Getting Acquainted with Guatemala

A month is only long enough to start to become acquainted with a place, so we have only just begun.  Experts say the tourist or honeymoon phase comes first when the wonder of the new place has not yet worn off.  In the month we have been here, we are definitely still enjoying the wonder of it all.  
For the past month we have lived in the small town of Cerro Alto.  It is a rural village with a population of about half indigenous people and half Ladinos, located about 12 miles almost due north of Guatemala City.  By road, it is about 24 miles away.
These are some interesting things we have learned.

Shopping:

• Flowers are incredibly inexpensive, at least by US standards.  Twice Charlie bought me flowers. The first time it was a mixed bouquet of roses and other flowers.  Since it was an anniversary gift, I don’t know what he paid.  The second time he bought a mix of daisies, carnations and coneflowers.  He told me the bouquet cost about fifty U.S. cents.  
• Bargaining is a way of life here, and a skill I have yet to master.  Every vendor in the market has the “best price for you,” usually close to a third or even twice what you should actually pay for it.  Bargaining is a fine art that we haven’t learned well yet.
• About every fourth house on the main street will have something for sale:  tortillas, vegetables, fruit, snacks, and tiny packages of household staples.  So if the household runs out of something, a child is dispatched to buy it at a neighbor’s store.

Food:

• In our town, milk comes powdered in a foil bag or in a can.  You can also buy UHT milk in a carton.  (When I lived in Guatemala city many years ago, we bought fresh milk in plastic pouches.) 
• Guatemalans may make the best cakes in the world.  Instead of using frosting, they usually frost with whipped cream and add fruit for both decoration and flavor.  Their cakes are moist and full of flavor.
• Small, fresh corn tortillas can be purchased at the local tortilla vendor for about three cents a piece.  It is no wonder that tortillas are a staple here.
• Corn is the staple food.  People plant it in every available piece of ground.  It cascades down the mountain sides.  It decorates front yards.  It can even be found clinging to the foot-wide edge of the road. 

Travel:

• It takes a long time to get anywhere.  Although the town where we were was only about 25 miles away from the capital city, it took two hours by public transportation to make the journey, and a private car was only a little faster.
• The roads are narrow and full of twists and turns.  Even if they are paved, you do not dare go fast because of what might be sitting in the middle of the road around the next bend: dogs, a bus, or people casually walking down the road.
• Fairly smooth, dusty roads turn to into a bone-jarring washboard after a good rainstorm.
• Roads are quite narrow.  We watched two buses try to pass each other.  Each one sent the conductor out to make sure nothing on the far side was getting to close while the drivers kept an eye on their side.  They passed with inches to spare.
• If you own a car, the mileage will stay low, but the bumpy roads take their own toll on the cars.
• In Cerro Alto, 95% of the pickup trucks and 99% of the minivans are Toyotas.  The buses are almost entirely retired Bluebirds.

Weather:

• Guatemala is called the “Land of Eternal Spring” because of its year-round spring-like weather.  Most of the country is in the mountains.  Days warm up to the upper seventies or low eighties, and nights are usually in the sixties.
• The rain is usually gentle, though it does come down hard for brief periods of time, and tin roofs make it sound like you are inside a tunnel inside a waterfall.
• The pleasant weather means that flowers bloom year round.  Many houses decorate their front walls with numerous flowers.  After a rain, they seem to abound even more.

People:

• Perhaps it is the people that make Guatemala so attractive.  They are friendly and ready to accept a foreigner into their circle of friendship.  They greet one another on the street and smile readily. 
• The indigenous people still dress distinctively and have held on to many of their traditions.  The women dress in colorful, attractive outfits which still give cues to their family heritage.  They are glad to be indigenous and happy to let others know of their heritage.
• The people are the reason we went to Guatemala – to teach and deepen their understanding of God’s word.  It was a privilege and a blessing for us to be there.

Other interesting facts:

• It costs about 25 cents to use a public restroom.  The cost is reasonable when you realize that it means that toilet paper is provided as well as cleanliness.
• Birthdays for children usually include a piñata, which is lots of fun for children who are quick to run and grab the candy.  The rest, however, may feel left out.  We saw more children in tears at a birthday party than we saw at any other time.

So much of Guatemala still remains a mystery.  We have spent most of our month just in this small town, and even though it is small in size, it holds more than 7,000 people, most of whom we have not met.  We would need to spend years here to feel that we really had an idea of what Guatemala is really like.