Es feo

Leonel, the Argentinian from my hostel, was in Cuba, and is returning to Cuba and says that although its poor, Cuba look like Paradise next to Guatemala. He says that at least there the people are out dancing, conning the tourists into buying them drinks. He said that there the people dont have the consumption desire as much as they do here, as much as they do in Argentina or in the US. No one is thinking about the newest cell phone there, he tells me. He says of this city, flatly, "I dont like it. Its ugly and mean, es feo."

In the last two weeks, 12 bus drivers in the city have been shot by someone (?) someone who wants to destabilize the country, the paper said. A passer-by with a gun managed to shoot one of the bus driver killers; so they caught one. The country doesnt need any extra help to be uncertain and dangerous.

And corrupt. In Guatemala, "Recover our lost morals" means stop the extortion and bribery and teach University grads ethics to they dont "go out into the world with a voracious apetite to make their fortunes" (and to hell with the rest).

Still, it never occurred to me to look at all of the tradgedy in this place and think, "This place is ugly and mean and I dont like it." Leonel has a point, but I dont much like to say, "This ugly mean place is your problem man, Im out." And so I assume that I like everything, that someone else has no choice but to like it or hate it, since they cant leave, and I find that there are good people all over the world, and there are.