Hot Showers, Cold Receptions, and Tall Tales

I’ve been slacking again. Chris and I are back in the states, but first I’m going to catch you up on our last few weeks in Guatemala.

The picture is of the super-fabulous showerhead at our ridiculously extravagant hotel room in Guatemala City (where we needed to stop before we went on to Coban and Flores.) I post it so that you can compare it to the deathtrap in our apartment from my earlier post. Prior to going to Guatemala, we suffered through weeks of little or no water. On the rare occasion that we did get a trickle out of the showerhead, it was almost certainly not hot. Also, Chris was getting zapped whenever his hand got too close. Needless to say, we were not enjoying the water situation. When we went to Guate, we decided to do it up. We stayed at the Westin.

After we sterilized ourselves in the Westin shower, we went out for an overpriced meal at a nearby Mexican restaurant in Zona 10. On the way, we ran into a guy who told us (in English) that one of the nearby taquerias was better than the other. You don't run into many English speaking black guys in Guatemala, so I figured he was a tourist like me. I smiled, said thanks, and moved on. On our way back to the hotel, he approached us again. Turns out he is a Garifuna from Livingston, Guatemala. He once lived in the U.S. At first, he lived in San Francisco. He described in amazement the train in San Francisco that goes underneath the bay. “Its name was Bart,” he said. He also lived in Phili for a while, until some guy at Home Depot (where he worked) turned him in to immigration. He has been trying to get back to the U.S. ever since. The last time he tried, he made it to Tucson and was picked up by the border patrol. He waited in a federal prison for a month and then was deported to Guatemala City. After a time, he was released from Guatemala City jail, but he had no money and no way to get home. Livingston is a hefty trip from Guatemala City. He had just been released that morning.

Any of you who know me are aware that I am pretty skeptical, but I believed this guy's story. Maybe it was the fact that I was on my way back to a down-covered bed in a $150 a night hotel room (in Guatemala mind you) or on my way from a $65 dinner at a snooty L.A.ish restaurant, but we gave him enough money to chicken bus it back to Livingston. Someday, we’ll go to Livingston and see if Carlos ever made it back.

Carlos said that Guatemalans are incredibly racist. In his opinion, way more racist than estadounidenses (that’s us). I cannot confirm or deny, but I can attest to the fact that anyone who deigned to look at Carlos did not look kindly. I can also confirm that Chris and I got some very snooty looks in Guatemala City. These were not anti-gringo looks. They were “should I be giving a room to these people” looks or “are those people appropriately dressed for our snooty L.A. wannabe restaurant” looks.

Guatemala City is like L.A., but with even worse traffic. Avoid it. But if you must go, I highly recommend the bed at the Westin. It was the best sleep I’d gotten in about two months.