Antigua de Guatemala

Thoughts in a hammock in Guatemala

The sun is out and this day is weather perfect with low humidity and a clean breeze. Going to a place without a car is a good thing. There is something to be said about walking, about how it immediately closes you in upon your own efforts. That is refreshing, but likely unremarkable to those of a just few generations ago. You see, I’ve sat here in this hammock for three hours, reading, dozing off, then reading again, successfully fighting the urge to be doing something more, up and about and busy. I like the lessening of potential this affords me: it forces a question of scope and perspective.
I had a college course, a biology class, where we were instructed to find a square yard of campus somewhere, in the woods, on the bluffs, somewhere, anywhere and stake it out. We had to study it for the course semester and our paper would be written on our square yard. The constraint of vision, loss of depth of field, as it were, gets very limiting until you realize, as the proverb says, that the world is contained in a grain of sand. That is what today in Antigua is like, with nothing to do and nowhere to go, but hang in this hammock. It is wonderfully refreshing.
I’ve only reread a few books in my life, most recently Walden, and now Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which I have on this trip. I am reminded of how bad a reader I have been in the past, plowing through a book like a ship crossing the ocean at night. No view of the horizon and little patience for the trip except making the destination. A reader needs a life to learn the trick. Again, it is the focus thing. Stake out your square and understand your turf. Derrida died a few days ago, and though I could not comprehend him, I am given to understand he knew this.

Of Last Roll and a birthday

It is a week and a year from five decades. A short span, geologically, half a life time measured in what really matters, one's age. I am at a point where it is not so much what I've accomplished, but what remains. It's not addition but subtraction--what will be subtracted from the net--that so much occupies me anymore. So Carole said she had a surprise for me, for this birthday, and it was something that I always wanted to do. Furthermore, she let the kids in on it, and a few choice others. They all concured, smiling and nodding knowingly: It was a truly good gift. So we took Friday off and headed north to Philadelphia (first clue) and lined up an organic vegitarian resturant in China town. The sun shone. I felt special from attention and Carole's excitment at the day's event, still wrapped in mystery, was contageous. Excellant meal. Then off to the Rodin muesum. A handful of studies can be seen on my Last Roll link, several turning out quite nice actually. Then dinner. Funky and good. I guessed. Wrong. Guessed again. Then she exploded: Springsteen. Yes! We got home around 2:30am. Music still pounding. It was most excellant of days.

Guatemala, Published in Baltimore Sun, Travel, 10/3/04

When our daughter, a college sophomore, asked to go to Guatemala for a semester’s study and volunteer work we were reasonably concerned. Central America lingers in our North American consciousness as a troublesome area, despite the wonderful advances places such as Belize and Costa Rica have experienced. So, being the dutiful father, I joined her for a week to get the lay of the land. I was wonderfully surprised.
Granted, Guatemala City is dirty and a place of unsettling conditions, once out of the city the landscape takes on a more hospitable personality. Furthermore, Antigua, our destination, is by any standard charming and beautiful.
Located about 45 minutes out of Guatemala City, Antigua is nestled among three active volcanoes. Upon entering the city, our driver announced, “The end of tarmac,” at which time we rolled onto the cobblestone streets that define the charm of the city proper. Laid out on a grid emanating from the Central Park (considered the most beautiful park in Central America), Antigua can be walked, or rather strolled, end-to-end, in twenty minutes. However, with shops and cafes aplenty, the stroll could easily slip into an afternoon’s adventure, and therein lay the mystery of the place. After two days, I said to my wife back home, “this place really gets into your bones.” I am not alone in this assessment.
Antigua is filled with young people. It reminded me of my visit to Prague ten years ago: backpackers and students, adventurers and those looking for a different life have come to explore and have consequently made their own cultural stamp on the place. Many have settled in and found a home. The pace is laid-back, typical for Latin culture, and was wonderfully refreshing to this traveler. The weather was perfect with warm afternoons and cool evenings requiring a fleece before setting out. The economies were equally inviting, with basic accommodations running on average $45 US and upscale meals costing less than $15 US.
I will return to take advantage of one of the many Spanish schools for which Antigua is also famous, in a month. But, in reality, it is an excuse, a ploy to appease my North American appetite for accomplishment. Really, I’m simply looking for another warm afternoon in the park, nursing my cerveza.