AT THE CUMBIA DANCEHALL. AND THEN SOME!

Dancers at the Cumbia Dancehall

Weather: Occasional rains, sunny mornings, cool and invigorating evenings. Nothing heavier than a denim jacket required.

Today's Objective: Well, today I will endeavor to provide some information about the working situation for expats in Guate, academic/research information and what to do for some serious fun in the Historic Center. Serious not as in solemnly serious! And not in this order, either.

The 13th Historic Center Festival, a yearly event organized by the City government to highlight local arts, culture and commerce, has kicked off. This year it comes with the inauguration of the "model block"--la cuadra modelo--of the Sexta Avenida (6th Avenue), downtown's main street. La Sexta has been "recovered" from the street vendors who had turned it into an open market of tchotchkes: pirated DVDs, plastic flip-flops and hats, made-in-China wares, etc.

Most of the vendors were given new space at a really nice market, El Amate, which provides clean bathrooms, parking and security. Others, however, were left out because they weren't part of the original negotiations. Some tried to take advantage of the situation and start selling on other streets, where more established (authorized) street vendors had been established for years.

This caused resentment against the new competition among the older established vendors, police intervention and riots for a couple of days, but it fizzled off eventually. Older vendors with authorization stayed, the rest were moved out, mostly via a couple of tear gas bombs and forcible confiscation of goods for sale (which was sad to see, these being the goods of poor street vendors).

Street cleared by tear gas. Photo: EFE

It was eerie to walk by walls of police in riot gear forming walls of shields against protesters, and to see everybody else walking by and around the stand-off as casually as people regularly might do around trees or usual every day events! People just went on about their business, despite the protesters and the riot police. Well. There haven't been protests lately.

Anyway, I have been going out every night to myriad events. Concerts, mostly, as well as gallery openings or pubs with friends. The music events range from the Central American and Mexico Hip Hop Competition--the winners, Guatemala, get to go to the World Cup of Hip Hop in Paris--to experimental rock fusion performances by former members of Alux Nahual, the iconic Latin American rock band from the 1970s and 1980s.

The latter was an experimental performance mixing music and text by 40 Guatemalan authors, representing the 40 Days of Jesus in the Desert. Midway the performance, a lot of older ladies were walking out in droves! Clearly some not happy with the artistic representation of said 40 Days in the Desert. This being a very Catholic country ... still, the theater was full and they got a long and hefty ovation. All this was followed by free beer and food. Me happy!

Very cool poster announcing the Hop Hop/Break Dance Competition

Today, Sunday, I just wanted to stay in, chill, listen to the Blues on Last.fm, have a big, fat deli sandwich and read The New Yorker, Rolling Stones and Vanity Fair. Which is, frankly, what I have been doing all day long--marching bands woke me up at 6 am, after all! It is the day of the City's patron saint, The Virgin of La Asunción, so marching bands banged on drums and crunched gravel for 4 hours, starting at 6 am. Me not happy!

Damn. Don't they get that Sunday mornings are for sleep? Or quiet worship at some church. Anything else but marching for over 4 hours banging drums and cymbals in front of our building.

By the way, talking of deli sandwiches, there is a German deli nearby called Astoria (on 7th Avenue), which has really good deli sandwiches made with German-style cured cold cuts. Check them out sometime.

Cumbia Dancehall and Bandstand

Friday night went with a group of friends, all sociologists, writers and the like, to a cumbia dancehall which caters to the blue collar population. Cumbia is a long-living traditional music form; thus, it has devotees who range from young adolescents to the elderly. The dancehall crowd truly encompassed all ages. The dancing, at all ages, is spectacular.

I must admit that to a certain extent, we were what is called "slumming" in some contexts. However, we were honestly there to enjoy the music, not to mock the people. Most of us being social scientists, we tend to have an endless curiosity about different people and cultures.

The back of my curly head, the Cumbia band and dancing girls ahead

And the music was pretty good. There is no drinking allowed. No beverages are sold inside the dancehall. Those who want to step outside to buy something from a street vendor, must pay the Q.60 all over again at the entrance. Now, Q.60 (less than US$10) may be a pittance to some, but it is higher than a day's wages for many here, so people who go there to dance make sure they get their money's worth of dancing.

And dance they do! Damn, they dance till they drop. Even though the place is steaming hot.

Cumbia Band Sonora Dinamita promo photo

The bands are sponsored by a local radio station. They have like 10 members each, 2 to 4 of which tend to be scantily clad female dancers, who shake it up with great energy. People in the audience are allowed up on the bandstand to get a picture taken with the dancers for Q.30. As you can imagine, many guys standing and jostling in line for this.

The band dancers are quite a show. They are walked to and from the scenario surrounded by beefy bouncers. The mainliners that night, by the way, were the band Sonora Dinamita (Sonorous Dynamite). That is actually why we went to the dancehall on this particular night, specifically to hear this famous band.

Dancehall Fashions. Plenty of hip fashions brought by Guatemalans living in the US, who go to the Dancehalls when visiting here.

The fashions among the crowd are fabulous to behold. Fancy Mayan attire for indigenous women, with starched and über frilly aprons, and shiny-to-garish wear for non-indigenous women. I felt like The Crow in my all-black t-shirt and pants! Next time, gotta make sure I wear something in stretchy satin with sequins.

When we walked in, the bandstand owner/director called out to my husband to greet him. This he did from the bandstand itself, his voice booming across the dancehall and the radio channel streaming the program through the airwaves. Being that my husband was probably the tallest man in the place, this added to his conspicuousness! Turns out that the band owner, Don Francisco, has been a guest at our inn several times. Serendipity, to say the least!

Municipal Orchestra and Choir, Inauguration, Historic Center Festival

I felt very tall. Most people here, at least working-class people, are like 4 feet tall. Next time I won't wear high heels! Actually, wouldn't be out of place in jeans and sneakers. The younger set were more casually dressed.

Some men hit on me, somewhat discreetly, all of them by making sure they caught my eye and once I glanced their way, opening their eyes wide and then immediately scrunching their face and puckering their lips as if they had just suffered their toe smashed by a giant hammer, you know, the universal gesture for "ouch!" At first it was funny, after a while it was just, like, dude. Please!

I mean, seriously, even if I weren't married, at 5'4", I was like a head taller than all of them. And call me conventional, but the open-to-the-navel satin shirt look doesn't appeal to me. Yet!

When I left, my feet were throbbing and I had to peel my clothes off, as they had stuck to my skin due to sweat. The place, brightly lighted and packed as it was, must have been 110 degrees. All end up drenched in their own human effluvia, so to speak.

Food stand at Casa Ibargüen for the opening night guests. Women in lovely Mayan garb making fresh tortillas.

Prior to that Friday, on Thursday night, we had attended the opening of the Historic Center Festival--the Cumbia Dancehall event had nothing to do with the festival--and as always, there was the Municipal Choir, the Municipal Orchestra and the local opera maestro, Luis Girón May, offering a night of classical music. Since it is at the plaza, and free, this even was packed.

There were simultaneous events going on all over downtown, with free food and beer generously provided everywhere by the City government. They had hired Guatemalan Mayan cooks to provide freshly-made tortillas, guacamole, black beans, fresh farmer's cheese, and other such food stuffs. Elegantly-clad waiters were serving lots of cold imported beer and refreshments. The crowd was large. Canned speeches were given, art exhibits launched, music played, and so on.

The crowd at Casa Ibargüen, site of many performances

There has also been a book fair going on. I love them because one can always find very old books, leather-bound and gold-leafed, from even US$5.

These days, however, haven't really been in the mood for book-hunting. Too busy attending several United Nations-sponsored events related to gender and economics in Guatemala. I have been invited to join a local academic research organization which is funded by international cooperation, so that has kept me busy, as well as all the other projects I have been working on.

At one of the forums I attended, this one sponsored by the United Nations, a couple of government officials--one of them a vice-minister of labor or finances or something--arrived to give speeches that showed they had not bothered to become informed about what the forum was really all about.

This created a surreal lack of sync between the speech given and the topic of the forum! The audience was whispering at first, then laughing out loud at some points, in mocking disbelief, but the speech went on and on till its end. Reminded me somehow of President Bush's public speeches during the Katrina catastrophe, but with less dire consequences.

Nightfall, Book Fair at the Main Plaza

Still, there is a lot of progress and projects happening in the academic research fields here. Interesting events ahead. I just received an invite to the International University and Indigenous Populations Conference (see flyer below, in case you might want to attend). More on that next time.


Walking through La Sexta to check out every day's novelties has been fun. Thousands walk the avenue despite the dust and ongoing works. Trees have been planted, modern statues placed, benches set. Shop windows can be clearly appreciated now. There is some sort of music event on the Model Block (right ahead of the Main Plaza) almost every single day.

The Model Block at La Sexta

Interesting proliferation of shoe stores on the avenue. Also, some large paca stores. I understand these sell used clothes and new surplus merchandise coming in from the US. Sort of like Marshall's and TJ Maxx in the US, I guess.

Nevertheless, I happen to know that chain stores of coffee shops and restaurants are already vying for space to establish open air cafes. A few new art galleries have recently opened in the area. One historic cinema, Cine Lux, has acquired a new lease on life and refreshed its premises. And so on.

Nightfall, Cuadra Modelo, La Sexta

I have walked the full length of the avenue several times and can already see how when all is finished, it will be a great place to jog or powerwalk the full length of it, till its end at the 19th Century park known as El Hipódromo (The Racetrack) in zona 2, which is a total distance of around 2 miles or a little over that. La Sexta is now very brightly illuminated at night (this is new) and now more people walk it at night.

Shop window, Downtown Guate

Also interesting is the work situation here. Language schools catering to wealthy Guatemalans seem to be expanding. A young Canadian I know has been working full time as a teacher at one. She likes it. So, I directed another friend to that same academy, a young US expat recently graduated from a California university, and they pretty much hired him on the spot, even though they are reputed to have a tough gate-keeping hiring policy. I guess that a US college degree and tall-Caucasian-blond looks help grease the "tough" gate-keeping policy!

Ms. Ana Francisco, Lawyer, explains issues of gender and Indigenous Law at an academic workshop on integrating ethnic and gender issues into higher education

To a certain extent, then, expats have an advantage, despite the fact that unemployment is close to 20% here. But then, it is also close to 20% in the US, when statistics are read correctly, according to this article published in November Broader Unemployment Hits 17.5% . It is a sad fact that expats from the US and EU have an edge here, as long as they understand that they won't be earning US-style salaries. But then, life is so much cheaper here, generally speaking.

Nevertheless, getting a working permit may be harder for some. It wasn't hard for me, and it might depend on luck and on who you know. Seems to me that those who have university degrees and/or desired technical expertise, will be better off. Some expats looking for jobs have had no problems, others have found the process fraught with them. Be it as it may, it is still easier than for a foreigner to get a work permit in the US!

And that is all for today. I apologize for any grammatical or spelling errors, since I have been (involuntarily) up since 6 am, and bed beckons ...

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