Four in a motorcycle

On a Sunday the whole family jumps on the motorcycle to make a MacDonald's run. This is a clear example of what many Guatemalan choose to do everyday to to a lack of a safe and functional public tranportation system.

I believe in Guatemalans!

This is a photo and a moment worth sharing. A view of Zone 10, Guatemala City. On the front of Oakland Mall a sticker that says "I believe" and a rainbow over the city, which to me it is a reminder of the many colors of Guatemalans which TOGETHER can shine splendidly!!
I believe in Guatemalans... :)

JOSE BARNOYA GARCIA

Dr. Barnoya was born in Guatemala city, January 23rd 1931. Medical Doctor from the University of San Carlos and postgraduate studies in Boston and New York in Urology. He performed the first kidney transplant in Guatemala.

He is know for being one of the main promoter of the "Huelga de Dolores" a parody put together by University students of San Carlos de Guatemala that comes out as a parade on the last friday of lent.

He is an absolutely charming man involved fully in life! We met him and took this picture at Sophos when he was presenting his book "Last Words". It also so happens that my daughter Megan goes to school with one of his grandsons!

Below the cover of the  wonderful collection of short stories in his book "Ultimas Palabras"  by José Barnoya García.

Page 92: The Irony

You can be proud, the inform revealed it is man, he has a cromosome X and a cromosome Y . Thirty three years later he was buried as XX.



QUINCHO BARRILETE

This little barrio store called my attention for the name: Quincho Barrilete. Quincho Barrilete was the protagonist of the winning song of the Song Festival OTI 1977. Quincho was  a poor but happy and free boy.






De la marimba de chavalos de la Tirsa 
From the many children of Tirsa
este tal Quincho se las gana a los demás 
This so called Quincho beat everyone else
con sus diez años no cumplidos todavía 
Almost 10 years old
es hombre serio, como pocos en su edad. 
he is a serious man, like few of his age

Mientras su mama se penquea en la rebusca 
While his mom beat herself up to find a job
Quincho se faja como todo un tayacán 
Quincho works hard like a mule
mañana y tarde vende bolis en los buses 
morning and afternoon sell candies in the buses
para que puedan sus hermanos estudiar. 
So that his brothers and sisters can go to school.


Que viva Quincho, Quincho Barrilete, 
Hail to Quincho, Quincho Barrilete,
héroe infantil de mi ciudad, 
Child hero of my city
que vivan todos los chavalos de mi tierra, 
Hail to all the children of my country
ejemplo vivo de pobreza y dignidad. 
a vivid example of poverty and dignity

Que viva Quincho, Quincho Barrilete 
Hail to Quincho, Quincho Barrilete
su nombre, no se olvidará, 
his name will never be forgotten
porque en las calles, plazas, parques y barriadas 
because through street, plazas, parks and barrios
el pueblo lo repetirá. 
the people will repeat it.

Joaquín Carmelo viene a ser solo un membrete 
Joaquín Carmelo comes to be only a badgeque
 le pusieron en la pila bautismal, 
The gave it to him on baptismpero su nombre de combate es Barrilete 
but his combat name is Barrilete (kite)le cae al pelo, con su personalidad. 
his hair goes with his personality
Allá en el Open, vive desde el terremoto, 
Over there in the Open lives since the earthquakea 
hacer lechuzas este Quincho es un campeón, 

por un chelín, te hace un cometa prodigioso 

para ponerle un telegrama al colochón. 


El tiempo sigue, incontenible, su camino 
Time goes on cannot stop its kathy 
el chavalito que vivió en el Open tres 
and the kid that lived in the Open number 3
no volvera a ponerse más pantalon chingo 
won`t wear short pants anymore
ni la gorrita con la visera al revés. 
nor his cap backwards

Un dia va a enrrollar la cuerda del cometa 
One day he will roll up the string of his comet
y muy feliz mirando al sol se marchará 
and happy looking at the sun he will walk away
enfrentará las realidades de su pueblo 
he will face the reality of his people
y con los pobres de su patria luchará.
and with the poor of his country he will fight

TENGO COLCHON

A typical mattress store in Avenida Bolivar Guatemala City

While doing some planning today I said the extra five days before the actual delivery will be our "colchón". Colchón  literally mattress and in this context is used like "time buffer".

The same would go for having money buffer. I am maybe guessing it comes from the tradition of keeping the money saved in your colchón.

GUASTATOYA CENTRAL PARK, DEPARTMENT OF EL PROGRESO

This is the central park of the city of Guastatoya which is the "cabecera", capital, of the department of El Progreso. El Progreso is in east of the country and is  one of the least populated department with less than 200,000 people.

Church of San Felipe

This is the church if San Felipe 2 km north of Antigua Guatemala completed by 1930. My memory of it is going (by car) up a steep hill for 2 long kilometers to a big church with a permanent fair infront. The hill is not as steep anymore the two kilometers ante shorter and the church smaller, yet the excitement of getting there remains. Two reasons to go there or through there (besides the obvious one of visiting the church which by the way is the home of the famous XXVII century image of "Senor Sepultado de San Felipe):

1 To buy hand made clay coin banks shaped as fruits or secret wood boxes.

2 Go through there on the way to Finca Filadelfia

J

Symphonic Orchestra of the Guatemalan Conservatory

Delighted by the music sorrounded by mayan stelles at the Museum of Archeology. An awareness and fundraising event of the Guatemalan Association for Autism.

Mangoes and Coconuts

On our way to Cancun, this is fruit shop waits for travelers a top of Rio Dulce bridge. The bridge stretches for 900mts and is the longest one in Guatemala. It brings together the Peten and the rest of Guatemala. Rio Dulce Bridge refered as the Colossus of Izabal was built in 1977.

Mayan women figurines

At the museum of Archeology and Ethnology in Guatemala city this figurines are like nothing I have seen before. They were found at arqueological site Mirador, Peten.

THE EQUINOX OF SPRING

On the equinox of spring I give you a picture of a rug of jacarandas the quintessential sign of primavera in Guatemala.

HOJA de la SUERTE - LUCKY LEAF-

I am at the Cooperacion Espanola Training Center, at Antigua Guatemala and I was attracted by this common green in Guatemala. It is called Hoja de la Suerte, meaning Lucky Leaf. Maybe I was particullarly attracted today because I feel so lucky to be in the training I am at, exercising my right to education!!

The ROJOS

The Rojos is the name for the soccer team Municipal from the professional league.
Here in the picture they are in their rutinary daily training at Estadio el Trebol.
Fans of Los Rojos are usually also fans of El Barca team of Spain.
The "clasico" is the game of the Rojos vrs Cremas... an iconic rivalry.

Break dancer.

Five kids that you could tell they were really from the slums were entertaining people at Pasos y Pedales (a weekend pedestrian street) in Guatemala city.
They were working hard but I could tell people were torn as to what to feel: fear or amusement.
I was thrilled, good job kids! 'Breaking' all barriers!!!

Providing Life Skills For Rural Mayan Girls -EDUCATE A WOMAN CHANGE THE WORLD-

Dear Readers,


I am writing  to strongly encourage you to donate to this project. It is a well managed project impacting the population, that in my opinion,  is the most vulnerable and at the same time the one that can create the most impact: MAYAN GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN. Education can transform a woman's life and the prospects of her family and community.

42% of the population is Mayan Indigena
75% live in poverty conditions
74% of the girls under 10 are registered in school
19% are still in school by age 16.

Education is not valued and encouraged enough in Mayan communities and certainly it is less of a priority  to educate women. When girls are old enough to start working around the house or in the field they are taken out of school, some will start having children by age 14 and even if they want to keep studying the family decision prevails. This project  is making a strong intentional effort to provide opportunities to Mayan women to have a safe environment to grow their intellectual and life skills, working also on their self image and self appreciation.

The project works with young women between 17 an 20 years old, teaching them leadership and life skills through a scholarship and a payed internship with the ONG.

Young women  then work in the community with young girls between 10 and 15 years old and their mothers on skills such as decision making, team work, life planning, reproductive health, etc.

During this 30 day fundraising if  $20,000 is reached international donations will be doubled. Take a minute or two to explore the web site, there is no small amount, donations start at $10.00.

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/providing-life-skills-for-rural-mayan-girls/

Educate a Girl, a Woman, Change the World

100 LATINOS MIAMI

On my way back form doing a summer course at YALE ( I had to throw that in), in the Miami Airport a saw the mural for the project 100 Latinos Miami. Of course, I stopped to see if there were any Guatemalans and sure enough I found two!!! The pictures below are from the expo.

You can download the publication here.

The two Guatemalans are:

Patricia Gutierrez

 In 2009 through the Pollo Campero Foundation she inaugurated an oncological pediatric unit in Guatemala which is sustained through her public relations work facilitating the collaboration of her family's foundation and other foundations. Every time her family business opens a new restaurant, they make a donation to help a child victim of a terminal disease. Answering the questions as to how many children have been benefited she affirms the she knows they are thousands, in Guatemala and the US, yet they will always seem a few.   From the 100 Latinos Miami publication.








Bernando Villela

"Came to the US in search of an specialization and found a mission that has now ceased. On top of his professional success, his greatest rewards have come from community service in the organization of his immigrant friends on the Coalition for Guatemalan Immigrants. He has worked in that organization for more than 20 years giving free dental service along with other colleagues.
He is convinced that millions of illegal immigrants need to get ahead and be incorporated  into society through an integral reform to the immigration system. With great generosity he and his colleagues have donated more the 3 million dollars in free consultations in which all the materials come from his own practice and all the service time offered by the professionals is free of charge" From the publication 100 latinos Miami.

Going Bananas

Yesterday with our Somalian cab driver who picked us up at the Salt Lake City International Airport we where competing for whose country was suffering more... my country he said is suffering from the civil war, mine I said from the drug war, my people are dying of hunger, mine I claimed are dying from preventable diseases living next to open sewage, etc. Then we went on to exports I asked him if they exported coffee: he said no, we export sugar and bananas (not the get your country rich formula), we do too I said. We concluded we where both banana republics in the full sense of the expression.
Later my husband added they also export pirates to which I added a my girls for prostitution. The world is truly going bananas.
Today I am catching an early flight to Denver bought a banana and then thought hmm I wonder if its from Somalia or Guatemala. Well as you can see in the picture is from the latter. A $1.00 banana like the ones I get back home for $1.40 a dozen.
CIAV cambiando vidas. Sent from my mobile.

MAZATENANGO - LAND OF DEER

Mazatenango, the 'cabecera' -capital- of Suchitepequez, means  land of deer: Mazate - deer, nango-land. The name was given by the Nahuatl people who came with the Spanish from what now is Mexico.

In the picture the recently built fountain in a rotunda that created traffic confusion since nobody knew who had the right of way.

Miss Independence and Miss Monja Blanca

At zona 18 an Independence day parade from Escuela La Esperanza. Band, floats, ballons, flags.
Yosselyn, on the right, is Miss Monja blanca.
Not to sadden the day but let me tell you about her: I met her during campaign because we couldn't help noticing her skin problems. We started helping her with doctors and medicine and as we find out more we meet her sweet but illiterate mom, her brother who is 10 on first grade because on his mom's words his brain didn't ripen well and her older unemployed brother. I just talked to her frustrated teacher and principal to see if we could meet. With not a lot of hope they agreed. We shall meet next.
Ok now we are off with my girls to eat crepes at Oakland Mall... (Yes I am being sarcastic -but we are going-)

Hmmm Happy Birthday Guatemala... Birthday wish: Health and Education for EVERYONE.
CIAV cambiando vidas. Sent from my mobile.

Election day!

Election post open a 7am but logistics, observers, etc already there.
CIAV cambiando vidas. Sent from my mobile.