On my first day back to Guatemala, we went to the Municipalidad of Guatemala City to handle some tramites (paper pushing, form filling, payment leaving) for Empagua, the water company. We waited in one line, and then went downstairs to the basement to wait in the other line, to get the slip of paper that we needed to hand in to the payment guy, after waiting in the other line, and then go back and wait for another guy to print something out, after we gave him the sheet. In order to save time, I waited in the payment line while José waited in the other line.
In a 5 by 20 meter room, I walked back and forth and back and forth, slowly. Two hundred comatose, swaying Guatemalans in line didn´t seem to mind the absence of literature or entertainment, save one small television playing some kind of odd Guatemalan musical video, in which a guy dressed as a mime or "French" (baret and skinny horizontal black striped shirt) jumped on street-lamp posts, singing about love and popping up behind the shoulders of women dressed as "Indian" with bindis and saris, offering them flowers and jewelry, which seemed sufficient encouragement to get them to dry their tears.
While I was there, I read almost the entire Prensa Libre, including several want ads, especially "If you can read this come work at our call center"-type postings in the classifieds. Most news focuses on devastation caused by Tropical Storm Agatha and the recent eruption of Volcán Pacaya. In addition to the many homes that were destroyed, the lives that were lost, and the sink hole that opened up and sparked the curiosity of scientists, some initial estimates for the total economic damage to the country exceed Q500 million quetzales, or about US$65 million. In Izabal, many sad banana trees are lying down in pools of muddy water. Thank you, Mexico, for your donations.
The most heart wrenching stories are those of the livestock that were trapped and left for dead in the path of lava flowing down from the new crater that has opened up in Pacaya, due to the recent eruption. Tourists and families on weekend outings have pulled into the town to catch a glimpse of the flowing lava (it is really cool, after all, which is why the surrounding towns´main source of income has been volcano touring for who knows how many years). Reports are that evacuated townspeople plan on moving back in as soon as possible, despite the falda´s (volcano "skirt") extreme vulnerability to future eruptions and future devastation.
Speaking of livestock, heading home from the airport I saw a confused sheep riding in the back of a police truck. Always something interesting to catch on the horizon here!
Additionally, Health and Education departments have apparently used about $600,000 of public funds to pay most-favored teachers and health workers double salaries for doing at least a job and a half. This is illegal. Oops. Ten people died in violent attacks; a plague of weevils devastates forests; tomb raiders abound in Retalhulheu; the extortion, carbon dioxide emission, and inflation rates are all rising, as is the cost of electricity in Huehuetenango, where the municipal electricity company (EEMH) cannot raise enough revenue to break even with the price hikes imposed by INDE, the national electricity institute, and fears a social uprising. All to be expected on this lovely June the 7th in Guatemala.
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