Actually you can´t really see our faces.Met up with my host family yesterday: Consuelo (matriarch), Eduardo (brother), Ivan (son), and Milagro (granddaughter). Was quickly conscripted into helping Eduardo change the light bulb in the room where I´m staying. I held up the ladder while he leaned on me and climbed up. Almost lost my footing against the bed and dropped him. Mili (Milagro) made me listen to the ocean inside of a seashell for twenty minutes. She´s really into feeling my hair and my beard and describing the difference. Then she makes her grandmother do the same. She´s six.
I´ve had several conversations about Obama - everywhere I go people want to talk about el moreno. Consuelo is really happy about him and talks about how hopeful Central Americans are about Obama. It´s hard for me to see what Obama has ever said that bodes well for Latin America, partly because he kept his cards so close to himself during the election. Mostly really vague platitudes about changes in trade policy, but most people seemed to think those changes would require unraveling just about every trade agreement out there, which seems unlikely. But I have a hard time communicating that even in English though, so for the time being I just agreed with her. Once I brush up on my Spanish I´m going to try to explain how Obama is more like a cancer, or an autoimmune disease like AIDS or lupus. (See yesterday´s post.)
Without fail, the following comments are a part of every conversation I´ve had so far.
1. "Guatemala is a very poor country."
2. "The U.S. takes all of Guatemala´s oil."
3. "Guatemala is run by narcotraffickers."
Also, it took 540 dead Palestinians and several Israelis, but looks like the U.S. has finally joined in calls for an end to the attack on Gaza. My friend Rishi sent me this today, and I thought it made some interesting points about the need for moderates on both sides to find common ground, even as they disagree about the situation during the last several days. Personally I´m more critical of Israel since they have the planes, but I think this is appropriately conciliatory, and the underlying logic here seems hard to dispute:
¨And all the well-meaning organizations following the Status Quo Rules, thinking they are serving their side, are really only prolonging the crisis.¨
Off to lunch.
3 comments:
i've always wondered if when traveling to foreign countries you fall into political discussions because you seek it out and unconsciously start it since you're curious about that country's politics, or if people talk about it more because its more important to them and therefore the likelihood of you getting into a conversation about politics is higher than at home.
i think some of the best readings to do before you travel to places like Central America is "I Write What I Like" selected works by Steve Biko, i think you'll find the "Black Souls in White Skins" (Ch. 5, pg. 19-26) interesting.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=l6HOxfMR6UUC&dq=I+write+what+i+like+steve+biko&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=GPHzWcxrQe&sig=N78lzEwI3ZyKbHYbZA3CizJ4zx0&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA19,M1
one more thing about the trustafarians et. al., from my current fixation, wayne coyne.
"Wayne Coyne: I hope beyond hope that Obama can win this thing, and we can really stop complaining about how stupid the government is and start doing something about it. A lot of people sit on the sidelines and say there's nothing they can do it about it, and I don't agree. I have a senator here in Oklahoma that I am trying to get into Washington, and he could win even if Obama doesn't. So I like to remind people that you should also worry about your own corner of the world. Those things are always important. That said, I hope Obama can win, so we can stop the retardation that is overtaking us."
man we look fierce!
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