Make a Wish?

I want...a world where people respect each other, in spite of their differences. 
I want...to know more Spanish. I'm limited.
I want...to have a better backhand. It's getting picked on too much.
I want...differences to be explored and celebrated.
But...not all difference are created equally. I think 99.9% of humans would agree that lying, stealing, cheating, and murdering are wrong, and even those have various degrees of "wrongness" and justifiability. Drawing those lines is the difficult part, sometimes.
I want...to keep experiencing new things, while holding onto my past. I can't seem to find the right balance these days.
I want...to find a more polyamorous world. My love is unlimited.
But...this society views the "soulmate" thing with such high regard. It just doesn't fit my paradigm.
I want...to write some Joetry next time. So, I will...

Dear Joe...

I just realized that yesterday was the one-year anniversary the start of my adventure in Guatemala. So, it's prompted me to check in with La Vida de Pepe, and give an update on the current version of Joe Pepe.

Dear Past Joe (PJ): Thank you for writing La Vida de Pepe. I am grateful to have these memories stored, my brain can certainly use the help! And you're a very good writer, if I do say so myself...jajaja...

Anyhow, PJ, thanks for writing about how hopeful you are for 2011. Here's the update:
(Stardate 8.10.11HHAI8.1.10:33pstLA)
Well, I've started a Master's in Accounting program with the University of Phoenix. It's an all online program and will take me 18 months (well, 17 now) to finish. I know you always resisted Accounting, PJ, but I think it's a fantastic opportunity to put my mathematical skills to good use, and make money from it. I have a long-range goal to become a CPA and work with non-profits and small businesses. Those are the people that I want to support in this world, and this is the best way I can see doing that. As my friends Nathan and Mike framed it, I'll still be a teacher, it'll just be on a more personal level. In the meantime, a full-time job would be nice, but once substitute teaching starts up again next month, I'll stay afloat. In the meantime, life is fascinating. Scott's getting into this flagging world, and I can say first-hand on what a beautiful world it is. We went up to San Fran last weekend to stay with our lovely and talented friend Lonnie Punani, an expert waxer, at her apartment on the corner of Haight and Ashbury. But the fun was at the park on Saturday for Flagging in the Park, with 200 people...Scott's home!

He's super-cute, as ever. I told him I have to finish this though, just like you told me to, PJ. :-P Anyhow, I'm rambling. The thing is, PJ, thanks for having hope. Your hope got me and many people I love this far, and I appreciate it. I will always try to pay it forward.

Dear Future Joe (FJ): With great power comes great responsibility.

You never hesitate
To tackle the most difficult problems
You never make us wait
You're always there to help us solve 'em

And, you're welcome.
<3
Joe Pepe 11:11 Make a Wish

Fronted By Love

So, 2010, I’m trying not to ponder life so linearly, and here you are challenging me to think chronologically. Well, the world is not chronological. Yes, we all “see” chronology on a clock, but there are still the billions of perceptions of time that affect even the linear perception! Anyhow, whatever 2010. I love you. You’re a big deal to me. Especially since you shared with me:

• The death of my mother in February. The most profound sense of loss I’ve ever felt. But, the silver lining is all of her light being released to the Universe. She lives in you, she lives in me.
• Quitting teaching, a profession I’ve had a love/hate relationship with for nearly 20 years. Who needs hate in their life? Time for something different.
• Living in Guatemala for nine weeks. Simply, one of the best learning experiences of my life. I will always look upon that time and the people I met there with incredible nostalgia.
• Establishing a relationship with God/Goddess/The Universe/InsertNameHere. As a lifelong agnostic/atheist, this is rather significant. This has been clearly marked by the death of my mother and I continue to learn what it means to me. Still, in spite of being unemployed and without health insurance and unsure what 2011 holds, I have an inner peace that’s always been missing from my life. I’m not claiming to know much on a higher power and I’m still wary of the motives of organized religion, but I’m wholly convinced that God = Love. No room for judgment or fear. Just a simple mantra to approach everything in life from the side of love, and it’ll make the world/my world a better place. Whether to believe in the external power of prayer or not, the conscious act of sending love out makes me feel better. So I’m trying to be more conscious of it and more regular in my actions. Here are my hot prayer topics for 2011:
• Clean water for everyone--check out water.org
• Women’s rights, gay rights, animal rights--the more respect we have for our fellow earthlings, the less fear there will be
• Finding sustainable, clean energy to power us all
• Peace on earth--there’s a lot to be said for making love and not war and we have to believe it’s possible

There you go, 2011. I have faith in your possibilities.

That’s where we’re going

That’s what we’re doing

That’s how we’re feeling

Fronted by love

I'm Home...Now What?

I guess I'm not quite done here. I like writing about my life occasionally, so I'll probably keep this up. Thanks to everyone who kept up with my Guatemalan adventure. It was really good for my soul and I feel like it's given me some great perspective. I'm not done with adventures!
I'm a list maker, so here's today's "Pepe's Transition" list:

• One of the first things I did when I got home was take a shower. A nice, long, hot, shower. I think the world would be a perfect place if everyone on the planet could afford this luxury.
• I went and played some basketball today, or at least some shooting around and running up and down the court. I really love that sport and had missed it. I haven't done anything aerobic in months, so it was fantastic to be out in the sun and to sweat. When I got home, I took a cold shower. It sure is great to have alternatives.
• I really need to stop converting prices here into Quetzals or I'll go crazy thinking about how expensive everything is.
• I've been loving my milk and cereal and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day. But I am actually starting to miss beans. Not to worry--I'm going to a Mexican restaurant tonight with friends.
• I feel like I'm losing my Spanish already. So I've been keeping the Spanish-language channels on in the background, hoping for some osmosis at least. MUST KEEP WORKING ON IT!
• I now find US money to be boring. The bills are all the same colors and the coins are tiny. I don't have the other Quetzal bills with me, but they're different colors and the Quetzal coin is nice and big and lets you know where it is when you need it. The other coins are fairly worthless, but so is the penny.

That's today's "Pepe's Transition" list. If I may jump on my soapbox though, I'll jump to a "Pepe's Hopes for the Planet" list. These aren't breakthrough ideas, but my time in Guatemala has made these thoughts stronger for me:

• Water for everyone. Like I said before, a planet where everyone can enjoy a hot shower would be ideal. For now, let's just try to get free, clean drinking water to places that don't have it. The privatization of water is a bad idea, allowing for corporate greed to control something that everyone should have access to. Watch the documentary Blue Gold for more perspective. And ease up on bottled water--enjoy your tap water while you've got it!
• We need to stop producing so many humans. Hey, I'm gay so I'm doing my part! But overpopulation contributes greatly to poverty. There's a guy in Thailand, known a Mr. Condom, who has helped reduce birth rates in that country dramatically. Also, we need to get religions on board with this idea if it's really going to work, because of its influence in this world.
• Close the gap between the rich and the poor. I'm convinced that people try to make the best of the life they're given. Our actual needs are small--food, water, shelter. After that, it's the little things, ya know? So I would never say that rich=happy and poor=sad. But when there are such huge discrepancies in countries, when a hard day's work means a mansion for one person and barely a meal for another, the idea of fairness should start kicking in. Another documentary recommendation for you: The End of Poverty? Greed is a strong human emotion. We need corporations with a conscious. At some point, we have to realize that maximizing profits ultimately only helps the people at the top and sacrifices people at the bottom.
• Get off oil. We're going to have to harness the power of the Sun. Somehow, some way. As places like Guatemala become more developed, energy becomes even more important. Oil isn't going to cut it for much longer.
• Free education for all. There are too many kids in the world that don't go to school at all. There are too many kids that don't get to have much of a childhood because they do nothing but work, particularly girls. Education is the best equalizer around.
• Women's/gay/human rights. There are still a lot of the places in the world where being a straight male automatically gives you power. We're only as good as how we treat other people.

Okay, I'm off my soap box. Did I mention that I'm looking for a job? I need to find one just so I can take a break from watching depressing documentaries. But it's important to know the world!

The Home Stretch

Things have been pretty tranquilo the last couple of weeks. It’s my last week in Guatemala and it’s funny, because I wish I had a stronger sense of sadness about it. But the truth is, I can’t wait to get home. In a poorly timed twist of fate, Scott gets on a plane for Switzerland at the same time I get on my plane back to LA. In spite of missing him for two extra weeks, I look forward to the small things: a bowl of cereal (oh how I miss milk and real ice cream), my couch (I’m sure it’s missed me too), my television (though I am vowing to spend half of my television watching time on the Spanish-language channels), my car (I grew up in Michigan; cars are an integral part of my existence!) I’m also starting to get preoccupied with my future existence. I came to Guatemala to work on my Spanish and to experience another culture. Check and check. But it’s also felt a lot like a long vacation and it’s time to get back to work. Of course, I need to find a job and also figure out if I’m going back to grad school.

I’ve also started to reflect on my time here and a question I’ve been asking folks here is: Is Guatemala a “Third World” country? I guess that’s not really the correct term though. I think nowadays, it’s more appropriate to label it a developing country. It certainly has a lot of developing to do. Last week, I got to see one of the public middle schools here, and it’s in a pretty sad state.
My friend Mike volunteered to teach English at the school for a month. You can’t see it in this picture, but the room is pretty decrepit. There’s graffiti all over the walls and desks, the lights barely work, the students don’t have books, and it’s generally pretty dirty.
The kids were very amable, but the school seems to be pretty loose with its rules and regulations. There were 35 kids on the roll for this class, but only about 20 were actually in the room. My teacher tells me that the private schools are much better, but frankly not very many people can afford them.

I’m going to do one more “reflections” post when I get home next week, but this is all I’ve got for now. This is my last day in Xela, so tonight is going to be a big fiesta with my amigos. Tomorrow morning I head to Guatemala City to check that out a bit, then I fly to my Home, Sweet Home Saturday night. Count your blessings, y’all!

Drag Completes Me

It was a relatively quiet week after the all the Independence day celebrations and the travel to Lago Atitlan last weekend. Until last night. It was a chill Friday night, but when we saw the flyer for the Miss Gay National pageant at the gay bar in Xela, our Saturday night plans were set. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t really a national event, since most gay life in Guatemala is in the capital 200 miles away. There were only three girls competing in front of a crowd of maybe 40 people, and our group was 12 of those. I’ve seen a lot of drag in my life and I can be pretty cynical about it, so my expectations were low. But I have to say, those girls brought it. Their outfits were crazy fun, their dancing was fab, and they had great props.
 
Sorry for the poor quality, but here’s one of the queens being brought into the bar on a motorcycle. They each performed to a couple of different songs and finally last year’s winner crowned the new one. Afterwards, around 1:30 am, the police came knocking on the door because bars are supposed to close at one here. Everyone in the bar had to be quiet for about 10 minutes and apparently the police went away. The party resumed and we were assured that this was normal. Hopefully that’s as close to getting arrested that I’ll encounter in Guatemala.

Some more pictures:
 
The light reading I’m doing here. It’s challenging vocabulary, so I keep the dictionary close by at all times, but I’m pretty happy with my reading comprehension in general.
My maestra Lily and me sitting on the roof of the school with Santa Maria in the background. She’s awesome and a really great teacher. When you spend four hours a day with someone, you really get to know them. We share a very similar world view and she’s taught me a lot about the culture here too. Of the locals, I’ll miss her the most.
This is the longest set of firecrackers I’ve ever seen and it took about five minutes to finish, filling the entire street with smoke. Fiestas never really end here, so there was yet another celebration at Parque Central that we checked out. Some religious day that again brought out a parade of bands, and of course, firecrackers. This country is obsessed with firecrackers. It’s not unusual for them to go off outside of my bedroom window at six in the morning. Apparently, before that would be rude.
I’m drinking some $.50 freshly-squeezed orange juice. There’s a woman that cleans the school and her kids help out too. Her son Miguel, who is 15 and very sweet, spends most of his day in front of the school making orange juice, so I buy some from him almost every day. He works there in the morning, then takes classes in the afternoon.

I have two weeks left of classes and I’m pretty ready to go home. The rain has started back up and it’s relentless. Still, I can already tell that I’ll treasure this experience, so I’m going to soak up (sorry, bad pun) as much I can for these last two weeks.

17,000 and some words

The weather’s actually been gorgeous here for the past week. I’m not gonna spend too much time here writing, so here are some pictures and captions of my last week. (Of course, as I'm about to post this, the rain begins...sigh...)


Tuesday night, streets of Xela. The festivities were in full swing for Guatemala’s Independence Day on Wednesday the 15th. Bands were in the streets most of the night.


Tuesday night, Parque Central. The festivities continue. People were everywhere. I left around 1:30 am, being the old guy I am. Reports say the streets didn’t start clearing until 4 am.


I like my name, but I didn’t buy any.


There was a pretty good fireworks show at midnight.


The spirit of my boyfriend was here too.


Wednesday afternoon. No classes and most places were closed, so we cooked out and hung out on the roof of the school all day.


Tuesday afternoon. People are lining up for the parade. They love love love parades here. There were about five of them leading up to Independence Day. They also love beauty pageants and Maria de Xela spent hours watching them on TV.


Thursday night. Finally, the fair! It was miles of vendors selling everything under the sun, cheap games, and tons of food, of course. The rides were pretty much the same as any fair. They didn’t have any livestock or biggest pumpkin contests, but that stuff’s not hard to find.


I still like my name, but I didn’t play.


The Ferris Wheel of Death. Usually, ferris wheels aren’t thrill rides. This is a picture of the ferris wheel in motion. The lack of focus isn’t my camera’s fault this time. Powered by a car engine, this is the fastest ferris wheel I’ve ever seen. It goes forwards and backwards at a ridiculous speed. Of course I had to ride it.


Kristyn and I after riding the ferris wheel. Wary, but grateful to be alive.


Naked pictures of women advertising the ride. Gotta love Guatemala.


Friday til Sunday. Lago Atitlan, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It’s a lake at an altitude of 5,000 feet, surrounded by mountains over 10,000 feet. We stayed at this awesome place, Mikaso Hotel, owned by some young French-Canadiens. If you visit Guatemala, go there.


You can sorta see the rainbow in the middle of this picture.


Another view from the terrace of the hotel.


Annie and I rented motorcycles Friday afternoon and drove for 2.5 hours around the lake to the hotel instead of taking the 30 minute boat shuttle. We drove through mountains and had to deal with impending darkness, fog with light rain, and horrible roads. We made it safely there. Unfortunately, on the way back, I had some trouble with a road made of loose rocks and laid my bike down. I was fine and the bike was mostly fine, except a big dent in the gas tank that would cost me $350. That supersucked, but it was still worth it.


So, as I mentioned, the roads are awful. Here’s a mudslide we had to traverse. Traffic was stopped and I thought we weren’t going to be allowed through. I forgot that this is Guatemala and everything is at-your-own-risk. Only motorcycles and four-wheel drive trucks were making it through.

That’s my week. It was crazy and fun and awful, all at the same time. I’m feeling quite poor now, so the adventures will have to come cheaply. But that shouldn’t be a problem here.