The past weekend I crossed off no. 2 of my Latin American travel checklist: the giant kites of Sumpango, Guatemala during Day of the Dead. I probably won’t check many more things off that list because I’m not planning on staying in Guate as long as I originally expected. Here are some photos and videos from the event.
I plan to be here for more than a year. I’m going to make the best of it and I’m going to make it a priority to do and see a few things. This is a tentative checklist for my time in Guatemala.
(The Resplendent Quetzal is Guatemala’s national bird)
(Tulum)
(Chichen Itza)
(Quintana Roo Cenote)
(Castillo de San Felipe)
(Lake Izabal/Rio Dulce)
(Livingston/Garifuna Culture)
While watching funny homemade Latino hip-hop (google search: El Gato Guatemala, La Pequeña Wendy, La Tigresa, El Delfin) we found a not-so-bad video that is filmed right here in Guatemala City in a number of locations that I commute through daily or are very close to where I work. Please enjoy the smooth beats of Bacteria Soundsystem Crew’s song “La Virula.”
This week was particularly great. I’ve been in Guatemala over 4 months now and I hadn’t seen very much of the great Mayan artifacts that this country is known for. I was able to take this week off to explore Tikal in northern Guatemala. I was surprised how large the whole park is. It takes 4-6 hours to walk around and explore it all. Unfortunately I don’t have a camera, but here are some other people’s images of the park:
After you take the long journey up to Peten, it isn’t a very long trip to Belize and the Yucatan. And up until a week ago I still had only a small handful of beach experiences, most of which weren’t memorable. However, my two days and two nights at Caye Caulker, Belize are quite unforgetable. The highlight by far was going snorkeling off the Belize Barrier Reef. I don’t have a camera, but fortunately the tour guide, Carlos tours, takes pictures from the trip and can burn a disc (for a cost). Here some of the critters we found:
3 new life goals:
1. Scuba diving certification
2. Get a camera that can take pictures underwater
3. Dive with Whale Sharks, which fortunately reside not far away, just off the coasts of Mexico, Belize, and Honduras.
I was admittedly very flattered when a Guatemalan national radio program acknowledged the fierce design of the Vice Presidential Annual Report which I designed early this winter, but in the current pooh-throwing political climate, there is always someone wants to rain on your parade.
Today, Pepe brought in a copy of La Hora, a national newspaper. Nestled on pg. 8 was a picture of the cover of my report, alongside smaller images of the Presidential reports. I immediately thought it was more good coverage. Wrong. The article “Gasto en revistas no disminuye en tiempos de austeridad / Spending on magazines does not diminish in times of austerity,” complains of ill-used funds which could be used to fund “school teachers, supplies, etc.”
I can’t help but laugh. The caption under my report cover says “El costoso informe de labores del vicepresidente consta de 73 páginas y fue impreso en papel de alta calidad/The costly report of the vice president has 73 pages and was printed on high quality paper.” Amateurs. That’s all I have to say. It was printed on pretty much the cheapest paper the printer had, which is glossy. All halfwits are dazzled by shiny things, so who is to blame them for equating shiny things with $$$ and quality. If we had printed on matte-finish, nothing would have been said even though it would have cost loads more.
*Sidenote: The money which paid for the report was not Guatemalan gov. money, it is non-refundable foreign grant money provided to report country advancements, in order to prove that Guatemala is stable enough to be worthy of foreign aid — ironically, 
if your country is really messed up, it may be harder to get aid because the investors doubt any real change is going to occur or that their money is going to find itself in the wrong hands, so you must prove you are at least a progressing third-world country) (See MCC)
In resolution, I am only flattered that my design is perceived to be of such quality that it is equated with the benjamins. I hope Biggie would be proud.
To see the online article click here.
I was admittedly very flattered when a Guatemalan national radio program acknowledged the fierce design of the Vice Presidential Annual Report which I designed early this winter, but in the current pooh-throwing political climate, there is always someone wants to rain on your parade.
Today, Pepe brought in a copy of La Hora, a national newspaper. Nestled on pg. 8 was a picture of the cover of my report, alongside smaller images of the Presidents reports. I immediately thought it was more good coverage. Wrong. The article “Gasto en revistas no disminuye en tiempos de austeridad/Spending on magazines does not diminish in times of austerity,” complains of ill-used funds which could be used to fund “school teachers, supplies, etc.”
I can’t help but laugh. The caption under my report cover says “El costoso informe de labores del vicepresidente consta de 73 páginas y fue impreso en papel de alta calidad/The costly report of the vice president has 73 pages and was printed on high quality paper.” Amateurs. That’s all I have to say. It was printed on pretty much the cheapest paper the printer had, which is glossy. All halfwits are dazzled by shiny things, so who is to blame them for equating shiny things with $$$ and quality. If we had printed on matte-finish, nothing would have been said even though it would have cost loads more.
*Sidenote: The money which paid for the report was not Guatemalan gov. money, it is non-refundable foreign grant money provided to report country advancements, in order to prove that Guatemala is stable enough to be worthy of foreign aid — ironically, if your country is really messed up, it may be harder to get aid because the investors doubt any real change is going to occur or that their money is going to find itself in the wrong hands, so you must prove you are at least a progressing third-world country) (See MCC)
In resolution, I am only flattered that my design is perceived to be of such quality that it is equated with the benjamins. I hope Biggie would be proud.
To see the online article click here.
