Guatemala City

Oh man… another adventure today. First, the taxi driver I hired didn’t know where the Museo Popol Vuh was, even after asking another taxi driver where it was. I had a bad feeling about this. I also discovered that the taxis in Guatemala City aren’t metered. If I was smart I would have negotiated a fare and made sure he knew where he was going before stepping into the cab. If I was even smarter I would have hired one of the pimped out rice-boy taxis I saw. So this loser takes me to the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología (MUNAE) instead, another museo I wanted to go to but not the one I asked for. Instead of letting him take me to Museo Popol Vuh, I have him let me off here. Probably a good idea. I did end up at Museo Popol Vuh later, with a more reliable taxi driver. The MUNAE is a state-run museo while the Museo Popol Vuh is on a university campus and privately-run. I found the MUNAE to be more interesting. It’s certainly bigger, with a good sized collection of stelae from various Mayan sites like Dos Pilas, Kaminaljuyu, and Uaxactun. The Museo Popol Vuh had a special exhibition on cacao (kakaw) but I found the collection pretty meager. I was fooled by the slickness of the special exhibition website.

After the museos I decided to take the city bus into Zona 1 to the Mercado Central, the Parque Central, and the main cathedral. Not so many tourists in this park of the city, even in the mercado. The buses weren’t that hard to figure out, even after losing my Spanish phrase book. On the way to Zona 1 I passed by the US embassy, yet another US embassy set up like a fortress.

I managed to leave Zona 1 during rush hour, which meant I would ride a jam packed bus back to the hotel. The bus was so jam packed I was one of three guys hanging onto the rear door for a good portion of the ride. There’s nothing like traveling like a local.

Viva Voce and the Who’s That Smell Game

A friend recently turned me onto Portland band, Viva Voce. Recently as in last week. So I looked them up and found out they were playing a show in Chicago while I’m here for the marathon. And the show is Friday night, not the Saturday before the race, so I could go. The day of the show I was still undecided about going. It wasn’t that I’d be going alone since I go to a lot of shows by myself and discover a lot of good music that way. It was more like they’re a Portland band so I can see them often. So as usual, an hour before the show started I decided to go. I’m glad I did.

The show was at a place called the Empty Bottle. Really, just a hole in the wall. I almost passed it by without noticing. Getting there was an adventure. First, the train was delayed. Apparently, someone on an earlier train decided to get off the train… and not at an official stop, if you know what I mean. Then when I got on the bus transfer, I noticed an odd smell. I assumed it was late-night-public-transportation smell. Then I noticed that every single person who got on at subsequent stops would sit down in the seat in front of me. Then they would immediately get up and move to the back of the bus. Then people started opening windows. In 40 degree cold. Finally, the bus driver yells back “What’s going on back there? Why are y’all got your faces covered?” I look back and yep, everyone has a scarf, pulled up shirt collar, or hand covering their nose. One of the riders back there yell back “someone’s hygeine ain’t right”. I laugh. Yeah, it’s who I thought it was. The bum two seats ahead of me. As soon as he gets off the bus all of a sudden smells like roses. Of course, who are the only people to remain sitting in that seat ahead of me? The lefty-bleeding-heart-it’s-not-his-fault-he-smells-it’s-the-system’s-fault-liberal white couple. To everyone else, the dude is just rank.

Anyway, I catch the 2nd opening band, Silversun Pickups, in the middle of their set. They rocked. I thought they were local since they had a huge turnout. But I find out later they’re from LA. Then Viva Voce come on. They’re doing their sound check. Then all of a sudden they go into what seemed like 12 minutes of kick ass noise. Holy crap, these guys rock! Man, I’m glad I went. I really needed a kick of energy before the marathon.

BTW, what the hell is Old Style? Signs were all over the place on Western Ave.

Trimet first

In the 8 years I’ve been riding Trimet, today was the first time I’ve seen a middle-aged guy with a hole in the crotch of his shorts and no underwear. Finally!