Hung on Music

I wonder if Hussein's hanging will be on Youtube? It happened so fast. I remember seeing that it would occur within 48 hours, but forgot about it. I got into it with someone about who was responsible for not seeing Saddam go down during Desert Storm. It's kind of weird that he's dead and things in Iraq seem just about as bad as they were when he was on the loose. Of course I am ignoring many details which probably changed, but people are still dying and Iraqis continuing to kill Americans won't bring him back to power especially since he's dead. Hmm, this could get interesting if he's actually not dead and he in hiding like Vaughn was on Alias, recovering and preparing to come back and wow us all! Doubtful.

Christmas went well...I am going to London in April! Yea, I am very excited about it and have already started planning how touristy I will be. My wife has booked just about everything and we have also added in traveling to Paris to stay for a night. Many cds made it to me through the holidays also which will be mentioned as soon as I can actually listen to them. The bands include The Elms, Starflyer 59, Sanctus Real, Earthsuit, Mae, and Switchfoot. Yes, a Christian band extravaganza.

Livingston is Alive

Guatemala was our next stop and it was the only rainy day for us. It did let up after a couple of hours, but factor in that Anna and I were carrying a duffel bag filled with 80 pounds of school supplies and also a backpack with about 35 pounds of more school supplies. The supplies were given to Anna by some of her students. She had asked them to bring her school supplies rather than gifts for her. Anna had emailed a hotel owner from Livingston about bringing supplies for the children of the town because she had read that they really lack school supplies and that the teachers strike a lot. We had to carry both of the bags out in the rain from the ship, down the gangway, and to the actual warehouse which housed all of the shops. After we met the guide, we had to carry the supplies back out to the dock where we would get on a smaller boat which would hold 10 people and then ride about 30 minutes to the hotel from which we would sail to the schoolhouse.

We ended up waiting outside for over an hour, but once we got on the boat we took off immediately. I am from Louisiana which basically has a landscape just as exciting as my flat butt. At first I thought the mountains I saw were part of the storm raining on us, but then I figured out that those weren't dark clouds and at least three of them were volcanoes. This was freakishly mind blowing to me because I have been teaching my 8th grade students about volcanoes, tectonic plates, limestone formation, and erosion. This area in Guatemala was the result of two plates crashing into each other. Everything was made of limestone and it was even visible in areas where trees had not been able to grow. No eruptions of course, but the landscape was exciting to me.

We went down the river passing various homes on our way to the school. Most of the people waved at us nicely and a few kids actually rowed out to us to get some supplies before we reached our destination. When we reached the school area, 30 to 40 kids and some adults came to meet us and we gave out supplies. I was not satisfied with sitting in the boat so I got out and started handing things out to kids, mainly notebooks and paper. They weren't too excited to receive the reformed trees and seemed apathetic about them. I took a few pictures of kids and of Anna handing out things before I reached the candy which was deeper in the bag. It was like dangling a bloody stub in front of a shark; the kids mobbed me and started taking the candy out of my hands. I tried to give each kid a piece, but had to give up. The other adults with us on the boat had some supplies, but stayed in the boat handing them out as a master hands dogs treats for being good. I hated that. I wanted to interact as much as I could even though I couldn't speak a word to them in their tongue. This left me feeling shameful because I wanted to do more to help these people, but under the circumstances couldn't. Also add in that the people who were with us seemed to be looking down their noses at these people who have a totally different world view than us. I think I projected my feelings on to the natives while we were there quite a lot and in this instance I really wondered what these people thought about us being there. Did we look as if we thought they were spectacles when we stared and took pictures? Did the people think "Hey, it's those stupid, snobbish Americans again, we really hate them, but man we get to rip them off with our sweatshop souvenirs."? There's no way for me to know and I am thinking way too much about things once again. The Americans we were with made comments which led us to believe that they thought the natives were stupid because they don't live like us and that they feel adventurous by coming to this wasteland to stick it out for a few hours. When our guide proudly pointed out things they noticeably acted unimpressed and sometimes made comments to back this. I felt embarrassed to be with them sometimes and did my best to ask our guide questions about his hometown.

We stopped at a shop on the way back to the hotel where products were made from different plants and trees by hand. I bought a really neat journal which was all made from banana trees and we would have bought more, but the women could not speak English. We had to climb way uphill to go to the bathroom while at this place and something unusual about the bathrooms is that you can't flush toilet paper. Well you can, but they have signs in English asking you to not do it. I guess some lines can only handle so much waste.

The food back at the hotel was a surprise to us. My wife's bowl of soup featured an entire fish with its head, a crab which had only been boiled to death, and shrimp which had not been peeled at all but had at least one thing in common with Marie Antoinette. She wasn't that brave and just ate broth and shrimp. My snook was bland, but the hot chocolate was the best ever! The power had gone out and since there is only one power line running through the area, it goes out about any time it rains which is each and everyday in rainy season, so we aren't sure how things were cooked. We walked through the town for a while after eating and shopped at a few places. The people were very polite and didn't attack us to buy things too often.

Overall it seemed like the people we saw were content with their lives and that the merchants were the best off once again. Tourism seemed to reign supreme and the people were just accepting of this even though Livingston was the first port in the region and was now not much of one at all. It was nice to see a place almost as it should be rather than built into some unbelievable extravaganza by the cruise companies.

Confusion in Costa Maya

Our first stop was Costa Maya. There were a bunch of shops with a bunch of things, but we weren't that interested because of all of the people trying to convince us to buy from them. We waited for our tour for a while because the bus was late and then ended up in a van with about ten other people instead because of different issues. The ride was a long one and our tour guide did a great job giving us information about the area. The telephone arrived to these people within the last year and there is no running water. Water is delivered daily to each home and then pumped from the side of the house to a black tank on top of the home. That's all the water the family will get for the day. If they use all of the water, then they will have to go without until the next day. The starter homes have roofs made from the leaves of nearby trees just as their Mayan ancestors build theirs three thousand years ago. These roofs last up to twenty years, withstand wind and rain, and allow air to ventilate through the home. The better off people build their roofs out of aluminum or tin. You can distinguish the middle class from the lower class by whether a family has a satellite dish or not. That's the second thing they buy after a television for the home. Shows can be watched in some stores, but you have to pay to watch them. Most of the people still grow their own food and travel to the store to get some things if they have money. They may walk or bike miles to get there if they don't have the money to pay someone else to take them. There were only two paved roads and they intersect each other at one spot. The rest of the roads are really dirt or limestone and provide a bouncy ride most of the time. The Mayan ruins we visited were about thirty minutes away by van and as soon as we climbed out into the open, the humidity slapped us with heat. Instant sunburn occurred and the ruins were rather impressive to view as we surveyed them, but after looking at one set, you have just about seen all there is to see. I got bored after the first two hours of the four hour tour. We saw tree roots where the Mayans would hide to stay safe from the hurricanes, the stone foundations which they attached the large roofs composed of layers of leaves, different medicinal uses for the bark and leaves of certain trees, and how the temples were used to help the leader see if his people were about to be overrun by invaders. After all of this was done, we were supposed to go to a nearby village to have a traditional Mayan meal would be prepared for us, but no one else in our group requested this, so we didn't get to try the meal and discover whether we would get really sick or not. We could have still gone to the village, but by the time we left we were starving because we were actually supposed to eat at the halfway point, but it didn't happen. My wife did get some beautiful dresses, but we were disappointed that we didn't get to do what we had planned. The truly amazing thing about the Mayans to me was that they knew how to use what God had given them in nature to help them survive. I am referring to the plants and trees being used to help cope with injury and to improve health. We ate the leaves from one tree and found our tongues to be numb. Our guide then explained that the leaves are the source of novocaine. Scientists actually travel (have traveled) to places like Costa Maya to study the plants and how the chemicals in them affect receptor sites in neurons. The chemicals are then either taken from more plants and put into a medicine or are synthesized from chemicals that work similarly on receptor sites and then put into medicines for sale to the public. This is another good reason to keep rainforests around for the future.

A short introduction to Central America

Why is it that taking a nap actually leaves me feeling more tired than when I went to sleep? Yeah, long question, probably a long answer also. I am still at my in-laws on a Christmas visit. Things are going quite well. Today I put insulation in the attic and then helped put a surround sound system in a storage building. Of course that has little to do with the rest of my post, but sets my frame of mind.

On Christmas Eve, my wife and I returned from a seven day cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines. We went to Central America and visited four different areas. This was a first for me since I have never been out of the U.S. or been miles away from land. It was a little freaky at first to look out the window and see nothing but water. This didn't really worry me, nor did the idea of the ship sinking or getting horribly sick from the food or someone with a horrible virus. What worried us the most was that the boat would not wait for us if we missed it and some of our excursions were timed close to departure. That and dying while para-sailing, but neither proved to be problematic. The activities on the ship were nice and keep us too busy almost. I enjoyed getting to lay down and read a book while watching CNN. The food turned us into gluttons. So many choices and it was already paid for, so we didn't resist and sometimes had dinner twice.

A lot of details, but they aren't really what I want to go into detail about on this post. We visited four different areas Central America including Costa Maya, Guatemala, Belize, and Cozumel in seven days and I have never seen anything like it in person. I went to see sites and have great experiences through excursions, but came back feeling uncomfortable about how I live a materialistic life and am so blessed to live in the U.S. even with all of its shortcomings. The ship docked at a port for each place we stopped and each port was pretty crazy. As soon as we got off of the ship, people in costumes greeted us for pictures. This really bothered me a lot because it just seems so demeaning for a person to dress up in a costume that isn't even relative any more so a snobbish tourist can get something to keep in a photo-album. Outside of the photo-ambushes were lots of shops with people pushing items on tourists. These areas were built as a tourist trap and some of the prices were fixed and listed, some were listed but not fixed, and some never even listed a price. I hate arguing or bargaining, as many called it, over an item. Just tell me what you think it is worth and I will pay if I agree with you. I wish it was that simple, but in a lot of the places it was not, so I let my wife handle it because she seems to enjoy it. I did persuade a lady in Cozumel to lower the price of an ostrich belt from $18o to $60, but it was only because I really wasn't going to buy the belt and she was actually bargaining with me. All of the items looked like they came out of one large sweatshop where hundreds of people probably work extremely long hours seven days a week for something less than a dollar an hour. (This week on CNN a report stated that the Bratz dolls are made in sweatshops in China where workers spend sometimes 96 hours a week working while making what equates to 17 cents U.S. per hour. The company did not deny this and went on the record saying that the workers get a fair wage for their work time. If that's on the news, then think about what goes on outside of the news and don't forget that Walmart has been nailed for this also.) We kept seeing the same items all over, but different prices. Selling these souvenirs is life for a lot of the people and they are the ones making the most money on average. I just can't imagine getting up in the morning, packing a bunch of items, driving to a location, unloading them all, sitting all day haggling with tourists over prices, packing up everything, then driving home to take care of the normal household duties; and it's every single day. Of course this is everyday life for them and since they know nothing else because their towns are so dependent on tourism, they just except it. That makes me feel uncomfortable and I am and was projecting my feelings onto these people because I don't think I could live that kind of life and be content with it. Most of the area outside of the ports was empty and basically looked unsettled. Some dwelling places were built right in the area and the rest are outside of the port and require transportation to get to them. So things went from very settled and commercialized to vast empty stretches of land.

The Hardest Working Man in Show Business Will Work No More

First off, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! I am with my in laws and wife way away from home, just returning from an entire week out of the country. I haven't fooled with a computer, my phone, an iPod, or just about anything else which I take for granted in a week. Well, there was the TV featuring a few new movies and reruns of Law and Order, but that was about it. I will give more details later, but first off, I am trying to recover from the news I just read on MSN. James Brown is dead on Christmas morning at the age of 73. I just read about him still kicking butt and taking no prisoners with his music as he has from his start a few months ago in Rolling Stone. I fear Christmas will be funky no more. I hope everyone is well and that the season finds all of your in good health and spirits. Time for a Christmas lunch and more sugar. More later... and frequent updates forthcoming...