Grow Your Own

Tiff-Guatemala-new email
We got up early this morning and caught a second class
bus and rode 6 hours to the Atlantic Coast to Rio
Dulce// a town. On the side of the road, I saw
Pineapples//so I said to the friendly guy next to me
in Spanish// I like Pineapples a lot//Do they grow
here. At least that is what I thought I said. What I
really said was, /I really like penises/Do they grow
here/ The response was quite hilarious. I figured it
out right away from the hilarity. I couldn't stop
giggling.
At Rio Dulce we caught a boat to a crazy place called
Livingstone. Its on the coast. The river trip was
through lush jungle and a deep canyon. It was totally
beautiful.
At Livingston there are four groups of very distinct
peoples. The population is only 5000 and you can only
get here upriver in a boat. There are the Creole
blacks left over from slave days that speak creole
Eng. or Garifu. There are two groups of native
Indians with two languages and the Ladinos with
Spanish. Its a wild place with Spanish music and
Carribean blasting from every door front.
We were stopped on the landing by an old black guy
that weighed about 20 pounds. He had that wonderful
musical Carribean English. He asked for a book. He
begs books off tourists because he says there aren't
enough books here. I finally broke down and gave him
my Gabrial Garcia book and he amazed me by knowing all
about him and several other authors I like. The end
of the story is that he is taking us to his friends
houses tomorrow. We will see true Carribean black
culture//Eat their food //ride in a canoe, etc.
I like it here a lot//It is so weird and exotic.
Its poor and laid back and totally cool.