Jed and Meg in Guatemala

Nicaragua

2011-08-31T15:03:00.003-04:00

Several years ago when we first started thinking about moving to Latin America, Nicaragua was high on our list of places. In fact, we began to refer to the concept of living in Latin America for a time as our Nicaragua Plan. So while we didn't end up living in Nicaragua, we still thought it would be fun to take a trip there to see what we were missing.

We largely ended up living in Guatemala by chance (which is the way things like this often work) because we happened to find jobs here and a city that we wanted to live in. But as noted above it could have been Nicaragua for us instead so we spent much of our time there asking the question "would we have been able to live with this?"

The first item in this question category was answered nearly as soon as we landed and saw the propaganda related to Nicaragua's upcoming presidential election. There is certainly a lot of election propaganda in Guatemala, but the Nicaraguan version stood out as it was all promoting the works of (current president) Daniel Ortega. We didn't see a single poster, rally, t-shirt or anything related to an opposition candidate.

Guatemala certainly has its problems in the areas of democracy and governance, but Nicaragua seems is in another category with Ortega's domination of the political sphere. This (and the fact that he decided to shut down several NGOs when we were thinking about where to move) are why we don't live in Nicaragua. We were worried that this unstable environment could cause a problem if we worked for non-profits in the country. Oh, and no one offered us a job there... But none of that stopped us from taking a short trip there.

Since Jed has spent some time in southern Nicaragua, during his time living in Costa Rica, we decided to start in the north part of the country in Leon. It was a good place to start since as a university and cultural capital, Leon is very much a Nicaraguan parallel to our home of Xela in Guatemala. There are, however, a few differences of note between the two cities.

On the minus side, Leon is a lot hotter, a little more rundown (some of this due to the adverse effects of tropical humidity), and a little less scenic (no mountain views). On the plus side, Leon is much closer to the beach, has colder beer (which is a necessity in the heat), and has a lot more pretty churches. Well, I guess Jack didn't think the extra churches were such a bonus:

Taking advantage of Leon's proximity to the beach, we headed off for a day on the Pacific ocean and Jack's first time in that body of water. He was a little bit more excited about that:

After that, since no gringo's trip to Nicaragua would be complete without it, we headed down south to the tourist hub Grenada. Grenada is the equivalent of Antigua, Guatemala: good architecture, good tourist infrastructure, and population of foreigners. On the plus side, Grenada is a little touristy than Antigua, which makes it feel a little more authentic. On the minus side, it is more run down (that darn tropical humidity again). And it's a draw on the scenery, while Antigua is surrounded by stunning volcanoes, Granada has some smaller volcanoes and Lake Nicaragua:

Other factors that we ran down as part of the Nicaragua/Guatemala comparison include:

- sports: they play baseball in Nicaragua as opposed to only soccer in Guatemala

- cost: while both are relatively inexpensive countries, the dollar seems to go a little bit farther in Nicaragua

- rum: this is a draw as Flor de Caña and Botran are both world class brands

- culture: Guatemala has a vibrant indigenous culture, which is non-existent in Nicaragua

All in all, while we enjoyed visiting Nicaragua, we're happy that we live in Guatemala- though Jack's still contemplating his preference:

Firsts for Jack

2011-08-15T14:11:00.024-04:00

As any parent will tell you, babies grow up quickly. Especially in the first few months of life there are lots of changes, newly acquired skills, and the like. Despite my mother's strong encouragement, we aren't keeping a baby book for Jack. Such a book just seems so 20th century- what is he really going to do with a book that lists his first* food? 21st century mechanisms -like photos, videos, and yes even blog posts- seem so much more relevant (not mention a heck of a lot easier).

As such, on his 6-month birthday (monthday?), here's a recounting of some recent firsts for Jack. Like any maturing young man, these fall into the vital areas of passion, commitment, heartbreak, and physical prowess.

Passion

In Latin America, most passion falls into one category. No, not love (that's just in the movies): futbol (or soccer for us). Latin Americans, Guatemalans included, are fanatically passionate about their futbol teams. In fact, one the common slogans for the local futbol team in Xela is: Unidos por la pasión del futbol (united by the passion for futbol). This slogan is plastered on t-shirts, all over the team's stadium, and other places around town.

At the ripe old age of 6-months, we thought it was time that Jack was introduced to local passion: the Superchivos. (It also didn't hurt that Jed is covering the team for the local culture and nightlife magazine so he had to go to the game anyway). While the literal translation of the team's name is the Super Goats, colloquially it is also translates as Super Cool. The team is very popular locally and draws (relatively) large crowds for games (see Jed's recent article on the team for more on this: http://xelawho.com/?p=3596).

While Jack seemed more interested in watching the crowd than the action on the field (to be fair his long distance vision isn't tip-top yet), he seemed to have a great time and really enjoyed the Superchivos victory. If this doesn't illustrate passion, then what does?

In fact, his level of Superchivos passion was so high that it became newsworthy: http://issuu.com/elquetzalteco/docs/elquetzalteco-2287/25

Commitment

As any young man will tell you, commitment (or the fear thereof) is an important step in life. While Jack hasn't committed himself to another yet (see Heartbreak below for more on this), we thought it was important that he learned about what commitment means. And what better place to learn this than at a wedding? And how about one of the first gay weddings in New York City to boot? Well, we figured that such an occasion, and lesson for Jack, was worth a quick weekend jaunt to NYC.

Thus it came be that the whole family attended the wedding of Jonathan Mintz (Jed's former boss at Consumer Affairs) to his long-time partner John Feinblatt at Gracie Mansion (more on the wedding from the New York Times here). The officiant of the wedding also delivered a lecture to Jack about the importance of commitment:

Heartbreak

As many of you have no doubt know already, Jack has been dating Harper Doyel, the daughter of our friends (if you're out of the loop on Jack's love life then you can see some of the highlights of their dates here and here). Their dates have been hot and heavy- mainly consisting of them falling over face first on the couch. In fact they didn't actually look at each other until date #5. But Harper is moving back to the US (along with her parents) next month; she recently broke the news to Jack and needless to say he experienced his first true heartbreak:

Physical Prowess

Like any young man, Jack loves physical feats of strength and daring- though at this stage his ability to execute them is rather limited. In this vein, his new found ability to sit up has been his first great feat of physical strength (holding up his head and rolling over weren't quite as exciting landmarks). He has been sitting up a storm (if one can do such a thing), though he doesn't have it 100% mastered quite yet (don't worry he's doing an intense training program to improve his conditioning):

Now wasn't that much better and more memory packed than a silly baby book entry about his first solid food? (*Which was carrots, by the way, Mom, so don't worry about that information being lost in time.)

The Problems Facing Guatemala

2011-07-19T14:12:00.008-04:00

This article is an excellent summary of the myriad of problems facing Guatemala:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/110714/ghi-targets-chronic-malnutrition-guatemala

In addition to being a good source of information, it touches on many of the areas that we are working on during our time living here in the Western Highlands (which is the region that this article focuses on).

Much of Meg's work in the clinic is involved identifying and treating the myriad of health problems related to malnutrition. In addition, she has just started a nutrition project to provide nutritional supplements to children at risk of malnutrition.

While Jed's primary focus has been on preparing an election monitoring effort for this fall's national presidential elections (which is mentioned by the article in passing), he has also been working with some smaller organizations on these type of issues. For example, he is working with Fundacion CAPAZ, which is a non-profit dedicated to teaching people how to properly and sustainably raise farm animals as a means to improve their nutrition and economic independence (more information is available at www.fundacioncapaz.org/en). He is also assisting the Women's Justice Initiative, a new project dedicated to reducing gender barriers in Guatemala.

The Recent Adventures of Jack

2011-07-04T10:20:00.000-04:00

As we previously mentioned here (see What's that in there? and ¡Ay! ¡Que Frio!), Jack causes quite a stir in his travels around Guatemala. While there are many possible explanations for this attention, the most likely theories are that:

a. Guatemalans just love children: This is generally true, as evidence let it be noted that purportedly the most American of family experiences involving kids began here- namely the Happy Meal and the McDonald's kiddie playground. However, it appears that Jack gets more than the average amount of baby attention, but perhaps every parent thinks this same thing (turns out parenthood can warp you perspective about the attributes of your own child).

b. Gringo babies are a rare breed down here: While it is true that the average baby in Guatemala does not have American parents, Jack is hardly an extremely distinctive child- he doesn't have a shock of blond hair or anything. In fact, he has the same dark hair and dark eyes as most Guatemalan children. Perhaps seeing foreigners with a baby is the most unusual part?

c. Jack is just a really cute baby: This is obviously undeniable true (or at least what we'd like to think- though see above about the potential warping effects of parenthood), as evidence:

Sometimes this attention can be nice- who doesn't like having complete strangers compliment them on how beautiful their baby is? Sometimes, it can be a little bit annoying- when we're trying to get somewhere in a hurry and people insist on stopping to touch Jack. Sometimes, it can be surprising- like when a girl of about 8 years old came up, kissed Jack on the cheek, and then tried to pick him up and carry him away. But sometimes it can be just downright strange- as in the following:

It is a Sunday morning and Jack and I are walking across Xela's main square, well, I'm walking and he's being carried- he is a very advanced child (see above about dilusional parental perspectives) but he's not quite walking yet at 5 months. An old woman comes up to us and says something, expecting the usual "what a beautiful child" I give a preemptive "yes, thank you".

But then it becomes clear to me that the woman has actually said something else and is rubbing Jack's little foot. So I say "sorry, I didn't hear you" and then she repeats what she said "Jesus". I can't believe that I've heard this right so I ask her to say it again, at which point is becomes clear that she is referring to Jack as Jesus.

By this point a crowd of children has gathered around and joined the old woman in rubbing Jack's foot. So, hoping to settle the situation, I say "No, he's not Jesus, he's my son, Jack". Well, this clearly doesn't get across as the woman repeats herself and points at Jack. At this point, I repeat that he's my son and politely excuse myself before rapidly retreating across the square. While I may have an inflated perspective of my wonderful son, this doesn't quite extend to him being a religious savior....

Lastly, however, Jack did recently get some attention from a special visitor to Guatemala:

This visit with Hillary Clinton led to Jack's first newspaper appearance (you may have to scroll right to see the actual article text, but see especially the last paragraph, which is translated into English below):

http://www.dca.gob.gt/es/20110623/Nacionales/1650/Reunión-privada-entre-Clinton-y-Claudia-Paz.htm

As it happens, at least according to the article, Hillary Clinton wasn't just in town to chat with Jack, but as the last paragraph notes (rough translation):

"Upon leaving, the Secretary took the opportunity to take some photos with the staff of the US Embassy in Guatemala as well as a couple with their baby who were in the hotel lobby." Well, it turns out that she didn't just happen across us, the whole meeting was orchestrated by Meg's brother Jake, who is on her staff. Though to a Guatemalan it probably didn't seem strange that the Secretary of State should stop to compliment a cute baby, as they would certainly do the same thing themselves...

Jack turns 5 (months)

2011-06-30T12:28:00.007-04:00

In advance of Jack's 5-month birthday (it is the spit-up birthday for those of you keeping track out), click here for some recent photos for your enjoyment. Due to popular demand here are a couple of out-takes to admire while you wait for the other page to load:

Xela Museums

2011-06-15T11:10:00.004-04:00

Here are links to a couple of Jed's articles, which were recently published in XelaWho magazine, which is our local, English language cultural magazine. Enjoy:

On a visit to Xela's Marimba Museum: http://xelawho.com/?p=3456

On a visit to Xela's Natural History Museum: http://xelawho.com/?p=3487

What's that in there?

2011-05-04T11:44:00.011-04:00

As we shared in our recent post, ¡Ay! ¡Que Frio!, walking around with a baby in Guatemala can elicit some interesting reactions. However, perhaps more interesting reactions have come from people before they realize Jack is a baby. To begin to explain, for ease and comfort we often carry Jack around in a psuedo-traditional Guatemalan sling (or the adjustable gringo-ized version of what Guatemalan women traditionally carry their babies in):

While both of us frequently carry Jack around in this sling, Jed certainly gets more strange looks from people. Apparently, it isn't that common for men to carry babies in Guatemala, less common for foreigners to do so, and even rarer for a man to use a sling.

It usually begins with the question: "What do you have in there?"

Then upon answering that it is a baby in the sling, the usual fawning begins:

"Aye, que preciosa (Oh, how precious)"

"Que lindo (How beautiful)"

"Que calma (What a calm baby)"

If the interaction allows for more time, then the next set of questions begins:

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"How old is the baby?"

And, of course, "The baby isn't cold?"

After satisfactorily answering those questions, including an assurance that Jack is perfectly warm, the interaction often ends with another round of "que lindo".

In other circumstances, such as in a store or at the market, where time allows for further baby interrogation, the next round of questions include his name, why he was born here, etc. Then comes the sharing:

"Well, I saw you with that cargador (sling) but I wasn't sure what was in there. I thought perhaps maybe it was some goods, or books, or maybe some fruit. But a baby, what a surprise!"

Or, on one occasion, from a woman wearing a nearly identical sling with her own child in it, "I saw you walking around town yesterday with the sling and I wondered if maybe it was a baby, but then I thought no, it is probably just some groceries. Now I know it is a baby."

Sometimes, when we're sitting in the park or walking down the street, Jack's leg or arm will stick out of the sling and the chorus of murmurs will begin: "there's a baby in there", "look, it's a baby", or just "a baby!"

So, if you have a child and you ever feel like they aren't getting enough attention, then a short trip to Guatemala could be just the remedy (don't worry, you can buy the sling here for 1/10 of the price you'd pay in the US for a similar item).

Happy 3-month birthday, Jack

2011-05-03T11:33:00.001-04:00

Today is our son Jack's three-month birthday. He celebrated by eating, going for a walk around Xela, and then sleeping. Click here for some recent photos, with captions written by Jack himself.

Guatemala Guide

2011-04-19T13:43:00.020-04:00

Living in a foreign country poses a lot of logistical challenges (where can open a bank account? or even, how do I get there?). Often the internet can be a great source for answers to these questions. But we've too often found in Guatemala that you can't find the information that you'd expect to on the internet; I guess no one is posting it. So, as a public service of sort, here is a catologue of some information about Guatemala and Central America that might be useful to other travelers out there (and is probably of little interest to others).

In this post, you'll find information on the following topics (just click on the item in the list below and it will take you directly to that topic if you, shockingly, don't want to read everything):

Driving to Central America

Importing your car to Guatemala

Guatemalan Tourist Visa Extensions

Opening a Guatemalan bank account

Getting a Guatemalan Birth Certificate for your child

Getting a Guatemalan passport for your child

Applying for a Guatemalan residence visa

Driving to Central America

Of course you can fly but flying is no fun, so I drove to Guatemala. The drive is fairly easy, since you only have to traverse Mexico. While Mexico isn't the safest place in the world these days, as long as you are cautious (don't drive at night) and smart (stick to main roads and don't drive anything too fancy), you should have fun. It is possible to make it across Mexico in a couple of days (via the Gulf Coast) or to stretch it up to several weeks (in which case you can hit a lot of the country). In terms of details, you can find info on this drive lots of places on the web (but if you want some details on one of the trips that I did you can find it here and here)

The one thing I couldn't find on the internet was whether it was possible to cross into Mexico with a temporary US license plate. After some nervous moments at the border, the answer is that you can do so; in fact, the Mexicans don't much seem to care about what license plate you have on your car.

And to quickly address another widely debated topic on the web, about whether to get an "en transito" permit for your car or whether to just get the regular tourist car permit, I'd highly recommend the regular tourist permit, even if you have a good bit of luggage/equipment that you're bringing South with you. In my experience, with fairly full cars on two separate occasions, as long as you're not bringing a washing machine or somesuch, then no one cares what type of permit you get and the regular tourist car permit is much easier and more flexible.

Importing your car to Guatemala

This can be a bit of hassle as you need to go back to the border to do the importation paperwork (assuming you went the sensible route of entering Guatemala the first time around with a tourist car permit). You'll need lots of copies of everything to do with your car (including title information, the tourist permit that you entered with the first time around, etc.). And you'll need to hope that SAT (the Guatemalan tax authority) computer system is working; I had to spend the night at the border when it crashed and they couldn't process my importation paperwork (the good news is that the border town of El Carmen has a fairly decent hotel right next to the bridge to Mexico and the Mexican town of Tapachula, about 10 miles away, has lots of good hotels and restaurants).

In terms of the value of your car and thus the tax you pay, XelaPages has good info on how these calculations are done (see http://www.xelapages.com/howtoimportyourcarintoguatemala.htm). The only thing that I would add is that supposedly you can also have the car valued based on how much you purchased it for (assuming that you recently purchased it for your trip to Central America) rather than using the assessed price from the Nada Guide (see this link to go directly there: http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/Research-Center). But in order to do this you both a bill of sale and proof of payment (such as credit receipt, credit card bill, canceled check, etc.). In my experience the the amount I paid for the car and assessed value were about the same so it was easier to go with their valuation than to jump through the hoops of proving my purchase price, but if you somehow got a great deal on your car then you might want to come armed with lots of proof about the purchase price.

One last note, if you're thinking about buying a car to import to Guatemala (or Central America generally as most countries seem to have the same basic system for vehicle importations), the assessed value a vehicle varies depending on what trim level you have. For example, a Jeep Liberty Sport and a Jeep Liberty Limited (which has luxury features such as a sun roof, leather seats, etc) have different assessed values, as the the Nada website (see above) makes clear when you drill down to a specific model of car. So if you have a choice and want to save some money on the import tax then go with the bare bones model. Yes, having a sun roof would be nice, but as an example, it can end up costing you about $500 extra just on the import tax.

Guatemalan Tourist Visa Extensions

With most passports you get an automatic 90 days when you enter Guatemala. To get another 90 days you can just leave the country (outside of the CA4: El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua) or you can renew your visa in Guatemala City. There is some info out there on renewing the visa but seems fairly out of date. As of March 2011, here's what you need to renew your Guatemala tourist visa:

- One passport photo in black and white

- A copy of the front and back of a valid (eg not expired) credit card

- A photocopy of the first page of your passport (the one with your picture and personal data)

- A photocopy of the page with your most recent Guatemala entry stamp

- Your passport

- The equivelant of US$16 in Quetzales (don't try paying in dollars, even though that's what the prices are quoted in, as they change your dollars to Quetzales at the current rate and then back to dollars so that it ends up costing you more- don't ask me, it's Guatemala)

At the office (which is actually a quite professional customer service center) they'll give you an application to fill out; it is also available on the web at http://www.migracion.gob.gt/es/images/stories/soliprorrogatv.pdf (at the bottom of the application form it has the requirements). Migracion also has a more general website (http://www.migracion.gob.gt) but it is so terribly organized that it is hard to find anything useful. All this goes to the Migracion office in Zone 4- detailed info including phone numbers (which actually seem to get answered!) here: http://www.migracion.gob.gt/es/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=8&id=22&Itemid=43. Then 8 days (yes, 8 days later) you have to go back to pick up your passport with your visa extension. In terms of when to go, I would highly recommend going as early as possible (they open at 8am) to avoid lines, which can get rather long.

Opening a Guatemalan bank account

It is possible for a foreigner to open a Guatemala bank account, although not all banks allow it. In typical fashion some banks have byzantine requirements that are impossible to fulfill. In my experience Banco Reformador has very straightforward requirements (essentially only a passport and an application form) and makes it easy to open an account with minimal hassle, just make sure to ask about the fine print (fees, minimum balances, withdrawal limits, etc) as different types of accounts have different features and constraints.

Getting a Guatemalan Birth Certificate for your Child

If you're reading this (in English) then you're probably a foreigner that is thinking of giving birth in Guatemala. First, congratulations. Second, your child (assuming your home country allows it) will be a dual citizen as Guatemala grants automatic citizenship to anyone born in the country. Getting the Guatemalan birth certificate is pretty straightforward.

The hospital where your child was born should give you a document that has all the birth details on it. You need to take this document to RENAP (the National Registry of Persons or the Guatemalan equivelant of the Census Bureau) in the town where the child was born or where you reside (our son was born in Guatemala City and we live in Xela, but we were in Antigua so we tried to get the birth certificate there but they refused to help us despite the fact the I pointed out several times that it is the National Registry of Persons). In Guatemala City, RENAP's main office for this sort of thing is located on 2nd street just off Reforma in zone 9. If you have everything in order (see below for details), the office is pretty efficient.

In addition to your child's birth form from the hospital, you should also bring the usual photocopies of your relevant information (first page of the passport, etc). Also, it is a good idea to bring a copy of your marriage certificate/license, if you have it; they requested it when we went there but it doesn't seem to be a routine requirement and could probably talk your way around it if you had to.

Also, in Guatemala City and likely in other towns as well, they request a Boleto de Ornato, which is basically a registration fee you pay to be able to do municipal government transactions (it doesn't seem to serve much purpose except for raising revenue for the local government). It only costs a couple of dollars but I would highly recommend getting it ahead of time, especially if you're in Guatemala City. While the process to get it is simple (you pay, they hand you the little slip), you can only get it a few places and those places sometimes run out (how this is possible or makes any sense is beyond me, but whatever). So if you get it ahead of time (like the day before) then you won't waste time running back and forth to the RENAP office.

In Guatemala City, you can supposedly get the Boleto de Ornato at the Banco Rural next to RENAP but the line is often long there and they had run out the day that I was there (by the way, in Xela the process is much simpler, you can get it at the City Hall, off the Parque Central, and the line is rarely longer than 3 people). You can also get it at the Banco Rural underneath the municipal building (City Hall) in Guatemala City. Be sure to hold on to the Boleto, it is good for the year and they may ask for it when you do other transactions for your child (passport, etc).

I'd recommend getting a few copies of your child's birth certificate from RENAP. They are cheap (about $2 each) and if you're doing a US report of birth abroad, a Guatemalan passport, Guatemalan visa stuff (by the way, having a Guatemalan child means that you can apply directly for permanent residency, skipping the more complicated steps that are required for the temporary residence application), etc., they'll ask you for a copy of this birth certificate.

Finally, the child's name on the Guatemala birth certificate will automatically be the given names (first and middle name as Americans call it) plus the father's last name and then the mother's last name. But, if you're American, you can list the more conventional US nomenclature on the Certificate of Birth Abroad and passport (for info on the fairly straightforward process for this the US Embassy of Guatemala has all the info you'll need: http://guatemala.usembassy.gov/acs_passports_citizenship_birth.html).

Getting a Guatemalan Passport for your child

Again, I'm assuming that you're not a Guatemalan national if you're reading this (though the steps are actually basically the same in this case). To get a Guatemalan passport for your child you need to go to the passport office, of which there are a couple of offices throughout the country; see this link for the addresses (scroll down) and the requirements: http://migracion.gob.gt/es/images/stories/sint.pdf.

In terms of documents, you need the birth certificate you got from RENAP (see above) and your Boleto de Ornato (again see above). Both parents also need to be present, with their passports (as a side note, it is permissible for the parents to be in the country on a tourist visa). As always, bring relevant photocopies (in this case a copy of the parents' passports, including the front page and the visa or most recent Guatemalan entry stamp, and the Boleto de Ornato). Also, of note, is that the RENAP birth certificate must be less than 6 months old.

The initial application process is pretty straightforward. You start by meeting with a passport officer. After reviewing your application materials the passport officer issues you a receipt that you need pay at Banco Rural, about $30 (by the way, it is normal for them to keep the application materials, including the parents' passports, while you are going to the bank). Once you bring the paid receipt back, you meet with the photo technician, who doubles checks the data and takes a picture of the baby. That's it. Apparently in Guatemala City they issue the baby's passport on the spot, but in Xela you have to come back in a couple of days to pick it up.

A couple of notes here, first, while both parents technically need to be present, I was able to do the first part of the application (submitting the forms and getting the receipt to take to the bank by myself). Second, as always when doing these things, best to get there early as lines (for a passport officer, for the bank, and for the photo technician) can get quite long. Finally, the child's name on the Guatemala passport will automatically be the same as on the RENAP birth certificate: the given names (first and middle name as Americans call it) plus the father's last name and then the mother's last name, but for the child's US passport it is possible to get just one last name (see above).

Applying for a Guatemalan Residence Visa

If you've gotten this far in Guatemala, you know what you're up against in terms of bureaucracy, and you know that this is going to be a pain. So I'm going to skip the things that you'll already know by now: where the Migracion office is, that you always need a lot of photocopies of everything, get there early, etc. Also, of note, I'm only going to talk about the steps to apply for permanent residency on the basis of having a child that is a Guatemalan citizen (though most of the steps are the same- the main difference is that to apply for a temporary residence permit you need to have a guarantor). You can get some specifics on applying for temporary and permanent residency visas by following this link: http://www.migracion.gob.gt/es/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=15&id=57&Itemid=120).

Of the requirements to apply for a residence permit, the only really complicated one is getting a copy of your criminal history (or hopefully lack thereof), called the Constancia de Carencia de Antecedentes Penales in Spanish or a Good Conduct Certificate in English. What makes this difficult is that you need to get it from your home country or city (unless you can somehow prove that you've been residing in Guatemala for at least 5 years). For Americans that means a trip back to the US since the Embassy won't issue this and it takes a long time for the State Department in DC to process it (see here: http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/emergencies_1201.html ). Most local police departments in the US can issue these within a week or two (more below on what you can do if you can't go back to the US).

Once you get this Certificate of Good Conduct from your local American police department, you need to take it to the closest Guatemalan consulate so that they can legalize it (basically stamp it saying that the police department's stamp is authentic). In addition to the Certificate of Good Conduct, the Guatemalan consulate only requires your passport and a small fee (about $10). Then, you need to take this consulate stamped certificate back to the Ministry of Exterior Relations in Guatemala City (2 Avenida 4-17, zona 10) so that they can authenticate the authentication of the consulate.

If you can't go back to the US to get this Certificate of Good Conduct then the other option is be to fingerprinted in Guatemala (see details below) and send these fingerprints back to your local police department so that they can run a criminal check. To do this requires either a relative in the US who is willing to do the local police department and consulate steps for you or a lot of faith in FedEx or the US Postal Service. If a relative is doing it for you, be sure to check with the local police department as to what kind of authorization they need to have in order to submit paperwork on your behalf (a notarized letter would probably do the trick in most cases, but it is still worth checking).

Getting fingerprinted in Guatemala is a pain because, like many things in the country, there is no system or application process. The first thing you need to do is take a photocopy of your passport (supposedly they require a copy of every page but then don't always ask for it). Then take 2 copies of letter addressed to the chief of police requesting that you be fingerprinted for visa application purposes (and including your full name and passport number) to the PNC office at 10 Calle 13-92, Zona 1 in Guatemala City. The people at the front desk will stamp this letter received and tell you to come back another day. The people in the relevant office (whomever they are) seem to process this pretty quickly, but probably best to wait a couple of days before coming back, just in case.

When you return you can pick up a copy of your letter, which has been stamped with your case number (or some code that you apparently need). Then you take this letter to the Criminal Records Division (or somesuch) which is out in Zona 6, next to the police academy (the people at police headquarters will give you the address). After again explaining what you need and submitting more photocopies, these people will eventually fingerprint you (free of charge!). Then you can send this fingerprint card back to the US so it can go to your local police department. Good luck!

¡Ay! ¡Que Frio!

2011-03-18T11:43:00.016-04:00

People often think of Guatemala as a tropical land, because aren't all places in Latin America hot? It is true that areas of Guatemala are low-lying palm tree dotted tropics, but that is only on the Caribbean side (which I wrote about in my account of Guatemalan banana country) and a narrow strip along the Pacific ocean. In fact, much of Guatemala, including the entire center of the nation, where most of the country's population is concentrated, is very mountainous.

In this mountainous climate the temperature can actually be very temperate with Guatemala City (at about 5,000 feet of elevation) having spring-like weather year-round. Xela at over 8,000 feet has weather more fall-like weather: day time highs are in 70s and nighttime lows typically in the 40s (though it can get down to freezing during the height of the US winter in December, January, and February). We find this weather to be ideal: warm, but not hot, during the day and good cool sleeping at night.

While we may find Xela weather ideal, Guatemalans have a different idea. Any time you tell anyone in the entire country that you live in Xela, 98% of the time the first words out of their mouths are "Ay! Que frio!" (or Whoa! So cold!).

If the conversation progresses beyond this initial reaction, we often explain to people that the weather in the United States is much colder and that Xela isn't really that cold. Usually we can bring them around to this view once we tell them that snow falls in the US (a very impressive fact to most Guatemalans who have never seen snow except for the movies- though it is likely that we are simultaneously convincing them that we are completely insane: who would live in place where there is snow?!).

If living in Xela brings good insight into the Guatemalan sense of temperature, then having a baby is like a PhD thesis on this topic. Guatemalans, even those in Xela that would seemingly be better temperature adjusted, seem to have the idea that every baby should be dressed in at least 6 layers.

So even when it is 75 degrees, the idea that the baby would be wearing only 1 or 2 layers, even if has long sleeves, is shocking. Thus the first thing that every Guatemalan says when they see Jack is the familiar "¡Ay! ¡Que frio!" This exclamation is often followed by asking "you don't want to cover him with a blanket?" The slightly more restrained people, who are able to omit the former shocked exclamation, go straight to the latter blanket question.

When Jack left the hospital after he was born, the nurses were appalled that we were going to leave the hospital with him dressed in only a long sleeve onesie and a hat, even though it was 85 degrees outside. In fact, one of the nurses chased Meg down the hall to put a blanket over Jack's head to protect him from the cold (then she suggested that he sit in the front seat on Meg's lap rather than in the back in his car seat- not exactly a proper assessment of the relative dangers of the two situations).

Being a pediatrician, which seems to involve examining a lot of babies, Meg has quite a bit of experience in what Guatemalans consider appropriate dress for infants- that is, at least 6 layers of clothing. While a onesie, short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, pants, sweater, jacket, and blanket are some of the clothing options we choose between when dressing our child, Guatemalans don't choose; they just put all those clothes on the baby at once. Then they add a hat, gloves, and another blanket just for good measure and that's when it's 60 degrees out.

In fact, when seeing patients at her clinic, normal baby check-ups routinely take five minutes longer than they should because of all the time it takes to remove all of the baby's clothes before they can be examined. Meg has now learned to ignore the look of horror on the parent's faces when she removes even a few of the layers to try do to a proper exam (in a very warm exam room). It can be especially challenging to get the child's actual weight when they are outfitted this way.

The amount of clothing may also explain why a common complaint by parents is that their baby "has a fever because their skin feels hot". Well, your skin would feel hot too if you were wearing 6 layers on clothing on a warm day. Needless to say when a thermometer is used very few of these children have a temperature above normal.

So for those that think Guatemala is a tropical land, in fact it is often ¡Que Frio!

The Story of Jack

2011-03-16T17:47:00.000-04:00

If you've found your way here, then you already know the end of the story:

Jack Sullivan Herrmann was born at 10:02pm on February 3, 2011 in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

But here's how we got there (or at least the final part of the journey):

Meg's due date was February 17, 2011 (which actually happens to be Jed's mother's birthday). So come the end of January, Meg began having very regular appointments with the obstetrician. At the same time, Meg was also pretty tired of being pregnant. That is being constantly tired, very unwieldy, and having odd aches and pains was taking its toll. And that's leaving out the self-image issue of looking huge (after looking in the mirror towards the end of the pregnancy, Meg turned to Jed and said "I look like a bear").

Our plan for the delivery was that Meg would give birth in Guatemala City at Herrera Llerandi hospital, which delivers US standard medical care but with an extreme level of customer service (at one point after the delivery it seemed that both Meg and Jack each had their own exclusive doctor and nurse, respectively). In addition to the standard of care we chose Herrera Llerandi because several friends of ours had given birth there and been very pleased with their experiences. But given that our home in Xela is about 4 hours from Guatemala City, we knew that the old fashioned "we'll just go to the hospital when she starts to go into labor" plan wouldn't work too well (unless we wanted to chance having the child born at 10,000 feet on the mountainous highway that connects Xela and Guatemala City).

So we developed an alternative plan of renting a house for the month of February in the town of Antigua, which is an easy 45 minute drive from the hospital in Guatemala City. This plan drastically reduced the chances of giving birth on top of a mountain (though it didn't entirely eliminate this chance as a few months previous some friends with a similar plan ended up giving birth at the gas station about 1/3 of the way to Guatemala City).

Living in Antigua for the month also increased the chances that our parents would be able to be present at the birth of their grandchild- Jed's parents first grandchild and Meg's parents second (with Jack's cousin beating him to the first position by a mere 7 months). Our plan with our parents was to call them in NYC when Meg went into labor so they could get on the first plane and try to get to Guatemala as soon as possible. (Rumor has it that both our mothers had the schedules of all the possible flights to Guatemala memorized and also walked around with their passports in their purses). To assist in this plan, Jed's mother even took the momentous step of promising not only to carry her cell phone with her but to actually turn it on!

So on the morning of February 3, Meg had a regular doctor's appointment in Guatemala City. On the drive into the city, Meg noted how odd it was that at this point in the pregnancy she still hadn't had a single contraction. But she did complain about the sharp pains in her back which had been around for several weeks. Jed postulated that these "back pains" might actually be contractions.

After a quick exam, the obstetrician informed Meg that she was 4 centimeters dilated, in active labor, and needed to be admitted to the hospital immediately. Meg was quick to protest that she didn't feel like she was in labor and that she wasn't even having any contractions. So we all agreed that she would be hooked up to a monitor and observed for half an hour. If this test showed that she was having contractions close together then she would be admitted.

After seeing two relatively strong contractions in the first 3 minutes Meg was hooked up to the monitor we all knew where this was going. It felt strange to be finally on the brink of the moment for which we'd been waiting for so many months. On the one hand (especially for Meg and her "bear" stomach) it was nice to be done with pregnancy. On the other hand, birth and labor can be full of unexpected, nerve-wracking, and physical challenges.

While Meg was admitted to the hospital, Jed put the parent (soon to be grandparent) plan into action. His first call to his mother's cell phone went unanswered. As did the next five- though in fairness her cell phone was actually on, if even she wasn't answering it. He gave up on her and called his father, who upon hearing that Meg was 4 centimeters dilated asked if they should plan on "coming to Guatemala tomorrow for the birth". Jed replied that he might want to be here a little sooner and, in fact, should get on a plane right now as the baby was coming pronto.

Jed didn't need to impress the urgency of the situation on Meg's mother. She picked up the phone by saying "Oh my god, it's time, isn't it?" and ended 2 minutes later by saying that she was already out the door and on the way to the airport. Our parents ended up getting booked on the same flight from Miami to Guatemala City, which was scheduled to land at 8pm.

As we waited for our Jack and our parents to arrive, we made some more phone calls to our siblings and watched the contractions get more frequent and intense. Finally when the monitor measured the third contraction in a row over 90 (with 100 being the top of the scale), Meg decided it might be time to do something about pain medication. Enter the epidural!

Things progressed well through the early afternoon as Meg's contractions became more regular and she became more dilated. But as we entered the evening hours, the contractions continued but Meg's dilation stalled and Jack remained high up and had not descended into the birth canal. After much back and forth, negotiation, and extended deadlines we reluctantly agreed with the doctor that it was time for a cesarean section.

In the meantime, our parents had arrived in Guatemala as scheduled and we're at the hospital before 9pm. So we got to spend some time with them before Meg went into the operating room for her c-section. She was in the operating room for a while and then an unmistakable scream and Jack had arrived! He was happy (well, sort of), healthy (very) and 7 pounds, 4 ounces and 20 inches. It took a while so sew Meg up but by 11pm she was back in the room, tired but happy.

And as a final touch, here's how this story was written:

Guatemalan Parking (February 2011)

2011-02-01T09:14:00.001-05:00

In general Guatemalans are good drivers. In fact, given that they are often driving vehicles at least 20 years old, the average Guatemalan probably has greater driving skills than the average American. However, Guatemalans are terrible parkers.

Guatemalans seem to consistently choose the worst places to park their cars. Inevitably, when they've decided to pull of the highway (sometimes to fix park of their ancient car but often just to take a break or drop something off), they choose a blind curve. While occasionally these curve-parked-drivers will give the courtesy of a little warning (usually consisting of some trees branches in the road), often one only notices the parked cars when coming around a highway curve at 50 miles per hour.

At first, we were consistently mystified as to why people always chose to park in the worst places, but we've reached the conclusion that Guatemalans simply just never learn the basic rules of how and where to park. This may be largely due to the fact that, with the exception of two cities in the country (Guatemala City and Antigua), there is essentially no enforcement of parking laws anywhere in the country.

When we first moved to Xela, we spent some time trying to decipher the parking regulations and were confused. While we instinctively believed that a red line on the curb meant no parking here; these seemingly prohibited spots seemed to be consistently filled with parked cars. We soon figured out while our instincts were correct, there was simply zero enforcement of parking regulations so people parked wherever they pleased. Frankly, with the exception of curves on the highway, this arrangement suited us just fine as it allowed us too the ability to park wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted (which is quite convenient).

After experiencing a few weeks of burdensome driving regulations while in the United States over the holidays, including a $115 ticket for parking outside a pizza shop in NYC (leading to the world's most expensive pizza at $60 per slice), we were happy to return to the unregulated roads of Guatemala (and the cheaper food prices). In fact, upon our return to Xela, we were pleased to go shopping at our local vegetable market and buy a half-pound of green beans, a pound of tomatoes, an avocado, a cucumber and the world's largest carrot for $1 (with some change).

After returning with this vegetable bounty, I realized that we didn't have any garlic for the stir-fry I intended to make. So I drove by the market again on the way back from running some other errands in order to get some garlic (actually I could have purchased garlic at the supermarket but they only had imported Chinese garlic and I decided to be loyal and go to the market to get Guatemalan grown garlic). So as is custom, I randomly double parked our car in front of the vegetable market and ran inside to find Guatemalan garlic. Imagine my shock when I returned to the car five minutes later to see a traffic cop writing a ticket!

My first reaction was to ask the traffic cop what he was doing, but upon getting closer it was clear that he was in fact engaged in the heretofore unfamiliar process of writing a ticket. So I issued the standard double parking protest of "I've only been gone 2 minutes". Rather than responding with the classic "well that's two minutes too long" that I was expecting he said that had he known then he wouldn't be issuing a ticket but he arrived, didn't see anyone in the car, asked if anyone knew who the car belonged to and then, not seeing the hazard lights on, started to issue a ticket.

After much, back and forth, it became clear that my fault was not so much the double parking itself, but my failure to illuminate my hazard lights to show that I was only double parking for a short time. The cop concluded with "I'm sorry that you didn't know that you should have left your hazard lights on but now I'm going to have to give you a ticket". And with that he issued me a ticket for 180 Quetzales thereby also making my garlic purchase considerably more expensive.

Though, he did note, that if I paid the parking fine within 5 days that it would be 25% cheaper. So the next day I trudged down to the municipal traffic office to pay the fine. After some delays and bureaucracy (including a miswriting of my license plate number and the fact that the traffic office and the municipal treasury, where I paid the fine, have non-overlapping hour and a half lunch breaks), I ended up paying a total fine of 75 Quetzales. How 25% percent of 180 Quetzales turns into 75 Quetzales is also beyond me, but I figured if they had some special "pay-the-next-day" rate then who was I to argue?

The next day, when I was already the laughingstock of Xela (since everyone thought getting a parking ticket was pretty hilarious), I did see a story in the local paper that the City was starting a driving education campaign to get people to follow more traffic rules. So perhaps the traffic agents were just getting ready for that. But in the end, I guess 75 Quetzal garlic is a better deal than $115 dollar pizza (especially since at 8 Quetzales to the Dollar, the garlic only cost me a total of $10, which is probably close to the price I would have paid at Gristedes in NYC anyway).

Spam (January 2011)

2011-01-24T15:17:00.000-05:00

We all get lots of spam on the internet. While I find most of it annoying I understand the objective of most of what I receive.

While I don't buy Viagra on the internet (as far as you know), I imagine that every once in a while someone, somewhere out there actually does. While I don't think it is a good idea to send an African prince money so that he get to bank and then send me back 200% of my money, I guess someone once might have fallen for that scam (and hey, I guess if you've got nothing better to do then might as well give it a shot and send a few thousand emails). While I don't buy strange chinese electronics on the internet, even when my friends send me e-mails in oddly broken English encouraging me to do so, I suppose someone out there might want to save a few bucks and purchase and Aple I-Pood.

I'm sure you've gotten all these types of emails (or similar ones- I may have taken some artistic license above) and more. As I said, I get that someone is trying to scam people out of a few bucks even if they only get one taker for every million e-mails they send.

Having this blog, I also get a lot of spam comments, on all the topics above and more (though prescription drugs seem to be particularly popular topic these days). In fact, at my cousin Thomas' warning, when we originally started this blog we only allowed comments from people that had created accounts. This most restrictive setting was on my cousin Thomas' advice to prevent "the blog-bots" (his word, not mine) from spamming me. After protests from the hordes of friends (perhaps some artistic license again) who wanted to post but didn't want to create accounts, we changed the setting to allow for any kind of postings.

Well, it looks like the blog-bots may be getting their revenge by filling the commentary box with tons of spam comments. Fortunately, Google employs some pretty good software engineers who have figured out to route all these blog-bot comments to a separate spam inbox. Not sure how exactly they stay ahead of the blog-bots, but I'm glad they do (and I apologize to any of you that have made comments involving prescription drugs which ended up in the spam pile).

As I said above, while for the most part I get why people and blog-bots spam, I don't think I have an adequate understanding as to why someone might post this as comments to this blog:

"Safe, they remonstrate on to be taught that filing lawsuits is not the closer to invoke call to a standstill piracy. As an choosing, it's to entreat something mastery than piracy. Like peace of intellectual of use. It's fully a enormous numbers easier to berating iTunes than to search the Internet with jeopardy of malware and then crappy idiosyncrasy, but if people are expected to make amends for fact of bankroll b turn upside down loads and part of at to against ages, it's not overflowing to work. They even-handed standing by a squat consummation thitherto people beget software and Catch sites that amount to it ridiculously as to plagiarize, and up the quality. If that happens, then there valorous be no stopping piracy. But they're too biting and alarmed of losing. Risks recompense in compensation to be french bewitch‚e!"

Clearly they aren't trying to sell me anything, as there is no product to be purchased. Perhaps it is some political statement about free use of information in the internet age? Or an anti-piracy tirade? Those are the only possible themes I've been able to glean from the above.

Perhaps it is a teenager in Thailand experimenting with Google-translator with disasterous results (maybe they are asking to be my friend in some convulated Thai form of nomenclature?). In any case, I love the idea of "berating I-Tunes"; I've actually done the same thing but mainly when a song has become stuck in my head but has somehow ended up in the chasm of my computer and I-Tunes can't seem to find it. I also like the idea of "squat consummation", though it also creates a disgusting image in my head of two people.... well best to leave it there.

The lesson for the day: The internet is a very interesting, but sometimes greatly confusing, place.

And if anyone wants to come out and let me know that this is actually from them, I'll buy them a Guatemalan beer of their choosing (which isn't saying much as they'll only have about 2 choices).

A Famous Queztaltecan (January 2011)

2011-01-14T19:08:00.005-05:00

The below article was in the local paper yesterday making Meg famous (or else making someone with a similar, though not identical last name, famous). She's out signing autographs now. The rough translation, for those non-Spanish speakers, is below followed by the original article (which is also available at http://www.elquetzalteco.com.gt/13.01.2011/?q=locales/quetzaltecos_trabajan_para_hacer_obra_social).

-----

Quetzaltecos [what people from Quetzaltenango are called] Work for the Social Good

They are successful empresarios that put individual economic gain secondary and do social work with their earnings.

This week, more than 100 people received free medical care and medicines. In other work, 150 children will be able to begin their studies, thanks to grants, and outside of Xela there is a daycare for mothers who work [this should actually be for the children of mothers who work but they left that out so it implies that the mothers are actually going to daycare, which would be a little odd]. On the environmental front, this year thousands of trees were grown and will be planted and dozens of rural women have better stoves that consume less wood.

These deeds are the fruit of the work of a collective of Quetzaltecos, who through the Pop Wuj Spanish School invest funds to finance these social projects, according to organization member Roney Alvarado. Seventy percent of the financing for these projects comes from the school's own funds and the rest is donations, added Alvarado. There are medical students and residents that come from the United States to study Spanish with the understanding that they will do volunteer work, in addition they receive a cultural competency class to ensure better care of the patients.

Meg Sulivan, the head doctor, said that they attend to patients on Tuesday and five times per year they do health campaigns [this isn't actually factually correct, but it is possible that this mystery "Sulivan" told the reporter the wrong thing...]. Matt Parsons, a volunteer, said that they stay for four weeks and at least one training.

A Visit to Our Neighbor (December 2010)

2010-12-22T15:09:00.000-05:00

When we moved to Latin America one of the things that we most looked forward to, in addition to living in a new country, was the opportunity to explore other countries in the region. In fact, one of the reasons that we chose to live in Central America was proximity and ease of access to other countries (whereas in South American one can spend 2 days on a bus just to get to another country). Bordering on 4 other countries (Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras for those that are a little behind on their Central American geography), Guatemala is a great base for exploring the region.

Recently we took advantage of a long weekend to head to El Salvador. It turns out that our house to El Salvador is the same distance as New York to Boston, though the highways aren't quite as good and the scenery is better. Since El Salvador isn't very big (a little bit smaller than Massachusetts), one can really see a lot there in a short amount of time. And with 6,000 foot volcanic peaks within 45 minutes of beautiful beaches there is plenty to see.

We started off by driving the Ruta de Flores, a road that winds through the mountains connecting small, picturesque villages. After a lovely night's stay at the Hotel Casa Blanca (complete with the movie poster in the lobby) in Ahuachapán, we went to check out the bubbling pools and steaming rocks in the region, which provide 15% of El Salvador's electricity through geothermal sources. We tried to visit a power plant, but the guard informed us we could only come in if we had an appointment made in advance or had a "friend or relative that works here". Based on those strict guidelines and the sign out front saying the last accident had been 15 days ago (the all time record for time without an accident is one year), we decided maybe it was better to skip it anyway. So we paid the woman down the street 50 cents to go see the mud pits in her (smelly) back yard:

After lunch in the town of Juayua which had many of its buildings decorated with interesting murals:

Driving through the wicker furniture capital of the region (we didn't get any despite Jed's attempts to convince Meg that it would definitely fit in the car and surely wouldn't pose any customs problems), we drove past the beautiful crater lake of Coatepeque en route to Santa Ana.

When we were originally thinking about where to live in Latin America, Santa Ana had been high on our list of possible places. We decided on Guatemala early in our scouting trip and thus never had the chance to visit Santa Ana. After seeing Santa Ana we were happy that we'd decided to live in Xela instead. While Santa Ana is perfectly nice, it feels dirtier and more hectic than Xela without as big a colonial core or as picturesque surroundings.

Then it was off to the coast, where we encountered a lovely beach resort at the end of a very long dirt road. Backed by a river and fronted by the ocean it was very beautiful and a great place to go for a kayak in the mangroves and boogy boarding in the ocean in the same day.

You May Know Us From TV (November 2010)

2010-11-08T17:43:00.017-05:00

If you're reading this blog entry then you probably already think that we're famous (largely because we're convinced that our mothers are the only ones that actually read this). But unless you are a television viewer in Guatemala or Latin America, you may not know the extent of our fame. As such, we thought we'd share a couple of experiences to demonstrate how we've worked ourselves into the Latin American cultural fabric.

As a precursor, it is important to know that in Gutaemala, and Latin America generally, that sport is an essential element of culture. Anyone that has been to a Latin American sporting event or even been in Latin America during the soccer World Cup knows what a central role sports plays in everyday life. People are passionate about sports here- sometimes to an extreme, which results in things like soccer riots. If you haven't seen this first hand then trust us sports are more important here than in the US (when is the last time you heard of a baseball riot?).

Also given their popularity, for many people television is the central means of watching sports. At any given time you can turn on the television here and find no less than a half-dozen soccer games on. And during playoff time even baseball makes the front page of the Guatemalan newspapers (even though all sports other than soccer are a VERY distant second in the hearts of sports fans).

With that background, you will now be able to appreciate our new found television sports fame. Our first moment of fame occurred during the baseball playoffs when the Yankees were playing the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship Series. We were watching the Spanish language broadcast on TV. But just to built the suspense, first a few quick notes on watching American sports on TV in Latin America:

- First, watching sports you know on TV in a foreign language is pretty fun since they have some great terms for things; for example a homerun is "jonron" (which sounds exactly the same when pronounced in Spanish) and the right fielder is the "jardinero derecho", which literally translates as right gardener.

- Second, for most US sports they simply take the US broadcast and add Spanish commentators doing voice overs. For the most part this means that they do what you probably did at home as kid when you were practicing to be a sports commentator: turn down the volume and talk over the real commentators. This means that you can often hear the US broadcasters in the background. It also means that often images on the screen have no relation to what the Spanish broadcasters are talking about, but relate solely to US broadcast commentary. Thus the Spanish language commentators (and viewers) are left to come up with their own explanation for why they are showing a replay of a game from 5 years ago or an image of a moose in the woods.

- Third, for the most part and with the exception of special events (like the World Series), the Spanish "commentators" are sitting in their living room (or more likely a TV studio in Mexico or Atlanta), not at the actual game. This makes sense since the cost of deploying an entire broadcast team for each game would be prohibitive, especially when there isn't a big market for such games, and it allows them to show more games (since they can use the same commentators for a whole day of football games). But it does detract of the point of having commentators since the people in the studio have no better viewing perspective on the game than the viewers at home (and are often left with no explanation for something that has happened on the field). This means that the commentary tends to focus less on the action of the game and becomes more like the commentators having a conversation related to the particular game. Sometimes, especially during boring games, these conversations are very loosely related to the actual game on the field; such as the recent football game we were watching where the commentators engaged in a 10 minute conversation about the best NFL quarterbacks of all time while completely ignoring the action on the field (by the way, the answer was Joe Montana, who Latin American football broadcasters seem to be completely obsessed with- to the point that one time they even had Montana as a guest host, even though he speaks no Spanish whatsoever, which made for interesting television).

Back to our fame and the American League Championship Series that we were watching on TV. From time to time, the commentators of the Yankees/Rangers game would give shout-outs to people watching at home. For example, they'd say things like "Hello to my friend Jose Gonzalez and his family who are watching this game from Monterrey". Towards the end of one of the games, at a key point when the outcome of the game was going to be decided, Meg (not being a Yankee fan) was nodding off when she heard the broadcasters say: "Queremos decir hola a Meg y Jed Herrmann en Guatemala; Neoyorquinos y fanaticos de Los Yankees que estan mirando el partido desde Guatemala, saludos Meg y Jed Herrmann" (translation: We want to say hello to Meg and Jed Herrmann in Guatemala; they are New Yorkers and Yankee fans watching this game from Guatemala, greetings to Meg and Jed Herrmann).

Of course, it always great to get a shout out on international television, but is even more gratifying when you really get your wife's goat. First, Meg hasn't taken the Herrmann last name (it is unclear why anyone would turn down such a great name but she is very proud to be a Sullivan). Second, Meg isn't from New York (as she constantly reminds people) even though she's lived there for the majority of her post-college life. Third, Meg most certainly isn't a Yankees fan (in fact, she refused to allow me to even watch the Yankees-Twins division series with her). So now Meg is known as a Herrmann, New Yorker, and Yankees fan all across Latin America.

Our second moment of fame did not have quite as broad an audience though since it concerns soccer the people who did hear were likely very dedicated fans. We went down to the pacific coast of Guatemala for the weekend and there was a Guatemalan league soccer game in the town. Our hometown team (the Xela Super Chivos, or Super Goats) was visiting so we thought it would be fun to go and cheer them on.

Being visiting fans we thought it would be better to sit in the classy "club section" to avoid harassment (there aren't huge soccer riots in Guatemala but they still take their rooting pretty seriously) and because these fancy seats had a roof to shield the sun, which was well worth it since the game was played at noon when it was approximately 100 degrees (celsius, just kidding but it felt like it). It turns out that the club section as serves as the press box. Given that even local soccer games in Guatemala seem to be broadcast on multiple radio and TV channels, there were quite a few commentators with microphones there (though in an interesting reversal from US television broadcasts in Latin American, which we discussed above, these TV commentators don't have any monitors so they are literally just calling the game as they see it- since we were watching in person we can't say whether this makes for a better or worse TV broadcast than just sitting in the studio far away).

When we arrived the game had just gotten underway and the only available seats were between two dueling sets of commentators. So we spent the whole first half with a pair of commentators screaming in one ear and a trio of commentators screaming in the other ear. We could have learned a lot soccer knowledge in theory but we couldn't really hear what either group was shouting about the game.

At halftime, the trio of commentators introduced themselves and asked where we were from. We told them that we were from New York but living in Xela, which is why we were rooting for the Super Chivos (who were losing 1-0 at this point). We had a nice little chat with them. When they went back on the air at the beginning of the second half, they welcomed everyone back to the game "including our special visitors from New York City: Jed and Meg." Then he handed me the microphone (presumably for a welcome greeting) and I shouted "Go Super Chivos" to the viewers at home. Shortly into the half, the Xela team put in a substitute and we gave the player coming off the field a good cheer, leading the commentator to note "that our friends from New York are giving him a strong applause for a job well done".

Also shortly into the half, the Super Chivos scored to even the game at 1-1 leading us to cheer very loudly. So, of course, 15 minutes later when the home team scored the commentators screamed especially loudly and directly at us "Gooooooooooooolll". In all, our second brush with fame was a little more personal than our first, even if the TV audience wasn't as big.

It was also nice to meet the commentators (who at the end of the game told us a very long and not particularly funny joke about Guatemalans working in the US). We did note that the play-by-play guy who talked very fast in an exagerrated spanish accent during the game (think most words being said in the same tone as "Goooooolllllllllll") spoke in a perfectly normal and moderately paced Spanish when not doing his announcing (which must be a real relief to his family and friends since things like "Pleeeeeeaaaassssse passsssssssss the kettttt-chuppppppp" would probably get annoying on a daily basis).

So we haven't had to start beating away the autograph seekers who know us from our television fame yet, but we are anticipating that will occur any day now that we're so famous here in the Latin America sports community....

A Guatemalan "half marathon" (October 2010)

2010-10-13T11:29:00.012-04:00

(The below describes Jed's recent experience running Medio-Maratón Los Altos, a half-marathon in our hometown of Xela, Guatemala)

As a general rule, I think that when there is a half-marathon in the town that you live in and it costs $6 to enter that you sort of have to give it a shot, even if you're only partially in shape.

Some may think "that sounds like a fun adventure" while others may be saying "that sounds like it is going to end in disaster". Well, both groups are partially correct though many would probably tip into the latter camp when hearing that Xela is at 8,500 feet above sea level and extremely hilly. But what resulted from the application of this rule was a (mostly) fun and uniquely Guatemalan experience. In fact, in many ways Medio-Maraton Los Altos is a good microcosm of life in Guatemala.

The race was slated to begin at 8am and while I had pre-registered for the event (but only after three visits the local toilet supply store where the registration booth was located), a friend had not. So we thought we should arrive a few minutes earlier than we normally would so that she could register. She suggested we arrive at 7:15am, I said I thought that 7:30am would be fine, we comprised and arrived at the start (located at a Texaco gas station outside of town) just after 7:20am. By 7:25am she was registered. Then we waited for the race to start as the delivery vans of the race sponsors blasted music from their rooftop bullhorns (anyone who has ever been to Latin America is familiar with these ubiquitous "mobile units" that drive through the streets blasting messages about such irresistable products as concrete blocks). And we waited....

Around 8:05am an announcement was made from one of the sponsor trucks, but we couldn't hear it as the other sponsor truck continued to blast music at top volume. Ten minutes later another announcement was made that we could actually hear (only because it happened to be at the closer of the two sponsor trucks not because the other truck turned down its music while the announcement was being made). The organizers informed us that "some people called from the highway and asked us to wait for them to start the race". So we waited (at this point Meg was already waiting at the rendezvous point we'd arranged at mile 3 of the course and wondering where all the runners were). Then at 8:30am the Guatemalan runners started to warm up (in hindsight we probably should have been suspicious about the race's start time when at 7:55am no one had started doing any warmups).

Finally at 8:45am, the organizers (and at this point I'd already started to use that term loosely) directed people to line up on the starting line. A few minutes later, the women runners started (not sure why they decided that the 25 women runners needed a separate start). Then, finally, the 200 or so male runners took to the course.

At this point, it became clear that the late start was not an aberration on the part of the race "organizers" but standard operating procedure (at this point it became clear that "organizers" wasn't the correct word to describe them). First, there were no course markings whatsoever (no signs, no race marshals pointing the way, nothing). While this was potentially very problematic (I pictured myself getting lost and ending up many miles outside of town), it worked out fine (for me) in the end as luckily I was running at a similar enough pace to others that there was always someone just in front of me leading the way.

Second, the race course was not closed. In fact, there was nothing to warn cars that there was a road race or any type of safety precautions at all. For most of the course this wasn't much of a problem since traffic was light on this Sunday morning. However, towards the end of the course as we neared downtown traffic started to pick up. This was most annoying when the race course intersected with a major bus route:

Finally, the good news is that I managed to finish the race in 1 hour and 24 minutes. For those of you that know anything about running, you'll note that is a world class time (just over 6 minute miles for 13 miles). This might make you suspicious about the actual length of the course- with good cause. In fact, by my estimation the "half-marathon" was at most 10 miles (making for a more reasonable 8 minute miles).

I first became suspicious about the length of the race when I met Meg for the final time on the route. She encouraged me by saying that I was almost there, but one look at my watch convinced me that I was most assuredly not almost done with 13 miles. At this point, I had two thoughts: either this course isn't a full length half-marathon or we are about to run about 25 laps around the central park (where the finish line was). To be honest, I wasn't sure which option I preferred; while I wanted the satisfaction of completing a half-marathon, I was also pretty tired by this time and wasn't looking forward to 3-4 more miles.

There are several possible explanations for why Medio Maraton Los Altos was only 10 miles. Perhaps the race "organizers":
a. didn't bother to measure the course and just estimated (very poorly) the length of the route
b. measured the length of the course but did so incorrectly (perhaps by counting paces?)
c. correctly measured the length of the original course but then changed the route at the last minute (for example at one point we ran a slightly different way because there was a parade ahead)

Another possible answer is that given the lack of any actual course markings or race marshals that one of the early runners decided to take a short cut and everyone in turn just followed (almost like a giant running version of the game telephone).

With its grand aspirations, its delayed timing, its overall lack of organization, and its attitude of fun, care-free adventure, the half-marathon presents an analogy for life in Guatemala. Though I did read a few days later that the winners of the race were complaining that they had yet to receive their prize money from the "organizers" (perhaps also indicative of Guatemala).

As our landlord said when I told her of the 10-mile-half-marathon, "well, here in Guatemala one word can mean many things and people use words to mean whatever they want." Next month there is another half-marathon here, we'll see how long this one is...

(At the "finish" line)

Banana Republic Tour (September 2010)

2010-09-18T17:18:00.010-04:00

Recently, Meg’s brother Jake came for Guatemala for a brief visit. After spending a few days touring Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and Guatemala City, Jed and Jake went to Tikal (while Meg went to the US to teach medical board review classes):

Then Jed set off to explore the Caribbean coast of Guatemala, which is geographically and racially distinct from the rest of Guatemala. Dominated by tropical low lands, filled with fruit plantations, this portion of the country also has a significant Garifuna population (the Garifuna are descended from African slaves) and thus looks more like Barbados than Guatemala. In addition to the Garifuna, this area of the country also contains another vestige of the America’s commercial history, albeit a more recent one: bananas. So Jed took this opportunity to do a little banana republic history tour.

First some historical background- as many know, Guatemala was one of the original banana republics. The United Fruit Company played a huge role in Guatemala for much of the 20^th Century and became to be known as The Octopus for the manner in which its tentacles reached into all aspects of society. United Fruit’s business in Guatemala was banana export. In Guatemala, United Fruit owned hundred’s of thousands acres of land and also controlled Guatemala’s railroad lines (which crisscrossed the banana plantations) and Guatemala’s only modern ports (Puerto Barrios on the Atlantic coast and Puerto San Jose on the Pacific coast).

In fact, United Fruit was in part behind the 1954 presidential coup in Guatemala, through which the United States help to depose President Jacobo Arbenz (who, not coincidentally, had just put in place a major land reform though which United Fruit was forced to give up some its unused land- United Fruit was compensated with a payment equal to what they had declared the land to be worth for tax purposes, but they claimed that they should actually be paid ten times that amount). Interestingly, at the same time that the CIA and the State Department were orchestrating a coup, the Justice Department was preparing to bring suit against United Fruit for monopolistic practices. (There is much more information on the 1954 coup and United Fruit in the interesting book, Bitter Fruit.)

As a result of this suit, United Fruit was forced to sell a portion of its Guatemala assets to its rival, Standard Fruit (now known as Dole), and in 1960’s sold its Guatemala operations to Del Monte. Nonetheless, bananas remain big business and even on a short trip to the Caribbean coast it is impossible not to witness the impact of this banana history.

First, the Atlantic Highway in Guatemala is packed full of tractor trailers representing every brand of banana you’d ever see on a supermarket shelf in the US. Second, while the land next to the highway is dedicated to more commercial uses (restaurants, fruit stands, hotels, etc) a short drive off the main road and you’re engulfed in a banana plantation. Third, a quick look at the map reveals a vast (and now defunct) rail network that runs from these banana plantations, in towns like Bananero, to the coast.

So Jed planned his own tour of Guatemala’s banana past. The most common relic of the country’s banana past is the vestiges of railroad network where old tracks and the wrecks of railroad stations still dominate the center of many towns.

(Near Bananero's town center)

While any towns are content to let these facilites serve as an informal local dump, the town of Zacapa has created an interesting rail museum, where it turns out that the last train in the country ran some five years ago.

While the railroad is out of use at this point, having been replaced by modern container shipping, United Fruit’s shipping facility in Puerto Barrios is still very much in use (though it has been converted to a container facility). And still in use, though certainly not modernized like the port, is the old banana baron hangout Hotel Del Norte- a classic company town wooden structure facing the port in Puerto Barrios (all the better to monitor the banana exports) with the word's widest porch:

While Puerto Barrios is not much of a company town anymore, it turns out that some banana enclaves remain in the region. For example, in Bananero there is still a banana company town. Next to the defunct railroad station, Del Monte has a little town with wooden houses and sports facilities (note the logo at center court):

And best of all, the town a Del Monte landing strip cum golf course- a good way to fully take advantage of the land and to allow the banana executives to step off the plane and play a round (see golf flag in foreground and landing strip behind):

Jed is thinking of turning all of this into the Guatemala Banana Republic Tour (maybe we’ll even include a round of golf on the Del Monte course)….

One Night in No Man's Land (July 22, 2010)

2010-07-21T18:46:00.008-04:00

The below describes Jed's work to try to officially import our car to Guatemala

Some advice to anyone that wants to import a car to Guatemala, when you go to do the paperwork:

1. Bring a good book (that you aren't more than half finished with)

2. Have a good sense of humor

3. Bring a toothbrush

When I went to do the vehicle importation paperwork at the border, I was prepared with the first two items, but not the third (which turned out to be a pain). As background, for some reason, don't ask me why, you can't do the importation paperwork at the local branch of the Guatemalan tax office (which is 3 blocks from our house in Xela) but you have to go back to border. When I originally entered Guatemala from Mexico, I got a tourist permit for the car since I was anxious to get to Xela to see Meg and didn't have enough money on hand to pay the import tax. So this process was simply switching from a tourist car permit to a permanent car permit. Since the Mexican border is only about 2 hours from Xela, I didn't think this was such a big deal since the customs broker I was using told me the process would take 4 hours. So I figured I'd wake up early, get to the border when the broker's office opened, and be back home in time for dinner.

I executed the first part of the plan well, arriving at the custom broker's office at the border before 9am and filling in the necessary paperwork within an hour. Then since, I knew that I'd have 3 or so hours to kill, I decided to cross the border into Mexico to check out the Walmart in Tapachula (to look for an Ipod compatible stereo and to see if prices were much different than in Guatemala). Aside from a minor run-in with the Mexican police at a checkpoint- where they were very curious as to why I had so many stamps in my passport, especially the stamp from Singapore and a supposed stamp for Saudi Araubi (where I've never been)- the trip to Mexico was great (including an especially tasty lunch at a street stand, courtesy of my local guide from the customs broker's office). When I returned to the Guatemalan side of the border is when things went awry...

Apparently, the Guatemalan tax office custom's computer system was down across the entire country. This meant that no customs business could be conducted at the border until the system was back online. Despite lots of inquiries as to when the system would be working again- including one point where they promised there would be information about whether the system might work again that day (not information that the system was working but just information about whether it would work again) in half an hour- there was no progress.

While incovinient, I figured this wasn't a huge deal as I'd just get back in the car, drive home, and come back tomorrow when the system was working. That's when I learned that my car was officially in no man's land. Since the car's tourist permit had been cancelled as the first step in the process, it had been stamped out of Guatemala (even though it wasn't actually leaving the country, it had been stamped out of my passport so that I could import "back" to Guatemala). As the car was officially not in Guatemala, I couldn't drive it back to Xela for the night, which meant I was stuck at the border (unless I wanted to take a 2 part, 5 hour bus ride back to Xela for the night only to repeat the same trip again in the morning).

At was at this point that it struck me why the verb for "waiting" and "hoping" are the same in Spanish (esperar). In fact, it wasn't clear to me whether my expressions were being interpreted as "I hope the system gets fixed" or "I will wait until the system is fixed". While I was trying to convey hope, I suppose there wasn't much difference because I was also going to wait until the system was fixed.

For those of you that have spent much time at international border towns, you know that they aren't always the most pleasant places (to say the least). Given that one of the products of our around-the-world trip was a lot of time at borders, I knew that I was fairly lucky because this wasn't in the category of really terrible border towns but it still wasn't a place that I particularly wanted to spend the night. But I found a decent hotel that had air conditioning (since in contrast to most of the rest of Guatemala this town was very hot- adding to the pleasure of spending lots of time there) and cable TV.

After getting the hotel squared away, like any good American I decided to head back to Mexico to accompany my new best friends from the customs broker's office on a trip to pick up some cargo. After a couple more hours in Tapachula, Mexico, including a stop at Sam's Club to round out the tour of Walmart Corporation's Mexico holdings, I returned to Guatemala to find that just after we'd left the customs system had miracously come back online (yes, I was a little suspicious that it started working right after I left for Mexico). Nonetheless, by that point it was too late to drive back and in any case I'd already paid for my plush hotel room and bought some cold Mexican beer (which is much better than Guatemalan beer). So I bedded down for the night (50 feet from Mexico) in lovely border town of El Carmen, Guatemala- without a toothbrush or any other toiletries (hence item #3 from the list of things to bring when you want to import your car).

But all is well that ends well since when I woke up the morning, after a refreshing cold water show and using my bed sheet to dry myself (no towel which I figured out too late to ask the front desk for one), my paperwork was ready. After another half of hour of irrelevant paperwork and vehicle checks, I was on my way back to Xela after a fun 24 hours at the border.

Oh, and by the way, I recommend the guys at Gramajo y Aguilar Customs Brokers- they were very nice. Now all I have to do is spend another day at the tax office (fortunately the one down the street from us in Xela) to get the license plates for the car....

Xela photos (July 15, 2010)

2010-07-15T23:01:00.002-04:00

Some more photos from in and around Xela, Guatemala- click here to view. Enjoy.

Settling down in Guatemala (july 14, 2010)

2010-07-10T20:00:00.016-04:00

After Jed's drive and Meg's flight, we were finally both in Guatemala. First a little background on where we're living in Guatemala.

We're living in the western highlands of Guatemala in a city called Quetzaltenango. Quetzaltenango (or Xela as it commonly known based its ancient name in the indigenous language) is the second largest city in Guatemala with a population of about 400,000 people. It is located about 125 miles from Guatemala City though the drive takes about 3 1/2 hours because the road, while a very good 4 lane highway, is mountainous (it passes over the highest point on the Pan-American highway, which is just over 10,000 feet). Xela itself is at just over 7,500 feet.

This altitude makes for spring like weather conditions where it is warm in the sun but cool in the shade with daytime highs in the mid-70s and lows in 50's at night. Of course, there is some seasonal alteration, during the rainy season and other times, so it can be cooler as well. While Xela is the second largest city in Guatemala, it is only 1/10 the size of Guatemala City. This makes Xela is big enough that there are big supermarkets, movie theaters, and every other type of service you can imagine but small enough that it still has a historical core that feels like a small city.

We quickly settled into our apartment in Xela, a furnished place that we've rented for the first few months we're in the country. The apartment is one of 5 apartments surrounding a small garden and fountain and is 2-bedroom duplex with a nice kitchen.

There is also a view of the surrounding mountains and volcanoes from the terrace.

So far we've found Xela to be a great place to live. The colonial center is a very walkable and picturesque area. Just 4 blocks from our house there is a lovely central park, where there are always people doing something. More updates will follow as we continue to get settled into our life here, but so far so good.

The Tail End of Mexico (July 2, 2010)

2010-07-08T00:13:00.013-04:00

After our great trip to the tequila region of Mexico, we headed for the pacific coast for the final legs of the drive towards Guatemala. A stop for lunch in Acapulco was enough to convince us that we weren't missing anything in Acapulco (except maybe the cliff divers that we didn't get a chance to see before we hightailed it away from the mess).

Then we spent a great couple of nights along the southern, pacific coast of Mexico in small beach towns. The town of Playa Ventura certainly provided the most adventure; we hadn't been listening to the news so we didn't know about the approaching hurricane. The resulting rains succeeded in flooding our hotel room, causing the power to go out, and creating a leak that landed next to Jed's face for half the night. Oh, that isn't mentioning the earthquake that also happened that night....

However, the oddest aftermath of the hurricane was that while driving the next day we suddenly began to pick up Louisiana radio stations on the car radio. And this isn't just one station being rebroadcast locally, every single frequency had a Louisiana radio station that would fade in and out. The only explanations that we could come up with were that there was some weird electrical pattern in the atmosphere or something related to aliens- probably a 50-50 shot of each.

Aside from Louisiana radio stations, the only other excitement was an anti-government protest and roadblock. Well, that makes it sound a little more exciting than it was, here was the conversation (in Spanish) we had with a random Mexican man when we pulled up and saw the traffic backed-up behind the roadblock:

Jed: What's going on here?

Mexican Man: They are blocking the road

Jed: Why are they blocking the road?

Mexican Man: Who knows? Something about a protest against the government.

Jed: When will it be over?

Mexican Man: I have no idea; where are you trying to go, Puerto Escondido?

Jed: Yes, Puerto Escondido, is this the only road there?

Mexican Man: Yes, this is the only road to Puerto Escondido. At least you're stuck on the side of the blockade nearest town, why don't you go have some lunch?

Jed: Good idea.

So we went and had lunch, returned to the blockade, waited 25 minutes until the protesters went back home, and continued on our way.

Our next night in the town of Augustinillo was less eventful and more beautiful:

Our last hurrah in Mexico was a day spent with the Mexican Army; well not literally all day but most of it. By way of explanation, those of you that have been following Mexican current affairs know that over the past several years there has been a rising tide of narco-trafficking related violence and that one of the federal government's strategies to combat this trafficking has been to dispatch the Army internally.

There has been a considerable amount of controversy, and some backlash, to this move as the Army's mission, and therefore training, is not traditional domestic law enforcement. During our drive through Mexico, we saw many of these Army checkpoints. We were stopped a couple of times, but nothing compared to our last day driving through Mexico when we were stopped and searched 3 times within 3 hours. While, of course, there was nothing to find in our car, it still gave vivid insight into this controversial policy. And gave one particular officer a chance to ask for a bottle of tequila "para la raza" (we turned him down). After that crossing the border into Guatemala was fairly easy and we were through in under an hour.

Mexico and Tequila (June 30, 2010)

2010-06-30T23:18:00.000-04:00

From Laredo, Texas, we crossed into Mexico (after a brief farewell visit with our friends at US Customs and Border Patrol), where we drove straight to Monterrey (no hanging out in border towns these days...). Monterrey is a very nice city with well designed system of parks, museums, and cultural buildings. There was clearly a significant amount of urban planning that went into Monterrey- most of it in the 1970s judging by the dominance of the concrete monolith in architecture.

(Central Monterrey, with park in the foreground and mountains in the background)

Then we passed through Zacatecas (a nice town with a good colonial core) before spending the night in Guadalajara. Then came the highlight of our time in Mexico: a visit to Tequila country. While we probably should have done more planning, we really just happened to head to the town of Atotonilco el Alto on whim. Atotonilco is the town where aged tequila was invented and is one of two main tequila producing towns in Mexico- the other being the town of Tequila.

After some driving around we were lucky enough to end up at the distillery of 7 Leguas tequila. We ended up at 7 Leguas because it was the easiest to find, but it was a fortuitous choice. Though we hadn’t made a tour appointment, we ended up with a private tour of the distillery with Arturo Valle, the head chemist for the company. The tour consisted of visiting both of 7 Leguas factories, one of which produces tequila the old fashioned way, including using burros to crush the agave plants, and the other of which is a more modern plant.

(The agave plants before being pressed the old fashioned way)

In contrast to our tour at the Maker’s Mark factory (which was a lot of fun), this was not a half hour canned tour with a script and a professional tour guide. At 7 Leguas we got an hour and a half tour from people who’s main job is to make great tequila and whom only give tours on occasion. And we got to see every step of the tequila making process- from tasting the agave plants to sticking our noses in the vat of tequila straight out of the still. It was fantastic!

Aside from the tour itself, which was very informative, we got to have a tasting with Arturo who led us step-by-step through 7 Leguas various kinds of tequila, describing the process, the tastes, and the chemical reactions that create those tastes. Then we got meet the owner of 7 Leguas, Juan Fernando Gonazalez, who gave us some of the brand and family history: the company was started by his father, who was a great Pancho Villa admirer. 7 Leguas, which means 7 leagues in English, was name of Pancho Villa’s favorite horse. After that Juan’s assistant, Berta, hooked us up with some 7 Leguas hats, shirts, and tequila samples. Then we got to sign a tequila barrel to commemorate our visit (much cooler than a guestbook):

In all, we had a fantastic time at 7 Leguas, where we learned a lot about the tequila making process, got the royal treatment from the incredibly nice team at 7 Leguas, and got to enjoy a great tequila (don’t worry we took some bottles to go)! A big thank you to Juan, Arturo, and Berta for a great experience.

Nashville to Texas (via Oklahoma) (June 26, 2010)

2010-06-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

We got a slow start from Nashville (due to World Cup soccer) so we decided to stop in Memphis for the night, instead of heading to Little Rock. And a good choice it was, as it is hard to beat a night of minor league baseball, great ribs, and a wander around Beale Street.

In fact, we were even happier with our choice to sleep in Memphis when we stopped in Little Rock for lunch the next day and asked a local what there was to do in town and his response was “you’re pretty much doing it now”. If we had stayed in Little Rock longer, however, we could have watched the World Martial Arts Championships (though it is a little odd to drive into a strange town and see everyone walking down the street dressed in white martial arts outfits).

In front of the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock

An evening in Tulsa, where bar trivia was the highlight, checked Oklahoma off the list of US states to visit. On our way to the Texas/Mexico border we passed through some interesting places on our drive through Texas, including the town of West, which was an entirely Czech town (complete with a Czech bakery, a Czech Inn, and a biergarten)- as someone said: the Czechs were told to go west for greater opportunity and they took it literally. And in Manville, Texas, a record 11 water towers were visible from a single point on the highway. Next stop Mexico!

Charleston to Tulsa (June 23, 2010)

2010-06-28T00:03:00.007-04:00

After a lovely night at the Red Roof Inn Charleston-Highwayside, it was off to Tennessee via the land of Kentucky. The first stop in Kentucky was lunch in Lexington, a rather nice little town and birthplace of Mary Todd Lincoln; interestingly Abraham himself was born just down the road near Hodgenville, KY and also lived New Haven, KY as a child. I always thought as Lincoln being from Illinois- perhaps attributable to the fact that its license plates say as much- but it turns out he was originally from Kenucky- who knew?

(Lincoln's Boyhood Home)

Another highlight in Kentucky was a visit to the heart of bourbon country. The Bardstown area is chock full of distilleries and we visited our friends at Maker’s Mark. We had a lovely tour where we learned about the secrets behind production (the use of red winter wheat rather than rye apparently produces a sweeter, smoother taste than most other bourbons). Thanks to the folks back at corporate headquarters (specifically one Andrew Slater), we got to experience the highlight of the tour: dipping a special “Founder’s” bottle of Maker’s Mark’s into its trademark wax.

And since no trip to Kentucky is complete without at least one reference to the Kentucky Derby, we saw the house that was the inspiration for the song My Old Kentucky Home (the song that is sung before the Derby). Lets just say that the song is better than the house. Then it was back on the road and over the border into the Tennessee, where (thanks to our kind hosts the Greenes) we had a great night at the Honky Tonks on Broadway in Nashville.

On The Road Again (June 21, 2010)

2010-06-25T23:55:00.008-04:00

After 6 weeks back in the US, including trips to California, Maine, Connecticut, and Washington, DC for a wedding, a bachelor party, a reunion, a birthday party, respectively, it was nearly time to head the road again and head to Guatemala once and for all. After weeks of completing errands and working on logistics, the most time consuming being the purchase of car, and waiting for our nephew to be born (Devin Spencer Sullivan arrived on Friday, June 18), we had everything set to go. In this case, however, “go” meant different things for each of us. Go for Meg meant buying a plane ticket and getting a ride to LaGuardia airport. Go for Jed meant getting in the car and driving to Guatemala.

As for the need to drive to Guatemala, we knew that we’d need a car there and after doing some car research while we were in Guatemala in early May, we determined that we could get a better deal on a better car in the US. So after much research and looking at used cars in 8 different states, we finally bought a Jeep Liberty, which checked off the boxes of not too big, not too fancy, but dependable and with four-wheel drive.

Jed and Jimmy: The Before Picture

Our last stop, before going to Guatemala was Jed’s brother’s wedding in Charlottesville, VA. Highlights of the weekend included a tasty southern style dinner on Friday night, followed by speeches and songs from family and friends; a beautiful outdoor ceremony in the garden of an historic inn; a great photo booth at the reception which captured many great memories and some less great ones; oh, and it was 95 degrees the entire weekend so there was some good sweating too.

After some last minute car maintenance, Jed and his cousin Jimmy set off south towards Guatemala. The first stop was the “wild and wonderful” (that’s their state slogan) West Virginia. A night in Charleston contained many great sites and adventures; well, actually the only really great site was the capital building (its dome roof is covered in gold).

For that matter, the only real adventure was the Hackensack New Jersey Marching Band RV getting stuck on the protective bollard at that gas station. After making too tight a turn while pulling out of the gas station the band leader managed to smash the back of the RV into the cement post and get the RV situated such that no move backward or forward could free the post from where it was embedded in the back of the RV. After offering our assistance (to no avail), the band leader went with the next option, which was to “load up a van pull of tuba players” and get them over to the gas station to try to push the RV off the cement post. While we don’t know if they ever freed the RV, the tuba players did arrive:

Latin America Here We Come (May 7, 2010)

2010-05-09T22:01:00.011-04:00

To cut to the chase: We're moving to Guatemala!

After 50+ meetings, in 3 countries, over the course of several weeks, we've found our ideal situation in Xela, Guatemala. If you had asked us 3 months ago what kind of place we wanted to live in Latin America, we would have described exactly Xela (or Quentzaltanango), Guatemala. Guatemala's second city, Xela is a medium-sized city of 300,000 with a large indigenous population, a beautiful colonial core, beautiful scenery, good restaurants and the full range of services anyone could want (see here for what Lonely Planet and Wikipedia have to say).

A view of Xela's colonial central square

On top of that, Meg has found her perfect job there. She'll be working as the Medical Coordinator for the Pop Wuj medical clinic. The clinic sees medically underserved local residents and is connected to the Pop Wuj Spanish School which supplies many volunteers from US medical schools. Officially Meg will be an employee of the Timmy Foundation, a US-based organization which organizes medical brigades of American doctors, medical students, and others that come to Guatemala for week long trips to provide intensive medical care to many of the underserved communities surrounding Xela.

Jed also has some great opportunities consulting with Guatemala municipalities- a field he didn't even know existed 3 months ago! But there is actually quite a robust group of organizations that are working with Guatemalan cities and towns to better service delivery and improve transparency. So Jed can actually do work that is related to his work in New York City government, which means the last 6 years of working at the Department of Consumer Affairs isn't totally inapplicable (which is nice!). At present, Jed is planning to begin consulting with the Inter-American Development Bank starting this summer.

And to top it all off, we've already got a short term place to live in Xela- in an apartment a 5 minute walk from the central park and Meg's work. The place is twice as nice and 4 times the size of our last New York apartment- all for 15% of the monthly rent! In addition to a garden area and a terrace it has a guest bedroom so start planning your Guatemalan vacation....

A view of Xela and environs

In all, this is a great ending to what has been an amazing journey over the past 6 months. We're incredibly blessed to have seen so much of the world and to end up in as worthy a place as Guatemala. And stay tuned to our blog as we hope to give updates on our lives in Guatemala.

El Salvador (April 29, 2010)

2010-04-29T00:34:00.000-04:00

Other than a brutal civil war (in which the US was intimately involved) and a variety of natural disasters (which the US had nothing to do with, we think), most Americans don’t know much about the recent history of El Salvador. In fact, when Meg’s contact with a rural clinic brought us to the country, we didn’t real know what to expect. We found a fun, beautiful, friendly, and modern country. Despite its small size (about that of Massachusetts), El Salvador has great geographical diversity. From the mountains and the beach to the cosmopolitan capital and cute colonial towns, El Salvador really has it all and all within a few hours drive. As we heard on multiple occasions, for Salvadorians a drive of over two hours is “a long drive”.

We started our time in the country with several days of meetings in San Salvador; from people at the US embassy, US AID, NGOs, and more we met with many types of people. And almost universally we found them to friendly and forthcoming. As capital cities in Central America go, San Salvador is among the best (perhaps only Panama City might eclipse it). To those who know Central American capitals this might seem like faint praise, but found the city to be a pleasant, even if not particularly full of tourist sites (which may account for nearly complete absence of tourists).

After San Salvador, the medical clinic we visited in the province of Morazan was a sudden change. The Morazan province is among the most rural in the country and although only a few hours from the capital, it feels very removed. The town where the clinic is has no electricity (though it is scheduled to receive power later this year) and limited running water. As such, the work that is performed at the La Estancia clinic is both impressive and much needed. After learning about the clinic from American volunteers and the local staff, we spent the night and soaked in the local culture in the town of 200 people.

Morazan was also a rebel stronghold during El Salvador’s long civil war. Many of the families in the area escaped across the mountainous border to Honduras during the war while the men resisted the government forces. There are many reminders throughout the province of the war. Among them is the Revolutionary Museum in the town of Perquin. While it isn’t the world’s most interactive museum, the chance to see many remnants of the war firsthand with a former guerilla as a guide is worth the trip.

After the mountains of Morazan, we headed down to the coast (with a short stop at the airport to change our flights- lopping our planned trip to Bolivia and Peru off our itinerary and replacing it with a return to Guatemala to investigate some more job leads). A night in the little beach town of El Zonte was a very pleasant experience. El Zonte is a small cluster of houses on lovely beach with a great surf break- all under an hour from San Salvador. While we probably won’t end up living in El Salvador (as we found better professional opportunities in Guatemala), we would highly recommend it for your next vacation.

Post Script: Guatemala

2010-04-25T10:39:00.005-04:00

After a brief stop in the United States to do our laundry, do our taxes, see our families, take a break from our blog, attend Jed's brother's engagement party, go to Jed's cousin's christening, celebrate Meg's brother's birthday, and meet with some people at the State Department in Washington, DC (phew! In some ways our trip to the US was more parapetic than our trip around the world), it was off on a reconaissance mission to Latin America.

Our Mission: Meet with contacts, scout cities/towns that we might live in, and find jobs

First Stop: Guatemala

As we've told people many times over the last months, our goal is to live in Latin America for a couple of years in a Spanish speaking country, where our work will be of public service, and which isn't too dangerous or unstable (sayonara Venezuela).

More specifically, going into this scouting trip, we were ideally hoping to find (in this order):

1. A job for Meg in her field (at least some degree of clinical, primary care pediatrics mixed ideally with some elements of public health and health education work)

2. A good country to live, preferably in Central America, since the need is greater there than in many parts of South America and it is easier to get back to the US (the flight from Guatemala City to New York is shorter than New York to San Francisco)

3. A good town/city to live in- we were hoping for some place that wasn't too big or too dangerous but was still cosmopolitian enough to have cultural activities and things like internet and a supermarket where one can buy peanut butter and Heinz ketchup (the availability of the latter is on indicator on Jed's economic development scale)

4. A job for Jed that was somewhat related to his work in NYC government- ideally this would be working with a municipality (or possibly an NGO) on improving service delivery to citizens and/or tracking the effectiveness of projects

We were lucky enough to stay with some friends in Antigua, Guatemala who let us camp out in their guest room for several days as we went to meetings with NGOs, government agencies, and other organizations in Guatemala City. Over the course of 5 days we had numerous meetings with various contacts. Combine that with several hours of traffic (and getting lost) in Guatemala City and it was a busy week. Though we had several fun diversions including a couple of fun dinners out on the town in Antigua and a day spent climbing a volcano with the US Ambassador (who was extremely nice and full of great advice). We then headed up to Quetzaltenango (aka "Xela.") where Meg visited some clinics and Jed introduced himself to the mayor (literally; even gave him his resume; the mayor is "looking for possibilities for him.")

Next stop on on the Latin American reconnaissance trip: El Salvador

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2010-04-09T05:30:00.011-04:00

Many people have asked us over the course of our trip a variety questions along the lines of “what was the best [fill in the blank]?” So from food and foul ups to sites and surprises, we thought we’d give a quick run down of the best of and the worst of:

Best place: Wadi Rum, Jordan

Best place runners up: Summit of Kilimanjaro, Gili Islands (Indonesia), Mumbai

Place we would most recommend visiting: While we visited many beautiful places that should be visited. Many of them, however, are fairly well known: the Pyramids at Giza are great, but they aren’t exactly untouristy. Here are the places we’d recommend to get off the beaten track:

1. Syria: while we may not be on most friendly diplomatic terms with them (“Axis of Evil” anyone?), we found Syria be a fun place to visit with super nice locals, good sites, cheap prices, and not a lot of other tourists

2. Burma: Getting a Burmese visa is a process and the government is like a repressive bad joke, but the scenery is fantastic, the food is surprisingly tasty, and the culture is very interesting; this is probably the most different place that we went

3. Namibia: There are certainly some well known sites in Namibia, like the iconic dunes at Sossusvlei, but it is a huge country with very few people and is much less traveled than its neighbor South Africa. Thus relatively speaking Namibia is a great way to get see all that Africa has to offer with less people, lower prices, and better beer than other places in the region.

Places that lived up to the hype:

1. The Pyramids, Egypt: Yes, they are crowded; yes, there are lots of touts; and they are one of the world’s original tourist sites. But there is a reason for this: they are truly remarkable. Their size, their perfect shape, their natural setting, their age… wow!

2. Safari in Tanzania: “Are you going safari?”; “You must see the animals while in Africa!”; etc… We heard all this and more about how great a safari was and how we must do it- turns out everyone was right. Seeing exotic animals in their (jaw-droppingly beautiful) natural setting is fantastic!

3. Cape Town, South Africa: This city is world-renowned and righltly so as it has it all: beautiful mountains, the ocean, good food, great wine. It is a wonderful place to spend a week.

4. Istanbul: Istanbul gets it right- the history, the mix of cultures, the energy, the architecture, the food. Again this is a place that people highly recommended to us and we’ll do the same- Istanbul is great!

Most surprising place (that we thought we wouldn’t like as much as we did):

- Nairobi, Kenya: This city has a very bad reputation but we found it to be a pleasant city; in fact, the nicest city we saw in Africa with the exception of Cape Town

- Victoria Falls: After Niagara Falls, we didn’t have high expectations for another big waterfall. Turns out when you take away tourists and the barriers- allowing you to walk right up to the edge and even lean out over the falls (literally)- it is pretty awesome.

- Jogykarta, Indonesia—we went there as a means to see the temples of Borobudur and Pramadan outside the city but ended up really loving the city. The people were incredibly friendly and it was a great introduction to the vibrancy of the Indonesian culture

Best Food overall: Malaysia

Best Food compared with what you get in the U.S.: Middle East

Best meals: 1. Falafel in a back alley in Amman, Jordan 2. Dinner in Selcuk, Turkey 3. The Copper Chimney Restaurant, Mumbai

Worst meal: Nkhata Bay, Malawi

Best hotel value: Hoang Van Hotel, Kon Tum, Vietnam (beautiful, spotless, modern room with all the conveniences (wifi, satellite TV, bathtub, mini-fridge, etc) in a prime location for $15.)

Worst hotel value: No Name Hotel, Damascus, Syria (noisy, dirty craphole with bathroom filled with bugs for $29)

Best decision: Going on a 6 month honeymoon (we highly recommend it!) Others include:

going through the hassle of figuring out how to get to Burma
not booking Kilimanjaro trip in advance as booking it on the spot cost 30% less
renting car in Thailand allowing us to escape the hordes of tourists and find “the real Thailand"
opting to buy plane tickets on the fly, rather than buying a pre-arranged around-the-world ticket- ironically not buying this gave us more flexibility and cost us 75% less

Worst decision:

1. Trying to go from Nkhata Bay, Malawi into Tanzania in one day: turns out this trip is long and slow and drove us to the brink of insanity

2. Changing money (from Zambian Kwacha to Malawian Kwacha) with scammers at the Zambia-Malawi border: they cheated us out of $8 with their tricky math

3. Not changing money with scammers at the Malawi-Tanzania border: this reactionary move (see #2 above) cost us $50 since no else one in the entire world will exchange Malawian Kwacha (trust us, we asked in every subsequent country we went to).

Best Cities: Saigon, Mumbai, Istanbul

Worst City: Mandalay, Burma (although the surrounding sites are great)

So that is the wrap up on our around-the-world honeymoon. We look forward to being a source of advice for our travel friends in the future. Now on to finding a job in Latin America....

Hong Kong, April 5, 2010

2010-04-06T10:24:00.009-04:00

Hong Kong was a good transition between the rest of Southeast Asia and New York. With a diverse population, many familiar stores, and westernized prices, Hong Kong felt like a cross between Madison Avenue and Chinatown.

The efficient transportation system makes Hong Kong a very easy place to spend a pleasant weekend. In fact, even Jed had to admit that Hong Kong’s public transit system was better than New York’s in many ways. With an integrated system of subways, buses, ferries, and street cars, the transit system is a model. Where New York has tried (though largely failed) to use its maritime assets (it was originally a harbor city for goodness sake), Hong Kong has succeeded; there are cheap, regular ferries that go all over the city.

Hong Kong (as well as Bangkok) has engineered a very efficient way of transferring between subway lines. Rather than walking up or down stairs and all over the station (as one does in New York), they have set it up so subway lines between which travelers regularly transfer are across the platform from each other. This certainly is not that difficult an idea to think of, but it makes life a lot easier for the average rider.

You have a close to perfection when you add a (very fast) direct train from the airport and the “Octopus Card”, a great stored value card that can be used on all public transport and many stores as well. While the logistical challenges are great, an Octopus card (we could call it the Hudson Card) would be great in NYC.

Hong Kong also has great food assets. Like Singapore, the unique merging of many cultures has led to very tasty buffet. Jed tried to eat as many meals a day as possible to take advantage of all the culinary treats (despite great efforts, six meals in a day was the most he managed to fit in). And after a trip of shunning Chinese food in favor of local food, Meg was finally able to enjoy Chinese food without feeling guilty.

Jed enjoys some Hong Kong pork jerky

Despite the fact that Hong Kong was shrouded in fog the entire time we were there (which is better than the sandstorm that had blown down from China a few weeks earlier), we still marveled at the fantastic scenic beauty of the place. The juxtaposition of green mountains towering over beautiful aqua water with skyscrapers sprouting in the foreground makes for a unique and fantastic visual fabric. However, it was the non-urban parts of Hong Kong that we found most invigorating. While the island of Hong Kong is the main urban center there are dozens of other smaller islands that make up the city. On Hong Kong island itself but also on the myriad of smaller surrounding islands, there is much untouched nature and many small towns and fishing villages. For example, we were able to take a 30 minute ferry ride and spend a few hours hiking around mountains and through small villages.

And so with a long weekend in Hong Kong, our epic around-the-world honeymoon came to an anticlimactic end. Stayed tuned for the our awards for the best, the worst, and in betweens of the trip.

Being Culturally Insensitive (or why people shouldn’t be allowed to do construction at 6am on a Sunday)

2010-04-04T21:49:00.003-04:00

(Author’s Note: The below is meant to be a humorous take on some of the head-scratching moments we’ve had on our trip. Despite the title of this post, none of the below is intended to be insulting rather just a compilation of some of those times when rather than getting angry you just have to shake your head and laugh (or vent by writing a ranting blog entry). So enjoy and if you get offended then apologies from Meg who was against posting this entry.)

So you may say that we’re being culturally insensitive, but as I’m writing right now at 6am on Sunday morning, the loud noise from the construction next door is pretty darn annoying. Maybe I’m missing something endemic to India culture here but really after getting to bed at 1am (not a completely unreasonable hour even if they do close the bars at 11pm here in Bangalore), I’d really just like to be able to get some sleep now. So I really wish there was a law (like there is New York) about the hours during which one can do use their heavy-duty saw (or whatever it is that is making that terrible noise).

When traveling we’ve all had instances like this, when we say “you can’t be serious, you aren’t really doing it that way?” Or perhaps more mildly something like “why do they do that? It seems that our way in the US might make more sense.” Often in our politically correct age, we can chalk some of these annoyances up to the school of thought that says “cultures are different and just because they do it differently doesn’t mean it is wrong.” And there really are many things that are different and that’s just fine (and part of the fun of traveling is seeing the, often innovative, different ways that people do things)- but maybe sometimes (like at 6am on a Sunday morning) there really are better ways of doing things…

Obviously one of the goals of our around-the-world journey was to learn about the aspects of different cultures and to broaden our world views. And there are many things that we’ve seen done differently that are just as good, or better, ways of getting things done- for example the reusable electronic tokens in the Delhi metro system (much more environmentally friendly than disposable plastic Metrocards). And there things that really just can be chalked up to the idea that people do things differently, though not necessarily any better or worse, in different places. For example, there aren’t mini-marts at gas stations in India because not many people go on long distance road trips and traditionally meals aren’t eaten on the go. While it would be nice to be able to buy a coke and chips at gas station, one can accept that not having a mini-mart is a just cultural difference.

But there are some things that no matter how culturally sensitive we’re being that just seem like they could really be done a better way. What follows is a list of other things that we just can’t wrap our head around why anyone would do something this way (or just things that we have found really frustrating):

1. Littering: Many of the countries we’ve been to have enormous trash problems. Many places there is just trash everywhere. In some cases there are probably very reasonable explanations for this ubiquitous of trash- for example, not having the funds for a fleet of municipal garbage trucks certainly makes it hard to effectively remove residential trash from city streets. Or living in a rural area where the government hasn’t created a centralized trash dump could certainly mean that trash is in more places than one might like. But we can’t think of anything that explains away why you would throw your empty soda bottle out the bus window- when driving through the midst of a beautiful rainforest! When we were in Dar Es Salaam, Meg walked around with an empty water bottle for 20 minutes looking for a trash can with no luck. Finally, given the heat, we stopped to buy another bottle of water and Meg asked the vendor if he had a place to throw away the empty bottle. He said yes, took the bottle, and promptly threw it on the street behind him. When he noticed the disgusted looks on our faces, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said “This is Tanzania.” Yes, there are worse problems in the world, but nonetheless but littering just seems disrespectful to your country.

2. Playing movies on full volume on an overnight bus. Sometimes watching a movie on a bus can be a nice way to pass the time. But on an overnight bus when everyone is asleep, what sense does it make to play a movie? And in what reality does it make sense to play the movie’s sound over the bus’s PA system at 95 decibels at 3am? This is just a bad idea (especially when you’re en route to Cairo and it is a horror movie with incessant screaming in guttural Arabic).

3. No shower curtain in the bathroom. While we may think that showering is the best manner to wash one’s self, we can understand why other people might choose to bathe in an alternative manner. But if going through the trouble to construct a shower, why not do that last 1% of the job and install a shower curtain. We’re not talking about a fancy shower curtain (like those great ones they have in US hotels now that bows out away from the tub so the shower curtain doesn’t stick to you) but just a simple piece of plastic sheeting (which is clearly available everywhere since it is used for everything from roof coverings to carrying sacks). It would seem that the benefit of shower curtain would be a non-cultural thing- who doesn’t like to keep the toilet and bathroom floor dry when they are showering? But no, seemingly the concept of not soaking the entire bathroom (which inevitably stays un-usably wet for the remainder of the hotel stay) while showering is a cultural thing- who knew?

4. Sidewalks and the free passage theron: Many places in the world it clearly doesn’t make sense to have sidewalks. On a country road with little traffic of any kind, no one would go through the trouble or expensive of building a sidewalk. Or even in a larger town or city with little pedestrian traffic a sidewalk might not be worthwhile (for example, it is unclear why they bothered constructing them in Des Moines, Iowa). But in jam-packed city where people walk everywhere, then it would seem like it might be worthwhile to construct a sidewalk. For instance, it might lead to less traffic accidents if people weren’t walking in the same place as speeding cars or rickshaws, as the case might be. Additionally, once you go through the time and expense of constructing a sidewalk, it might be nice if it was possible for pedestrians to actually walk on it. But if your sidewalk has been taken over by stores displaying their wares, vendors cooking things, and farm animals, this renders the sidewalk useless to pedestrians. So while Jed has been accused of being anal for monitoring NYC sidewalk cafes encroaching outside their prescribed boundaries, it is a slippery slope to unusable sidewalks.

Of course, there are also countless things that could be changed about American culture (our penchant for being very demanding about how other people should do things, thinking that the key to someone understanding English is voice volume, or the New York Yankees) but the above is just a few things that would seem to transcend culture differences.

Vietnam (April 2, 2010)

2010-04-02T11:21:00.005-04:00

Vietnam was really the first place on our trip, where we were truly stumped in our ability to communicate with people. There have been many countries where we didn’t speak the local language (in fact, all of them with the exception of southern Africa where English is an official language in many countries), but in most places people know enough English that you can order a basic meal, get a bottle of water, or buy a bus ticket. In Vietnam, however, we regularly very challenged in getting even the most basic tasks completed (Meg to Jed on a 90 degree day: “well, I wasn’t that thirsty anyway, I probably don’t need a bottle of water now”).

In many ways, this lack of English was refreshing after being in some foreign towns that feel more like an English-speaking overseas possessions than anything else. And the lack of English speakers was a small sacrifice for not being constantly offered a ride in a tuk-tuk (or a t-shirt or postcards). But nonetheless given Vietnam’s history and what we’d heard about Vietnam from other travelers (how easy it was to get around, for example) we found it odd to have such little English being spoken. To be fair, we deliberately went to an area of Vietnam where most tourists do not go. The Central Highland towns of Kon Tum and Buon Ma Thuot provided beautiful scenery, incredibly friendly people, and a glimpse into the life of “the real Vietnam.”

This all changed, of course, when we got to Saigon where there was no shortage of English or tourists. However, it was hard to not fall in love with the city- once you recovered from the shock of an unfathomable number of motorbikes coming at you as you tried to cross the street:

With the charm of an old French colonial town and the warmth of the Vietnamese people and culture, Saigon is definitely a city you feel like you could live in. It also has a very western feel to it, which made us question how it really was the “Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” Despite all the Cold War era ideological battles, the economy is as capitalist as anywhere we have been.

Communism meets Capitalism

Given our confusion about what really was Communist about Vietnam, we asked questions of our guide at the Cu Chi tunnels (which were dug by the Viet Cong to hide from American soldiers during the war- so a fitting place to figure out how the economic system resulting from the war really works). His response was that while they had elections, it was a one party system and the elections are decided far in advance- “you can go to polls if you want, but your vote is already entered into the log book before you get there”. He said that government owns some of the major industries (oil, electricity, communications), but apart from that capitalism abounds. Meg then asked him if it was possible to write a newspaper article criticizing the government and our guide burst out laughing, said “if you want to go to jail” and continued his amused chuckling for several moments. (I guess there is some communism here after all.)

And, of course, no entry about Vietnam would be complete without some reflection on the role of United States military in the country. While most of the time Vietnam feels like other Asian countries, which aren’t burdened by such a well-known troubled history with America (though we did take significant military action in Laos and Cambodia too), there are moments when one certainly feels the weight of this history.

The official government sites, like the War Remnants Museum and the Cu Chi Tunnels, are obviously full of anti-American rhetoric. But while the images are certainly moving, the language is so overtly slanted that it almost diminishes the terror that was the war. However, authentic moments with the average Vietnamese person can be quite moving. For example, when we were chatting with a shopkeeper in Buon Ma Thuot, he turned toward the central square, pointing to the large statue of Vietnamese soldiers (surrounded by happy peasants), and said “today is a holiday to celebrate Americans leaving”- it was the 37^th anniversary of US military’s departure from the country. A response other than “sorry about that” is a little hard to come up with at times like that.

Cambodia (March 29, 2010)

2010-03-31T12:29:00.009-04:00

After an epic, multi-modal journey we arrived over land to Cambodia (well actually, it wasn’t that bad but it was a taxi, plane, bus, taxi, tuk-tuk all day trip). And did accomplish the rare tri-national meal schedule with breakfast in Burma, lunch in Thailand, and dinner in Cambodia (for those of multinational diners you keeping score at home, Cambodia’s meal won this round--although to be fair, what Meg ordered for her Burmese breakfast was "finished" (like so many other meals on this trip) and lunch was at the Bangkok airport.)

Like any good tourist we started our time in Cambodia in Seam Reap with a visit to Angkor Wat. While Angkor Wat is touristy, it is one of those places (like the pyramids) that is justifiably famous. We had a great day biking from ruin to ruin so even among the package tour hordes it was possible to find some moments of relative solitude amongst temples overtaken by the jungle:

Considering that Siem Reap is the most touristy town in the country, it was actually a fairly pleasant and inexpensive place (we’ll take it over Agra every day of the week). While we were definitely templed out after 3 days in Siem Reap, we were sorry to leave behind the very nice $10 hotel room (with A/C, wifi, hot water, cable TV, a balcony, etc.) and great less than $10 dinners. We were also lucky enough to visit the Angkor Wat Children's Hospital, an impressive facility that serves as a great model for involving the international community in local health issues.

Then it was on to the next step on the Cambodian tourist trail with a few days in Phnom Penh. Despite what we’d heard about how dangerous it was, we found Phnom Penh to be a very pleasant city, where we’d actually think about living under the right circumstances (there seems to be something about national capitals in tourist countries that inspire people to say negative things about perfectly nice cities; but perhaps this is advantageous as we’ve regularly arrived low expectations and been pleasantly surprised- see Nairobi and Vientiane as other examples).

Jed in Phnom Penh

For our final act, we decided it was time to get a little off the beaten path so went up to Cambodia’s northeast, where we spent several lovely days biking, hiking, and generally being stared at by the locals unused to seeing tourists. If you ever want to get a taste of what it might be like to be famous (though instead of people asking for your autograph they scream hello and/or ask you where you’re from, what your name is and how long you’ll be in the country to practice their English) we can recommend a trip to Ban Lung, Cambodia.

Practicing English on Trung Island

The countless smiling faces we encountered were a sharp contrast to the reminders of the country's recent tragic history under the Khmer Rouge. While Cambodia still faces many challenges, it was remarkable to witness the amount of hope and optimism that exists today. After many rounds of local children rapidly screaming “hello, goodbye, hello, goodbye”, we took the road (which had fortunately just been paved cutting the 10 hour trip in a pick up truck down to a comfortable hour in a mini-bus) to the Vietnam border.

Burma (Myanmar) Part Three (March 28, 2010)

2010-03-28T10:35:00.026-04:00

To continue with our commentary about our time in Burma, in this post we will focus on newspapers. The most difficult part was deciding which material/pictures to choose--there were so many options....(all of the pictures below were taken of the official government newspaper)

Newspapers

Burma is ruled by a military junta which employs strict censorship. While this means that the official newspaper is so slanted that even the people at The Onion couldn’t make up most of it (more on this later), it also means that foreign newspapers are officially banned. So there are black market newspaper vendors that stand on street corners (semi) covertly hawking foreign newspapers. When we stopped to look at their selection they had a copy of a Singapore newspaper which was a week old. When we wondered if he had something more recent, the vendor proudly offered us a newspaper that was “very new”. It was yesterday’s International Herald Tribune. He also had a Time Magazine from 1994- proving that everything is relative.

The official government paper, the New Light of Myanmar, is fascinating for many reasons. First, the slant and selection of the articles is so obvious as to be comical. For example, when we were in the country, the government was releasing the rules for next year’s “election” (which made front page news in the New York Times.) The front page articles for the New Light of Myanmar, however, were about important topics such as the government’s plan to create an electric car and, well, this headline speaks for itself:

The anti-US bias is not very subtle:

Second, the level of journalism is rather basic (sort of a like a middle school class newspaper, to use the continuing theme of the school project to describe Myanmar). They are careful to pay attention to protocol issues (liking citing sources) while writing at a very basic level. For example, the source on many of the articles is “internet”:

The forms of address are so formal as to be amusing; each issue has about 15 pictures of and/or references to the leaders of the junta with their full military and civilian titles (“Prime Minister General Thein Sein Meets with townselders…”). And the captions on the pictures are classic: “Prime Minister General Thein Sein cordially converses with local people of Peletwa”- this certainly does look cordial (for a military interrogation, that is):

Well this just speaks for itself, especially the contradiction below goals three and four:

Burma (Myanmar) Part Two (March 23, 2010)

2010-03-23T10:43:00.007-04:00

Quick quiz before we start: If you were a vendor, which of the bills below would you accept?

Money:

In our previous post we discussed some of the more confusing aspects of traveling in Burma. Another confusing mishmash in Burma is the currency situation. In theory the official currency of the country is the Kyat. But most major purchases (hotels, plane tickets, etc.) must be made in US dollars. In fact, admission to major tourist sites (museums, temples, etc), many of which are controlled by the government, must be paid in dollars. We’ve seen this a few other places (mainly in the form of visa fees and airport departure taxes), but it is never a good sign about the economic stability of a country when the government doesn’t accept its own currency.

Add to this currency duality, the fact that there are no ATMs in the country and no one accepts credit cards and you’ve got a real currenccy mess. So not only must you have US dollars and Myanmaran Kyat in your wallet at all times, but the only way to get Kyat is by exchanging US cash (welcome back to the 1960’s ATMs didn’t exist and you had to travel with a wad of cash).

Now that you’ve go this down, all you need is the exchange rate and your ready to go, right? Well yes, but the exchange also isn’t so easy. For example, as we often do before we arrive in a country we went to our favorite internet e-currency exchange sites (XE or Coinmill). But they were flummoxed by our query (Coinmill literally just turned up a blank when asked we tried to convent dollars to Kyat). Well the situation on the ground is equally confusing. The official government exchange rate is around 4 Kyat to the dollar. Banks offer purportedly offer an exchange rate of about 400 Kyat to the dollar. And the best rates on the street in Yangon are about 1000 Kyat to the dollar. So even if there were an ATM, you wouldn’t get too far taking out money at the official or bank exchange rate (since you’d be overpaying by 250 times the rate on the street). The best exchange rate we found of course was at the airport upon departure where you could pay the US $10 departure tax in kyat at a rate of 1300 kyat to the dollar (guess who gets the money?!)

The money changers are also very fickle about which bills they will exchange. $100 bills get the best exchange rate, but they must be after 2006, can’t have a serial number prefix of HB, and must not be creased, bent, ripped, or stained. In fact, the ticket office at the National Museum nearly refused to accept a $20 from Meg because it had been folded in half in her wallet. The irony in this is that Kyat bills are the most soiled, ripped, and crumpled bills one could ever see. A 50 Kyat bill is little more than a greasy ball of scrap paper (which Meg pointed out to the National Museum ticket office when they were giving her trouble about her folded $20 bill—they responded that with the explanation that it was okay for their money to look like that, but not ours).

Again, which of these bills would you accept?

Finally, when one finally has all this figured out and actually succeeds in getting some Kyat into their wallet (so, for example, you can buy a bottle of water since it is 112 degrees outside), you can’t close your wallet. The highest denomination Kyat bill is 1000 (which is worth about $1), which means even the most modest of currency exchanges fills the average wallet beyond capacity (for point of reference imagine putting 100 $1 bills in your wallet). On the bright side of this, you always have change to make a small purchase (at least in Kyat that is, getting change for large denomination dollar bills is a whole other story….).

Burma (Myanmar) Part One (March 20, 2010)

2010-03-20T12:16:00.009-04:00

Note: We found during our time in Burma we had A LOT to comment about. Below is our first installment, focusing on being a foreigner and getting around the country:

Being a foreigner in Burma

The Burmese government seems to not quite know what to do with foreigners. On the one hand it is economically beneficial to have a large amount of tourism. On they other hand, they like to keep things under wraps. Therefore, they seem to have looked for a middle ground. They make the process of obtaining a visa difficult enough to cause several headaches, but not too difficult as to keep us out. Once in the country, they allow us to visit certain places but not others. At times, this distinction seems very arbitrary— we were walking in the center on Yangon and came across this sign:

The following day, we walked out to the river where several small boats were ferrying locals across the river. Jed asked if we could go for a ride on the boat, only to be told “no foreigners allowed on the boat.” They also seem to have decided not to be the least bit embarrassed about exploiting us for our money. Most sites are free for Burmese citizens but foreigners are charged. While we have found this to be the case at major attractions in other countries, here they advertise it loudly:

Interesting enough, many of the locals we encountered seemed very upset by this (as the money goes directly to the government) and on more than one occasion either helped us find an alternative entrance to a site (avoiding the fee) or recommended we skip a site where a fee was charged and instead visit a different one.

Transportation

Cars:

Upon walking out of the airport, it might seem perfectly normal. When we got in the cab, it seemed the same since we’d just come from Thailand and Burma had been a British colony. That is, the cab was a right hand drive vehicle. This is often one of the first things we notice when we arrive in a country: which side of the road they drive on. Often we figure this out by necessity- as trying to get into the driver’s seat usually seems a little odd to the cab driver. It is also a matter particularly of personal safety since you need to know which way to look when crossing the street (though Meg did manage to make it safely through all of India looking the wrong way at every crosswalk).

So when we got into the cab at the Yangon airport, Jed noted aloud that the steering wheel was on the righthand side of the cab. Meg replied that she thought that Myanmar was actually a left hand drive country. It turns out that we were both correct: many of the cars have the steering wheel on the right but the rules of the road are lefthand drive (just like the US). Apparently, one of the members of the military Junta that rules the country (which is officially called the “ “) decided one day that the country should change to driving on the other side of the road. While Burmese drivers seem to be doing fine (we haven’t witnessed any accidents on the road) it has led to a peculiar mix of vehicles. About half of the cars have the steering wheel on the right and the other half on the left. This makes matters confusing when, for example, trying to negotiate a fare with a prospective cab driver- you never know which side of the cab to walk to in order to speak to the driver. Combine this confusion with a government that has limited trade relations and the country’s car fleet looks the result of a bizarre classified ad: “Vehicles wanted: any make, model, or type of car purchased without regard to condition or driving standard(?)”

Roads:

Taking the bus from Mandalay to Inle Lake (which for reference is taking the bus from the 2^nd biggest city in the country to probably the biggest single tourist attraction in the country) was quite an experience. Forget the usual bus breakdown stuff which often happens (and happened twice on this trip but they were only short breakdowns, so no big deal), the road was unique in the annals of terribleness. Essentially, it was a bumpy, one lane, dirt, logging road. Even if the road was vacant the maximum speed a bus could travel on it wasn’t more than 25 miles per hour without rattling to pieces (perhaps related to the bus breaking down twice?). But add in hundreds of buses and trucks, traveling in opposite directions, and the bus never got up to more than about 15 miles per hour before it had to pull over into the woods to let an oncoming vehicle pass.

We were trying to figure out why this road was so bad, given that it was clearly a major route and that some the other roads we had been on in Myanmar weren’t nearly as bad. The only good hypothesis we could come up with was that the government had created a school project. Perhaps the “design and build a road” classroom contest was meant to reach some sort of educational goal but perhaps there are better methods of road construction than “ok kids, you have 2 months and all the relevant heavy equipment, good luck with that highway”. And the fact that the contest was seemingly won by a 6^th grade class might be an explanation for the very unfortunate experience that was our bus ride. In sum, it probably isn’t a surprise that this 200 mile journey took nearly 14 hours.

Planes:

After our bus experience, we decided that it might be a good idea to a different tack on the next leg of our journey. So first, we decided to try flying as that would surely be speedy. After learning that there were daily flights from Inle Lake to Bagan, we thought that this would be a fairly simple trip to book for the coming Thursday. Unfortunately, as multiple travel agents told us (a travel agent, you say? Why yes, no online booking around here) while there is a flight scheduled for Thursday there isn’t actually any flight leaving on Thursday. Hmmmm…. Well on to plan B, how about if we rent some motorcycles to drive north to the next town instead of going to Bagan? This seemed like it would be fine since one tour operator was advertising motos for rent. So we asked him if we could rent the motos to drive to this town. Unfortunately, no, he said, we couldn’t take the motorcycle to that town it was too dangerous. “Too dangerous,” we asked “why?” “Well,” he replied “not too dangerous for you, too dangerous for me, the government does not permit tourists to ride motorcycles to the north of here and if they find out that I rented you bikes then big trouble for me”. Well, I guess we’ll just take the local pick up truck to the town instead, it is only 60 kilometers so that shouldn’t take long….

When we finally succeeded in getting on a domestic flight (that was both scheduled to leave and was actually leaving), we had to fly out of the way back to Mandalay first to get to Yangon (turns out that a 14 hour bus ride is a 45-minute flight, even on a Yangon Airways prop plane). Aside from arriving in Yangon much later than we thought (we should have suspected that flight arrival times were fluid when everyone we asked hazarded a different guess as to what time the flight arrived in Yangon), the trip was smooth. Then we got off the plane and went to claim our baggage. The first thing we noticed was the stark contrast between the international terminal (comparable to those of many capital cities we have been in) and the domestic terminal (a very run down small single room that served as the gate for all arrivals and departures, transportation, greetings, etc.) We looked around for the baggage claim but soon realized that the process consisted of walking out onto the runway, retrieving your bag from the cart near the plane, and walking back (or you could, of course, pay one of the many willing young porters to do it for you.) It was like no other baggage claim we have ever seen.

Thailand (February 28)

2010-03-09T06:40:00.011-05:00

Before leaving on our around-the-world trip, Thailand was one of the places that we were most excited about visiting. In fact, at our nation-themed wedding reception we put ourselves at the Thailand table. Admittedly, much of this excitement was due to Meg’s love of Thai food, but we were also looking forward to beautiful scenery, nice people and good weather in “the land of smiles”.

In regard to almost all of the above, Thailand did not disappoint. The weather was excellent, the people were very nice, the scenery was stunning and the food was great, especially for the price.

In the end, however, the it wasn’t the parts of Thailand that everyone raves about (the beautiful beaches) that we most liked, it was the cities and towns that are often nothing more than transportation hubs for the sun-worshipping Euros (along with Aussies, Europeans constituted most of the tourists we saw in Thailand) that we liked the most. Whether it was the border town of Hat Yai, Trang (which is the jumping off point for many of the islands far south), or Prachuap Khiri Khan (on the little visited central coast), or Nakhon Ratchasima (a northern transport hub), we liked the towns that are probably on few pre-arranged itineraries. For us, these little slices of life represented some of the real Thailand, where people just go about their life rather than being overrun by foreign tourists. A true pleasure of ordinary Thai life is an evening stroll past the temples, markets, and stores where Thais are going about nightly routine before heading off for a bargain feast at the local night market.

Now all of this isn’t to say that Thailand doesn’t have some truly stunning coastal scenery that is a justified attraction for mass tourism. The islands we visited in the south were probably some of the most naturally beautiful places we’ve ever visited. Soaring limestone islands with perfect blue water and soft sand beaches aren’t a bad place to pass a few days even if they are more crowded than you might wish.

Overall, while we were astounded at the beauty of the southern islands, it was our rental car road trip to the northeast that really made Thailand one of the highlights of our entire trip (even factoring in getting stuck in the sand and a speeding ticket—fortunately even those are cheap in Thailand!)

Blogging about our Blog (February 24, 2010)

2010-02-24T10:00:00.004-05:00

One of the perks of being a member of the "blogger community" is that your blog friends give you shout-outs. So we'll return the favor to our friend Joanna and give her a shout-out about her shout-out of us!

Anyway, for all of those that doubted our fame (eg everyone except our mothers) check this out:

http://www.glamour.com/weddings/blogs/save-the-date/2010/01/these-newlyweds-took-a-six-mon.html

(Looks like we should have been more careful about choosing Pictures of the Day where Jed had his eyes open)

Malaysia: February 16, 2010

2010-02-19T21:27:00.003-05:00

Malaysia we hardly knew ye. We did a lightening tour of Malaysia making stops in Kuala Lumpur and Penang as the principal destinations. While we only spent a brief time in the country, we were favorably impressed. While KL was similar to Singapore in many respects (orderly, clean, efficient), it also had some grit that added some liveliness. It seems odd to say but a little bit of litter here and there, some street vendors taking up the sidewalk, and some people pushing you a little bit, really does bring a city to life. Throw in some Chinese new year celebrations, cocktails overlooking the Petronas towers (the tallest buildings in the world until a couple of years ago), and dinner in streetside café and you have a winning recipe. Along with the fact that we stayed with some wonderful local hosts, this made us think that KL would be a fun place to live.

Chinese New Year celebration with our new friends at the Chinese Assembly Hall, KL

Then we took a trip to Penang (as the rest of Malaysia calls the city of Georgetown, which is the capital of the island of Penang, just off the northwest coast of the country). Penang was a British colony starting in the 1700s as they attempted to horn in on the far eastern trade. While touring Fort Cornwallis, the colonial era fort and now museum, we were struck that in many ways the story of the colonization of the far east is a parallel story to the American struggle for independence from Britain. While the British were struggling to hold on to the American colonies, they were beginning to get a strong foothold in the far east. For example, Fort Cornwallis was named after the British general who surrendered to end the Revolutionary War and Georgetown is named after King George III.

History aside, the food was the highlight of Penang, which has a distinctive cuisine that mixes Chinese, Malay, and Indian influences to create a superb dining experience. Our final night in Penang, we ate at a local food market that was filled with stalls serving a variety of tasty dishes. As Jed went on a mission to try them all (unfortunately, it turns out even he can get full) we sat and watched the crowds celebrating the New Year and felt very lucky we had been in Malaysia for this event. Unfortunately, it also meant our time there ended early as the ferries and hotels in our intended destination in Malaysia were all full because of the holiday. Instead, we took a bus across the border to Thailand, sad to be missing out on more of Malaysia, but very excited for some much anticipated Thai food!

Indonesia: February 13, 2010

2010-02-16T19:29:00.005-05:00

To Bali or Not To Bali? This was the question we asked ourselves repeatedly when planning our trip to Indonesia. We hadn’t previously thought much about our time in Indonesia, as we figured it would come at the end of our SE Asia stint, as initially we relegated it to the “if we have time at the end” category. However, when we suddenly reversed the order of our entire Southeast Asia itinerary (to visit friends in Singapore before they moved), we realized that it probably made sense to hop down to Indonesia before heading north. And that’s when we started with the question of “to Bali or not to Bali?”

Throughout this trip we have tried not to stick to the typical tourist trail (with the exception, of course, of places such as the pyramids and the Taj Mahal which we obviously couldn’t miss). Instead we have tried to find places a little off the beaten track. However, at the same time, at the price of a $40, 2-hour trip it seemed a little strange to skip Bali —a destination people (including us) dream about going their whole lives. With some great advice on people experienced in Indonesia and it being our honeymoon and all, we ultimately to go for it and take the Bali plunge. Though of course, we mixed a little bit of non-Bali Indonesia as well.

After a little bit of last minute switching (we arrived at the airport to find that the flight we planned to take from Bali at the end didn’t actually fly the day or time it was scheduled for- and why would it?) we started in central Java in the town of Yogyakarta. This was a great place to start and our first impression of Indonesia was incredibly positive as Yogyakarta is full of very friendly people (during our first afternoon, multiple locals went out of their way to direct us to various sights without looking for any personal gain)- though this is somewhat offset by the incredibly hot weather and somewhat bland food.

On the recommendation of several people including Jed’s aunt and uncle, who lived in Indonesia for a time, we went to the magnificent Buddhist temple at Borobudur and the equally impressive in grandeur Hindi temple complex of Prambanan. Both of these were real architectural and spiritual achievements. We could understand why Jed’s grandmother catalogued them as the best places she visited on her around-the-world journey as a young woman (which was something more of a feat when she did in the 1920’s). Reflecting upon these centuries old structures and imagining what visiting them in the early part of the 20^th century (talk about off the beaten path!) was real joy.

Then, bowing to our modern, tourist path instincts, next we set off for Bali. Our initial reaction was disgust (though a large part of this was due to our flight schedule which meant that we had spent the night in Kuta). Kuta is the worst kind of example of a western tourist town run amok. With no zoning to speak of and unchecked western influence, Kuta (in contrast to Singapore) reminded us of many of the worst aspects of home (picture the strip malls of Myrtle Beach or the cheesy-ness of Jersey shore picture, only worse). While this image was redeemed later in the week when we returned to Bali for a stay in the non-touristy highlands, we were still glad to depart for Lombok and the Gili Islands.

We found Lombok to be a nice change and the Gili Islands to be a low cost tropical paradise. In contrast to the many development mistakes of touristy Bali, the Gili Islands have had the foresight to ban all motorized transport, transforming the islands into peaceful getaways where bicycle and horse cart are the most advanced forms of transport- though Meg had a little trouble with the former:

And finally, we had a wonderful time at a fabulous, relaxing and non-touristy retreat in the mountains of Bail. Here we wandered among rice paddies, biked all the way down to the sea, and enjoyed the relaxed vibe of simple village life. So all in all, we were glad that we decided to go to Bali, though as you can tell, we have a definite opinion about where best to go (and where best to avoid) there.

The Mustache Saga

2010-02-10T04:05:00.014-05:00

What’s Up with the Mustache?

(Meg’s version)

Over the past few weeks we received many questions and comments—some unsolicited, some may have been solicited by Meg in an attempt to get Jed to shave—about the evolution of Jed’s facial hair. We therefore figured we would tell the story that Meg would like to call “the month of unattractive Jed.” Jed began growing a beard shortly before the New Year in preparation for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and “because India might be cold.” While Meg understood it would be cold on the summit of Kili (where we stood for a grand total of 15 minutes), she didn’t think this necessitated a beard to keep warm (as she managed to do just fine without one.) She also certainly did not buy the India excuse as cold meant 70s during the day and maybe high 50s at night. (For our readers on the East Coast right now, not very impressive, right?) However, being patient and understanding with her sometimes difficult husband, she allowed the beard for a little while…..

After they arrived in the north of India where even Jed couldn’t argue the cold excuse anymore, he agreed to shave his beard, but pleaded he needed to keep a mustache so that he could “look Indian.” He was convinced that with this mustache, he would avoid being hassled and instead, “blend right in”. Meg told him he not only didn’t look the least bit Indian, he looked like a complete idiot and, in fact, quite creepy……

She let him keep it for a few days to humor him and even put up with him going on and on about the one man who “spoke to him in Hindi in the subway” and the one vendor who told him he liked Jed’s mustache because it was a sign of manhood (note that Jed had bought water from the same man the previous night when Meg was not present and insisted we return…..a little suspicious.) However, before our meeting with the US Ambassodor in New Delhi, Meg decided they couldn’t show up with Jed looking like a total creep, so she convinced him to at least shave off the handlebars…..

As most of you will probably agree, however, this change didn’t result in much improvement. Meg’s brother Josh probably said it best when he wrote Jed "should stop ruining your pictures with his ridiculous facial hair (if he wants to grow a porn mustache he should stay out of the 'picture of the day.' " Finally upon arrival in Singapore (but only after Jed insisted he be allowed to show is mustache to our hosts), the mustache came off and Meg was able to look at Jed without cringing once again!

A Regal Appendage

(By Jed)

For many centuries Indian maharajas, princes, and nobility of all kinds have adorned their faces with mustaches. These mustaches have taken many forms: handlebar, trimmed, grand sweeping appendages that occupy most of the face.

Over the centuries, the trend extended beyond just royalty to encompass even the most common of men. Today all men in India maintain a mustache (a few women also do but they are mainly a part of the traveling circus). And if I’m anything it is a man of the people; when in Rome….

I began my training for the Indian mustache weeks in advance. During this time I carefully tended my face and its emerging hair to produce the perfect form. It was clearly difficult for Meg, given that she is unable (thankfully) to grow facial hair of her own, to understand this higher calling known as the Indian mustache, but sometimes the true genius is misunderstood in its time- Galileo anyone?

(Galileo)

By the time we reached New Delhi my mustache was in perfect form and I was receiving compliments left, right, and center from Indians in all walks of life: the owner of our hotel, the very wise and fair man that we purchased the water from (despite what Meg might think we only went back to him repeatedly because he had the best prices), the waiters at several restaraunts, and the man on the metro (who even complimented it in Hindi he was so convinced I was Indian!). In sum, what better way to travel than with facial hair that identifies you as one with the common man?

PS To rebut some of Meg’s specific inaccuracies above:

- On top of Kilimanjaro, where it was snowing, Jed had a nice warm face and Meg was wearing a hood, a hat, and a scarf to try to keep her face warm. While we may have only been on the summit for a brief time, several days of the trip were very cold.

- It was actually cold in northern India; in fact, New Delhi reached an all-time low temperature days before we arrived. During our trip to Pushkar, Meg was wearing all of her clothes while my face was nice and warm

- Our Singapore hosts, along with many friends in India, complimented Jed on his fantastic beard and mustache

Meg's last word (because she is the wife): I assume you all will agree the "cold" argument is absurd and that Jed did indeed look creepy. Finally, if you take a look at the picture below taken at the Taj Mahal, you'll notice Jed looks nothing like the other people in the picture and only two of them have mustaches.

Welcome Home (to Singapore): February 4, 2010

2010-02-07T05:26:00.006-05:00

Overnight flights are often disorienting but our arrival in Singapore after an overnight flight from India was particularly disorienting. Our time in India ended in typical Indian fashion. After spending a few days in the southern part of the country (visiting Jed’s friend Sanjeeth in Bangalore and spending al lovely day in Mysore) and squeezing in that final Indian meal, we set off to take the bus to the airport. There were so many obstacles in getting to the airport, it’s hard to describe them all:

- finding someone who spoke English (which hadn’t been a problem in India until, of course, we really needed it to leave the country)

- finding out which bus to take and where that bus picked up passengers

- ignoring the rickshaw drivers who gave us erroneous information so we would use their (not needed) services (well, mainly ignoring since we did end up taking one rickshaw that dropped us off at the wrong bus station),

- navigating traffic (both car and pedestrian) with our luggage while traipsing all over town

- being asked again and again if we wanted the new airport or the old airport; the old airport is now closed so it is unclear why we would want to go there. One gentleman was so insistent in his belief that we wanted to go to the old airport that after giving us directions there (which, by that point, we knew enough to ignore) that when he passed us again five minutes later, when we were (finally) waiting at the correct bus stop, he tried to give us directions to the old airport again thinking we hadn’t understood the first time; it took Jed pointing at the (huge) sign that said “Express Bus to the Airport” to convince him that we knew where we were going

- and finally waiting an hour for the bus that “comes every 30 minutes.”

(And, of course, the money we saved by taking the bus, Jed promptly spent on Indian scotch as a “gift” for our Singapore hosts- he really bought it because he wanted to try it-but it turns out that Indian Scotch is one step below straight rubbing alcohol.)

So when we stepped outside in Singapore, after the initial disorientation passed, we realized we were not only in a different country, we were in a whole new world. With an efficient and orderly taxi line (a line!), a new taxi cab with a working meter (that the driver actually used!) traffic rules being obeyed (cars staying in their lanes!), sidewalks being utilized (by people walking not by vendors or farm animals), and, of course, trash cans, it was truly an amazing experience- who says that travel doesn’t change the way you view the world? We saw more trash cans in our first 10 minutes walking in Singapore than we saw in many of the countries we have visited.

It really was like being in the US- so in many ways we spent a lovely few days back home in the US during our stay in Singapore. The main differences were that beer was much more expensive (one bar advertised a “deal” where beer was only USD$8) and the food was unique and fabulous (we were fortunate enough to be staying with our friend Sarah Peterson who not only knows the best local restaurants, she knows exactly what to order.)

Singapore’s order and efficiency was best highlighted at the Urban Planning museum where they illustrate in great detail the “plan” for the city—very methodical with every building, neighborhood, and street mapped out. And they have an almost unhealthy adherence to the rules (and people say extreme punishments aren’t a deterrent!). People actually wait for the light when crossing the street (even if there are no cars in sight). Cab drivers wouldn’t pick us up because we were standing in the wrong place (some system of roadway markings that we still don’t understand).

Singapore was a brief lovely change after India but in some ways it is almost too perfect-- images of the Truman Show and Disneyland came to mind on several occasions. India and Singapore are studies in the extremes of societal order. While Singapore was certainly a refreshing change from the disorder of India, it lacks the vibrancy that India’s chaos brings to everyday life, where the inefficiencies were minor sidenotes as we developed a great appreciation of the county, its successes, and its potential. Whereas Singapore seems to have reached a near ideal state, India is still on the rise, making a tremendously exciting and interesting place to visit. Indeed, we found India to be a magical place with amazing people, culture, sites, and food; we are already planning and looking forward to our future trips to further explore the country. Thus for all its facilies (which are easy to focus on for comic effect), given the choice we’d actually rather live in India than Singapore. In fact, our (wonderful) Singaporean hosts are moving to Tokyo after a year in Singapore because things are just too easy for real life there.

So after a brief trip home, we too hit the road and headed back out for the inefficiencies of Indonesia (otherwise known as real traveling)….

India at Sixty: The Republic Day Parade (January 26, 2010)

2010-02-03T11:23:00.001-05:00

Like many things in India, the Republic Day Parade was an extreme version of what one would normally expect. Celebrating the birth of the Indian republic (with the completion of the 1950 constitution), Republic Day is the subcontinent’s version of the 4^th of July- with orange, green and white in place of red, white, and blue. January 26 is a full-fledged celebration for the world’s largest democracy.

Whereas a 4^th of July celebration tends to be patriotism light (with parades tending more towards mobile barbeques than pomp), Republic Day is extra strength dose of patriotism. Perhaps no place is this unabashed patriotism more concentrated than at the Delhi’s official parade, which we were fortunate enough to attend as official guests of the Indian Ministry of Defence (insert invitation pic).

First, the fact that the Defence Ministry is the host of the event (as opposed some more civilian organization) tells you a lot about the nature of patriotism that was on display. To get an image of the parade (since the invitation was very clear about the prohibition on cameras and any other device of any kind inclusive of essentially everything but a toothpick) think of a photo of a Soviet era parade with a missile being pulled down the street. In fact, items on display included a “Smerch Launcher”, a “Multiple Rocket Launch System”, an “Armoured Engineer Recce Vehicle” and an “ICV BMP-II”.

After the armored vehicle and missile display, the parade consisted of troop after troop of military men marching in perfect unison (with their arms also waving backward and forward in perfect time). It was really quite an impressive spectacle. Aside from the BSF Camel Contingent Band, which is literally a band that plays while riding on camel back (we felt a little sorry for the camel that had the big bass drum being banged in its ear), the highlight was the wide array of regiments that marched past- including the Rajputana Rifles Band playing “Gen Tappy”; the Assam Rifles Marching Contingent playing the (aptly titled) “Assam Rifles Song; the Central Industrial Security Force band playing ”Seva Bhatki Ka Yeh Prateek”; and the Delhi Police Band playing “Delhi Police”. Each regiment had more ornate uniforms and progressively more splashy head gear. The hats started with simple turbans with insignias on the front . We thought the headgear had reached the climax when the men with 2 foot high fans on top of the hats marched by, but they were outdone by the addition of troops with 2 foot long ribbons cascading down their backs and in turn by the troop that added foot long tassels of the side that hung over their ears. It really was a Technicolor military fashion of the highest order.

The only thing that could match the costuming was the accompanying narration by the disembodied voice coming from the speakers lining the parade route. The announcer was using 100% pure soaring government oratory (known in non-democracies as propaganda). Some nuggets off his silver tipped tongue included things along the lines of:

- “While there may be fog in the air, our national pride shines like the sun in our hearts”

- “Overhead fly the great planes of the stalwart Indian Air Force, proving that the sky is no longer the limit for our great nation”

- “And there they march, a rejoicing, regal, and resplendent troop that is but a small sign of our nation’s continued strength and endurance”

In all, it was great to join the nation in a celebratory display of their national pride and for a truly glorious parade.

Midpoint Notes on Traveling--January 30, 2010

2010-01-30T21:23:00.000-05:00

We’ve learned some important lessons thus far in our travels. Now that we’ve passed the midpoint of our around-the-world trip it seems like an appropriate juncture to summarize some of the recurring themes.

Hotels: We’ve stayed at many hotels with prices ranging from less than $10 a night up to a hotel that charges more than that for a (small!) beer from the minibar (its nice having people join us!) While there are many soft factors for judging whether a hotel is acceptable, we’ve developed the following as a baseline standard for our hotels:

Do the sheets stay on the bed? We’ve spent many a night where we’ve woken up on a strange mattress with the sheets on the floor

Are there towels in the room? If the hotel doesn’t provide towels for guests in the bathroom then one has to wonder how clean the place is if it doesn’t expect its guests to shower.

Are there bugs in the bathroom? This is also a cleanliness factor because bugs in the bathroom is just gross, really.

Is toilet paper in the bathroom (without having to ask for it specifically)? See #2 regarding guest cleanliness. Meg had one particularly memorable experience trying to mime it in Jordan.

Transportation: We’ve used many modes of transport ranging from the rickshaw to the rental car but we’ve really done the most research on bus travel. Below follows a summary of our findings on the hierarchy of the various types of buses:

1. an actual normal bus (you know, you buy a ticket, you get on the bus, the bus leaves on time, doesn’t stop, and then arrives at your destination); in our experience, a very rare breed

2. direct buses (it makes a limited number of short stops, say 3 stops or less, between the starting point and the ending point); again, very hard to find

3. an “express” bus (this is where things get confusing since if something is called an express bus then it really isn’t an express bus but a marketing ploy to try to make you think that a really slow bus will get you there fast, an express bus really means is that it makes tons of stops and takes forever- see Zam-Nam Express);

4. a local bus (unless you happen to be going to some very small town, which doesn’t appear on any map, then you’ve made a real mistake if you end up on the local bus- a local bus stops every 16 seconds, leaves when it is full and takes 25 minutes to get out of the bus station and forever to get anywhere else that you actually want to go. This is commonly known as a “chicken bus”)

5. a local minibus (this has all the drawbacks of a local bus with the added drawback that it is likely to be extremely uncomfortable with no leg room, twice as many passengers as should safely fit and a short ceiling that you hit your head on every time you go over a bump- and on the roads that these minibuses go on there are always lots of bumps.)

6. a broken bus (this is a species of express bus or local that doesn’t actually move; given its broken state passengers spend there time standing by the side of the road or just sitting on the bus sweating all over- see Happy Nation Express).

A few other transport notes:

1. The award for crappiest car we’ve ever crossed an international border in goes to: the 1981 Cadillac we took over the mountains, in the rain, from Beirut to Damascus. The windows were broken so the driver had to jam wooden dowels in the door to keep the windows up and the rain out.

2. If you ever book a flight on Pegasus Air only to discover the price of the ticket did not include a seat, don’t despair. First, realize that for $33, it is to be expected. Second, while not buying a seat is NOT an option (we checked), you can still beat the system by booking 2 middle seats at $3 each, saving $5 in the process. (And the airline official will likely be so confused as to why you and your husband/wife are sitting separately, s/he will change your seats to put you together.)

Food: Sampling local cuisine and local restaurants is definitely always a highlight of traveling.From street food to fine dining, we have had some scrumptious meals and some we would rather forget. Except for the ice cream at McDonald’s in Aqaba, Jordan to make use of the free Wi-Fi there, we have really tried to keep it local and learned a few things along the way.

1. Middle Eastern Food is much better than African food. (Out of respect for some very tasty African dishes we had, we recognize this is a generalization.)

2. When traveling through Africa, you’ll come across enticing sounding local dishes such as nshima, cima, and ugali. Don’t be fooled- they are all the same corn meal crap. However, this dish made of corn meal and water is perfect if you are looking for a quick fill and have lots of chili sauce to go with it.

3. If you want to enjoy your meal, do NOT go back into the kitchen to learn what something is on the menu—this especially is true if you are at a local “restaurant” in Malawi (see Nkhata Bay.)

4. Even after eating hummus for 27 straight days (literally) in the Middle East, it is still possible to crave it for every meal (if you are Meg). However, trying to eat Middle Eastern food in South Africa might kill your appetite for hummus for a little while.

5. We have found two types of local restaurants in Africa: the one where they bring you a menu, tell you everything you try to order is “finished,” and just bring you what you have; the other where they don’t even have a menu and just bring you what they have. Either way, they just bring you what they want to bring you.

Most of all we have learned that often times you can have the most fun and learn the most about a country not by visiting its most famous site with other tourists (except in Namibia where there are no other tourists (or people)) but rather by traveling with the local people en route from point A to point B (except on the Happy Nation Express in Tanzania when in broke down for the second time—that just sucked.)

Why We Don’t Like Brett Favre or Agra Anymore (or “Watching” the Vikings Throw the Game Away in Agra, India); January 25, 2010

2010-01-26T07:50:00.003-05:00

For all this talk of globalization and the flattening of the world with technology, other places in the world can still seem very far away when you are trying to watch the NFC championship game in Agra, India. What follows is a description of the trials and tribulations of being a devoted Vikings fan half a world away.

As soon as the Vikings defeated the Eagles in the playoffs, Meg began planning how to watch the game from Agra. After exploring many possible options including:

- ESPN but India gets ESPN Asia (which as best as we can tell only shows cricket, obscure soccer highlights, and old Olympic videos)- a downside of specialized programming in our modern era

- Satellite TV, which just isn’t something that is feasible from Agra

- Watching the game online, but apparently the NFL simulcast online is so bad as to not be worth watching

- Calling Meg’s brother Josh via Skype to watch the game with him on Skype (ie pointing his computer at the television)

The last option was the plan that we decided on. Since the game started at 5am, we decided that we would get up, go see the Taj Mahal at sunrise (when it is at its “most atmospheric” according to Lonely Planet), get a score update from Josh and then leave the Taj in time to Skype call for the second half, if the game wasn’t a blow out. But, as usual when traveling, things didn’t go as smoothly as planned:

1. When we arrived the evening before the game, it turned out that our hotel did not have wireless internet even though they told us over the phone that they did have it (after talking to the manager of the hotel it was clear that he didn’t really understand the concept of wireless internet when he told us “I have signal towers on my roof, why don’t you just plug into them?”) The hotel did not, in fact, have any internet at all.

2. As a next step that evening we decided to see if we could pick up in our hotel room wireless signals from nearby internet cafes. After exploration none of the nearby cafes had Wifi but we were able to pick up one obscurely named network. After consultation with the hotel manager, it seemed that the network was named after the son of the owner of the restaurant next door. So we went to the restaurant to investigate. To make a long story short, after phone calls across town, a Jed’s 15 minute walk through the back alleys of Agra with our laptop under his arm to visit the “uncle”, and a consultation on the mechanics of the Indian internet, it became clear that using this network was not a viable option.

3. So giving up the dream of watching the game from our hotel room, the next option we explored that evening was nearby internet cafes. But these cafes closed early and opened late, but with the help of the “uncle” we were able to find a hotel that had internet which it claimed to be open 24 hours (the proprietor said “I’ll be here all night; just wake me up”).

4. We woke up the next morning early, went to the Taj Mahal, bought our tickets, and got in line to go in. And waited in line to get in, and waited, and waited until it became clear that Taj didn’t actually open at the time we had been told. Then we got a call from Josh telling us that it was tied at half time. Since this meant we’d have about half an hour in the Taj, coupled with the fact it was so foggy that visibility was about 20 feet (not ideal for watching sunrise at the Taj Mahal), we decided to go watch the game instead. It seemed like a tough decision but that turned out to be the easy part.

5. After abandoning ship on the Taj Mahal, we went to the “always open” internet place. It was, in fact, open (literally the door was unlocked). But the proprietor was very asleep; Jed spent 5 minutes trying unsuccessfully to wake him up (techniques included talking, banging things, and (softly) kicking him). Then we gave up and enlisted a nearby rickshaw driver to rouse someone else in the hotel. This gentleman (the manager?) informed us that despite what we had been told the previous night that the internet wouldn’t work until 9am (long after the game was over) because the electricity was off until then! So back to the drawing board as we got another phone update from Josh on the game clock ticking down.

6. After running down our (dwindling) options we decided to try for an internet connection in one of the fancy hotels across town. After being rebuffed by the closest (and fanciest) hotel (no non-guests allowed), we set off in a rickshaw to the next closest hotel that had a wireless internet connection. Given the need for speed, Jed even dispensed with the rickshaw bargaining, paying 10 cents more than he wanted to.

7. While this hotel did have wireless, it would not work with Apple computers (which we of course have.) Luckily Meg found another hotel, a few doors down, where, after some coaxing, we did get the wireless internet to work…..for a little while. While it was working, we were able to connect via Skype with Josh and see the game on the TV (granted we couldn’t really make out much—pointing the computer at the TV, while a brilliant idea and a good last resort, is not exactly HD quality). This turned out not to matter as the wireless internet connection stopped working a few minutes later.

8. Fortunately, we discovered that the hotel did have a business center where we could connect to Skype. But unfortunately the camera function did not work and all we could see was a black screen. Instead we had to resort to Josh’s audio play by play (we appreciate his effort, but he shouldn’t give up his day job just yet).

This was just in time for the Vikes last drive where they drove to the Saint’s 33 yard line with a first down, plenty of time left, and Meg thinking “this was totally worth it!” Instead, of course, in typical Vikes fashion, they got a thoughtless penalty, threw an interception to end regulation, and lost the game in overtime (all of this, again, being relayed by Josh’s commentary, getting more depressing by the minute.) The only solace Meg could take from this (apart from the fact that her traitorous younger brother who has become a Saints fan since moving to New Orleans was happy) was the thought “at least we don’t have to do this again for the Superbowl.”

Oh and, anticlimactically after this heartbreaking Viking adventure, we went to the Taj Mahal…….

…where it was still foggy, a fitting end to the morning.

Mumbai, India: January 20, 2010

2010-01-23T11:42:00.005-05:00

Mumbai was a great introduction to India. The city is a great microcosm of what one associates with India: great opportunity, great innovations, great crowds, great riches, great poverty and, most of all, great food. For us Mumbai was literally the Gateway to India

But more than anything Mumbai is a city of hustle and bustle. As Meg noted on our first walking tour of the city “I have no idea what everyone is doing, but they sure are busy doing something”. And Mumbai is city where everyone is busy doing a million different things at the same time in the same place. It is city that has 16 million people and it always feels that way with people, cars, mopeds, carts, and animals everywhere, all the time. This activity is one of the city’s great charms. And with so much activity and so many people there are endless entertainment options: from restaurants of every variety (aside from wonderful Indian cuisine, we also enjoyed fantastic Chinese food) stores and markets selling every imaginable ware to charming architecture and fascinating museums, Mumbai truly has it all. In a word, we loved Mumbai (and Jed even bought a t-shirt saying that.)

Being New Yorkers (or more accurately for Meg, having lived in New York for several years while still being a Minnesotan,) perhaps part of this can be attributed to our general affinity for big cities (we would say that Mumbai plays the role of NYC, with its place as the cultural and business capital of the country and its belief that the country revolves around it, to Delhi’s role as Washington, DC as the nation’s seat of government). Another large part of our love of Mumbai was the wonderful exposure we got to the inner workings from our very generous hosts, Brinda and Anand Somaya.

Spending a week with them in Mumbai was a cram course in Mumbai-ness; we probably learned a month’s worth of Mumbai knowledge in a week with them. From insight into the sites, food explanations, cultural pointers, and introductions the Somayas were the ultimate insider’s guide to Mumbai (take that Lonely Planet!).

Another way we got to see Mumbai’s many sides was through Meg’s volunteer work with SNEHA- an organization devoted to addressing the health needs of women and children living in Mumbai’s slums. Spending time doing health related work in various Mumbai slums provided a well-rounded picture of all of Mumbai. From working with the SNEHA staff to accompanying a community health working on a post-natal visit to meeting community members and local physicians in helping to prepare for a wide-scale hemoglobin-testing project, the experience was very rewarding. As part of this we spent a day at a health post in the Varsha Nagar slum testing adolescent girls for anemia.

From this we got great insight into the local health center (both services it provides and the limitations thereof) while documenting the high level of anemia caused by health and nutrition issues that, unfortunately, are very common in India. For more information about this amazing organization, visit www.snehamumbai.org.

After reading all of the above, you can probably understand why it was so hard to leave Mumbai.

Tanzanian Safari Video

2010-01-21T08:05:00.002-05:00

Jed's brother Tim made this fabulous video our some of the highlights of our pictures from our safari in Tanzania. We thought we would share it with all of you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmOogPCvrHs

Thanks to Tim for doing this, thanks again to our parents for such a fabulous trip (and a special thanks to Meg's parents for planning it--it was perfect!)

Kenya--January 12, 2010

2010-01-18T01:12:00.003-05:00

So getting in and out of Nairobi was pretty difficult (see below)- but while we were there we had a very pleasant stay. Unfortunately our first moments in Nairobi were spent at the dentist.

Meg had cracked a tooth on day 3 of our Kilimanjaro climb and had a disturbingly memorable trip to the dentist in Moshi, Tanzania, after our return (if you ever need a dentist in Africa, don’t go to Moshi or, perhaps better put, if you ever think you might need a dentist, stay far away from Moshi.) After recovering from the experience, we decided that perhaps it was better to leave the country for dental care and did extensive research into dentists in Nairobi and found a great one (at least judging by the durability of the work so far- Meg reserves the right to amend this posting if there are problems before we return to the US)

We stayed with Susannah Friedman, a friend of Jed’s from high school. As always we were reminded how great it is to stay with friends. Perhaps this contributed to our positive experience in Nairobi. While everything we had read and heard made Nairobi sound terrible and dangerous, with the exception of the traffic in the suburbs, we found it to be a relatively nice, safe, clean, and prosperous place. Our visits to the National Museum (filled with information on every animal or bird you might ever possibly see on safari,) the baby elephant orphanage, and the giraffe center were a great complement to our time on safari in Tanzania.

The highlight of Meg’s stay there was spending the day with Pathfinder International, an NGO that does international work in reproductive health and HIV treatment and prevention. After meeting with several of the staff to learn more about the organization, she went with three team members to St Francis Hospital to visit the different aspects of the program that works to prevent, identify, and treat HIV. She also heard testimony from several patients about how much their lives had improved with appropriate treatment, follow up, and community involvement. The patients themselves specifically attributed their improved health to the work of Pathfinder and USAID (which, as part of our ongoing theoretical debate on this topic, certainly puts foreign aid in a positive light).

If only our departure from Nairobi had be as lovely as our stay… Thanks to Ethiopian Airlines, we got to spend 16 hours in the Nairobi airport. The letter below to their customer service staff summarizes our experience:

January 12, 2010

Nairobi, Kenya

Dear Ethiopian Airlines Customer Service-

It is 5:30am and I’m sitting in the Nairobi, Kenya airport at the Ethiopian Airlines desk. At the moment I should be on an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis Ababa. However, when I showed up at the airport several hours ago to check-in for my flight, the agent told me that my internet booking was not actually complete. Despite the fact that I had booked my ticket online, received a confirmation number, and checked the Ethiopian Airlines website twice to confirm my ticket, apparently there is a glitch on the website that makes it look like a ticket has been booked but the ticket has not actually been booked (a rather big glitch, I’d say).

The manager here was kind enough to explain this glitch to me just before he informed me that he couldn’t issue me a ticket and that I could not get on the flight I had booked. He is an idiot and very unhelpful. His name is O.M. Kiolkol. He spent an hour telling me all the reasons that he couldn’t help me including:

- why he couldn’t just issue me a ticket now (he couldn’t process payment)

- why he couldn’t process a payment now (as best as I can tell he doesn’t know how- perhaps a good topic for a future staff training)

- why he couldn’t contact someone else to process a payment now (apparently the only place to do this in the Nairobi City Center office, which doesn’t open until 9am)

- why he couldn’t call the Ethiopian Airways central reservations line (unclear exactly why this couldn’t be done though it seemed that he couldn’t make an international call)

- why even if he were to call the central reservations line, no one would be able to help us (unclear why this is the case but he refused to even pick up the phone)

- why our best option was to take a taxi back into the Nairobi City Center, go to the ticket office when it opened at 9am, try to complete our reservation there, take another taxi back to the airport, and get on the 6pm (in 12 hours!) flight

So in sum, Mr. Kiolkol was less than helpful as his best option was for us to sit outside his office for 4 hours to wait for the next manager to arrive at 9am so that she could deal with our problem. In fact, as I’m writing he has just locked the office and left to go home

In my many years of airline travel, this is the most outrageous example of disastrous customer service (and sheer idiocy) that I have ever experienced. For an airline that is “Africa’s World Class Airline” and promises passengers that they will “Travel the World in Style” this is the least classy and stylish experience of my traveling life.

Usually, I end letters such as these by asking for some sort of consideration from the airline- a refund, extra frequent flier miles, a free ticket, etc. But in this case, I don’t even know what to request. All I can think of is that I would like to avoid flying with you or seeing Mr. Kiolkol ever again. In sum, you suck.

In anger,

Jed Herrmann

PS To add insult to injury, a mosquito keeps biting me as I’m sitting outside your office writing this. I’ve probably got malaria now; I’ll send you the doctor’s bill for that…

(Editor’s note: Names in the above letter have been changed to protect the guilty. Also, we didn’t actually send this letter though Jed wanted to, especially after we arrived in Mumbai to discover our luggage had been left in Addis Ababa and it took them two days to deliver it to us.)

Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro: January 7, 2010

2010-01-07T14:43:00.006-05:00

It turns out that climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is actually rather hard.

We knew it would be a challenge but figured as relatively active, physically fit people, it wouldn’t be too difficult. Somewhere around 18,000 feet at 2:00 in the morning on summit day when Jed was frantically looking for his glove (it was on his hand) and Meg was trying to zip together the two different jackets she was wearing, we realized that high altitude can make seemingly simple things pretty difficult.

Two hours later when we arrived at Gilman’s point (a turning around point for a large number of climbers) and realized we still had 1.5 hours to the summit, things looked pretty bleak. About at about this point that Jed said “it is 4am, dark, freezing, and snowing and we are on top of a mountain at 19,000 feet, what are we doing?” However, walking slowly and unsteadily, we reached Uhuru Peak—the tallest point in Africa—exactly as the sun was rising. It was a pretty magical moment:

For those of you that don’t know the system for climbing Kili is quite interesting. You are not allowed to enter Mt Kilimanjaro National Park without a guide, nor are you allowed to do the climb carrying your own things. Instead, you arrange to climb through a local tour company (as we learned, some of them more sketchy than others.) The climbing package includes the guide, several porters, a cook, and a waiter. You carry only your day pack from hut to hut and upon arrival, your bags are delivered to your cabin door, washing water in brought to you, a three course meal is cooked and served to you, etc. The whole process is quite disconcerting. On the one hand it is very uncomfortable to have so many people serving you. On the other hand, it provides employment and income for thousands of Tanzanians and when you are at 14,000 feet (with another 5,000 to go), you realize that not carrying your heavy backpack is probably not such a terrible idea. Throughout the entire climb we discussed how to reconcile the discomfort of so many people serving you (when you are supposed to be “roughing it”) with the benefits to the local economy it brings and never really arrived at an answer. We did have a fabulous “team” though!

The first three days of the climb were very enjoyable and fairly easy. We hiked between 8 and 11km per day very slowly (“pole pole” as they say in Swahili) to minimize the effects of the altitude. As we reached higher altitudes the vegetation changed starting from the rainforest, to heather moorlands (think Scotland), and finally to alpine desert (similar in appearance to Chile’s Atacama desert). Each day was ended with a short, acclimatizing walk that afforded amazing views of each of the three vegetations, though our legs were never actually tired at the end of these days.

Day 4 is when things started to get difficult. We started our summit climb at 12am (see above for details.) Once we reached the summit, we immediately wanted to start back down (to get to a lower altitude.) Unfortunately (as we needed to get back to town early on Day 5), our ending point for that day was 29km away making the total distance we hiked 40km (including the 11km to the summit) over an elevation change of nearly 11,000 feet. By the end of the day, we had spent the previous 36 hours hiking a total of over 50km with nearly 18,000 feet in elevation change and 3 hours of sleep. Needless to say we were pretty tired by the end of the day. Day 5 was only an 8km hike to the entrance gate, but rough on our sore legs. Overall, climbing Kili was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and a great capstone to our time in Africa.

Tanzania: January 2, 2010

2010-01-02T13:13:00.007-05:00

Our first impressions of Tanzanian buses were extremely positive. We had just crossed the border from Malawi in the early evening and quickly caught a minibus to the town of Mbeya 100km away. We did not have any Tanzanian shillings, which upset the conductor, but we were able to pay in Malawian kwacha thanks to the help of two local female passengers who took up our cause and convinced him to accept our fare. Another fellow passenger then bought us a fried banana at our first stop (he, on the other hand, refused to accept our Malawian kwacha as payment.) Meg looked at Jed and said, “so far Tanzanian buses are great!”

It all went downhill from there.

We spent the next 4 hours on that same minibus to get to Mbeya (again, only 100km away)- it was so crowded that one point three people were sitting on one seat in front of Meg. After arriving late in the town of Mbeya we spent an hour looking for a hotel before finding a not-so-nice one. Then we got up in time for the 6am bus (never got to see Mbeya in the daylight) to Dar Es Salaam. Thanks to our friends at Happy Nation Express, we arrived in Dar, 16 hours and two bus breakdowns later.

The next day we met Jed’s family (parents, brother, and his fiancé) for the beginning of a vacation from Africa. We spent the next week on Zanzibar; then Meg’s parents joined us for another week of safari.

We had noticed in Dar that the feel was very different from the other parts of Africa we had been in but Zanzibar had even more of a middle eastern feel to it. Wandering the winding alleys of Stone Town with women in veils and long, colorful dresses felt like being back in Damascus. The diversity also encompassed significant parts of Indian culture with the spices and curry-based food as just one example.

For our trip, just as in its history Zanzibar represented the cultural amalgam of Africa India, and the Middle East. So while the middle eastern influence reminded us of the beginning of our trip, the considerable Indian influence was a preview of the time that we’ll spend on the sub-continent in the latter half of January, and yet so much of the island remains truly African. Thus in so many ways, the Christmas holiday with our families represented a midpoint to our travels- geographically, chronologically, and culturally.

Our Herrllivann safari was a great chance to catch up with our families and see fantastic scenery and wildlife as well. We truly hit the highlights by visiting a diverse set of habitats. Lake Manyara national park was filled with baboons and a wide variety of birds. The Ngorongoro Crater was a unique plain within a volcanic caldera- the views from the crater rim along with the lions, elephants, and flamingos (to name a few) combine for a truly magical setting.

Perhaps the climax of the safari was our time on the plains of the Serengeti. There we witnessed thousands of wildebeests in migration, giraffes by the score, and elephants by the dozens. It really was like a film from the nature channel. A big thanks to our families for trekking to Africa for such a wonderful holiday celebration.

Malawi: December 18

2009-12-28T13:43:00.002-05:00

When we crossed the border between Zambia and Malawi, two things immediately became obvious. First, there are a whole lot more people in Malawi. Second, there wasn’t any gas. A petrol shortage had been going on for weeks due to a shortage of foreign currency--which we were happy to help remedy in a small way (at a very advantageous exchange rate.) It also became immediately obvious that the above two factors were symptoms (causes?) of a country that was much more poor than any of the previous places we had visited.

Our first stop was Lilongwe where we were hosted by Jeff Robison (a former Columbia co-resident of Meg’s), his wife Shima, and their adorable two boys Darien and Kian. We separated and spent the day in a world of two extremes. Meg went with Jeff to the local hospital, spending the morning at the “Under 5 unit” (which is the closest thing the hospital has to a Pediatric Emergency Room), and the inpatient wards- where it was not uncommon for 4-6 patients to be sharing a bed. The afternoon was spent at the University of Baylor funded HIV Clinic which while well-staffed and well-resourced, has a very heavy patient load (Malawi ranks 9th in HIV prevalence in the world.) Jed, on the other hand, spent the day eating cake (literally) at the British High Commission while discussing the efficacy of foreign aid. We had just read Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari,which explores aid in Africa, and our experiences in Lilongwe helped bring the issue to life as we think about our future work in Latin America.

We left Lilongwe and headed up to Nkhata Bay, a small town on the northern part of Lake Malawi. We found a direct bus, but unfortunately it was the local bus, which stopped (no exaggeration) every 1-2 minutes, thus taking 8 hours to complete a 250km journey. On the basis of dollars per hour of travel it was a great value ($5) and it did allow us to get a real taste of the Malawian people and countryside (and we didn’t have to change buses!). When we finally arrived, we immediately jumped into the lake which made the trip worth it!

Following, an amazing sunrise and morning swim we were ready to begin another long bus journey. We got on the local bus (again) to the nearby town on Mzuzu (we hate repeating the same mistake); then hopped on a minibus which, despite being filled beyond capacity and having to sit with our knees to our chest, it took us to the border town of Karonga in a speedy 4 hours, making it the best bus trip in Malawi.

To continue our discussion of local cuisine, we certainly got a real taste of it in Nkhata Bay where we went to one of the two local “restaurants” (which looked more like a living room with some tables in it) in town. Meg went for the safe beans and cima (the Malawian version of mealy pap, the cornmeal-based dish common throughout the region.) Jed, on the other hand, asked what “chicken parts” were and was taken back to the kitchen so that he could see for himself. While we ate the meal and did not get sick, we learned a very important lesson—never look in a Malawian “kitchen” before eating if you want to enjoy the meal properly (Meg will never forget the look on Jed’s face the entire time he was eating his chicken parts.)

Zambia (December 14, 2009)

2009-12-16T01:37:00.007-05:00

Well, it turns out it was harder getting to Zambia than we thought. As we wrote below, we had made a reservation on the Nam-Zam Express bus that was to meet us in Grootfontein “at the gas station sometime between 8 and 9pm” When the bus finally arrived a little past 10pm we were told two things:

1. The bus was full (although our reservation had been made and we did in fact have a seat assignment though there were other people in those seats.)

2. There was a second bus coming and the first bus would wait until the second bus arrived.

So we waited and waited until 1:30am when the second bus (finally!) arrived. (Turns out it had broken down shortly after the previous stop.) However, the second bus was also full. At this point, we had been at the gas station for 6 hours (at least it was a Total Gas station—see Namibian entry.) Seeing the looks on our faces, the bus man then told us we could get on the first bus and just to find any seat—unfortunately, this meant sitting on the edge of the window right by the door (not so much a seat, but we could not spend any more time on the gas station.) A very uncomfortable 600km later (made slightly better only by very soothing Zambian music and an elephant running out in front of the bus), we arrived at the Zambian border. From there, it was an easy bus ride to Livingstone.

In Livingstone, we met Chris Bradford and Pallen Chiu and immediately headed off to Livingstone Island where we were told we would swim in a “natural pool” overlooking the falls. (Meg pictured an infinity pool at the hotel.) It is hard to truly describe the experience—first walking up to see the falls with a complete lack of barriers and then swimming out to a pool at the edge of the falls and then dangling headfirst over the edge of the falls! It was truly a unique experience.

Then add on sunset over the Zambeezi river, a ramble through Victoria Falls National Park, and a bungee jump over the Victoria Falls bridge and you have a winning weekend. It was Meg’s first bungee jump ever- though she was a little nervous despite Jed’s cheerleading

But in the end she jumped off the bridge like a champ. Not bad considering it is the 3^rd highest bungee jump in the world.

After the falls, we began a series of long bus journeys through Zambia, getting to see some of Lusaka (in the rain and a power outage) and some of Chipata. While not as empty as Namibia, Zambia isn’t crowded either, though one sees many more roadside huts (made of mud brick and straw). Zambia has a real and identifiable national cuisine, which was a tasty change from the more internationalized cuisine of South Africa and Namibia.

Namibia (December 9, 2009)

2009-12-09T14:37:00.008-05:00

We ended up in Namibia a day early by accident (turns out that the town on the map on the South Africa side of the border isn’t all it appears to be- which was a sign of things to come….). Luckily, we stumbled upon a rafting camp on the Orange River (which constitutes the border) in time for a beautiful sunset.

We quickly discovered two things:

Namibia is bigger than it seems, especially when driving 300 miles on dirt roads (though very good dirt roads to be fair),
As Meg said “there are no people here”. To put it in perspective, Namibia is slightly larger in size than the state of Texas with a population of on par with that of Houston alone. (Nambia has 2 people per square kilometer; by comparison NYC has over 2000--no wonder we felt like we were alone the whole time.)

Both of these came into play when we got a flat tire in the middle of Fish River Canyon National Park with no one around. Fortunately, we were well equipped…..

And for those of you who know the Herrllivann family at all know this was not a one person job

Fortunately our stop that night was in the lovely town of Keetsmanshoop which is known for having the most petrol stations per capita (and therefore lots of tire places as well.) We set off the next morning to explore the dunes of Sosussvlei. Part of the bone-dry Namib desert, the dunes here are among the largest in the world. Spending (a slightly longer than anticipated) time walking through them one afternoon by ourselves (again, there is no one here), it really gave us the sense of what it would like to be stuck in a real desert in the old days. Thanks to the rental tent (surprisingly not as crappy as we first thought) we were able to experience the desert dunes at both sunset and sunrise.

After a night in the German/Namibian town of Swakopmund (staying in 2 bed “fisherman’s shack” at the municipal rest camp), we did the 21^st century version of desert exploration- on ATVs!

But the true highlight of our trip to Swakopmund was our stop at the Total gas station. Outstanding service (we had at least 5 people addressing our vehicles various needs: gas, tires, windows, oil, etc.) coupled with good humor (the man taking the money referred to himself as “the minister of finance”) and an engaging manner made for our best visit ever to a gas station. In fact, “the minister of finance” upon seeing a photo in Jed’s wallet asked if that was a picture from our wedding (which, in fact, it was). He was very interesting studying the picture in great detail and asking who everyone was- however, in his honest manner he made two grave mistakes:

1. He identified Meg’s sister-in-law Ali as best looking person in the picture

2. When asked if Meg looked more beautiful now (in person) or in the picture, he answered that she definitely looked better in the picture

However, given his engaging manner and the multiple blessings he gave us for a happy life, we were able to forgive him his errors. (For those of you planning on visiting Swakopmund, it is the Total station on the corner of Nathaniel Maxuilili St and San Nujoma Ave:

Our next stop was Windhoek, which is a very pleasant capital city, though not known for its nightlife (about on par with Des Moines, Iowa) or historical sites (also on par with Des Moines). The highlight there was our visit to the Zambian Embassy—we went there to explore transport options to Victoria Falls and left with much anticipation for the wonders of life in Zambia thanks to our new Zambian friends Tonnie and Kelvin (the “ambassadors”/bus ticket salespeople.) Among their best recommendations were to try rat and fried caterpillars; they also emphatically stressed that Zambian corn was far superior to the Namibian variety.

Given the bus to Victoria Falls didn’t leave for two days we decided to head to Northern Namibia and meet the “Nam-Zam Express” there. We hopped on a mini-bus, which we discovered was also serving as a moving van for a Namibian family (we stopped approximately halfway at the new residence to unload the trailer.) We got off in the town of Tsumeb which is described in the Lonely Planet as “Namibia’s loveliest town.” While the town is perfectly nice and most Namibian “towns” usually consist of a couple of buildings at best (again, no people here), we quickly realized the guidebook author either had never been here or had a mistress in town (or some other reason for thinking the town so lovely).

With any luck we’ll be in Victoria Falls in day’s time- that is, if our new Zambian friends come through with our bus “reservation” (ie writing our first names down on a slip of paper and assuring us the bus would meet us in Grootfontein “at the gas station sometime between 8 and 9pm”)….

South Africa (December 3, 2009)

2009-12-07T02:42:00.007-05:00

We left the Middle East somewhat reluctantly but were very excited to start exploring a whole new region. We arrived in Johannesburg and spent a day at the African Leadership Academy, an amazing school founded by our friend Chris Bradford. We not only got to brush up on our high school physics and leadership skills, we also met students from all over the continent with remarkable stories and aspirations.

We then were treated to the “Bradford special tour” which included both a visit to the township of Soweto and the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria (a monument to the “Great Trek” of the Afrikaners.) One an intentional monument to the Afrikaners escape from persecution by the British, the other an unintentional remnant of the Afrikaner subsequent persecution and discrimination of black South Africans. While the two are obviously incomparable in severity and gravity, the contrast provided very interesting insight into some of the ironies of the history of South Africa (that continues today with the recent persecution of immigrants from other African nations.)

Next, we traveled up north to Kruger National Park where we enjoyed our first safari experience. The experience was truly magical. We stayed in a remote lodge where baby baboons and impalas greeted us on the walkways in the morning. During each game drive we were treated to a taste of the “Big Five”—including watching a herd of elephants give themselves mud baths, watching a female lioness walk right behind the jeep, and tracking a leopard in the bush for several minutes. Other highlights included rounding out the Big Five (with the Water Buffalo and Rhino), baby giraffes, a pack of wild dogs by the roadside, and a bush walk during which we learned about the different floral and fauna (including several trees that have apparent have medicinal properties for certain personal problems; Jed took careful notes, while Meg corrected the proportions- doctors…) And even though we were warned that the classic American “mistake” is to get really excited by a Zebra (which are considered quite common in Africa), we couldn’t help taking several pictures--their faces are beautiful up close.

Next it was on to Cape Town where we had the pleasure of enjoying the city from a breathtaking seaside apartment in Clifton. We quickly fell in love with the city and all that it has to offer. We managed to hit the highlights—climbing Table Mountain (turns out it is a pretty hard climb), boating out to Robben Island, wandering in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, driving to the Cape of Good Hope, and the exploring the City Bowl. The excitement of the upcoming World Cup filled the air (as did dust from all of the construction) and the city felt very much alive and vibrant. We also met up with Sue Valentine (a friend of Jed’s father) who told us about runs the Children's Radio Foundation, which supports amazing radio programs by and for children (check it out at www.childrensradiofoundation.org). She also took us on a tour of the Cape Town Children’s Hospital (the only separate Children’s hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa,) which was a definite highlight for Meg. Jed’s highlight may have been the free dinner we got because he correctly answered a question about Egypt mythology; turns out the report he did in the 8^th grade on the sun goddess Nut (and the recent refresher in Egypt) paid off!

(Dusk in Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background)

The only disappointing part of Cape Town was discovering (after the fact) that the Cape of Good Hope is in fact NOT the southern most point in Africa. However since we (like all the other tourists there) took the picture, we feel we have to insert it here. Maybe someday we’ll make it to Cape Agulhas.

Finally we headed out to wine country to learn about (and taste of course) the various South African wines. One of the highlights was trying various types of the Pinotage grape variety. Stellenbosch, and the other wineland towns, certainly rival those of California for beauty, culinary delights, and excellent vineyards!

Overall, South Africa is both an emotionally stimulating and draining country. We were wowed by the great natural, cultural, and human resources of the country, but also troubled by the contemporary effects of (recent) history. We continually had to remind ourselves that much of the momentous moments in the country’s history happened during our lifetimes. Like parts of the middle east (Israel, for example), our visit to South Africa really brought history to life and gave today’s headlines more perspective .

Egypt (November 22, 2009)

2009-11-23T08:55:00.004-05:00

Egypt (both continentally and for our trip) was divided into two parts. In the Sinai we enjoyed some relaxing and judeo-christian sites, while the remainder of our time in Egypt was dedicated to hardcore ancient Egyptian site seeing. We’ve divided our blog entry along slightly different lines to appeal to our different audiences (we’ve done some demographic research on our readers): culture and history. Those more generally interested in the amusing side of our cultural experiences can skip the first section below about our visits to the historical sites in Egypt.

History/Sites

The Sinai provided nice closure on our exploration of religious sites and cultures that Israel embodies: visiting the oldest monastery in the world (St. Catherine’s monastery, which was actually rather a snooze) and climbing Mt. Sinai at sunset, which was very cool (literally and figuratively).

After the Sinai, we met up with Jed’s father for a week of vacation from our honeymoon (no travel logistics!) in Cairo. The pyramids were outstanding, just as we’d dreamed of them and amusingly surrounded by the suburbs on two sides (nothing like driving down the street and seeing a pyramid behind the gas station.)

While the pyramids and the Sphinx are certainly in the category of “so popular it is a tourist cliché”, they are justifiably fabulous sites. It is hard not to be wowed by the view of the sun setting behind the Sphinx and the pyramids. However, equally memorable were the much less talked about inside of pharaohs’ tombs--the detail and coloring of the carvings were exquisite. It was breathtaking to see such ancient things in such good shape that they could have been painted yesterday. Especially of note were the 3,000 year-old carvings with perfect details in Sakarra and vibrant colors in the tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Meg did question at multiple times whether the building of such structures was an efficient use of the Egyptian’s time and resources (especially given there were things like famine and drought to worry about.) However, she still was able to very much appreciate the magnitude and beauty of the sites

Following Cairo, we took a wonderful cruise down the Nile (well, up really since the Nile flows south to north), stopping along the way at various towns and temples. One of the highlights was watching the rhythms of life on the Nile, many of which are unchanged over thousands of years. It brought history books to life to see the boundaries between the fertile green of the Nile irrigated and the surrounding barren desert, which seems to go on until the horizon.

While temples start to look the same after a while, a couple were of particular interest. In Luxor and Karnak, we liked the enormous columns of a nearly modern scale with papyrus bud and flower tops, a good contrast to the classical columns of Roman and Greek temples elsewhere on our trip. In the Abu Simbel the giant rock-carved temple exterior rivaled Petra while the vast interior of rooms filled with carvings surpassed the (basically non-existent) interiors in Petra.

Cultural

While visiting the modern capital of Cairo, we took a quick trip to the capital of ancient Egypt: Memphis! And what would a trip to Memphis be without a marriage proposal. In a recreation of the dramatic proposal at Graceland, Jed proposed again, this time in the presence of a slightly different king (less style but possibly more soul). Even with the first time under her belt, it still took a couple of tries for Meg to say yes (perhaps less surprise and more consideration this time around?).

On our first night in Cairo, we experienced the vibrancy of the City as we were driving through the streets as everyone celebrated Egypt’s victory of over Algeria with a last minute goal to force a playoff for a World Cup birth (which Egypt later lost causing a minor diplomatic crisis in the region as the Egyptian Ambassador was recalled from Algiers). It was like no other celebration, we’ve ever seen (and Jed has been several Yankees victory parades) though next time we might not try to take a cab through it- as there were several scary moments when a mob was rocking the car back and forth (Meg thinks it is pretty outrageous, and self-centered, that Jed compares the Yankees with the Egyptian national soccer team trying to qualify for the World Cup).

At every major tourist site in the country there are metal detectors but in many cases they weren’t on and in the places that they were on all the tourists were just waived through as the machines beeped away. It was later explained to us that “they only turn them on after there is an incident”- perhaps symptomatic of the Egyptian problem solving approach (we’ll wait for the problem then we will solve it, no need to worry about trying to prevent a problem that may never come)? Yet there was a large police presence all over the country, with tight controls and frequent check points; many of the officials at these checkpoints were not in uniform (aside from the gun tucked in their back pocket). A general rule we formulated is that when border officials aren’t wearing uniforms that isn’t an encouraging sign about bureaucratic mechanisms of the country (though, to be fair we didn’t have any problems of this nature in Egypt).

Finally, a note on traffic and translations. While much is made of the traffic in Cairo; it is true that crossing the street can often be a fun challenge (a man standing on a traffic median with us suggested that closing your eyes while crossing was the best strategy), but the volume of traffic itself isn’t much different than Midtown Manhattan and the (lack of) observance of traffic rules very similar to any major Latin American capital. As for the English translation, it was amusing in both spelling (too many examples to give) and phraseology (the High Dam at Aswan as “The Egyptian challenge against the silent nature”). The more we travel, the more Jed thinks he should open an English translation consulting business (perhaps paid on a commission based on the number of errors prevented).

Regional Food and Drink: The Middle East

2009-11-23T08:51:00.001-05:00

A few notes on the Mid-East cuisine; otherwise known as the great hummus contest and food more generally. There are many claims in the region about the best hummus or the best falafel. Having visited many “the best” in the region, we thought that while Israeli hummus was outstanding, and Lebanese a little disappointing, that Syria’s was consistently excellent. While shwarma (called a variation of kebap in other countries) was probably most available in Jordan or Syria, that in Israel and Palestine they really have the complete package of meat, toppings, and a bread down to a nearly unbeatable science. And for felafel (the “national dish” of several countries in the region), while Lebanon and Syria had some very tasty options, the best stand alone felafel balls were probably in a back alley in Amman- though Egypt’s variation, using fava beans instead of chickpeas, probably had the best overall flavor. Egypt also had more original dishes than most other countries though with varying success (fatta was a tasty change of pace, while kushari was more controversial).

In terms of drinks, we’ll start with the non-alcoholic variety. The coffee was a bit of a let down—Turkish coffee (served in all middle eastern countries) was too bitter and “filtered coffee” just not good. We both developed a deeper appreciation of tea, however, which is served at all times, in all places. The highlight of the juices was pomegranate juice and the (best ever) fresh mint lemonade.

Alcoholic drinks proved to be much more difficult to find in the Middle East. Beer and wine is sold at very few stores and restaurants, save the tourist areas. Even there, it was not usually listed on the menu (we think both so as not to blatantly advertise it and so that prices could be somewhat arbitrary. We had low expectations of the wine going in and were pleasantly surprised (although not overwhelmed.) Lebanon probably had the best wine, all similar to French wine of course. Egyptian wine was also quite drinkable, although the white much more so than the red. (Jed’s father discovered the Omar Khayam white wine that he quite enjoyed.) Beer was also in general slightly below average in quality though (with the exception of Luxor beer in Egypt) it was mainly drinkable. The highlight was Taybeh beer, which is the middle east only microbrew, located just north of Ramallah in the Palestinian Territories. Alamaza in Lebanon was also an outstanding pilsner and Stella (not Artois) in Egypt was good though with a slightly skunky aftertaste (think Rolling Rock). In all, there were few libation highlights in the region.

Israel; November 11, 2009

2009-11-13T11:56:00.003-05:00

We enjoyed Israel- after the initial shock about the prices (a box of cookies cost as much as an entire dinner in Jordan! Though to be fair they were truly outstanding cookies, if you come across Tim Tam cookies anywhere buy them immediately; they are even kosher!). We spent a very interesting and fun week in Israel. Hiking in the desert, swimming in the Dead Sea, seeing the West Bank, exploring Jerusalem, and relaxing in Tel Aviv.

We started our time with an outstanding hike in the Negev desert in Ein Avdat National Park- a real desert hike it had fantastic views in a lunar-like landscape. Then it was on to the Dead Sea for a swim, where Meg initially had a little bit of trouble floating....

Trying to understand all sides of the historical Israeli-Palesinian debate is a challenge so aside from some reading (Strangers in the House for a Palestinian point of view, A Peace to End All Peace for a historical perspective, etc.) we also wanted to see the situation on the ground so we spent the night in Bethlehem and took a day trip to Ramallah. Having just spent the past few weeks in the Middle East, Ramallah felt like any other Arab city (minus the checkpoints, wall, and barbed wire fences of course). However, in contrast to nearby Jerusalem, it felt very different. The visits and other experiences, including standing above Bethlehem with our Israeli guide discussing the building of the wall (and its purpose/role) really highlighted the complexities of the conflict (and the fact that there really is no easy solution.)

Lunch in Ramallah

In Jerusalem, we toured the big historical sights. Even though it wasn’t necessarily our initial motivation, it was very interesting seeing the stories from the bible come to life. From touring the old City of David, to visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, seeing the Western Wall, and walking on Temple Mount around the Dome of the Rock, it was very educational. Above all, it highlighted both the commonalities and distinctions of different religions. While we often like to go places where there aren’t other tourists, it is amazing to see so many different people (religion, nationality, etc) side-by-side in such a small city being affected by varying degrees to the various sites.

After the intensity of Jerusalem, it was a pleasure to move on to relative tranquility of Tel Aviv. Walking the boardwalk, sitting on the beach, visiting the old city of Jaffa- Tel Aviv was just a very pleasant place to relax and (if they could get some better public transport) probably a very good place to live. Much of this was probably due to being hosted by a truly wonderful family, who went out of their way to show us their Tel Aviv and welcomed as into their own home. Thanks Eial and Yael Diskin!

Jordan (11/5/09)

2009-11-05T15:09:00.004-05:00

After some good wandering in the Damascus Old City (the old market there is definitely worth a visit for those of you looking for a trip idea) and another (less successful and interesting) walk around Amman (trying to find the world’s tallest freestanding flagpole), we spent a fantastic few days in Petra and the Wadi Rum desert.

While we saw all the famous and beautiful sites in Petra (you’ll have to wait until the end of this entry for the prototypical picture of us in front of the Treasury, from Indiana Jones fame), the hike we took in the early morning before crowds arrived was especially memorable. Hiking up the rough sandstone ledges that surround the rock-carved temples of Petra proper, led to striking views of the surrounding sandstone rock formations and cliffs. Reaching the top for a view of the valley, filled with temples and increasingly with tourists, the gusting and sand-sweeping wind really gives a sense of how this place came to formed over thousands of years and why the Nabateans chose this location for their holy city.

From Petra we moved on to Wadi Rum which, for those of you that haven’t seen Lawrence of Arabia, is a truly magnificent desert, home not only to scores of historical tales, but mountains, rock landscapes, and even the occasional tulip bulb. We took a 4WD jeep tour during which we drove through miles of breathtaking scenery making frequent stops in which our Bedouin guide would point at a sand dune, a rock formation, or a several meter high natural rock bridge and would say simply “climb.” We happily obliged. From the miles and miles of sand (both a brilliant red and natural white) to the rose red cliffs, from the unforgettable colors of the sunset to the shadows cast by the equally unforgettable bright full moon, repeatedly throughout the day we turned to each other and talked about how we would never forget it. We ended the day at a Bedouin camp with a traditional meal, enjoying traditional music on the lute by our guide, and sharing stories with the (very few) other travelers staying at the camp. Waking up the next morning we quickly scrambled up a rock formation to get one last view before we sadly had to depart for Aqaba.

Upon arrival in Aqaba we briefly debated heading straight to the border to cross into Israel but instead decided to enjoy one more night in Jordan. We spent the day walking around the seaside town and enjoying the view a short distance across the Red Sea to Israel and Egypt. More than that, though, we enjoyed again hearing over and over again “you are very welcome” from the Jordanian people.