On Location in Guatemala

During the various recent elections here in Guatemala 54 people have been killed. On Sunday 4 November 2007 Alvaro Colom Caballeros was elected president of Guatemala in a run-off election. Colom was the leftist candidate who won under the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) party.


All of the banks and the major grocery store (owned by Walmart--who else?) have armed guards. The 1 Quetzal bill is worth about 13 cents. It is plastic and made in Canada.



After decades of revolution, guns are popular. In the town of Fronteras we commonly see Guatemalans packing pistols in their pants. In September a guy was shot 14 times (or 20 times according to another report) at the Texaco gas station.



Last Saturday a French tourist and a Guatemalan lady drowned as a result of two small boats colliding. Combine that with all the guns, and maybe that's why they sell coffins on main street.


The new president, Alavaro Colom has work to do--starting with removing his campaign signs which are plastered everywhere.



Walmart bought the largest grocery store chain in Guatemala, and they have been buying up some of the smaller stores, like this Dispensa Familiar. There are now around 100 Walmart owned stores in Guatemala, though none of them use the name Walmart.

Lora bagging groceries--sacks cost extra. The corn tortillas are twice as thick as the ones in Mexico. Instead of asking for a certain number of tortillas, you ask for a certain number of Quetzales worth. Four tortillas per Quetzal. I once asked for 20 (tortillas) but was given 80!

Lora uses the dinghy to go grocery shopping. She usually finds a good parking spot. When not driving the dinghy around, we usually ride in the little mini-van buses. They are supposed to seat 15, but we have ridden with 25, including one guy up on the roof!

This little girl is 4 years old; her parents have a vacation house on the river.

Parker posing.

Mario is 10 years old. The school break here is from November until the middle of January.

This sweet lady, Natividad, sweeps the street in front of her house. Her Nimbus 2000 broom is made from fronds stuffed inside a can of tomatoes.

This little girl is waiting (with her father) for mom to finish shopping at the Dispensa Familiar.

Parker and Pauli's philosophy is "when all else fails, eat rambutans." We read that there are around 3000 kinds of fruit in rainforests, yet the western world eats only 200 different kinds. We're working to diminishing the discrepancy.

This is the most popular beer in Guatemala. Lora calls it chicken beer.

With all his popularity, maybe this rooster should have run for president too.

Christina Lopez Martinez sells rambutans on main street in Fronteras, Guatemala.

Pauli gives Guatemala the thumbs-up.