Wandering All Over the City

Friday, Apr. 15, 2011--Guatemala City

No one walks much here. Everyone takes the buses. Today, however, I walked everywhere. The city is broken into zones. I am staying in Zone 1, the old center of the city. My wanderings took me through Zones 3, 4, 9, 10, and 13. The last four are considered to be the "better" zones of the city. I did see some nicer places than I had seen yesterday, but my mind has not changed overall about the city. I guess that it most closely resembles Rio de Janeiro in terms of how it has an old center that is considered dangerous after dark, it has newer sections that are considered better but still have some warnings about being out after 21:00, and it has a problem with gangs from poor neighborhoods.

My first stop was a bus station in a rather bad part of town. It's bad only because it is a market area for several blocks around the station. The people were nice and friendly. And the young man working at the bus station was very happy to know I would be taking their bus tomorrow. It will take me through the border and to the first major town where I can catch a connecting bus to the small village where I plan to stay tomorrow night. On my way back into the center later in the afternoon, I checked to make sure where I could catch a Rapid Transit Bus (operates like light rail with stations approximately every quarter to half mile) to take me there. The station is 3 blocks from my hotel, and the station where I get off is 3 blocks from the bus terminal.

From there, I walked to Minerva Park to go to the Anthropology Museum. When I got there, however, everyone was just walking inside. For me, though, they walked me over to an occupied counter, pulled out a book, and asked for an admission fee of $7. I have never liked dual admission prices for foreigners vs. locals, and it made it even worse that there was no admission price at all for locals. I asked if the admission fee would also admit me to the art museum across the street (which my guidebook said it would), and they said, "No, they have their own admission." I just said, "I don't think I want to pay that much," and I walked away. The guidebook had not said anything great about the museum. The one item it is known for having is a mask from Tikal which you can see by clicking on the link.

When I exited the park, I was at the airport which I knew to be fairly close to the city and to have some of the best neighborhoods near it. I walked past the US Embassy and large office buildings in the area. I went onto the campus of Francisco Marroquin University which had a very beautiful campus and students who seemed to be wealthy.

Back in my neighborhood, I ate the daily special at a restaurant near my hotel--roasted chicken, rice, salad, tortillas, and lemonade. It was good.

The downtown area was alive with marchers all day. They wore different costumes, but all included pointed hoods with eye holes. I saw a photo at an Easter exhibit of such a group, so I guess it had something to do with Easter. However, it also seemed political. Most of the groups seemed to be made up of poorer people.

This afternoon, I finished reading Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida. It's an unusual book because of both the story (about a woman who abandoned her family suddenly and with no trace) and the setting of much of it (Lapland). Although the main character (the daughter of the woman who disappeared) has some negative aspects to her personality, I enjoyed the book. It is well written, is occasionally funny, introduces Sami towns and characters, etc. I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4.

Tomorrow, I head into El Salvador. I don't have a reservation for tomorrow night, and it is a small town where I hope to stay. I wrote an e-mail to a place, but I never heard back from them. There are only two places listed in my guidebook as potential places to stay there. What makes me especially worried is that it is now Easter week, and students are on holidays. It's a common time for families to travel. If I have to, however, I can backtrack to a nearby larger, less touristy town.