Guatemala: Volcán De Fuego

I've been traveling all over the country since I arrived last week, but for now I'll just post pics of Antigua, which has been more or less my home base between treks. Much of what I'm doing elsewhere involves stories I'm not ready to share yet.

Here in Antigua, one of the nearby volcanoes (specifically, the Volcán De Fuego, 3763 m and S/SW of town) has been belching humo y polvo for a few days. I overheard some local residents saying there was lava action, too, but I haven't gone up there to see first-hand.

This activity is pretty mellow. But one resident explained to me that whenever it acts up more seriously, the most vulnerable community is a little village called Yepocapa, which sits at the volcano's northwest slope (it's on the opposite side of the volcano from Antigua, and much closer to the lava source).

We saw a lot of smoke on Wednesday, even when we were traveling through the lowlands and sugar cane plantations further south... azucarero country.

This pic above from today is kind of a crappy snapshot, but you can see that there's a steady, grey stream of smoke rising from the peak, even in full light at midday. Link.

The volcano is about the warmest thing in town right now. There's been an extreme cold wave in Guatemala this past week -- the coldest in 15 years, with really strong winds. On Thursday, some places dropped as low as 32 degrees. Places like Huehuetenango, Sololá, and Quetzaltenango were hit the worst, and the capital was pretty bad, too. One resident told me today that like 10 or so people have died from the cold -- some of the worst hit are urban poor who live on the streets or in makeshift "casas de carton," shelters from cardboard and plastic sheeting, no real protection from the elements.

Here's an article about the cold wave in Prensa Libre: "El día más frío de noviembre," Link.

FWIW, it's night now, and I'm really frickin' cold. (Image: Xeni Jardin)

Guatemala: thousands of women protest wave of "femicides"

Rough translation of news, from Spanish:

"Thousands of women took to the streets today in Guatemala City's Historic Center to demand an end to the violence in the country against them. In Guatemala, more than 540 women have been murdered in the past year. 'Over our body, we decide,' cried hundreds of women during the march to the center of the capital, which caused heavy traffic congestion..."

Link to news article.

Tomorrow is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women: Link.

And in related news, a human rights group named after a female journalist slain during Guatemala's internal armed conflict today received an award from the king of Spain. Again, my rough translation from Spanish:

"The Myrna Mack foundation is 'proud' to receive the Human Rights Prize of 2006 from Spain, said its senior representative Hellen Mack. 'We feel very satisfied, because the recognition of our work for human rights and democracy in Guatemala.' "

Link.

Guatemala: Haciendo tortillas (video clip)

Link to video (in Flash or Quicktime).

Doña Mati and Doña Anamaria fixing lunch today in Doña Anamaria's lovely home. If there were Iron Chef competitions in Guatemala, they'd shred the competitors like cheese. Doña Mati's tortillas are the stuff my food-dreams are made of. This flavor does not exist outside of Guatemala, and this flavor alone is reason to return. True soul food. When she finished making this stack, she tucked them in to a straw basket. I pulled the little cotton blanket aside and huffed the corn fumes, like sniffing glue.

We had lomito and frijoles volteados, too, and some killer-hot chiletepin. Where: Antigua, Sacatepequez, Guatemala (lat: 14.567 lon: -90.733 alt: 1601 m)

Guatemala and bandwidth policy reform

Snip from a Globe and Mail column by Neil Reynolds about the relatively radical spectrum reforms in Guatemala, where bandwith is now assigned as personal property that comes with its own legal title.

Guatemala (population, 16.5 million) introduced its reforms in 1996, when it got rid of Guatel, a state-owned telephone company managed for years by the military. Guatel had traditionally allocated bandwidth by bribery. El Salvador (population, 7.5 million) introduced its reform in 1997. In both countries, the reforms expressed a novel principle -- that unused radio waves should be made available, either by public auction or by first-come, first-served -- to anyone who wanted to use them.

Guatemalan law now defines property rights in bandwidth in single-page documents called TUFs, titulo de usufructo de frecuencia, or title to frequency use. These deeds state that TUFs may be sold or leased, traded or swapped. They may be used as collateral or as equity.

People who hold them can change ownership simply by writing on them the names of the new owners. TUFs expire at the end of 15 years, but will be renewed for another 15 years on request. TUFs grant owners exclusive control on the use of the bandwidth they govern.

In 10 years, Guatemala has granted almost 4,000 TUFs, including 590 to amateurs. Although it is among the poorest of Latin American countries (with GDP of $1,500 U.S. per capita), it possesses the highest quantity of spectrum for wireless communication: 140.0 megahertz. Only Chile, with four times Guatemala's GDP per capita, matches it. El Salvador ranks third with 137.8 MHz.

Link

Guatemala: 15 die in marketplace fire

At least 15 people died in a fire at Guatemala City's La Terminal market, which comprises a vast, complex maze of stalls. I've been there before, and it's easy to imagine the horror of being trapped in that place with a fast-moving blaze.

The fire is said to have been caused when someone dropping a lit cigarette near one of the illegal fireworks stands. Sergio Morales, human rights ombudsman of Guatemala, said Thursday (my clumsy Spanish translation) -- "The people who sell those fireworks know that they are dangerous, but they sell them anyway, because it's a profitable business."

Link to story in Prensa Libre about the blaze (Spanish), and here's an English-language item: Link.

The thing about fireworks here is -- they just seem to go off constantly. Antigua's been my home base here between trips from one part of the country to another, and sometimes it sounds like the city is being bombed. Whenever you have a birthday party, you have loud fireworks, same for other festivities. Seems there's always an excuse to light them off.

Image: A worker carries plastic bags out of the burned-out market. Émerson Díaz, for Prensa Libre. Where: Lat: 14 38 N Lon: 90 31 W.

Guatemala: Murders of transgender/transvestite people on the rise

Two transvestite sex workers were shot dead in Guatemala City on Wednesday -- right in the middle of the day, in the street, outside of a bar. Violence against transgendered and transvestite people is on the rise here, in a country with an overall muder rate nearly ten times as high as the USA. One teenage, transgendered sex worker was shot dead two months ago in the capital, her tongue reportedly cut out by the gang member whose sexual advances she refused. Snip from Reuters story:

Police are rarely interested in finding the killers of transvestites and are sometimes involved themselves, gay rights activists say.

In December last year, Juan Pablo Mendez, or Paulina, was killed and another transgender prostitute was wounded by three people witnesses identified as uniformed police officers.

"The general level of violence in Guatemala has increased exponentially over the past few years with most crimes going unpunished," said Sebastian Elegueta, a Central America researcher for Amnesty International.

"But it's the most vulnerable groups in society, like women, sex workers or transgender people, that are targeted first and those that are afforded the least amount of protection from the state," he said.

Oasis Director Jorge Lopez said transsexuals are particularly at risk because the majority work as prostitutes, trawling the dangerous streets of Guatemala's old city in short mini-skirts, wigs and platform heels.

"Transgender people end up in sex work because they've been kicked out of their homes, their schools, their jobs," said Lopez. "The only options left for them to make a living is prostitution or working in a hair salon."

Link

Guatemala: Marimba players (video clip)

Link to video (in Flash or Quicktime).

Marimba band playing at a popular restauraunt in Antigua called La Fonda de la Calle Real (the food there is quite tasty). Where: Antigua, Sacatepequez, Guatemala (lat: 14.567 lon: -90.733 alt: 1601 m)

Guatemala: Piñatas Encarceladas

Link. Where: Antigua, Sacatepequez, Guatemala (lat: 14.567 lon: -90.733 alt: 1601 m)