My plane touched down in ¨Guate¨, (as the locals call it) this past Wednesday. All the guide books say that it is big, dirty, and dangerous. It is, of course, all of these things but to a lesser extent then one might imagine. I have seen bigger, more dangerous and much, much, dirtier, (Manila immediately comes to mind). I have chosen to come during the heart of the rainy season; in case this does not leave an impression on you, let me give you an idea of what I mean by rainy season. From early morning until around Noon you can expect two to three rain showers of up to 30 minutes in length. There is normally a brief smattering of glorious sun shine during this time. This is the time to get your shopping done or complete any business that necessitates a reasonably controlled climate. The afternoons in Guatemala present a vastly different picture. From about 2pm until the late evening it rains pretty much all of the time. The rain may stop for what appears to be an extended interlude. At which time you can see the tourists hopefully venturing out hoping to see outdoor sights and take pictures. Alas, their hopes are always quite literally dashed as the interlude is so brief that only a few rays of sunshine will present themselves before the next wave of rain descends upon them. Guatemalans know better. During the rainy season, they will stay at home in the afternoons, preferring to take care of any business during the somewhat more predictable morning hours. The sidewalks are always slick, almost chalk like. I made the mistake of wearing sandals on my first day - never a wise idea in a place where the average daily rainfall in September is more than 9 inches and the sidewalks frequently have giant holes that require immaculate vigilance in order to navigate.
Aside from the ever present rain, I have learned to navigate my way around this metropolis of Latin America. I learned how to take the city bus even though there are no schedules, signs or postings of any kind. One has the choice of either making a random guess or asking several people until one derives at a general consensus that this bus does in fact have a high likelihood of going where you want to go. If you are lucky enough to find a bus going to the right place, you are immediately presented with a further challenge of trying to obtain a seat without breaking one or more limbs, and, or completely bowling over an elderly indigenous Mayan Woman. I have so far escaped the formed, but not the latter. Another interesting thing about riding the bus in Guatemala is that the bus drivers, (aside from being insane) don´t actually stop for passengers. It goes something like this: you see the bus coming - indicate to the driver that you would like a ride. The bus driver will then slow down enough that you approach the bus with the vain hope that the bus will actually stop to pick you up. Then, just as you begin the boarding process, he will invariably speed up again, leaving you to desperately grasp for the hand rail and hope to heave yourself up and escape certain death. Once you have successfully obtained a seat, you are left clutching the rail in front of your seat with white knuckles while the bus driver tears through town at impossible speeds on ¨roads¨ that are often nothing more than mere piles of rock and gravel. It is actually very similar to riding a roller coaster; except it is not fun. The statistics are staggering - something like 1 in 10 Guatemalan buses will break down in any given day. It is a common sight to see a bus full of passengers while a group of young men work feverishly to ¨fix¨ a broken axle or repair a damaged wheel.
Guatemala City is broken up into a series of neighborhoods called Zones, (Zonas). There are two main areas of interest to tourists. Zona 1 and Zona 10. Zona 1 is the historical heart of the city. It houses the main square or Parque Central. Like all Spanish colonial cities; adjacent to the square there is the main city Cathedral, Military Headquarters, and Presidential Palace. The Presidential Palace is the architectural gem of the city. It is a large, imposing Spanish Renaissance / Neo Classical behemoth. It is said that hundreds of prisoners died during the construction which took place during the rain of one of Guatemala´s many dictators. They would not let anyone in at the time because of flooding from the endless rains. I tried to negotiate my way in but my grade-school Spanish skills did not help the proposition much. Also of note in Zona 1 is the large National History Museum. As is typical in the third world, priceless and precious artifacts and historical relics are sitting out in the open ready to be smugged by a tourists hand and readily assaulted by airborne elements. Still, there is a certain thrill to be able to actually touch the document that declared Guatemala´s Independence from Spain. If you tried that in the U.S., you would most assuredly be killed - and without Judicial proceedings.
I stayed in a beautiful old hotel called the Pan American. It was built in the early part of the last century and reminds one at ever turn that they indeed don´t make them like they used to. My room had an original rotary style phone and the bathroom had an actual foot feed for the dryer. Beautiful mahogany wood is the building material of choice and gleams splendidly at every turn. The absence of alarm clocks or actual closet space just added to the charm.
The other primary area of interest in ¨Guate¨is Zona 10. Locals call it the Zona Viva or lively zone. All the corporate office buildings are here. There is also a huge mall and many, many shops and restaurants. In the evening, it turns into something akin to the Guatemalan version of the Sunset Strip, with everyone out to see and be seen. In this place, you have to work a bit to find a place that is not teeming with very young tourists. I found a place that was just close enough to the main center to be fashionable but too far away to attract the tourists. There were mostly local well-to-do Guatemalans who where out for a beer to escape from their corporate or government office jobs. I found myself encased with a harem of somewhat older Women, (by Latin American standards) that seemed inexplicitly to relish my company. After much talk with little being said, (as is always the case in any bar near a corporate center) I was able to pry myself away and make my way back to my Hostel in Zona 10. My Hostel was clean and bright with a mix of foreigners from, (of course) Europe and America.
One of the ladies from the other night happened to be going to Antigua the next day. So in the afternoon, I was able to hitch a ride to the beautiful colonial city of Antigua. But that is the story for another day....
