I am at the entrance of a stone staircase built into the side of Antigua, Guatemala’s Cerro de la Cruz, Hill of the Cross. This is the beginning of a an 8k run dubbed some years back the “Suicide Death Run Sponsored by The Sore Calves Inc.” Every bit of the 8k is different degrees…
Say what anyone will about Guatemala, no one can dispute the fact that the country’s pants are stuffed with avocados. Avocados are to Guatemala what people are to China—they are everywhere in absurd abundance. They are so abundant that people nicknamed Guatemalans living in Antigua green bellies for the inordinate amount of avocados they eat…
From my journal, 7-22-2013 I’m in a Houston originating plane, flying over what I imagine to no longer be Mexican airspace. I’m about to touch down in what I call from afar a crazy place–Guatemala–where memories dating as far back as 15 years stretch and future possibilities still shine like the lights of far below…
Four types of meat sizzled in front of Doña Eva. “What’s that meat?” I asked, pointing to one. “Chicken,” she said with a smile. “And that?” “Beef.” “And that?” “Pork.” “And that one?” I asked indicating the fourth. “This one,” she hesitated, “This one is just meat.” When she said that I noticed that there…
Originally published in Range Magazine. Photo Credits: Matt Stabile. Though I grew up in North Dakota, a place with a Western history or rough riders, it was abroad, galloping on the back of Flaca that I discovered one spirit of the West I’d never found at home. The other horses had a healthy robustness that said, “Bring it…
I’ve held back to long. I need to write about what has brought more joy to the expats in Antigua, Guatemala than when El Muro started paying people to imbibe. Rather than fill this post with unwanted ajectives and annoying ‘-lys’ that my delight in it would cause, I’ll give you just to stoic facts,…
Today was the day my return ticket was book back to the USA. But instead of being on a plane, I`m in a cafe off Antigua`s Central Park, a red wine in front of me and another week of Antigua on the calendar. Antigua grabs ahold of you like a sea creature. I should have…
Tomorrow I fly back to Guatemala to get the details squared away with micro-testing a project I’m calling, “The Third World Savings Project.” I’m working with The Integral Heart Foundation to flesh out the details of implementation and since they have the boots on the ground, they are going to see the project through. When…
Today I learned how to make the color brown, and then I sneezed all over my brother’s acrylic paints. Accidentally, of course, as these things happen. I was day dreaming, about the color brown and the sneeze crept like a cheetah that pounced all over his tubes of paints. The worst thing about sneezing on…
