GUATEMALA, March 11-17, 2009

GUATEMALA

March 11th
Arrived in Guatemala...chilero! (cool!)

March 12th, nighttime.
Excellent exciting and wild first two days in Guatemala! From the airport to Antigua to Panajachel (amazing house, evening fun + morning swim in the lake), then evening bus adventure to Quetzaltenango "Xela" (via Los Encuentros). On the bus, they played a wide variety of music, from the popular cumbia "No te metas con mi cucu" by Sonora Dinamita to the beegees "how deep is your love" to which of course the four of us in the furthest back seats boogied out to!

Though traveling very fast in the mountains, in the dark, it didn't stop a young man from rushing towards the back of the school bus, opening the back door and throwing out a big bag of potatoes to a random guy standing on the side of the road in the middle of seemingly nowhere.

We finally arrived to Xela just in time to hop on stage and play our show at Los Chocoyos, followed by a match of Zilch. First time performing my new song about Maximon ... lyrics by Rene Dionisio, local artist ... in his native language of Tzutujil!

March 13th
Show at El Chaman, Antigua with Pablo Robledo, DJ Verbavix & gatobird on sounds.

March 14th
The morning of March 14th and I have a huge smile across my face as I feel more and more energized revitalized a very positive charge, hooray! Concert last night was brilliant, supercool vibes, great crowd, a mix of locals and non, a powerful pachamama energy on the outdoor patio of El Chaman with a view of the nearby volcano and of the ruins of St. Augustin Church. Yeah!

Even Peri came to the show, visiting all the way from LA. I had fun playing the set too because there were many people who followed my lyrics which tend to positively affect the response, especially when playing solo. I had accompaniment by tzi-birdies on Hold Fire, but we hadn't rehearsed anything before so I think it was a pretty funny moment, haha! 3 CDs sold yesterday, cool pure energies & good times. Yesterday the BIRD was hanging upside down, like in the flyer, and new birds were baptized: tzi-birdies (dog in the Tzutujil language), gatobird, peribird, but no verbavíxbird. There were about 60 people. Some came because the place itself is chill and cool, and others came because we walked around a bunch handing out flyers and inviting people in town to come. Magnetism, evident magnetism, like an e-bow to a string, a rhythm in the air, a call for being in contact with oneself.

After the show, our place to stay in Antigua didn't pan out so we got a ride at 2am with friends of friends to Pablo's parents home in Guatemala City, a notoriously violent city. They had been robbed at gunpoint in their home just one year back. Such violent robberies are status quo. People go to shows and sleep at the club as the streets are too dangerous. Pablo and Carlos moved away to Panajachel many years ago. Renato still lives and thrives as a DJ in the city ...

...y los pájaros cantan todavía en Guatemala...

March 15th
A highly amusing and odd evening, night and morning ... I'll tell you sometime in person ...

March 16th
Exciting last day and night in Guatemala. Spencer and I chilled in the morning at Ivan & Annette's friendly white-domed house by the river, washing our clothes and enjoying a delicious home-made indian lunch. They then gave us a ride into town, where their son had a basketball game. We strolled on Santander, the main drag of town, and found a DVD of four Guatemalan films, including the highly recommended documentary "Las Estrellas de la Linea".

Cristina, a 12-year old Quichichel girl came over and we chatted. She showed us her sewing technique and we bought some colorful handmade fabrics from her. As we drank a café, Josué and Anna came by and we agreed on meeting later at Panajachel's best live music bar (owned by none other than an Italian): Panarock.

We hooked up with our japanese friend Masa and Giovanni Pinzón and headed to Panarock, where me and Pablo played live. In a festive mood, under the moonlight, we all wandered down by the spectacular Lake Atitlan with a bottle of wine. As I played Elliott Smith on guitar, me and Anna sang our hearts out, to look up and see two very naked men swimming in the lake! They were full of glee, as if celebrating... then I realized, it was Spencer and Masa who were celebrating Masa's birthday! Quite a sight!

March 17th
St Patrick's Day. Today we took the shuttle bus from Panajachel to San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas ($30). The border crossing was relatively smooth.

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GUATEMALA March 11 - 17, six days, three shows, and awesome new friends: Josué and Anna, Carlos, Renato, Pablo, Aylin, Masa, Jimmy (Los Chocoyos, Xela), Julio (El Chaman, Antigua), Ivan & Anette, y Liliana de San Jorge la Laguna.

MOOLA/FOOD NOTES
8 Quetzales is around $1 but they commonly refer to the currency as Pesos. Chuchitos on the street = 3 Quetzales (10 cents). 10 cents for a chuchito on the street, wow! They are like tamales, very tasty!con pollo o cerdo. 2 litros de chela (cerveza) al lado de Panarock en oferta=50Q, an espresso=10Q; our room in Santiago Atitlan 100Q(in 3). I sold my CD at 40Q. (502) is the area code. Look forward to dialing that code again and returning to the lake, birdies et al!