BACK IN GUATE, BACK TO THE GRIND

Kite Surfing at Hollywood Beach

According to Wikipedia, kite surfing "has been described as combining wakeboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, and gymnastics into an extreme sport." It is awesome to watch and must be even awesomer to practice!

So, have been away from Guatemala since New Year's, pretty much. Needless to say, spent some time being a beach bum, since I live close to the beach.

Hip Hop Revolution Competition 2011

Upon returning in May I was overwhelmed with work. I run a community-organizing workshop series for an international aid organization and I teach several grad-level courses at a local university, so as soon as I returned, I hit the ground running.

Nevertheless, I am including here a couple of photographs of some fun events I went to in Guate before leaving for the US. Hip Hop has been a growing trend in Guatemala, not only in the urban area, but also in the rural regions, where one can find artist collectives producing rap in Mayan languages, such as Tzutuhil. The local and international break dance competitions (see photo above) are really fun to watch.

Used Books Book Fair, Guatemala City

Guatemala has several used books book fairs, most of them taking place in the central plaza of downtown. Some are bigger and better than others, and you can find 19th century antique books for about US$5 to current bestsellers. Still, you have to dig through a lot of dross, like self-help books and old, outmoded textbooks. Some booksellers actually specialize in Us magazines of sort-of recent vintage, such as Living, Elle, Glamour, Architectural Digest, etc. that are running anywhere from 3 months to 5 years behind.

Sometimes, I enjoy buying fashion magazines from the 1980s and home and cooking magazines from the 1960s and 1970s.

Archer, Florida

In the US I spent some time in the deep rural areas of northern Florida, such as Archer. Interesting place, in some ways. Everything is a 30 minute drive away: the supermarket, Starbuck's, Barnes and Noble, restaurants.

People in Archer seem to live on very big lots and have lots of big dogs. Sometimes, goats and dwarf donkeys too. Cows. Horses. Very woodsy and as opposed to Southern Florida, you can walk in ups and downs, for there is a bit of a hilly topography. I did a lot of going out for long walks with big dogs.

Archer, Florida

It is quiet but not really silent. Like, there is a lot of wind rustling through tree branches, dog barking, cows mooing, tractors doing their thing. The wind can carry sound through long distances. At night, the coyotes do a very creepy "yip-yip-yipping" kind of sound before they go hunt for dinner. As you can imagine, not the best idea ever to go out for a walk at night nor leave dogs, goats and poultry unprotected.

It behooves people in Archer to be stocked well with food and books at night. Nothing much else going on then.

Archer, Florida

Since these little towns--and they are little, Archer has one street light!--are only half an hour away from the bigger university town nearby, Gainesville, I would not be surprised if developers soon swoop down to try to turn the farms and farmlets into subdivisions.

The big cow farm pictured above, for example, I hear was up for sale and a developer tried to buy it. The residents, however, interposed some legal measure to stop it. At least the wealthier ones who want to live there because of the pastoral setting. Most of these residents want to keep the countryside, well, country. I fear that it is a matter of time, anyhow, since bigger towns such as Gainesville seem to swallow up smaller ones in their growth and become cities, or else, every little hamlet around them slowly become ghost towns.

Archer, Florida

The house above is typical of some wealthier areas of Archer. The big porch and all that. Lovely places to walk, read, knead dough and bake bread. I guess if you get really into it, you can get bored enough that you really start doing things like making your own candles and soap and all those Martha Stewart-y things. I didn't stay long enough to get to that degree of bored.

I think if I had to stay there, I'd just start a goat farm. Seriously. Probably because as a kid I must have read and re-read Heidi about a dozen times. And because I like goat cheese.

Newberry, Florida

Archer is not a pretty town, really. It has a quaint, picturesque main street; but it is mostly populated by old trailers and old Southern houses falling apart. It is very poor, except for the pretty but smallish area where the wealthier live. However, nobody at that neighborhood actually goes into the town.

Other towns have managed to prettify themselves in that cute-quaint way of historic towns, and there are cafés, antique shops and barbeques, which happen to be activities I enjoy much more than kneading dough and making soap. So if I had to actually live in the countryside (perish the thought!) I can imagine I'd spend most of my time wandering around those places drinking coffee, eating pie and buying cutesy knicknacks, like aromatic candles packed in lace doilies.

Some of such towns are Newberry and Old Archer, among others. The antique shopping in the surrounding towns is actually awesome. Highly recommended.

Awesome Steak Salad at Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville, I like. Enough to want to live there year round? Nope. There are good reasons why the University of Florida professors all pack up and leave during the summer months, when students decamp: the heat, humidity and tedium that fall over the place like a thick, damp quilt. Without the university and its happenings (and football), all there is to it is agroindustrial business and cattle. And the teaching hospital and law firms!

During the year, the night scene is college crowd: cheap beer, loud bands and mounds of greasy buffalo wings. But there are also much finer restaurants, book stores, cafés, theater plays, and so on. Actually one can find some really great food there, locally-owned restaurants and so on. I could live there year round if I had to. Not the most exciting place ever, but there are much worse. Like Lubbock, Texas (good antique shopping in Lubbock, but a dismal-dismal place otherwise).

Hollywood, Florida

So, back to the beaches in South Florida.

Hollywood beach is among the best, unless you like the "celebrity scene" aspect of Miami Beach and SoBe and all that, which can sometimes be fun. Hollywood Beach, however, has a touristy area, full of shops and restaurants, some actually pretty good. There is a bar I like at Hollywood Beach called Nick's which is pretty good and a hangout for locals. Check it out if you are there.

Hollywood, Florida

There is a not-touristy beach at Hollywood which is where the locals go (see above). More rustic, wilder.

The photo above shows what I like to do at the beaches: chill with a cooler full of cold drinks and sushi, under a palm tree, with a good book. The sound of the waves and the seabirds is relaxing although the sea birds get pretty aggressive around there. Not like "I'll poke your eyes out" aggressive but you do get a sense that if you don't share your food, they are capable of snapping your finger off your hand as they vie for your food.

Moms with babies at Hollywood Beach, Florida

Anyhow, I am back in Guatemala and we have sold the inn, so I am not an innkeeper anymore. I will blog on living and working in Guatemala, but my activities have evolved to other areas of enterprise. By the way, if you go to downtown Guatemala, check out the Cien Puertas Pub. Good eats and very down to earth ambiance in a building over 100 years old. Try their lentil soup with garlic bread. It's famous. Will keep you posted on life around here again!

The Cien Puertas pub, Pasaje Aycinena, Historic Downtown Guatemala