Guatemala (Nov 11 - Nov 25, 2007)
So I’ve been in Guatemala for 2 weeks now and here are a few things I’ve noticed:
1 – Guatemalans have a lot of pride in their country
2 – The Latin culture is MUCH more affectionate and personal than any other that I’ve encountered thus far
3 – Drivers are crazy everywhere (this is just a confirmation of what I already knew)
4 – My sinuses/allergies have been brutal since coming here
Work is work…there’s not a whole lot to say there outside of the fact that I’m coordinating my first audit. This is my 5th audit now and I’ve been working in this position for a little over 6 months, so I’m considered one of the more “experienced ones” these days. I wouldn’t necessarily consider my job really difficult, but it does take a lot of organization, admin and people skills…especially when you’re communicating with upper management all over the world and have to deal with the different languages, cultures/personalities and interpretations. All members of each audit team are responsible for their own work and no one really “reports” to anyone else, but at the end of the day – this audit, the results and how we deal with the local management, all fall under my responsibility. It’s nice, but also a little stressful at times.
That being said – our local office here has been really great and helpful with our stay in Guatemala so far.
The country is one of the least safe ones in Central America, and especially since it’s been 3 females (with only 1 speaking broken Spanish), our local office has been even more concerned with our safety. We have our own private driver that takes us to and from work every day and there’s only 1 real taxi company that’s reliable and you have to call them in advance. We’re not really allowed to venture off too much on our own and definitely not outisde “Zona 10”…where our hotel is along with several wonderful restaurants and some bars. It hasn’t been too bad on my end cause I’ve been able to focus more on keeping healthy and working out…well – at least until I got sick last week and had to focus on getting rest. I do feel bad for Holly more than anyone else cause she’s definitely an explorer (much more so than me) and hates being restricted like we have been.
So back to my observations:
Our first weekend since coming to Guatemala, we decided to go to Costa Rica for the weekend. It’s a beautiful country with so much to offer, we unfortunately couldn’t do everything we wanted as we were restricted on time and means of transportation. When we mentioned to our local office that we were going to Costa Rica, they were like “Why do you need to go to Costa Rica?? We have everything you need here!” They were even more disappointed when we returned and they found out we went to a coffee plantation in Costa Rica! It’s always nice to see pride in one’s country, but I really feel that there has to be respect for other countries as well.
Costa Rica pictures:
The culture…of course it’s well-known that Latins are more affectionate than most, but I guess I never really experienced it until now. Just recently being in Japan, there’s an incredibly drastic difference between cultures, work and social. Asian culture is my typically stringent and formal with very little touching…bowing instead of shaking hands, etc, while the Latin culture might take offense if you don’t do the whole cheek-kissing thing. They’re much more personal here and really want to get to know you personally even if you’re doing business with them. For example, 2 men from our local management wanted to take Christina, Holly and myself to Antigua for dinner one night last week. Antigua is approx. 1 hour away from Guatemala City, but we couldn’t really say no, so we left work early that day and they drove us to Antigua. It’s a really beautiful city, especially at night. We drove around for a bit and stopped here and there to take pictures and then we went to a local hot spot called Fridas for a drink before dinner. It’s not unusual to have dinners with local affiliates or even drinks here and there, so we were fine with this. What surprised me is when our conversation turned to religion. In the States, that’s a BIG no-no…you rarely talk about religion at work, unless you already know your colleagues on a personal basis. It caught me offguard when one of the guys straight up asked us all what our respective religions. Not that I mind talking about it, but I just usually don’t.
Also, apparently it’s interesting to everyone in the office that there are 3 single girls in the office.
I have yet to encounter a taxi driver who doesn’t drive crazy. Our personal driver, Eric, is no different. He’s gotten much better, but at first this guy was NUTS. Traffic in the city is horrible in the evenings (but where is it NOT bad), so the first day he drove us home, I was clinging to the seat belt for my life. We mentioned this to our Exec. Assistant the next day and ever since then, he’s driven much better. He’s a character though – used to live in Cali and Vegas, but got deported several years ago when Bush came into office. His English is really good and he talks ridiculously fast! The funniest part is to watch him when girls walk by – he honks and goes “hey baby”…and he LOVES his music. Some days it’s salsa and some days it’s American Pop, but he cranks his music and dances to it in the car…always entertaining.
And last but not least…as much as I love the outdoors, all the plants and the higher altitude here have caused me to basically be somewhat sickly since I’ve been out here L. I’m definitely looking forward to getting home and seeing my family for Christmas. I spent my Thanksgiving this year at work, but my coworkers and I made the best of it and even had a little arts and crafts time to make thanksgiving hats (I was the Indian, Christina was the turkey and Holly was the Pilgrim). Our local office took us out to a great lunch and we left a little early to enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner of fajitas.
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This weekend we spent visiting Antigua during the day and just wandering about for the morning and then drove to the Pacaya Volcano for a good workout/afternoon hike.
See the links below for my pictures:
Antigua
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31636&l=f5b7d&id=500066404
Pacaya Volcano
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31653&l=1a363&id=500066404
1 comment:
i like the set of observations VS narrative of your trip. if only i could do the same...
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