Archive for Class Issues
A New Blog in Town
Posted by: | CommentsWell, it’s not new except to me, but I noticed him when he stopped by here at GuateLiving. Based on his posts I have reason to be optimistic about some future dialogue. Check out Living Poor in Guatemala.
Kids in Guatemala
Posted by: | CommentsI’m frequently asked what life in Guatemala is like for gringo kids. It’s a difficult question to answer, in part because life in the capital-where most gringo kids live-is so different than Antigua. Out here we are living in what you liberals derisively refer to in the US as ‘flyover country’ (for the uninformed that means all the ‘red’ states between the east and left coast). The capitalinos look at Antigua the same way, kind of like country bumpkins that are neat to visit occasionally and to watch their quaint little traditions on holidays.
In the capital the wealthy/gringo kids live a life very much like that in the US, and most of the local kids they associate with will be similarly pampered, spoiled and culturally the same. Here the kids live in ‘real Guatemala’ (except that Antigua isn’t real Guatemala), and so instead of sharing the same interests as foreign kids, they tend to resent them. That manifests itself in rock throwing, assault, etc (infamously known as ‘GuateGrudge’). Tough to sell perky gringo soccer moms on that, ain’t it?
So anyway recently a pretty blond mommy from Wisconsin knocked on our door with her two young daughters and wanted to introduce herself to our kids and see if anyone could ‘play’. She remarked how her host family had promised her the neighborhood was perfectly safe and so, couldn’t they come out and play? I wasn’t going to say anything about the attempted assassinations of my children in said neighborhood until she said, “Yeah, you know, it’s like, so neat that we’re here in Guatemala and it’s supposed to be so dangerous and yet I can just let the girls out to run around the neighborhood by themselves.”
Now, some expats are a little more free with their kids. ExpatMom takes her kids out, but they look local and sound local. The kids are not likely to get stoned just because their mommy is a Canuck. (Although that should earn any kid a little ribbing). But even before the slingshot attacks, when we lived in an exclusive, uppity, gated community filled with ex-Presidents (and their brothers) and ex-Vice Presidents (and their brothers), and the like, I wouldn’t dream of letting my pretty blonde daughters roam the neighborhood alone, and I certainly wouldn’t in a neighborhood where a little blond girl draws as much attention as a flipped armored car with money (or sugar?), pouring out.
So I had to break it to her as gently as I could. “So you don’t mind if your daughters are kidnapped, gang-raped, strangled and tossed into the creek?” Actually, that’s what I wanted to say, to try to give her a sense of the danger, but instead I said, “Perhaps you should reconsider” followed by, “Our kids go outside only under our supervision, during the morning hours when local kids are most likely to be in school, with a guard dog we don’t feed until after play time, and we always have one person scanning the surrounding area for threats.”
She no doubt thought, as many of you who aren’t raising children here likely think, that such an approach is unreasonable. This isn’t lilly white, Lutheran Wisconsin, honey. I would have characterized it similarly had my two year old not been felled by a slingshot and my eldest daughter recently escaping by mere inches from a similar projectile.
So what’s the answer to the question about kids in Guatemala? Well, if they don’t look and sound like locals, you need to live in an upscale gated community. My local friends here have said as much-always hushed and making sure no other Chapins can overhear-and a few pragmatic white liberals have begrudgingly admitted they would do the same if they had children, and it’s unfortunate but true. Those gates and walls-much maligned by romanticists-do keep the riffraff out, although the gates generally open for anyone who works in the neighborhood, is related to someone who works in the neighborhood, or who has a plausible-sounding reason for being there, so even under those circumstances I urge great caution. So mommy, move to a gated community, get yourself a great big protective dog, and tie him to your daughter’s chastity belt whenever they leave the house.
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“Are Socialists Evil, or Just Stupid?”, or, “Happy Labor Day!”
Posted by: | CommentsDarling of the left Evo Morales has nationalized Bolivia’s leading power companies, following the lead of Castro protege Chavez, and all but condemning Bolivia to capital flight, corruption and increased poverty and suffering for Bolivians (not to mention rolling blackouts). One of the power companies whined that as recently as last month the foreign investors in these companies had been assured such a move was not imminent. Hehe. Welcome to national socialism amigos. It’s a little like dealing with the Mob, minus the honor.
It’s hard to argue with the success of nationalizing private industry, seeing how it has worked so well for the Soviets, the North Koreans, the Cubans and closer to home, the Venezuelans. Of course, the supreme irony is leftists make these announcements on Labor Day, that most bogus of all holidays, a sort of mockery by the elite of the laborers, those who suffer the most under populist regimes. Celebrating laborers? People take the day off and engage in pity parties instead of, perhaps, spending a few more hours working or studying, self-improvement rather than self-congratulatory behavior. Or, God forbid, spending time with their children and educating them about the folly of self-delusion. But that would defeat the point, wouldn’t it? Those who take responsibility care less of self-indulgent political orgies and more for accomplishment. Labor day loses its meaning when you are focused on your dreams rather than your memories. It’s like giving the chronic gambler a day off from paying his juice and offering him credit at the poker table because, well, he’s a gambler.
I know, one of you American socialists will remind me of how well nationalizing industry has worked for the United States since the coronation of Comrade Obama. After all, who can argue with the success of Government Motors and Goldman Sachs? The former has gloriously repaid their TARP loan 5 years early (with more Fed money), and the latter forced the Fed to bailout AIG so Goldman could pay out billions in bonuses, then changed their corporate structure so they could access inflation-net free money. In other words, Goldman called on former Goldman people in the Fed and the Treasury to cover some bad bets, and without that would have likely gone bust themselves. Some on my libertarian flank remind me this is ‘corporatism’ not ’socialism‘. They’re both bastard sons and worthy of condemnation. (Sorry ‘BM‘).
So the real question is whether the trend will infect Guatemala, which has a relatively free market despite all the governmental dysfunction. There is a large contingent of indigenous here, who tend to be more easily manipulated by revolutionary types, but from what I’ve seen, the 7 or 12 families are pretty powerful and not afraid to flex their muscles. However, Colom’s popularity is sagging which is usually an early warning sign for theft by government, aka ‘reform’. Despite the recent centralization of power in the hands of cultish personality types in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela, the people here have gotten a taste of what the free market can do, the power of exports and foreign capital and those shiny gadgets from abroad, so I think the general trend is still in the direction of progress. Most of the people I run into are hoping for a Strong Hand next time around, so stay tuned.
Update/Reply to first hatemail: I’ve yet to meet a liberal who wasn’t big hearted, but as St. John Chyrostom said, the path to hell is paved with good intentions. It’s not good enough to want to help people, you can not do evil with the hope of doing good. Nor can you suspend the laws of economics or nature anymore than you can gravity (although like a long jumper you can try). I personally wish everyone had a 136 IQ, great parents, perfect health, a loving spouse and semi-obedient children and a great job, but it just isn’t the life we have.
Ethics, Morality, Poverty and Children
Posted by: | CommentsThe other day I was in an office in Antigua waiting for someone to arrive (imagine that), and three little children came in to sell some candy to the receptionist, a 20-ish female who appeared to be a regular customer. You see a lot of kids on the streets of Antigua, some working, some not, but the fact that I was sitting in this small room and had nothing else to do forced me to observe and contemplate what was going on.
The oldest of the three was approximately 9 years old and she was dressed in traditional garb and was carrying a basket of candies. She was assertive but not overly aggressive. The next one was about 7, had a shoe shine kit, and was lecturing his older sister on everything imaginable. The youngest was about 4, and was quietly and carefully inspecting the chairs, desks and other things in the office.
All of the children were fully clothed and had shoes, and no one appeared to be starving, but the scene really struck me, realizing as I did that these three children likely spend their days roaming Antigua together, scraping together money for their own lunch and likely to take something home to pay for dinner for the family.
Later that evening I was at Cafe No Se with the wife, having some popcorn and a beer and listening to a great harmonica player, and a little boy came in selling candy. This kid couldn’t have been more than about 6 or 7, and looked exhausted. He zeroed in on the Wife like a pro and before long she had picked out one or two candies for each of our own children and herself. The bartender came over to see if we were bothered; I shrugged and sipped my Cabro while he began to explain how the kid comes in a few times every night, between 9pm and 1am, to sell stuff. Apparently the locals are pretty tough on it but the folks at NoSe let him sell as long as he’s not a pest.
As readers know I’m not one of those navel gazers that is consumed with the unfortunate inequities and suffering in this life; it just is. While it’s noble to work towards equality and end suffering, the root causes lie within men and man doesn’t change. But….I couldn’t help but think of my own children in this same age range and think of them wandering the streets alone all day, or working bars and restaurants alone after dark, selling gum for 50 centavos. I don’t like how it makes me feel.
Along those same lines, I saw this post on ThornTree:
As far as the street vendors go, it’s a real challenge between having empathy and the feeling that I’m being scammed. The poverty is so real here at Lake Atitlan..so deep that even what seems like a scam on the surface is really an expression of a need somewhere along the line. If at all possible, I try to put skepticism aside and give what I’m comfortable giving. I say giving since I really don’t need any of the cheap trinkets and honestly can’t afford or don’t want the more expensive items. The kids it’s easy to give a quetzal to or even buy them a fruit or an atol. I’ve even bought a cheap item and then gave it to the next vendor.
How much one can give and still feel comfortable to live on is pretty personal..for me living here with no income other than some periodic computer assistance jobs and a photo shoot at local wages (3 in a year) and 2 years to Social Security that amount is dictated by pure fear
However if I have 200Q in my pocket and little else to look forward to I’m still ahead of most street vendors at the moment…specially with such a bad tourist season.. I mean reaaaaaaal bad. These kids and adults are out here every day from morning to night trying to make something happen.
That said, there are times when I don’t even want to go out for a dinner due to the vendors coming into the restaurants. I’ve seen myself even cop an attitude that it’s just plain rude to interrupt people when they are eating… but then is it polite to eat when others are desperate.
I’ve run into the mentality that says “they could do better if they just apply themselves” I can only say to those people to puleeze rethink that attitude..it may apply to an exceptional few but for the majority it’s a testimony to how resilient Mayans can be. Many westerners have committed suicide when their fortunes collapse or lost a job and were faced living lives that the average Mayan might consider paradise if paradise was measured in material things. These people still wake up every day to fate that would leave most westerners deeply disturbed and yet they still manage to laugh.. then again.. they are living in paradise.
There is one woman who’s extremely persistent and my one friend whose lived at Atitlan 17 years recoils at her with a vengeance (and the woman knows it and really zeros in on her while I just exchange greetings..say no when she holds up her wares and then continue on). This same woman was also a bit of pester to my partner who’s lived here for over 30 years. The woman was always saying she needed money to put her child through school. My partner finally said to her that if she quits bothering her she’ll put the boy through school. Arrangements were made to do this with the school and since that day all I ever see of this woman is one of the most beautiful and grateful woman you can ever imagine. Her child, a real sweet kid, now has a better chance than she does.
When I first come here I was told “no molestado!” would send a persistent vendor away. I think I’ve used it a half dozen times and it seems about 60% effective. Not much of a sampling but what the heck.
Well.. I hope this provides grist for the mill. I know this is a topic that so many I know struggle with.
Peace Out
Duende
I’m sure some readers will have comments.
What Depression?
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve studied the data in the US, it’s clear we’re on the verge of a depression, perhaps the greatest depression in modern times. The commercial real estate bubble is about to burst, the money supply has been expanded in geometric terms, the central government is spending at record levels (to no effect), our foreign creditors are refusing to buy our debt, and consumers are, for the first time in a generation, saving their money rather than spending it. 2010 is likely to be worse than 2009, and it might be worse for Japan and the UK than the US due to their aging populations and already excessive tax levels. However, here in Guate I can see no signs that anything is wrong.
Yesterday I went to the capital for a few meetings and to make the normal stops at Hiper Paiz and Pricesmart. The traffic on Roosevelt and the 20th Calle area was so bad I spent hours just sitting, breathing in fumes, and more perpelexing to me were the huge numbers of people in the stores, with shopping carts overflowing.
Ten days earlier I visited both of these stores with the Wife, and was shocked at how busy they were. I know that these stores cater primarily to the wealthy and the small, but growing middle class, but there were thousands of regular people at these stores, grocery carts full of cheap, junky toys from China, huge bottles of Coca Cola, gigantic bottles of hair gel and other stuff. Naturally, each cart was accompanied by 6-10 members from two or three generations of family. I was reminded that Guatemalans have gotten their aguinaldo and are going to spend every centavo of it as quickly as possible.
Which is why I was so surprised that yesterday the stores were still busy, even more so than in the days before Christmas. I had to resort to leaving my cart in an aisle and doing solo missions for items, returning, and then going back out on recon while the 9 year-old watched the cart. What should have been a three hour trip turned into an eight hour journey. Well, there was a detour to Vesuvio’s for lunch where we did our best to kill off a meter of pizza (and failed), but still…
You would never know you were in the capital of a third world country, and one of the poorest in the hemisphere. The Miraflores area felt like a busy suburan US shopping complex before Christmas, with people honking and fighting for parking spaces, which were so sparse that I couldn’t even park in the Pricesmart Parking lot, but had to park on the on-ramp to Anillo Periferico, just outside.
All this made me wonder about the aguinaldo. If national spending jumps dramatically when the bonuses are paid, it suggests there is pent-up demand among consumers. This pent-up demand would be better satisfied if the people are given the money regularly so they can better manage their own needs. The fact that much of the purchasing at Christmas seems not to be need-based but for (relatively speaking) luxuries tells me that many people who go the whole year and don’t have any extra are spending their bonuses on things they don’t really need.
I suspect most of these families would indeed be better off with a twice monthly paycheck increase of 16% (the two annual bonuses divided into 26 paychecks) than to get these twice a year cash injections. With a little more every two weeks, needs could be better provided for, and consumers would have to plan and save to splurge rather than having a bulge in their pants at the very moment when commercial interests are in overdrive.
Social justice is a buzz word that some theists and liberals like to use that essentially masquerades for Marxism. The genuine essence of social justice is not collectivism, but a responsibility among men do be mindful of their brethren. Liberals don’t like this because it involves me being concerned for their welfare and how their personal conduct affects themselves and others, and conservatives don’t like this because it obligates them to be concerned for the welfare of others.
I believe social justice here would urge a reform of the system, eliminating these bonuses and including the pay into regular checks so families could better meet their true needs instead of being flush with cash when retailers want to sell stuff. The retailers will have to work a little harder to sell products and services to consumers that meet their true needs as they come about and consumers will have to learn to save and plan for purchases. Both require self-discipline and restraint, which is why it will be roundly opposed.
Comments?
An Update from the Field
Posted by: | CommentsIn the category of “It’s not education that matters as long as you have mandatory forced abortions”, we have an update from the Fickers:
Friday we went out to a remote village to do a mobile clinic. We have been there several times and it is a very isolated community of indigenous people with the normal needs of most communities in this area. This time however, we were stuck by the overwhelming need. Although we only saw about 60 people, almost all of the children were very sick or very malnourished or both. When we asked if there was enough food, most said no, some said that their harvest this year would be small.
Saturday, we had a pretty normal clinic day, adding only one new child to our already full feeding program. But later that evening, Cali, our friend from the Peace Corps who works in the city office came with news of the “red alert” in our area – signifying the urgent need for food. We spent much of the evening trying to figure out ways to help.
And today, I was overwhelmed with requests for food. Almost everyone we talked to said they were out of corn, some asked for corn, others asked for money, and almost all seemed resigned and without hope. These are people who live always on the edge of desperation…even in the best of times. One woman came asking for prayer for her husband who was threatening suicide. She is 8 months pregnant and told me that her husband said that if the baby was a girl, he would feed her poison as well…but if it is a boy, he will let him live. And so we prayed for Felipe, we prayed that God would open his eyes to see his value as a husband, as a father, as a child of God; that he would see the importance of his life, that he would understand and know his God and Father who longs to love him.
GuateTime Explained
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s been awhile so I thought I would post on GuateTime. You see, here in Guatemala when someone commits to you to be somewhere at a certain time, it is almost meaningless. The problem is that you don’t know whether they’re the rare person who means what they say and will take the precautions necessary to be early, or whether they don’t care.
It’s not a class thing or an education thing, because it happens at all levels. I recently drove to the capital to meet someone, a Guatemalan of education and high social rank, and the guy wasn’t even at his office. There was no email, no phone call letting me know not to come to the capital, and there was no apology afterwards.
A few days ago the Wife and I invited some friends of ours from the capital, he’s a retired Doctor, she dabbles in real estate, they are wonderful people but when they called 30 minutes after the agreed upon lunch time, they were merely letting me know they had not left the capital yet. They had invited someone else to join us-with our permission-and apparently he was late. They arrived 90 minutes after we had agreed on, late enough that I had a conflict with another appointment.
Further aggravating this dilemma is the fact that some expats are unpredictable. Recently I have had both Nancy and her daughters over for dinner, Art & Rosie for an afternoon of steaks and hot dogs, as well as Jim and Emily, the lefty PCVs. Each arrived on time or early. It’s a pleasant surprise. On the other hand, I know gringos that could be 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour late to an appointment. At least they feign an apology.
I think everyone can relate. What no one has been capable of doing thus far-to my knowledge-is offer a good explanation for this phenomenon. However, fear not dear readers, for as you are so accustomed to controversial and intellectual delights on this blog, I am prepared to offer my explanation for this local oddity.
I believe there are two primary factors which have led to the circumstances I refer to as GuateTime. First, most people here are poor, and have little hope of ever not being poor. When you are poor you value what you do not have, e.g., sufficient food, warm clothes, or luxuries. However, because you have lots of time-seemingly more than you know what to do with-you do not value time. Everyone has it, they have lots of it, and therefore it is not a scarcity.
Things which are not scarce have a low value. In Guatemala there is lots of water, which is why it is free. Air is free, which is why they don’t care about polluting it (if it cost something they would care). Similarly, time has no value. Even if people wanted to exchange their time for consideration (for you Obama disciples that means something else of value), they do not get very much for it. There is a point of diminishing returns where the value they receive for their time is so little that it is hardly worth the effort necessary to achieve that.
This phenomenon, repeated through many generations, has created a cultural phenomenon where the concept of time being ‘wasted’, as it would be a waste to leave your cash on the sidewalk, is beyond their comprehension.
What about the rich, whose time is valuable?
Well, here we enter the second part of my thesis. First, Read More→
“You’re Gonna Get a Beatin’ Tonight”
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ll want to get a cup of coffee (or something stronger), for this one.
I had a conversation recently with a female expat-who I’ll call “Emma”-who lives in a rural part of Guatemala. She was explaining to me how her husband finally got around to going out for drinks with some local guys, and when neighbors saw him out drinking, they felt compelled to give Emma a heads-up. The conversation went something like this:
Local: “Your husband is drinking beer.”
Emma: “Yes, I know”.
Local: “You’re going to get a beating tonight.”
Emma: “What are you talking about?!”
Local: “Your husband is drinking beer; you’re going to get a beating tonight.”
Emma: (Angrily shaking a raised fist) “I can beat [my husband] up if I want to, and he knows it!”
Local: (With a confused/concerned look) “Good luck with that”.
These women so closely associate the physical abuse at the hands of their husbands with drinking that they just assumed it is the same everywhere. This culture really amazes me; just the other day I stopped the Wife in the middle of the day, in front of the children and the maids, and gave her a hug and smiled at her. (That’s just the kind of guy I am.) The day before I brought roses home for her, (actually, I had them delivered, but whatever), and again the maids watched my every move-not smiling, just staring, as you might if I had hauled off and punched her.
All this leads me up to the #1 prohibited statement by expats in Guatemala, “There’s a reason this is the 
third world.” You say that to a bilingual local or a expat and you’re inviting verbal & physical assault (being 6′1″, weighing 230lbs and not giving a $@#! helps deter these attacks, BTW). I even had one cheeky expat say, “Mate, I need to give you a book, ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’.” Been there, done that, but you see, I have this love affair with truth. It gets in the way sometimes, but you sleep better at night (not to mention you maintain an accuracy rating of 99.3%, verified by the Ministerio de Asuntos de Internet de la Verdad y la Exactitud.
Without exception the stories I hear from local poor women contain elements of drinking binges, laziness, physical abuse and general worthlessness on the part of their husbands. From wealthier women I hear stories of restraints upon their movement, limits on who their friends may be and when they may see them and-like their poor counterparts-sexual promiscuity by their husbands. Granted, these are women talking, so as a chauvinistic, paternalistic,misogynistic-well, you know the rest-I discount it by about half (a husband should have some say in what his wife does and who she sees, right?), but I can’t help but recognize the remarkable consistency to the stories.
What’s the moral to the story? Well, as one expat bachelor friend who overheard my musings the other day said, “So, you’re saying I should marry a Guatemalan chick because she’ll be grateful?” I said, “Well, maybe. I guess if you feed her well and don’t beat her…wait, we’re not talking about a dog…”
Back to the original point. You all know I believe the fundamental problem with this culture is the lack of education. I know, I know, I’m in the minority here, most of you all seem to believe there are far too many people and far too few abortions and that’s the solution. However, it seems to me that from the data I’ve collected, neither poor nor wealthy men treat their female counterparts with respect. I know all about the machismo stuff, but I don’t think I understood how this is a facade for maltreatment of the fairer sex.
I don’t have space in this article to deal with you feminists who think men and women are the same and should be treated the same, so let’s accept the premise, if only temporarily, that I operate within a worldview which says that women and men are different and should be treated accordingly. For example, I speak to my male friends, brothers and fathers differently than I do my lady friends, wife, daughters and mother. I open doors and stand up at the table (at least at a nice place), for ladies, and guys, you SOBs can fend for yourself. One a$$hole I know said this was a ‘dubious double standard’, but I grew up thinking of it as gentlemanly.
I thought with the Catholic domination of this culture for the last half millenia that the philosophical attitudes I learned would apply here. For you pagans: Catholic men are supposed to treat their women like Christ treated his Mother. That’s why Catholics put the Madonna on a pedestal; because Christ-the perfect man-would have done the same. Apparently that part of the catechism didn’t make it onto the boat.
Anyway, that’s how I see it. If you’re planning on retiring here and occasionally venturing out of your gated community, or worse, if you’re planning on retiring here and then spending your remaining days ’saving the natives’ (from disease, poverty, unwanted babies or Hell), well, keep what I’ve said in mind. You’ve got your work cut out for you.
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