Why on God's green earth...

...does everybody in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras assume that I want
to pay in dollars? I don't even carry dollars in the states!

Pictures

In other news, I've updated my web site with new pictures--if you're so
inclined, go to

http://sobek.colorado.edu/~wrightgd

Then click on "My Life Outside" and "Guatemala '08" link.

Guatemala City (Again)

Made it into the airport. It's really getting nice. Last year when I
was here, they hadn't installed a lot of windows, and the rain was
coming in. There's still a lot of work to do, but it's nicer than (a)
Juarez Airport in D.F., (b) O'Hare, and (c) Juneau, AK. I think it
might have been cooler the last time, though, both because of the rain
coming in, and also because of the construction workers cooking their
lunches on open fires under the terminal building (which is raised on
columns).

It's about even with Moline, Illinois, since Viru Viru (Guate.) has a
Pollo Campero, and all Moline has is a map of the Moline/Davenport area
tiled into the floor. Come on--Moline/Davenport? That's the least
geographically interesting area in the Universe, except for the vast
areas of space between the stars which have no matter. I think they
should have reconsidered, and installed a swimming pool with water slides.

One thing has me confused, though--there are drinking fountains here.
Does that mean that you can drink the water? I won't be testing them,
but I'm curious.

The Ancient Mayans and Political Legitimacy

I've already talked about Mayans and International Relations, so it's
time for and "Ancient Mayans meet Comparative Politics" post.

The Ancient Mayan city states were amazing--huge temples, remarkably
well-developed mathematics, the world's most accurate calendar, etc.
Freakin' brilliant. And, unlike the Incas, they had a writing
system--didn't keep all of their knowledge tied up in knots (literally).

However, when you get past all the glitz and hype (I know that's a
strange way to put it, but you know what I mean) the whole system was an
elaborate way for the noble classes to live off the backs of the
peasants. There was, of course, no democracy, and my interpretation of
the Mayan system is that all of this stuff--the temples, the human
sacrifice, the ritual torture and self-torture--was aimed at generating
a sense of legitimacy for the regime. If they could use ceremony to
convince the population that they could communicate with the gods to,
among other things, make it rain on a regular basis, they could keep
getting the poor people to feed them.

This gets to something of a cognitive model of politics--as opposed to
the rational choice model that Zane and I were arguing about a couple of
weeks ago.

A rational assessment of costs and benefits is an important part of the
system, but it's important to recognize that the reason this system
worked for so long was that people _weren't_ always rational, at least
in an economic sense. The reason is that their belief systems were not
a reflection of the way the world really works.

In other words, the rulers really couldn't start the rain, so it wasn't
rational for the peasants to keep feeding them. However, the peasants
didn't know that until the climate started to dry out--one of the forces
that Mayanists apparently believe brought about an end to many of the
Mayan city states.

On the other hand, there are some interesting interpretations about a
rational choice interpretation of the way the Mayans did believe.

For example, why on earth would the Mayan ruler pierce his penis with
the spine of a stingray if not to provide a very dramatic signal to the
people that their belief system was accurate: "If I do this really
painful thing, and say it's for the purpose of religion, people will be
more likely to believe me than if I do something really pleasant and say
that I'm bringing the rain."?

Personally, I would much rather be the ruler that says that he needs to
eat a big plate of pancakes every day to make sure the corn grows, but
since you already know that I love pancakes, that might be a hard sell...

Mayan Traditional Costume

One of the most fascinating and beautiful things about traveling around
Guatemala is the beautiful traditional costumes the (mostly) women and
(occasionally) men wear. The colors are simply stunning, and every
village has a slightly different design, although more and more Mayan
people are switching to factory-produced costume which is still
beautiful, but doesn't have a strong regional or village tone.

Regardless, I will eventually try to put some pictures up to show some
examples, though I don't have many photos of Mayan costumes--women here
are famously averse to having their pictures taken.

Some people believe that the Mayan costume was originally imposed by the
Spanish, which wouldn't surprise me, since the clothing here has some
interesting similarities to the clothing worn by Quechua and Aymara
speakers in Bolivia and Peru. Regardless, however, the Mayan people
have taken ownership of the clothing, and they identify very strongly
with their traditional costume as one of the more important parts of
their costume.

It would be interesting to know more about the origin of the
costumes--that is, the origins of the differences between regional
costumes. I wonder if regional costumes play an economic role--similar
to the "branding" that marketers engage in for consumer products today.
If village A has a particular costume and a particular product, and you
see somebody with that pattern on, you can be pretty sure that they'll
be selling that product. And if it's a high-quality product, consumers
will come to associate the costume with the good and it's quality.

It's also likely that the costume plays a political function in terms of
local security--even if you don't know everybody in the region, if you
see somebody wearing a strange costume on, you know to keep an eye on
them, because they're not constrained by the local kinship bonds in the
area...

Just some thoughts--somebody (some Anthropologist, probably) knows all
the answers to these questions, but I was thinking about this last
summer, and the thought popped into my head again today for some reason.

Money

"Quetzales"? "Lempiras?" Why on earth would you decide to name your
national currency one of those things. Or "dollars" even. What silly
names.

I like "peso" and "pound." Those make sense. What if we had named
_our_ currency after our national bird? The "bald eagle" would soon be
known as the "baldie." Or worse, if we had followed B. Franklin's
advice and adopted the wild turkey as our national bird, they would be
"turkeys." That's worse than the Canadian "loonie."

No offense to Turks or Victor Borge aficionados intended. I'm not
talking about the country, I'm talking about the bird.

Another Soap Box

Perhaps it's the heat down here, but the microbus ride got me thinking
about another American phenomenon, which is nationalism. Okay, I of
course, realize that nationalism isn't a purely American
phenomenon--that there are nationalists everywhere, and of every
stripe. However, how can we be such strongly nationalistic people in
the states, when so few of us have actually been to other countries to
see how our lives compare? How can we make a reasonable comparison
without really knowing what goes on in other places?

I would, of course, consider myself relatively nationalistic--I think it
would be hard not to realize how great things are in the US with just a
little bit of travel down here. But I really wish that more Americans
had the inclination to travel in places like this, both to understand
their problems a little better, and to understand what's so great about
the U.S.

Immigration and Trade Policy

Started out my day in Chiquimula, where a Guatemalan guy helped me find
the right microbus--as he was leading me in the right direction, we had
a conversation that started out with me asking for the directions, and
ended with him telling me about all the places he had been in South
Dakota.

Somewhere along the way, he told me that he had been deported by U.S.
immigration authorities about six months ago, from Southern California.
Apparently didn't harm his goodwill towards us Estadounidenses, though.

After we found my bus and shook hands, I got to thinking about the
simplistic ideas of the anti-immigrant advocacy crowd, who believe that
immigrants are taking jobs away from US citizens and importing
undesirable cultural traits.

It's no coincidence, I think, that these are the same people that argue
vehemently for unregulated free trade.

Not that I'm one of the anti-globalization crowd (I'm not) and not that
I believe the world is this simple (it's not), but the people who
support free trade but oppose immigration do not see the trade and
immigration issues as complex shades of grey. They see simple shades of
black and white:

trade = good
immigration = bad

Broadly, this is consistent with the idea that globalization is a
zero-sum game, and we (the US) gain from trade, and the other guy (the
Guatemalans etc.) gain from immigration. It's further consistent with
an unwillingness to share the benefits of globalization. We want to
import cheap consumer goods from China, but we don't want to allow the
poor Mexicans take advantage of our better-paying labor market.

Like a teenage kid who wants to enjoy all the benefits of the good life
without sharing any of the responsibilities...

Makes me mad, when I think about how that sort of attitude might have
impacted my day. What if that guy was mad about his deportation, and
decided to take it out on the only Estadounidense around?

I'm with the crowd that favors regulated, increased global trade, and
regulated, increased migration. Free movement of people and goods to
facilitate markets, with democratic regulatory procedures, when markets
don't produce desirable outcomes (like increases in poverty and
inequality which sometimes result from unregulated markets).

In any event, I hope that the Guatemalan guy who helped me out today
will get another chance to come back to the states legally in another
year or two, under new immigration laws which permit greater
immigration, but more closely regulate the immigration we have. Blows
my mind that the far right wing rails against the welfare state, but
wants to stop people who want to come to _work_ from crossing the
border. That's nonsense.

Things I'm looking forward to once I leave...

1. Seeing Emily
2. Granola
3. Yogurt
4. Bolivian coffee
5. Cuy

Things I'm going to miss about Guate.

1. Corn tortillas with everything
2. Refried beans
3. Pancakes for dinner
4. Chicken buses
5. More chicken buses
6. More pancakes for dinner
7. Pollo Campero