Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
from the local fruit market. It appears that more people own pickup trucks, cell
phones, and televisions than toilets.
Why the dramatic change? Guatemala welcomes $3.5 billion annually from
the Guatemalan workforce living in the United States. Thanks to these green-
backs,traditional,oftenindigenouscommunitiesareonfast-forward,hurtlingin-
to a brave new modern world. All this has happened in the past few years and
perhapsbecauseofthedistancebetweenwhatwasandwhathasbecome,theres-
ults can be overwhelming: sometimes wonderful, sometimes painful, often hu-
morous, and always interesting for the traveler, especially to those who are stu-
dents of human nature.
EnriqueV.Iglesias(formerlongtimepresidentoftheInter-AmericanDevelop-
ment Bank) lauds the direct and democratic attributes of remittances. However,
witnessing remittances in action, I do not always find it pretty what they do to
village life in Guatemala. It sounds so good on paper—courageous Guatemalans
enter the United States, work hard, send money home, and help to sustain their
country. It's direct, democratic, and family to family. However, early-stage cap-
italism produces the most voracious consumers and with limited leadership, law
enforcement, zoning, education, or planning, these new dollars create new con-
sumers who are left to learn as they go.
Yet, as travelers in the early 21st century, count your anthropological bless-
ings—you get to be voyeurs on a whirling dervish of change and culture clash.
While it is not always beautiful or charming, if you are from the developed
“First” World, it is strangely fascinating and perhaps even important to see.
I have interviewed Guatemalans living in the United States who say (some
with great relish, some with dejected nostalgia) that they no longer recognize
their villages. They tell me that the families they left (to better support by work-
ing in the United States) have used their hard-earned cash to transform the high-
lands into something new. But few know just what that is.
The signs of progress are everywhere: A proud grandma's adobe house is now
a three-story concrete house faced in shiny tile and paned with reflective glass.
Old-time swimming holes have become water parks. Pagan shrines and ritual
havediminishedasevangelicalsre-weavethereligiousfabricandbuildChristian
churches in these communities. A pickup truck is much easier to carry products
with than a forehead tumpline but one notices expanded waistlines. Televisions
provide a window to the war in Iraq, China's environmental issues, American
popculture,giraffesinKenya.…Womendonotspendhourshand-spinningwool
blankets anymore; the ones arriving from China are much cheaper and just about
as warm.
