GATORS TO GUATE

Shopping Center in Guatemala City

Weather: Sunny and breezy, in the 70s (F'heit). Lows in the 50s.

Today's topic: How to ship stuff and cars to Guatemala from the USA ... and visiting the Gators locker rooms.

I recently spent Thanksgiving in Northern Florida; Gainesville's whereabouts, to be precise. In attendance were people from Indiana, Australia, Canada, Guatemala, and Louisiana. Food was the gel cementing us all together. It was nice to eat the traditional home-cooked fare: Smoked turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, casseroles, pies. Much to be thankful for.

I didn't cook. I was only required to bring bread and sodas. But then, I don't think I am the best person to be asked to cook anything. I know how to make 2 or 3 things well. None of those are considered Thanksgiving material.

Back deck facing the forest. Archer, Florida

The venue was Tim & Carla's house in rural northern Florida. It's in a tiny town outside Gainesville called Archer (one street light!). The area is dotted with beautiful, typical century-old Southern houses. This house is newer and has a front porch, a screened back porch, and a deck.

It is so rural, in fact, that their backyard is a forest. And it's Autumn. How much more prettier can a forest get? As opposed to South Florida, where I have lived for over a decade, and Guatemala, where I live in a valley high above sea level, northern Florida does have the full four seasons.

Florida forest

I got to see a live, wild deer. There are also foxes, rabbits, possums, squirrels, wild turkey and, I am told, cougars, though those are an extremely rare sight. I just loved walking by myself in the forest, breathing in the chill, aromatic air. Despite it being fall, it wasn't cold at all. Nice enough to wear a t-shirt, yet not quite hot. Big yellow butterflies, too. Lots of yakking birds.

At night, the stars are intensely visible and bright, and there is a big quiet. No silence, since one hears the breeze and night birds, but it is deliciously quiet and I love to sit in the back porch and just read. Beautiful.

Florida forest

Despite the pleasure to be gained surrounded by nature, I must confess that I can't imagine, for the life of me, having to actually live there. I mean, seriously. You want to go to Starbuck's or Chipotle's Grill, for example? That is like 40 mins away! After a while I'd miss the urban cacophony, I'm sure.

Prior to Thanksgiving, we spent a few days in South Florida. I met with my dissertation committee as well as friends. I also got my driver's license, voter's registration and library card renewed. Let me tell you, the new security regulations to get a driver's license renewed mean that one spends close to 3 hours in line to get it! Are we becoming a police state?

Fall foliage in Florida forest

Finally, I spent a couple of days of intensive shopping. It's impossible to bring all the stuff one buys in suitcases, due to weight constraints at the airlines. Therefore, we use a company called Medrano Express which ships whatever one wants to ship to Guatemala. The system is efficient and the best I have found up to now.

Medrano Express provides different-sized boxes, which they will deliver to your doorstep. You must use their boxes. Each box size has a different price. One can fill it up with whatever, and no matter the weight--there is no weight limit!--the box's price remains standard. (One should also purchase insurance for the box). Medrano's will pick up the box at one's doorstep and ship it. They deliver it to one's doorstep in Guatemala. Love it!

Fall foliage in Florida forest

By the way, Medrano's has offices all over the USA. Another company which provides this service is Zuleta's. I haven't used them, but I know people who have, and like them.

The telephone for Medrano Express in Miami is (305) 642-1119 and (305) 889-2926. If you google it, you might find their national 1-800 number. The phone number for Zuleta, which manages the same type of system, is (305) 644-1090. As I said before, I know they have offices in different cities, so in case you plan to ship something, it is a very inexpensive way of doing it.

I am not advertising for them! Just thought that it might be useful information for anybody living in Guatemala or planning to.

Historic House, North Florida

So, what did I ship? I will list some of the items, so that you might have an idea of what items are not easily found here or else, are too expensive to get comfortably.

I packed several pounds of pre-cooked wild rice from Trader Joe's, for example, as well as bagloads of black-eyed peas and pinto beans. One cannot find any sort of beans in Gautemala except pedestrian black, red and white beans. This may be peculiar of me, but I do love my black-eyed peas. I also shipped decaf flavored coffees, because one cannot find decaf coffee at the supermarkets here. Some spices, such as Cajun seasonings and good curry. That's it for food.

If you like high quality sheets--I do!--bring them from the USA. Here you will only find the pedestrian kind, useful and serviceable, but not necessarily the nicer stuff. I buy 400- or 600-thread on sale in the US (Ross had some really cheap ones), then just ship them over!

Also, books and magazines, of course, and as always, several bottles of my shampoos and conditioners, which either cannot be acquired in Guatemala or are triple the price. I can do without a great many things, but I have Jew-fro hair, so I must have my shampoos! In Guate you can find, like, Pantene and such, but brands like Aveda or Redken are more of a problem.

Typical small town Southern porch with swing

Finally, I also shipped holiday gifts for friends, colleagues, hotel employees, and what not. This was a big box, quite heavy, and it cost me only US$150, insurance included. You can look the sizes & prices up at MedranoExpress.com.

Cars:

I am shipping a car in a few weeks, and the estimate is US$700, delivered to the Port of Santo Thomas, where one must go pick it up. I am shipping a used Hyundai; it's a smallish car. You must take it to their offices in the US, with the car's title and loan satisfaction. The business takes care of the rest of the remaining paperwork.

Other way of getting a car to Guatemala is hiring people who will drive it down for you. Or else, you can drive down the car yourself in a caravan. I would not recommend sending a car here for which you will have trouble finding parts.

Typical century-old Southern house in rural Florida

One of my favorite things to do in the US is go to the Public Library bookshops, where I can buy recent bestsellers for US$1 each. And that I did! My husband walked out with several recent paperback thrillers. I also bought some used children's books, because here they are ridiculously expensive. Some I buy for the illustrations, some to give away.

Talking of books, I got the latest pocket-size Sony Reader, which holds up to 350 e-books at a time, be it in PDF format and Nook-friendly as well. At BJ's, only US$99 (listed for US$140 at the Sony website). Sony's e-book store isn't as good as Barnes and Noble--which serves the Nook reader--or Amazon's, which services the Kindle reader. But it is good enough, and I downloaded close to 1,000 books from Scribd (free!) to cover me for quite a while of reading.

This is particularly useful for lengthy stays in Guatemala, where recent books are outrageously expensive and hard to come by beyond a limited variety (at least compared to what one is used to in the USA). US magazines cost around US$10 or more here. E-book readers allow one to purchase recent books and periodicals online and download them unto the computer and/or reader. Otherwise, it is difficult to get recent publishings.

Gator-themed lamp at Law Offices in Gainesville

The Gator-related photos here are illustrative of the extent to which The Gators are sort of an intense religious experience in Gainesville. There is no God in Gainesville, there are Gators! Gator stadium, Gator arena, Gator laundromat, Gator bars ...

The lamp above is in the lobby of an important law office in Gainesville, which we visited, and the viewing room below is furnished with a huge screen. I couldn't believe that a law office would have such a kitschy thing at its lobby, but there you have it.

We got to see the Gators' private locker room is amazing and the guys were quite impressed with the fancy viewing seats, where the Gator athletes get to watch and analyze games and plays on the big screen. Alas, I have been told I cannot publish those photos, so a picture of the arena will have to do.

Gator's Arena

Other things we did in Gainesville, besides big Thanksgiving dinners full of people and walks in the woods, included going to Gator City Bar to watch the Saints' game on a giant screen.

We were treated to a drink that includes vodka and Red Bull--NEVER shall I try that again!--and we had the usual fare, chicken wings, smoked fish dip, nachos. Meh! Mediocre, as would befit food that serves to satisfy college kids.

I couldn't care less about the games, the same as I couldn't care less about soccer madness in Latin America, but it was nice to share the evening with our children, nieces and nephews.

Community-building Classroom. Historic Center, Guatemala

Now, back to daily life in Guatemala. The photo above is a class session for the series of workshops I coordinate for the governments of Guatemala and Spain. It is mainly on community-building via training neighbors, artists and activists on development through arts and culture. They are a great group, very enthusiastic.

The instructor that day, Julio Solorzano, is a historian and well-known arts promoter with long experience abroad--the US, Russia and Mexico--managing dance troupes and arts venues. His mother was Guatemalan and he is spending some time in Guatemala, working on developing operas based on local legends and with local artists, so we were lucky--very lucky!--to have him.

View of the Old City of Guatemala,
from the community-building classroom window

The season is busy. I recently went to the yearly Manifestarte festival, which is a famous local festival highlighting Guatemalan street artists and filmmakers. It is on the historic Cerrito del Carmen hill, an ancient park that houses the oldest church in the City.

Tonight I am going to Handel's The Messiah Oratorio and tomorrow I am one of the panelists presenting at a forum on Hip Hop. So, swinging from Hip Hop to Baroque, I guess. As Whitman said, I encompass multitudes! (or something like that)

Street of an old barrio, Historic Center, Guatemala

It is the case that the Guatemala Hip Hop troupe won the Central American and Mexico competition, and represented the region--Mesoamerica--in the most important Hip Hop competition in France this year. The dancers are part of the panel as well, and the presentation will take place at the premises of the Alliance Française of Guatemala.

I am so very glad to have been invited to be part of this!

That is the fun part of the work I do here, the festivals, concerts and openings. Not-so-fun parts include faculty meetings for my thesis advisor work, but I cannot say that these are disagreeable. I like the people I work with at the university, so it is pleasant work. Still, revising thesis work over and over, does not make for fun. However, it does beat many other jobs.

A modern area of Guatemala City

On Thursday I have 3 gallery openings, and on Friday, a concert by friends who play modern Cumbia at a local pub. I plan to go to all and all of this is taking place right here in downtown Guatemala. Downtown is where the cultural ferment is happening on a daily basis, before it takes over and migrates to other areas of the country. In that sense, living here is exciting.

Overall, life doesn't suck in Guatemala, let's put it that way.

No wonder I keep meeting expats. The most recent were Dwayne and Maureen, who owned for many years Bar Europa downtown (still in business, very quaint), and have now retired to a farm. Very interesting people! It makes one feel a bit of "home away from home" to get to speak in English every so often. In general, people who venture to live abroad their countries will tend to be more adventurous than most, hence, quite interesting.

I will leave you for now with a photo of an artist friend--he is a well-known Graphic Designer--painting a Graff mural on one of the walls of the inn. I hope you found the shipping information useful!

www.QualityGuate.com

Bed and Breakfast - Parking

In the Historic Center of Guatemala City

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!

Photo: mikehenneke.com

We recently had a guest who was very antsy, because he arrived with wads of cash and was nervous about where to safeguard it. When we asked him why he didn't just bring a debit card and credit cards, his reply was that he wasn't aware that he could be using his USA debit cards here! Carrying all this cash on you when you travel isn't really safe. He is not the first to arrive with this belief. Many carry around a lot of cash because they believed debit cards or credit cards would not be viable in Central America.

Thing is, YES, YOU CAN use your USA debit cards here. I use my Bank of America at almost all ATMS with no problem (not that I have much in there, but still).

Cementerio General (The Historic Cemetery)

On the other hand, if you plan to stay for a while, just open a bank account at any local bank here and get a local debit card. It is good to know, though, that Guatemalan banks are not insured against bankruptcy, so if a bank just decides to close doors, up and leave, you basically lose your money. Thus, don't put all your eggs in that one nest.

Cementerio General

One common-sense behavior is never to get a lot out of an ATM nor to use the same ATM machine all the time. It is also smart to check your monthly balances to ensure that there were no snafus. Sometimes the ATM will state that your transaction cannot process, for whatever reason ... but your bank in the USA did process it!

As for credit cards, always call your credit card company before leaving the USA and let them know you will be using them in Latin America and for how long, or they will probably block it as soon as your credit card charges start coming in from countries south of the border. That has happened to me.

Cementerio General

These have been busy days. I am going to a wedding and getting ready to go spend Thanksgiving back home in the USA, so rushing to get all my work done and leave everything taken care of, so that I can enjoy peace of mind. These include having my thesis advisee turn in her latest chapter today---as with grad students everywhere else, she needs to be prodded and pressured--and finding a new apartment to move into before I leave.

Not that I will move into it before leaving, I just want to secure it and know it is there. And I found it just today! It's spacey and full of light, right on a beautiful 19th Century tree-lined boulevard a couple blocks off the Historic Center which ends in a huge park. It is very secure, with electric garage doors, and we can still walk to art school. I couldn't be happier. At US$500 a month this very same space, exactly, would cost almost double in zona 10 or 14, the wealthier areas! And in the US, a 4-bedroom 2-bathroom like this would be so expensive!

Cementerio General

These days there is also my work at the Historic Police Archives, which is absolutely enthralling, and the cultural community-building project I have been working with for the City government and the government of Spain. Both have been fascinating experiences. But more on that another day.

Last weekend had breakfast with two young friends. One is a Guatemalan friend, who happens to be a very talented photographer, Eny, and a friend from Israel who is a physicist recently graduated from a Netherlands' university teaching grad school at a university here for one year, Ori. Yeah, I know, Eny and Ori. Sounds a children's book. But they are real. No imaginary friends for me ... yet.

Eny went crazy taking photos. Climbing like a spider everywhere to get a shot. Ori loved the cemetery--it IS impressive--and claims it has nothing to lose compared with Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Not having been to Paris I can't tell, but I trust his judgment.

We spent close to 3 hours there and couldn't finish it all, as there is so much to see and explore, but we had a great time! We hiked the hills, we climbed atop mausoleums, we found some human bones strewn about (that's a common occurrence), we opened and went inside some crumbling crypts. Our faces ended up sunburned.

Cemetery nichos on the Day of the Dead.
Photo: Diario de Centro America

The history of this cemetery, begun in the 19th Century, is really interesting. It marked the (at the time, unwelcome) transition from being buried in Church catacombs, to being buried outside the city. Moreover, one can see almost all of the architectural styles which made their imprimatur on the City, replicated there, as the rich people would build very fancy mausoleums in the current styles, importing statues all the way from Paris and Italy.

These also span several trends, and I love all. My favorite are the modernist ones (see picture below). Also extremely colorful are the nichos, like high-rise hives of sorts, where the poor bury their dead.

Cementerio General

That same weekend went to Arrin Cuan, an award-winning Guatemalan cuisine restaurant, with Lorne, a foreign correspondent visiting Guatemala to run some investigations, among them an in-depth reportage on that despicable case in which the USA was using Guatemalans as guinea pigs in the 1940s, purposefully infecting them with syphilis. I said it before, that is just the tip of the iceberg! The stuff this man is digging up is amazing.

Anyhow. The colorful restaurant we went to was full of happy people, with loud marimba music. Lorne kept exclaiming "This couldn't be more perfect!" A large Mayan family was on the table besides us celebrating their grandmother's birthday, clapping and singing songs to her. Beautiful, moving scene. Lorne said "You never--never!--get to see stuff like this in the US!"

Also stuff you cannot get in the USA, as far as I know, is a half-pound of sizzling, charcoal-grilled, thick prime steak, perfectly seasoned, for less than US$12. Black beans, rice and guacamole on the side, and all the chili sauce you want. Or you can have the baked potato as a side, of course.

Cementerio General

At first Lorne was nervous because on his way to downtown the driver kept warning him against staying downtown--many taxi drivers get tips from specific hotels, often from the ones in the more upscale area, so they tend to frighten tourists from coming here--but after the first day, the man was traipsing up and down the historic center's streets on his own, interviewing people, going to appointments, looking for places to eat and hanging at the cafe's, etc.

He came here on a recommendation and we are glad he did. It has been fun to watch him have such a good time and listening to his stories.

Cementerio General

Thing is, nobody is really safe anywhere in Guatemala. If you are looking for gated-community safety, you'll find gated communities all right, but you have to get out of them sometimes and the idea of safety here is, overall, a fantasy. Yet with prudence and common sense, one can be relatively safe. As for me, I have lived in gated communities before. And no thanks! I don't like the bubble-feel.

So back to our guest, Lorne said the streets here make him feel invigorated! I know the feeling. That is exactly how my husband and I feel too. I wish I could describe the feeling, but I am not a creative writer, so words fail me. It's just so entertaining, so vivid. It is a warm ambiance, even in the chilly weather. And once you live here for a while, it is actually homey. You get to know the vendors, bump into the same people every day, from Congressmen to artists, beggars to vendors, government employees to students. Lots of Guatemalan artists downtown. LOTS!

Cementerio General

The whole environment is artsy. Besides being the habitat of a great many intellectual and artist personalities, there are several art school in the area, artists' and graphic designers' studios, theaters (and a vigorously emergent theater scene), hundreds of pubs, cafes and colonial churches, and constant street and pub concerts everywhere. From classical music at the Conservatory, for example, to original rock or blues at any pub. The whole are is an ongoing experiment in urban improvement, within the traditional/historic framework.

Just tomorrow I am going to the launching party of Alejandro Arriaza's new CD. Alejandro is a local, well-known singer-songwriter who rather than be all earnests and soulful, is more, like, wistful and humorous in his stuff. He has become a friend and we bump into each other almost every week. Generally, we are city rats. We don't have small kids, we don't have to worry about babysitters and such. We go out almost every night. Always something happening.

Cementerio General

There are so many protests downtown though, that all of us who live here no longer notice. I was in art class today and a couple students rushed in all excited saying that there was a protest in the streets, and did anyone know what it was all about? Turns out a bunch of us drove/walked through the protest and barely noticed it was actually a protest! I do recall wondering "Why is traffic so extraordinarily bad today?" as I was driving through one. And then vaguely realizing "Oh, must be a a protest."

In fact, there were TWO protests going on today! A friend from Italy just smirked and said, "Just like in Italy!" Eh, what can you do! The wages of democracy, I guess. Better this than brutal oppression. We just learn to navigate around them.

Some of my latest silkscreen prints at art school.

One thing in Guate, though, is that one cannot find decent hummus or sushi. Forget it! And Thai and Indian food? Not happening. I make my own hummus with tahina at home because it is easy, but hell will freeze over before I slave in the kitchen making sushi or Thai.

These, however, are things I can learn to live without, especially if I can keep going back home several times a year. The delicious fresh produce and all the other staples of cuisine one can find here, such as ceviche and churrasco, and fabulous exotic fruits and drinks, more than make up for it.

www.QualityGuate.com