boring poem on a beautiful day

untitled poem:

this place is unremarkable

surrounded by jungle, invaded by fog
at night the trees drip drops like rain
on the tatch-roofed anbandoned dining room
where i slung my hammock

it´s not DEEP jungle, it´s not undeveloped
but then, it´s not well-developed either

slow-served breakfast by the light of the TV
an eternally recycling HBO promo atop the coke machine

and the work of the day in the backgroundç
cutting grass, with a machete
removing a tree stump from the parKing lot, with a machete
and setting off fireworks -
one of few important tasks that doesn´t involve a machete

here, even the live parrot next to the
"disfruta la naturaleza" sign is boring



***after that poem i went for a sweet walk around town and discovered that Frontera Corozal actually is a very interesting place. it was just my sterilized hotel that was boring.

navidad en el remate

merry christmas. what went on back there?
i was out in el remate, on the shore of lago petén itza. it´s a huge lake, and some of the towns near it are polluting it enough that you wouldn´t want to swim there...but here in el remate it´s plenty clean and a gorgeous temperature and highly swimmable. the hotel i stayed at had a windsurfboard (minus the sail) which i could borrow to go paddle out away from the shore a bit to get some perspective on the town, and to enjoy some quiet and a rare moment of being totally alone. i didn´t expect to do alot of "chilling at the beach" on this trip, i´m not seeking out the relaxing places...i feel like more than that i want to look for interesting cultural situations - but there are so many gorgeous places, and the people there are really nice, and it just seems to happen that once again i´m in a beautiful place and it´s pretty relaxing in spite of myself.
it might have something to do with hooking up with other people for travelling. most of them appear to be a bit more into chilling than me. i am ready to meet someone who´s doing something really adventurous and inspiring and going beyond the comfortable confines of our trusted lonely planet guidebook that binds us all together.



but christmas in el remate was sweet. it´s just one street, with alot of typical guatemalan mini-stores, built into the front of their houses, all selling the same basic groceries, sodas, and fireworks. fireworks are huge here, especially at xmas but i am thinking maybe any occaision is a good one here.
my first reaction upon seeing all the fireworks in guatemala was "oooh, these silly evil people, they don´t know any better than to play with fireworks...bad people!" all of a sudden, in el remate i thought, "wait a minute...that looks like fun! now´s my chance!"
so i went and bought some and threw them around on the soccer field, in town, on the street...just like everyone else. it was fun, although short-lived, and my friend jonas was living proof of why they were banned in california when one with a short fuse blew up in his hand, forcing him to spend the entire night with a supply of cold beers icing the pain. thankfully, i survived unharmed.





on christmas eve, which is a bigger deal than christmas, there was a town party on the basketball court. some intriguing performances by local kids singing pop songs, a rousing 20 minute re-enactment of mary and joseph´s journey to the manger, in which virtually nothing happened except for the 5 or 7 actors moved from one side of the court to the other (and not in the name of performance art), and finally, an all night dance and foosball party. before the sun went down it was a bit more free-form, kids riding around the court and enjoying the human powered merry-go-round.








we did find some great stuff to do out in el remate. hiking in a local park and watching more monkeys, watching football at one of five local fields, all with similarly spectacular lakeside settings, and renting the local motorcycle to cruise out to another mayan ruin called uaxactun. (wa-shak-túng)














the ride to uaxactun was rad. first it was about 50km on a smooth paved road, to tikal. past little roadside villages, over some hills with great views...then, after tikal it´s just dirt road cutting through the jungle, occaisional mud crossings, and not a single other vehicle for the entire one and half hour ride. as we were walking to rent the motorcycle, i realized that i´ve always wanted to rent a motorcycle in a foreign country. i usually figured it would be more like riding around "the island" than through the jungle...but this was maybe even better. so i can check that one off my list.
the ruins themselves were quite nice, if unspectacular. the temple pictured here was part of their astrological observatory...from the top, looking east, there are three temples. on the longest day of the year the sun rises directly behind the northernmost temple, on the equinoxes, it rises behind the central temple, and on the winter solstice, which was less than a week before i was there, it rises behind the southern temple. it was already up by the time i got there this day.
and the village next to the ruins was great. it´s built more or less around an old abandoned airstrip, so the main street is like 200 yards wide and made of grass. i played some fun soccer with some of the kids out in front of their house/store.
then it was back on the moto, zooming through the jungle...and back to flores, the tourist island, to form a plan for what comes next.
ciáo, bella.
cc




"riding a moto through the jungle, flores, petén, guatemela"

sitting with my nuts atop the gas tank
and my buttocks firmly held by the inner thighs
of my platonic german amigo, jonas

i am reminded of the stunning vista of a female ass
when properly situated
on the rear of a motorbike

if done correctly,
the jeans struggle to crease where the skybound thighs
meet the forward tilted hips

feet very nearly above
the twin cups of her
oh! so grabbable rump

if she tilts her hips far enough forward
i can feel her belly
pressing into the small of my back

but jonas isn´t holding on that tight
which is okay with me - because although i´m not highly homophobic,
it wouldn´t be quite the same

north to tikal

welcome to el petén,
where the busses are smaller,
the jungle thicker,
and the mosquitos, thankfully, seem to be on vacation.








leaving the central part of guatemala and heading north...out of the mountains and into the jungle. most of the bus rides begin at 5 or 6 in the morning. it´s good practice for my summer job to get up early every day for one reason or another. most of the roads around here are paved, which is a nice surprise. this road ends at the river in the town of sayaxche - then just a quick ride accross, and back into another microbus. (oh man these newer toyota minibusses would make the sweetest campers, but they don´t sell em up north...i think it might be a safety thing, although they surely can´t be less safe than a 30 year old volkswagen.)

so i was heading north, ostensibly to visit tikal, and to find something cool to do for xmas. i thought a trek through the jungle to a more remote mayan ruin might be a lovely substitute for family and friends. plus, i had met a nice german guy with the same idea.





sunrise at tikal was gorgeous. sunset was maybe even better...tons of parrots zooming back and forth and making a crazy ruckus...spider monkeys swimming through the tree branches...





some guy at tikal





a temple in the midst of discovery - either that or the rolling stones are coming to tikal next week?





templo uno








well, jonas and i tried to make the jungle trek. we booked and paid for the trip and then the guides didn´t show up. nothing too shocking or disappointing - as the trip drew near i started to have some doubts about the quality of the company taking us, so in the end i was happy to not go with them. as a result i had 5 extra days and another shot at creating a cool christmas. the upside of the failed jungle adventure was that we did make a 3 hour drive out to the end of the road, where i at least got to enjoy this family altar/decoration on the wall of one of our absentee guides´ houses.





so then it was back to flores, a strangely, (and un-guatemalanly) quaint village on an island. there was some sweet night football going on in the main park in town.














the dogs of guatemala series is coming along nicely...here you will only get a couple of teasers.

that was it for flores. jonas and i decided that since we had already planned to spend xmas together in the jungle we might as well hang out some more and we headed to el remate, a more mellow and local type of spot on the other side of the lake.

fotos

some images from the first two weeks...





todos santos gangs - not so scary just yet.






todos santos, where i lived for 8 days






the outskirts of t.s. - strolling through these neighborhoods was great






4 of the 7 kids in the family i lived with






erica y victoria






juan, alejandro, erica, y victoria






okay, victoria was my favorite, i admit it.






the family dog (from the upcoming photo essay "the dogs of guatemala")






i bumped into kevin merrit, my how his son has grown (and tanned!)






political propaganda everywhere...at least they´ve got cool logos
















un otro dicho para hoy:

orine feliz,
orine contento,
pero por favor,
orine adentro.

translation:

pee happily,
pee contentedly,
but for god´s sake,
pee in the bowl!

un buen dia para pasear

"si, hoy es un buen dia para pasear. cuando uno se muere, no va a pasear."

that´s a little saying i like, which i´ve heard from 3 or 4 people in the last two days while i´m out walking. it means "yes, today is a good day for walking. when you die, you won´t be able to do much walking."

well, i did get on the plane and indeed i made it to guatemala. when we got there i found a shuttle dude to take me straight to antigua so i could skip the perilous melee of guatemala city. in antigua i found a hostel, costing a couple bucks more than i expected, but went for it anyway. i think now, knowing what i know i could find one just as good for cheaper. but you know how it is...first night, first town... i was just hoping to find a safe clean place.
i bopped around antigua for a night and a morning, and then had to start heading for todos santos for my language course. that was a two day affair, with a night in a small city called huehuetenango, which was mellow and interesting and i was starting to feel more comfortable...not afraid that someone was going to machete me at every turn. next morning on to the bus and up the mountain to todos santos.

todos santos is a really cool little village. one main street lined with tiny shops and street vendors...a couple of hostels, a church...and alot of houses packed in to the middle and spreading out over the surrounding hillsides. i strolled over to the spanish school, met the folks, told em what i wanted, and the hooked me up with a family to stay with. and there i´ve been for the last 5 days or so. the family is really great. grandpa, grandma and 7 little ones. the parents are in the states working. but the little ones are adorable and they´re all friendly. i eat my meals with them and we sit around their wood fire where they cook, and i chat with grandpa in spanish while they all banter back and forth in mam, their mayan dialect. we eat pretty basic stuff like soups with potatos, cauliflower, tomato...or just potatos, or beans and rice...and always with tons of tortillas. very yummy tortillas. grandma passes me a basket of like 20 tortillas just for me. (i don´t usually eat all 20...but it´s nice to know i could if i wanted to). so the food´s not exactly delicious, but it´s pretty good. and i´m getting more used to it. and i´m starting to not be so afraid that everything is going to make me sick. but you should see the kitchen. it´s also the bedroom, and the floor is dirt, and they store water in old antifreeze bottles. that makes a bit nervous, but so far so good.

my classes haven´t been that spectacular so far. i mean, they´re great. but i wouldn´t say my skill level in spanish increased too hugely after one day of class. big surprise, eh? the teachers are local folks who teach school to the kids during the morning. tuesday i didn´t have class cuz my teacher left town to go to a soccer tournament. so i went for a big hike instead, which was great. it´s an awesome valley for hiking, because at the top of the mountains it´s beautiful wilderness, and in the bottom it´s sprinkled with little family farms. so i can go stroll in the forest, and then on the way home you pass through the neighborhoods, walking on paths through the corn fields and saying hi to all the people. you can just choose any path...it´s sure to go past a few houses, through some fields...people are happy to see me pass by and usually want to chat. women are always on the porch weaving or washing clothes, and the men are usually in the field chopping corn or gathering corn stalks. the kids are either helping mom or dad, or playing in the dirty yard. there´s garbage everywhere. they seem to relate to garbage like dirt. i don´t know if they even see it. in the house, in the courtyard, on the street, in the cornfield...wherever.

there are only a few tourists in this village, and i´m really digging the friendliness and calmness of the town. maybe i´ll come back here after i go explore some of the other parts. but i´ll be here for a few more days...still no plan as to where to go next...but plenty of good options.

la torre

yesterday i.

with directions from two reputable sources in my mind, i hopped on the 6am bus out of town, just to get a ride up to the top of the hill. todos santos, where i´m spending a week studying spanish, is in a deep valley in the largest mountain range in guatemala. it´s got some elevation, but i´m not sure what it might be. maybe 7 or 8 thousand feet. here in todos santos, we got a small central part of town, one main street, and lots of outlying groups of houses - tiny little villages unto themselves, called aldeas. from the aldea at the top, la ventosa, i was heading up to a high point called la torre. (there´s a u.n. radio tower up there broadcasting lord only knows back and forth accross guatemala.

at the top i met the guy who runs the tower. he lives in la ventosa and does the one hour walking commute, with his twenty sheep, each day. i gave him some of my sandwich and he invited me in for a coffee. (not the guatemalan special roast that you get at starbucks...just some lovely instant stuff.) it only took about twenty minutes to chop up some kindling, get the fire going, and cook it up in the beat up blackened pot.

he was quite nice, as are they all, and we just chilled and chatted for a while. yes, everyone wants to know about the united states. alot of people from this village have gone north to work and returned with alot of cash, building houses 3 times as big as their neighbor´s. so it´s a hot topic...many are intrigued and mildly to severely stricken with gold fever...others i think can see the downside to this influx of toyota trucks and cell phones. (by the way, how come they can call from this remote village in the middle of guatemala, and i can´t even get a signal in downtown rockridge? does verizon just suck?)

after our cheery coffee in the warmth of his stone hut, i headed on down the ridge to a wee little gorgeous lake out upon the altiplano for another sandwich, and some napping. and then, the harrowing descent down the side of the mountain, headed back towards town. from below all you see are cliffs and forest - there ain´t no obvious routes. but, my trusty advisors had told me it was possible. sometimes there are many paths or none, just aim and figure it out. just the type of adventure i was looking for. well, i made it, with only a few backtrackings necessary. and some sweet bushwacking. i mean continuous bushwacking. a couple times i came to a cliff and had to figure a way around...including one time where i scooted down a nearly vertical wall of moss, digging my fingers into the dirt to try to find invisible handholds in the rock beneath the moss...fully expecting to take a 15 or 20 foot slide onto more moss and broken branches. somehow i avoided the fall, which wouldn´t have been terminal or anything, but it was exciting and i exited with plenty of dirt under my fingernails.

part II - back to mi casa

then i had a sweet stroll down through some of the outlying village streets. people always wave and say hi. a couple of boys walked with me for a while and we talked about, yes, the u.s. alot of their neighbors have gone to work in oakland. they all know oakland even though they´ve never left this valley. the little kids stare at me and giggle. if i talk to them sometimes they scream with embarassment and laughter. then they run away. then they call to me again, run away again...it´s a fun cycle. one woman who was kneeling on her porch, weaving, invited me into the courtyard to chat, while she kept weaving. they´re all so nice and always smiling when we talk, and just interested in hearing about new stuff. they don´t get out much.

i came home to my family where i´m staying, and cleaned off in the chuj. it´s a tiny little hut, like 4 feet high and 4 feet diameter, where they build a fire, heat up some water, then when the fire is down to embers and there´s no smoke, you go in, get warm, pour water on the hot rocks for steam, pour water over yourself, and soap up and clean off. a steambath/shower combo, which is quite nice, but damn, they had to work for an hour or so to get it all going just so i could get clean. but that´s how they do it. the grandfather came home from the fields a bit later, took a chuj, and climbed in under the covers to relax after a hard day´s work. the little kids, like 7 of them, jump in bed all together with the grandparents and they listen to the radio and talk (in their mayan language called mam) on the cell phone to the parents, who are working in the states.

it´s great to be in this tiny town where i really get to feel the traditional culture. i don´t think many places will have this same feeling...

unas poemas de aca

"YO SOY EL CHINGON"

i can make you
a bracelet, anklet, or longer thinglet
all with your (his/her) name on it
in 15 minutes, because
YO SOY EL CHINGON
it says so on the windshield of my ride

and if you thought NO FEAR was macho
well, I AM THE SHIT
makes NO FEAR look like
half-assed twelve year old braggadocio
and DIOS ES AMOR
the sissy efforts of a marin county fortysomething
on his way home from sunday morning dance meditation

************

"trash on the road - a guatemalan best practice"

there´s some kind of balance
between wanting to fit in, to not be a spectacle -
and being myself

if i try to be a guatemalan
i wouldn´t be writing right now - they wouldn´t

there´s a fine mist settling over the square this morning
a subversive subliminal pesticide of the mind
a cerebricide they don´t know about

but i see it and i think it might explain
their laissez faire attitude towards throwing trash
out the window of a moving (or parked) bus

which i may adapt to
adopt as my own best practice

because when i disembark
trash occupying a valuable hand
there ain´t a basurero in sight

next time, timidly, i´ll yank the window open
and with eyes in the back of my head daintily drop it out the window
awaiting a scolding that´s sure not to come

and the time after that,
maybe i´ll feel like a real guatemalan
when i chuck that chicken bone out the goddamn window
pound the rest of my tiki
and send it to meet it´s maker.

***********

"an american samurai"

they, especially the little ones
all stare at me when i pass
right in the eyeballs even.

i try to exude friendliness
to let them know i mean them no harm
and they don´t have to take me to their leader
yet.

maybe i could walk the streets
loaded to the gills with ki,
stepping, left hamni to right, and right to left,
prepared to blend. blending in fact
with the curiosity
the wonder
the bewilderment
accepting these with a mild tenkan
but ready to irimi
any oncoming machete or pocketslasher.

i´d bust a kotegaeshi or nikkyo
gently remove the weapon from their hand
and proceed to the next mountain town,
an american samurai en guatemala