Artículo 26 de la constitución de Guatemala: la libertad de locomoción

So wha´ happened was i was over at the neighbors´ house last nite watching back to back episodes of laguna beach with my 21 year old ¨hermanito¨, ema, (he really is a champ to let me come over EVERY DAY to watch lb). I had to explain to him what the subtitled phrases ¨amigos con derechos¨and ¨amor platónico¨ meant. Even after my explanations he was puzzled (the friends with benefits really threw him for a loop) but i told him that it all gets messed up anyway and its best to avoid these kinds of complicated relationships. anyway we started talking about school. He is studying ¨derechos¨ or rights (ie going to law school) and had a makeup exam yesterday. We were talking about how it went and he pulled out this copy of the guatemalan constitution to show me some of the laws he has to study. Por casualidad he opened it up to article 26: freedom of locomotion. That´s right. You read it correctly. All guatemalans, regardless of age, sex, race, whathaveyou are garuanteed the freedom to do the locomotion. just imagine: ¨todos están haciendo el nuevo baile, vamos nena, haz la locomoción. Yo sé que vas a gustarlo si lo das el chance, vamos nena, haz la locomoción.¨ i almost peed my pants. He asked me what was so funny. I asked him if he remembered a kylie manogue song from the early 90´s called the locomotion. he said vaguely. I told him it´s funny because it says in the guatemalan constitution that everyone has the freedom do a dance, kind of like the macarena. He got it and started laughing. Ahh, these are the precious moments. I then spent about an hour trying to pronounce rio de janiero correctly, or at least saying it in spanish which is a lot closer to how it should sound than the whack ass englified version we learn in grade school geography class. And i spent that same hour try to teach ema how to say quarter correctly. I have yet to meet a guatemalan who can say it and i must say it provides lasting entertainment watching them try.

Ema´s band is practicing next door right now. The band´s name is necropsia and consists of my neighbor emanuel, my coworker milo, and my landlords´ son che. They actually arent that bad. They do mostly covers but have a few original songs. A month ago carlos´s (my boss) uncle and brother organized a free concert in the park called trova rock and invited various people to come play. They also asked the audience to bring toys to collect for christmas. I took the fotos that became the audio visual display. I remember carlos´s words exactly, ¨lindsay, can you go take some pictures of some poor kids for the concert.¨ needless to say i didnt feel really comfortable going around looking for poor kids so i made milo and mariana (the swiss girl, have i mentioned her? Whatever it doesnt really matter) come with me. we got a few nice ones, of course when parents weren´t looking or from safe distances. Anyway the concert was a lot of fun and i was so proud of my chicos!! I felt like a proud parent. And milo wore the jimi hendrix t-shirt i´d bought for him in the states as a birthday present. They played a few times throughout the nite and then finally at the end, ema was on lead vocal-guitar and said ¨me gustaria agradecer a la gente aquí, gracias a mi amiga lindsay, . . .¨ it was so cute and i couldnt help the smile radiating from my lips like a 1000 puntos de luz. I´m already excited for the next show whenever that might be. Appearently they might get to play during the feria this month during the motocross competition. Oja la. Oh and about those toys, well ludwin (carlos´s uncle) didn´t really have a plan of what to do with toys, so he dumped them off on us (adiso) to give away. so Friday, jan 6, día de los reyes (the thing about living here is i´ve learned about all these christian holidays that americans dont seem to know about or celebrate anymore) we climbed halfway up the volcano to the aldea de chäuiton to give toys away to the kids up there. We played some games and asked some questions. Mostly manuel and milo took charge because i don´t like kids and i don´t play games. I think everyone walked away happy.

The weather has been crazy these past few days. Freaking cold. Last nite when i went to bed at 11 my thermometer said 61. i´ve been wearing my scarf and hat and coat inside. Last nite i slept in my sleeping bag. And it rained on the fifth. It never ever rains this time of year. But as sindy pointed out its the canícula. The first 12 days of the year indicate how the weather is going to be for the corresponding month. All i can say is people are going to be fucked in may and i wont be here to have to deal with it.

Did i every tell you about the man with no legs and an arm and a half who cleans the bus terminal? Well he doesn´t have legs below the knees and his face is messed up and he has one hand i think. I´m not really sure. Anyway he´s a city employee and sweeps up the litter from the bus terminal on a daily basis. He´s probably the hardest worker in ipala. We´re friends. well not like bff i know his name friends or anything, but we say hi or rather adios to each other regularly.