Yours Truly in the Street Before My House, El Volcán de Agua detrás de mí, Antigua Guatemala: May 30, 2012 [Back Posted Timestamp]

 

 

 

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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala


 

 

Volcán de Agua (Hunahpú), Antigua Guatemala: Well Past 2 a.m., May 29, 2012

Can't sleep..

In lieu of that, I give you, all my beloved, esta imagen del primer volcan aquí, as seen from this here my bedroom window:

 

 

 

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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala

 

 

 

The Apocalyptic Historian's Headstone: Catedral de San José, Antigua Guatemala, May 23, 2012

 

 

 

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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala

 

 

Song of the Day: The Games People Play

Games we all play now..

I give you all, my beloved public, two versions of this classic here. First Joe's original, then Waylon's magnificent cover of the same:

 

 

Them Lyrics:

La-da da da da da da da,
La-da da da da da da..


Woe, the games people play now,
Every night and every day now,
Never meaning what they say now,
Never saying what they mean, y'all..

While they wile away the hours,
In their ivory towers,
Til' they're covered up with flowers,
In the back of a black limousine, woe ah..

Chorus:

La-da da da da da da da,
La-da da da da da dee,
Talking 'bout you and me, brother,
And the games people play..

Oh, we make one another cry,
Break a heart then we say goodbye,
Cross our hearts and we hope to die,
That the other was to blame, woe ah..

Neither one will give in,
So we gaze at an eight by ten,
Thinking 'bout the things that might have been,
It's a dirty rotten shame, woe ah..

Repeat Chorus.

Look here:

People walking up to you,
Singing glory hallelujah,
While they're tryin' to sock it to you,
In the Name of the Lord..

They're gonna teach you how to meditate,
Read your horoscope, cheat your faith (fate?)..
Come on to hell with hate,
Come on get on board..

Repeat Chorus.

Look around tell me what you see..
What's happening to you and me.
God grant me the serenity
To just remember who I am.

'Cause you've given up your sanity
For your pride and your vanity.
Turns you sad (turn your back) on humanity,
And you don't give a da da da da da..

Repeat Chorus..



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Song of the Day: Mercenary Song, Steve Earle.

 

 

Lyrics:

Me and Bill there we both come from Georgia
Met Hank out in New Mexico
We're bound for Duranqo to join Pancho Villa
We hear that he's payin' in gold
I guess a man's got to do what he's best at
Ain't found nothin' better so far
Been called mercenaries and men with no country
Just soldiers in search of a war

CHORUS
And we're bound for the border
We're soldiers of fortune
And we'll fight for no country but we'll die for good pay
Under the flag of of the greenback dollar
Or the peso down Mexico way

When this war is over might go back to Georgia
And settle down quiet some where
I'll most likely pack up and head south for Chile
Heard tell there's some trouble down there


 

 

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Memi y Enrique, Puerta de la Parroquia de San Francisco: Antigua Guatemala, Wednesday, May 9, 2012

 

These two guys mind the gate at my parish here, which is right across the street from my house family's place.

I just now realized that I've been spelling parroquia wrong in Spanish. As parocchia, instead. I oddly end up channeling Italian sometimes, here.. When spoken, I rarely get corrected. Everyone seems to understand.. Later on, sometimes after years of making the same "mistake," I realize what I've been doing is pidgin Spanish.

I'd never formally studied it, you see.. (Even though I did "teach" Spanish I at a certain High School that Shall Here Remain Unnamed for a year, after only being exposed to it for 8 months in Mexico during which time I just listened, cracked a grammar text a half dozen times to memorize a few patterns, while looking up the odd word or two every so often)..


Never formally studied it, that is, until now.. I just started talking, and everyone has just let me roll. I've been doing all sorts of odd little things, apparently..

Maybe I'm still just spouting nonsense here, while everyone is simply way too accommodating of the ridiculous gringo speaking Goony Goo- Goo?

Ah, let him babble, just laugh and nod. Gringos are mildly amusing.. he'll eventually go away.


Fluency over accuracy, you know? That's my motto! Can I get an amen?

 

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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala

 

 

Song of the Day: 'Tit Galop Pour Mamou

Lyrics:

'Tit galop, 'tit galop pour Mamou!

J'ai vendu mon 'tit mulet pour quinze sous.
J'ai acheté du candi rouge pour les 'tits, du sucre et du café pour les vieux.

'Tit galop, 'tit galop pour Mamou!

J'ai vendu mon 'tit wagon pour quinze sous.
J'ai acheté du candi rouge pour les 'tits, une yard de ruban pour la vieille.

Canter, canter to Mamou!

I sold my little mule for fifteen cents.
I bought some red candy for the kids, some sugar and coffee for the old folks..

Canter, canter to Mamou!

I sold my little wagon for fifteen cents.
I bought some red candy for the kids, and a yard of ribbon for my wife.



(my sardonic lay lyrical exegegis: mamou = mammon.. whadya think of that reading? )




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La Cara Guatemalteca, Antigua Guatemala, the First Week of May, 2012

I couldn't choose between them. I like them too much not to post both. Maybe my two favorite of all the images I've taken here so far.

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Note the delicious parody here of the all seeing eye. Magazines, third girl. Absolutely love it.

Take her gaze to heart..

I'd like to also point out that the older girl on the left is the same as the one in the picture I posted below on April 13th. Note too that she is wearing the very same green dress in both images. These kids often come by selling candy when I'm at my school being tutored in Spanish in the afternoon. I find the idigenous people here - they're apparently mostly K'iche' - to be fascinating, and beautiful. Inexplicably moving, actually..

 

 

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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala

 



 

Carlos, The Shoeshine Kid. Antigua Guatemala: Friday, May 4, 2012

 

The sandals are Tevas, and are not meant to be waxed. But it doesn't matter. I have Carlos shine them for me nearly every day, anyway. Shiny Tevas, I've decided I like the result actually. It looks like they've been dipped in tallow, and they are definitely more waterproof than they were.. Not that my feet don't get wet in them, anyhow.. But whatever, you know?

 

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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala

 

 

Vanguard of the Mayan Horde.. Of Street Vendors. Plaza Mayor, Antigua Guatemala, May 2, 2012

 

The deal is always that if I buy something, I get to take a picture. This is no zero sum game, you see. You are witnessing comparative advantage in action. Paradox of exchange, exponential increase in value achieved. Viva la Revolución Americana..

 

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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala

 




 

Song of the Day: Tres Veces Mojado - A Wetback Three Times Over

Lyrics, with my translation:


Cuando me vine de mi tierra El Salvador

(When I came from my country El Salvador)

Con la intención de llegar a Estados Unidos

(With the intention of going to the United States)

Sabía que necesitaría más que valor

(I knew that I would need more than courage)

Sabía que a lo mejor quedaba en el camino

(I knew some of the best fall along the way)

Tres fronteras las que tuve que cruzar

([There are] three borders I had to cross)

Por tres países anduve indocumentado

(Through three countries I walked undocumented)

Tres veces tuve yo la vida que arriesgar

(Three times I took my life into my hands)

Por eso dicen que soy tres veces mojado

(Because of this they say that I am a wetback three times over)



En Guatemala y México cuando cruce

(In Guatemala and Mexico when I crossed)

Dos veces me salve me hicieran prisonero

(Twice I was saved, they took me prisoner)

El mismo idioma y el color les reflectioné

(I have the same language and color as they do)

Como es posible que me llamen extranjero

(How can they call me a foreigner?)



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Spoken:

En Centroamérica dado su situación

(In Central America there exists a situation)

Tanto política como económicamente

(As much plitical as economic)

Ya para muchos no hay otra solución

(There are many who have no other option)

Que abandonar su patria tal vez para .

(But to leave their countries, sometimes forever.)

El mexicano da 2 pasos y ahí esta

(A Mexican takes two steps, and there they are)

Hoy lo echan y al siguiente día está de regreso.

(Today they expell him, and the next day he's back..)

Es un lujo que no me puedo dar

(That's a luxury I do not have)

Sin que me maten o que me lleven preso...

(Without being killed or taken prisoner..)

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Es lindo México pero cuanto sufrí

(Mexico is beautifiul, but how much have I suffered)

Atravesarlo sin papeles es muy duro

(To cross it withhout papers is very hard)

Los 5 mil kilómetros que recorrí

(5 thousand kilometers I have crossed)

Puedo decir que los recuerdo uno por uno.

(I can say that I remember every single one.)

Por Arizona me dijeron cruzaras

(They told me to cross in Arizona)

Y que me aviente por el medio del desierto..

(And then they abandoned me in the middle of the desert..)

Por suerte un mexicano al que llamaban Juan

(Luckily a Mexican named Juan)

Me dio la mano que si no estuviera muerto.

(Gave me a hand, so I am not dead.)

Ahora que al fin logre la legalización

(Now at last I seek legal status)

Lo que sufrí lo he recuperado con creces..

(I have recovered from all that I suffered in my crossings..)

A los mojados les dedico mi canción

(To all the wetbacks dedicate my song)

Y los que igual que yo son mojados tres veces..

(To those who like me are betbacks three times over..)


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Song of the Day: Jaded Lover, Chuck Pyle..

This one's of course for Annie Paradis.. As it shall always be for me.

 

Lyrics (variation off the version above, this being the way I sing it):

Now, it won't be but a week or two,
You'll be wantin' someone new lovin' you.
It's somethin' you've done a hundred times before.
Can't see you I been spreadin' myself thin too (in two)?
It's a lonely phase we've been goin' through..
Don't get up, I'll find my own way to the door.

Ah, I can see you are an angel whose wings just won't unfold,
Tune up your harp, polish your old halo..
'Cause the only kind of man that you've ever wanted,
Is the one that you knew you'd never hold very long,.
Now you're sittin' there cryin' like I'm the first one to go.

You may have thirty lovers behind you,
An' I may feel you but sure can't find you..
Seems you'd have found your own self by now.
But some nights those old lovers' tears come back,
Faces in your dreams, fingers in your back..
Echoes of the memories for cryin' out loud.

Ah, I see you are an angel whose wings just won't unfold,
Tune up your harp, polish your old halo..
'Cause the only kind of man that you've ever wanted,
Is the one that you knew you'd never hold very long,.
Now you're sittin' there cryin' like I'm the first one to go.

Ah, what a beautiful sight you are in your sleep,
I'll be leaving 'cause believing gets me in too deep.
That's easy enough for a man to say..
But we'd never agree if we talked all night..
Things get so heavy, I'm traveling light..

Goodbye my jaded lover, my undercover queen for a day.

Ah, I can see you are an angel whose wings just won't unfold,
Tune up your harp, polish your old halo..
'Cause the only kind of man that you've ever wanted,
Is the one that you knew you'd never hold very long,.
Now you're sittin' there cryin' like I'm the first one to go..


Think about it darlin'..


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Location:8 Calle Oriente,Antigua Guatemala,Guatemala