So I have very mixed feelings about this place.
For the past two days, the weather has been beautiful and I finally got to enjoy the beauty of this place. Yet two days ago I talked to some locals, and got the understand some of the negative consequences tourism has on this place.
On Tuesday morning I went for a run, pretty much all through the village. The village essentially exists of two parts, the "local" part up the hill, and the tourist part at the bottom. At the edge of town there is construction going on. I talked to one of the guys directing traffic, and he explains to me that they are working on widening the access road to town (which is not even entirely paved right now). Talking to him, once again reinforces my perception of how nice and friendly the local people here are. I don't think I've ever been to a place where I encountered such friendliness from the overall population. After my run I decide to fix my rear bumper. A few hours and two trips up the hill later, I took care of the dents in the bumper and it is solidly attached again. Afterwards I decide to talk to the two girls a little that manage the hotel "office", clean, and take care of the restaurant to practice my Spanish. It will turn out to be a very interesting conversation.
I had been trying to figure out the tourist crowd here, there was something that struck me as odd. I noticed that there was an amount of blond rasta-hair people with Che Guevara T-shirts that was way beyond a normal distribution. As it turns out, there are lots of heavy drug-user tourists here. Not that I have a problem with tourists smoking their occasional joint. But the girls tell me that last week a tourist overdosed in town, and that that is not a single occurrence. What really gets me mad though is that there are enough people like that that they really changed the culture in the town. According to the girls, about 50% of the locals are now drug users, and the local kids are starting to do drugs at the age of 12 or 13. The police is obviously bought by the tourist establishments (owned mostly by expats), since I haven't seen a single one of them in the lower part of town. It makes me mad as hell.
Yesterday I took a boat to Panajachel, the main town on the lake. The last ten minutes of the trip the guy was hauling ass, and there were quite some waves on the lake. It felt like getting spanked on the bud for ten minutes straight - by a BOAT! It's been a long time since I wanted to punch someone in the face so bad. As I walked down a street in town towards the lake, I finally realized why people like this place so much. The view was simply astounding. I took a little video clip, even though it doesn't do the real thing justice. I hung out on the lakefront, talking to two young Austrians, for the next two hours. However, the way back on the boat topped it all. There were hardly any waves, the the ride was really smooth, and I could enjoy the sunset over the mountain-ridge in front of me. It more than made up for the unpleasant ride earlier in the day.
So here I am - enjoying the relaxing, amazing atmosphere of the lake, while at times getting really aggregated about the influences of tourism on the locals here. Interesting scenario. But that is what this trip is all about - the unexpected.
I posted more picture under the "Lago Atitlan" link. J
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ReplyDeleteJoe, instead of a comment from you about the lake in the movie, a baby or infant crying could be heard. What mean thing did you do to the poor little one?
ReplyDeleteI guess you will find more of these "ambivalent" impressions on your way down south. I have seen this also in Mexico - for example, Real de Catorce (you remember, Brad Pitt) is very similar to what you describe in your blog. Full of hippie-dropouts from Europe and the US who feel they found their alternative real life style, but indeed for any Mexican they look strange in the best case and outright ridiculous in most other cases. They think they found the real Latin Amercian life, but their way of living couldn't be farther away from what Latin America really is. (You may argue that Latin America is what you make out of it and that reality is constructed, anyway, but this idea is probably a linear function of how much pot you smoke).
ReplyDeleteThe best way to deal with theese things and not be bothered by them is probably to say that you are just an observer, and that you accept or document (for us, your blog readers) whatever you see on your way. Enjoy :-)
I'm glad you are also posting photos. I would have never expected lakes like that in Guatemala. As a huge fan of lake/mountain landscapes, the pics make me want to hop on a plane right now. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteHi Joe,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to hear you are well my friend. Your stories are beautiful and sometimes sad - I do picture you there... And know you see wonder & beauty through it all.
Interesting about finishing your PhD. I think Dan would understand.
We went on a long ride this morning - I wonder what it would be like to ride in some of the areas you have been. Maybe, maybe someday... I've been spending more time training horses... Working with the white arab right now... she's so smart and eager to learn.
We talked about meeting up at some point down there. I hope we can. Carolee
I'm totally in agreement with Reto's observation (comment above). Leave it to a bunch of Che Guevara t-shirt-wearin' hippies to mess up an indigenous culture in their quest to escape "The Man." Not funny, because I'm with you on the impact on the locals. Remember, in Vietnam these are called "tay-bah-lo" (European with a Backpack) and they're not wanted there either.
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