hearted, patient and polite host mom you can imagine. She has students in her house for more than 20 years now. It seems there is nothing that could make her made or angry- even tho i could barely talk to her, just smiling and gesticulating was all needed in order for us to figure how to share the space for the next three weeks. Another nephew of her is staying with us as well, perhaps my age and highly interested how Bayern Muenchen performed last season. -Why is everyone so into German soccer?!
Getting familiar with the city didn¨t became as complicated as i thought, once you get used to instant coffee and a dead steer (!) on a Pickup early in trhe morning when you leave the house.

Going back to school

My fisrt day at the Projecto Linguistico (http://plqe.org/) was just amazing. It is a non-profit school which was founded in the year 1988 after 2 students , involved in the rebellion against the regime in Guatemala disappeared and got killed later. The idea of the school is to teach foreigners not only the language but also the history of Guatemala and tries to raise awareness for human rights, democracy and civil society. In my one on one class, which took 4 hours today i felt dizzy and developed a bad headache. On the other side it is a unique learning experience and i couldn¨t encourage someone more to come here to learn and participate in this amazing project.

The next few days

In the upcoming days I will try to learn more about the culture and get familiar with Xela and its surroundings. Of course I will keep you posted, for now:

Hasta Luego

...3...2...1... take off!

 

Starting…is always the hardest thing to do

A friend, years ago, told me once every journey starts with the very first step…unfortunately it’s not that you can easily differentiate when that step actually was taking- sometimes your decisions will affect immediately further pans, and sometimes you have to plan years in advance only to get one shot in the future…for me it feels like surrealism, like a story written by my most favorite author Boris Vian…

All together I will travel for more than 150 days- around the world with several destinations on my way:

Berlin -> Quetzaltenango: 14. July 2012
Quetzaltenango -> San Francisco: 31.August.2012
San Francisco -> Manila: 11. September 2012
Manila -> Kota Kinabalu: 1. November
Kota Kinabalu -> Manila: 6. November
Manila -> Berlin: sometime in December

Answering the question about the purpose appeals difficult- yes, I will learn Spanish in Guatemala, meet friends in San Francisco and perform an internship in regard to my M.A. Thesis…but deep down- from the bottom of my heart- it has been always my wish to participate in foreign cultures, to see places I never knew they were existent and... 

...EXPERIENCE THE OTHERNESS.  

Now, my dream will come true and I want to thank every one of you who supported me by listening, talking, planning, drinking, hanging out, cheering up or just: being my friend. I know I have not been that easy recently, and I had to sacrifice opportunities and chances to get to know some of you better or to be closer to you- I promise I will make it up!

Anyways, the next few months will hopefully change my perspectives, will provide me with a more sophisticated understanding about the world, and gather insights into political dynamics and further realization of my inner personal ambitions.

-And you are invited to follow my path, to join me on my way and help me to reflect on my experiences.

I am looking forward to the times ahead, to the people I will meet and the landscapes I can discover-

See you on the other side :)

http://soundcloud.com/zaids/04-run-boy-run-ostend-remix