On Tourism

On Tourism

1. Enganar(me) - the act of being swindled...

I dont so much mind paying 6 dollars a night at my hotel with luke warm water and the MOST amazing view of the lake from the balcony and a comfortable bed, except that i think everyone else is paying about 3 dollars night... Leaving Money in Guatemala feels like a good thing, i just wish I had the chance to tell them I know you are ripping me off and I am trying my hardest not to mind.

(There is a passage in the book Pray Eat Love regarding the tourist in Bali... 50% of the tourists dont realize they are being swindled and think the Balinese are so very kind and enjoy their time... while the other half start to get angry and bitter at the balinese for constantly swindling them.

I also think of Bafa bafa (http://www.stsintl.com/business/bafa.html) and I remember being both in alpha and beta culture. I remember using the unknowing betians for thier resources. Man, I wanted that ice cream. I am being used and its starting to hurt my heart. Breath deep and let go. its just money and in terms of the hotel its just 9 extra dollars...

but then there was the boat ride to santiago, and the earrings... and the 100Q that somehow disappeared from my pocket, and there was the...100Q I found in the street one day).

2. Màs Dinero

I saw this perhaps guatemalan or mexican tourist girl barter for a pair of earrings. She was brilliant. I tried to take mental notes. the pair she wanted were 40Q... she grimaced... how much do you want them for he asked... she said 15Q... he said 35... no 15 maximo! 30! no 15! and she started to walk away... 20, 20 he called out after her... she went back and got them for 20 half the price!... I dont have the cultural upbringing to do this... however, i might try to lower a price by 5 quetzales next time...

3. Living vs. touring

In Xela, I felt like i was living there... albeit for four weeks. It was a chance to make friends, plans, get some what of a rhythm... after my first 6 week trip in the philippines i said, i am never doing another short term mission... its too hard to get to know people and leave knowing you are probably never going to see them again. i think my heart starts to harden out of protectivenss. I think the next time I travel for serious purposes, i want it to be for a year. A year in the same place. I dont want to just climb mountains and see ruins, I want make friends and leave pieces of my heart. I think traveling is great, dont get me wrong. It is teaching me to hold things and people lightly, and the only thing dependable in the world is God and licaudos.. (yummy licuados).

4. Disclaimer: I would probably find this poem offensive if i were in an cross cultural relationship... However, I want to put it here, because I have been doing some thinking on the many gringas I see making out with guatemalan guys... Please Note this is not about cross cultural couples who are actually dating and trying to love eachother with sincerity.. this is about the one night stands kind of things...Also note: if you are a spanish speaker and you find errors in my spanish, i am pretty sure they are there.. could you let me know fo them.

La Gringa

Soy la gringa de Xela
con el pelo y las piernas desarreglados

Te besaré, bailarémos en las calles
Como si fueras tu pais
tu piel, la tierra
tus palabras, el aire

y tu me besarás, bailarémos en las diskotecas
como yo si fuera un boleto, el 25 de diciembre
una canción por la radio

He leído Marx. Mi cuerpo es tuyo.

5. In San Pedro (also known as hippie heaven, according to me) for 6 Q you can get freshly baked pan de coco... its delicious.

6. Tatuaje

·sometime between 2001 and 2004 I was crossing a bridge to science hill at ucsc and i saw a beautiful leaf fall from the sky and I said, i want that that as a tattoo. Let´s see if I still want it in a couple of years.
·in june 2007, I went on a road trip with my sister that was started with an Ani Concert. The two weeks and the concert made me decide i wanted to get a leaf tattoo on my right shoulder. ¿but what leaf?
·today, 19 de febrero 2008. i have finally found the leaf that i to get tattooed. I was walking trying to find this internet place and i saw it and I said this is it.