Saturday, February 11, 2006

1/28/2006

This is the ninth part in my Guatemalan series. Click here for parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. I just came home from the Hard Rock Cafe imitation in Panajachel, with the Danes (Michael, a pre-med, and Sara), and then the inebriated Brits out in the street after closing time, and I opened the patio to let the breeze from the lake pour into my room. I stepped outside, and as I looked up to admire the new moon and more stars than I've ever seen in a sky, a shooting star briefly burned itself out. - - We're now approaching Antigua, once the Spanish capital for all of their New World. How hard it is to imagine the first Spaniards to visit this strange place, wild and undiscovered, and then to build streets and buildings, to - for better or worse - teach the native people their language, their religion. I wonder if they could have imagined the lasting legacy they established, to which this city still stands testament. - - I think my room is haunted. I also think it used to be a closet. Just handling the heavy, enormous, wrought-iron skeleton key bestows upon the user a heady sense of history. The mind conjurs the original owners and invites them to wreak havoc with the imagination in a dark, cramped, hundreds-of-years-old room. - - Antigua's central plaza at night is heart-breakingly romantic for a lone wanderer. The water splashes in the fountains, lights are strung throughout the trees, and the whole scene of cuddling couples and strolling families is backlit by the glowing church to the east. I find it hard to imagine that just a few years ago this peaceful square would have been, at this late hour, a dark, threatening and dangerous place.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

you take such gorgeous shots. i wish you had your woman there on those heartbreaking nights where everyone fills the streets. but it seems you are rediscovering your freedom and individuality while helping others. i might be going back to guatemala in the spring, your fotos are getting me pumped. i can remember all the old colonial squares and the plazas from spanish colonial times. such a unique blend of cultures.

2/11/2006 06:30:00 PM  

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