Bienvenidos

The descent into Guatemala City is breathtaking. Until you get close. Imagine discovering paradise, a land of green mountains projecting into the sky like fingers to grab you and pull you into its lush embrace. Now imagine taking three billion crumbling tons of concrete, rusty aluminum, cinder block, corrugated steel, faded pastel paint, and some barbed wire, and dumping it aimlessly out of the sky, letting it slide down the mountainsides and eventually settle into its current configuration. Now add two parts Mayan, one part Spanish, and stir thoroughly. That, in a nutshell, is Guatemala City, or Guate, as it’s affectionately called here. What a strange combination, the Garden of Eden, and the Ninth Circle of Hell, living “happily” together.

I met a few of the other students at the airport (which, by the way, is only half-completed, although the architectural photos posted along the terminal walls show promise of modernity). On the upside, there was live music, including the largest Xylophone (I think that’s the wood one but I can never remember) I’ve ever seen. Nonetheless the mix of pleasant, slightly tropical music and construction only served to heighten the aforementioned juxtaposition of Eden and Dante. We had made arrangements to stay the night at a nearby hostel, Hostel Volcán, which came highly recommended from our directors. The owner had all of our flight information, and was already waiting for us with the van by the time we had collected our luggage. The hostel turned out to be a diamond in the rough, clean, colorful, and extremely reasonable in price. The owner, too, was quite amiable. Unfortunately, as we soon discovered, our diamond in the rough was, by necessity, located amid less inviting surroundings. Clearly not a place to be out after dark, we gave ourselves a small self-guided tour while the sun was at its zenith.

As for a few more first impressions, I was taken aback to notice that all the stores are guarded top to bottom by metal bars. As a result you can’t actually go inside, but need to ask someone at the counter to bring you whatever you need. Not to mention the fact that ever bank, gas station, and even the occasional fast food restaurant is guarded by a shotgun slinging companero. Whether or not there’s a guy with a gun is really one of the best ways to tell which buildings represent legitimate businesses and which have long ago been abandoned. Otherwise they all kind of blend together. The word dilapidated does a lot of justice to the cityscape here. Additionally, for public transportation, Guatemala relies almost exclusively on recycled American school buses. But they don’t just recycle them, they “pimp” them, giving them chrome detailing and bright, fiery decals deserving of their bat out of hell driving mentality. In fact, many of the vehicles here, not just the buses, seem to be past their prime. And as Guatemala hardly possesses the infrastructure to implement any clean air standards, the result is a thick smog of exhaust that permeates most of the city. All in all, a fine collection of industrial vomit.

But back to our itinerary. For dinner we dined at a small “commedor” (rough translation: cheap, sketchy restaurant) called “Gourmet Eddy’s” across the street from the hostel. Not the best way, perhaps, to ease my stomach into its new habitation (and inhabitants) but I guess you mine as well pull the band-aid off quickly. On the wall inside the commedor were some pin-ups from a provocative swimsuit magazine. Eddy (I presume it was Eddy) gladly pointed out his favorite, explaining his preference, “because you can see her boobs.”

The next day we took a walk to the Guatemala Zoo, which to everyone’s amazement, was an organized, well-funded, comprehensive public institute. We saw some animals there that I’ve never in my life even heard of. It’s very strange to see something walking around that you’re totally unfamiliar with, like seeing an alien. After an hour or so of roaming where the wild things grow, we returned to “civilization.” The other students had just arrived, and we were treated to a pizza lunch full of ice-breakers and “do you know so-and-so”s. It was fun to meet them though, to see who I’ll be spending the next six months with. So far everyone seems very nice and very down to earth, which I guess, fortunately, is to be expected for this type of program. My guidebook lists the top five things to do in Guatemala City, of which number five is simply, “Leave.” Taking the advice, we made our departure shortly after lunch.