Mercado Democracia (The Democracy Market) was walking distance from my hotel. I could buy everything I needed for my travels at this market. There was a real diversity of Guatemalans shopping at this large-scale mercado. It ranges from very Mayan looking to Ladinos who have more Spanish blood and physical and facial features like long aquiline noses, lighter skin color, and dress in modern attire. The Ladino women wear fashionable clothing, are attractive with well proportioned body types, not stocky like Mayan women. Ladino women walk with their heads held high, shoulders and back straight, carrying themselves with confidence knowing that they’re attractive and spark attention. They dress in contemporary stylish pants or skirts, matching blouse, usually with a wide belt outside the blouse tightly around the waist highlighting their figure, with one to two inch heels. In contrast, most Mayan women wear traditional clothing of handwoven wrap around colorful skirts, and brightly colored blouses with floral designs, which hide their figures. The male escorts of both Mayan and Ladino women tend to wear modern clothing like jeans and T-shirts.
Fruit sold at Mercado Democracia: a rambotan, tastes like a grape
Shoe shine "boy", they're all over Guatemala & Mexcio
Street food vendor: cheap & tasty, but beware
Mayan woman and family
Modern Ladino woman and family
One Sunday afternoon when I finished my shopping at the market, I sat at a bench to rest and sparked a conversation with an elder Ladino Guatemalan gentleman. His name was Santiago, seventy years old, retired from having owned a small “convenient” store, and sitting on the bench watching the hustle and bustle of the mercado. I told him I was studying Spanish in Xela and would like to practice my Spanish with him. He enthusiastically agreed to a conversation. When I told him I was from the United States, he began talking about illegal immigration into the US. He had visited Houston, Texas many years ago to see relatives.
He said that the “US has every right to kick-out people who enter illegally. If someone enters my home without my permission or invitation, I have the right to use force to kick them out, if that’s what it takes, so does the US. I understand people go there to find work and there should be some kind of work program to invite people to work for a few years, like five or so. Then they should be allowed to return to their country of origin. I know many Guatemalans who have gone illegally to work in the US and never return.They abandon their families -- that’s not right -- and are never heard from again.”
Everyone with a baby or child
Young Mayan man
Young Mayan woman
Santiago said he was a Pentecostal Christian and keep saying, “It's all in the holy book, the Bible. Everything we need to know and to live our lives we can find in that book. We need to give glory to the Almighty.” He went on to say that he didn’t believe like the Catholic church that you need idols and priests to help you worship the Lord. He felt some people lost track of the word of God and wasted time adoring fake idols and false gods like the saints. He said, “I’m aware that many people in Latin America pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe. I respect her as the mother of God, but it’s not in the bible that we worship her. I only worship the one true God. I can beseech Him directly to help me and give thanks for the good I’ve experienced. I have nothing to do with the Catholic church. They’re just as corrupt as most governments.”
I told him about my camera being stolen by the Mexican police. He looked at my messenger bag with my groceries and said, “You need to be careful, especially around here. Thieves will rob you and harm you for a few quetzales” (the local currency named after the radiant bird). I immediately clutched my bag tightly into my chest. Santiago said, “I’ve been accosted by thieves. But since I never carry much money with me, I tell them I have nothing, here’s the few quetzales I have. They take it and leave me in peace. You need to be very careful at night. Ungrateful vandals are lazy, don’t want to work, only want the easy life, roaming around the streets taking what they can from you, even your life.”
Besides the United States, he has travelled to Spain, Italy, and Israel. He said he no longer wants to leave his “pueblo” (city). I have “everything I need here. I’m widowed and my children sometimes come around in a car and take me to places around Guatemala. I love my country. I’ll never leave again. I come to the mercado, buy an inexpensive meal, a cup of coffee. I like watching people going by. I’m satisfied.” With that, he rose from the bench told me, “Be careful Don Manuel. Enjoy your visit, may you learn what you need to learn. I’ve enjoyed our conversation. I need to go now.” He gave me a strong handshake and shuffled off towards a side street.
Santiago's Xela: "I love my country"
Colorful streets of Xela
Another street: "everything I need" is here
The next morning in my Spanish class I related this encounter to my instructor Leticia, as an example of using Spanish to interact and learn about the local culture and inhabitants. She is forty-five years old, holds a masters degree in education, and has taught Spanish and education classes at the university in Guatemala City. She has written three books, two in Spanish grammar, and one while in government employment on how the different departments (comparable to states in the US) spend their federal allocated funds. She is highly educated, opinionated, a demanding task master when teaching Spanish, and an excellent instructor. She is a modern woman, with modern ideas on expanding the role of women in Guatemala, all in a compact, strong four feet, ten inch frame.
During the conversation part of the Spanish curriculum, at length we discussed the current presidential race. In September, Guatemala is electing its next president. The current president’s wife is attempting to defy the constitution and run for president. I initially wondered why she was precluded. Leticia explained that Guatemala has a history of dictators, who hand over the presidency to a hand picked crony, but still retain power. The constitution precludes any close relatives or current cabinet ministers to run for president, in order to eliminate the potential for the sitting president to continue to govern through a surrogate. Leticia was adamant that the first lady could not run. During my stay in Guatemala, this issue was finally decided by the Supreme Court. It was an unanimous decision (one justice is a woman) that the first lady cannot participate.
We also discussed the candidacy of Rigoberta Mencho, a Mayan woman and Nobel Peace prize winner who advocates for justice and equality for indigenous people. Leticia would love to see a woman president, but feels that Mencho does not reach out to a broad base for support, that she has demonstrated to only advocate for one segment of society. Leticia feels that the decision of the Supreme Court and the willingness for the first lady, her party and supports, to respect the decision are examples of the strength of democracy in Guatemala. She recognizes that there are many problems with equitable distribution of resources and that corruption in government and business leaders has not decreased. She expressed frustration that the “common person” and most people are not educated beyond grade school, live their life’s without books, eat a poor diet full of fat, salt, sugar, and do not strive to grow intellectually or take risks to better their lives. She feels that most people accept any job that comes along, keep if for their entire life instead of trying new things, and investing time and energy to improve their lives. Leticia is a bit of an elitist.
Xela cemetery: even in death the wealth get the best views
(less affluent in blue & green cubby holes in background)
Five hundred years of burying the dead in this place
Shrines to dead loved ones
Not a church, it's a mausoleum for the dead
In contract to Leticia, I spent many hours interacting with Edwardo and his family. He is the manager of the hotel I stayed at. He is thirty-seven years old, married with an indigenous woman, and has twin boys of ten years old. Him and his wife are not going to have anymore children. He was raised in a big family with ten brothers and sisters in a small mountain village outside of Xela. They were very poor, barely had enough food to eat beans, rice and corn tortillas twice a day. He went to grade and secondary school at the opposition of his parents. His mother chastised him that he should be working to help support the family to survive instead of wanting to go to school. She would tell him that he knows there’s not enough food for everyone, that he should be helping and not just be an expense and wanting to eat all the time, and not wanting to work.
Edwardo went to school in the mornings and worked in the afternoon in the agricultural fields or helping his father in day labor jobs for wages. Of the money he earned, he saved some to “rent” books for school. He saw how his family struggled with so many mouths to feed. He realized that if his situation was going to improve, he needed an education that would allow him to find a job with a steady income. After he received a basic education and was able to read, write, and mathematics, he left the small village where his family lived for Xela. While doing odd manual labor jobs, he enrolled in a trade school to learn how to drive a bus, thanks to his basic education.
He completed the training and passed the examination for a bus driver’s license. He quickly found a job and pursued this occupation for four years, but found it stressful and dangerous. He didn’t like it and looked for another job. The hotel he currently manages was hiring an entry-level worker for maintenance and cleaning rooms. Because he knew how to read, write, and was good with numbers, he beat out the competition. He seized every opportunity to learn all aspects of the hotel business. He listened to customers, learned a few basic common words in English, and what clients where interested in when visiting Xela. The owners of the hotel were impressed. Eventually, Edwardo gained experience and knowledge in all aspects of the business. Clients gave positive compliments about him to the owners. He enjoys people and working with diverse clients. He finally worked his way up to the manager position that he’s held for a number of years.
Edwardo (second from left), Roberto (hotel staff) & twin sons
Edwardo’s wife is a Mam Quiche indigenous women. He said that when he was dating her, his parents were against it and wanted to know why he was with “an Indian”. Eva works at a government agency that promotes tourism. They devote all their energy and resources to raising their two boys, that they are very proud of. They both go to school and excel at their studies. Edwardo and his wife buy their books, keep them clothed in good quality “used” American clothes. Edwardo wants to visit “El Norte” (the US), but can’t afford the cost. He says, “Our lives are all about helping to make things better for our two boys. We think they will have a better life than we have.” I played soccer with the two boys and we talked about their parents. It is very apparent they love and honor Roberto and Eva.
They are a happy family and enjoy each other’s company. They play together, laugh together, take inexpensive outings together. Their routines revolve around the two boys, that they obviously love very much. The two boys are obedient to their parent and love them very much.
I had the opportunity to ask Eva: what does American mean to you, and what does America stand for? She said, “I don’t think about things that way. Of course America is the whole continent. I’ve never thought about living in ‘America’. I’m a native Mam from a little indigenous village in the mountains. I don’t necessarily think about being a Guatemalan, but since I live in Guatemala, I guess I’m one. No one in my village uses those terms. The only time I hear ‘American’ is when Edwardo sometimes uses it to refer to people from the United States. People in my village call themselves Mam. Many people only speak Mam Quiche. My mother doesn’t speak Spanish. She doesn’t want to learn it - many of the older people are like that.” I asked what about the younger people in the village. Eva said, “They speak Spanish, understand Mam, but don’t want to speak it. I speak Mam and Spanish.”
Roberto, Manny de, Edwardo, and Eva
Why should the United States care about Guatemala, its people, and its future? Guatemala is a new democracy coming out of the nightmare of repressive dictatorships and protracted wars. It is a neighbor of and shares the history, resources, and future of being on the American continent with the United States. It sends many new immigrants (legal and illegal) to the United States to work and help shape US society. It has a younger population base than the US. Many sectors of Guatemala society look to the US as a model for economic development, social justice, and democratic ideals. The US is the mentor for this young democracy. Over the last eleven years the US has spent billions of dollars attempting to implement democratic institutions and concepts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The verdict is still out whether this has been a wise investment or a waste of US resources. Guatemala is receptive and ready to follow the US down the path of pluralism, allowing multiple competing voices to be heard, and fully implementing “liberty and justice for all”. Can we afford to shrink from our responsibility to lead? No, that’s not the “American” way. We’ve shown the path, now we need to guide and give direction if we indeed believe in our founding ideals of “We hold these truths to be self evident. All men (and women) are created Equal. We are bestowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. . . Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Guatemala also wants these treasures.
Staff at my favorite restaurant in Xela: "Albamar"
Try the huevos rancheros, they're excellent
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