NYC

My journey to the USA was transporting me, in the space of a few hours, from the third-world to the first-world. My destination, Washington, the political epicentre of the Western world, home to the machine of government before which lesser nations have trembled for the past century. I was aware of the cultural shock I had last suffered leaving rural India for Canada, subsequently bracing myself for the overwhelming force of American society.

My initial reaction, however, was one of relief. Arriving at the house of Matt Almquist, an old Edinburgh contemporary, I was ready for a comfortable bed and a large gin and tonic. My brief stay just outside Washington afforded me the mandatory tour of the iconic symbols of freedom and democracy, enshrining the tenets of a nation founded as a bold social experiment. It did slightly resemble a picture-perfect city, well-groomed for the obligatory American pilgrimage made by thousands of domestic tourists. This coupled with the fact that the greater Washington area is primarily populated by government employees, ensures that the surroundings create an overwhelming impression that government serves the people providing a comfortable quality of life.

The central role of which minority populations played in American society soon became apparent. The headlines on the day of my arrival proclaimed that over 50% of the nation’s new-borns were now from a minority background, but it was clear from my eating habits, authentic Vietnamese phu and Korean Bbq that even the main body of the American population has become accustomed to an immigrant taste. A similar picture emerged upon arrival in New York, I was staying in the Lower East side of Manhattan, once home to Little Italy but subsequently replaced by the aspiring Chinese families, ubiquitous in New York.

My simple walking tour of Manhattan and Brooklyn, enlightened me to the multi-faceted nature of this sprawling metropolis. Ever the immigrant city, it was easy to identify the multitude of ethnic backgrounds, providing a distinct character to each district as well as the process of gentrification sweeping its way through certain quarters. Michael Bloomberg’s picture-perfect concept of a modern city had sterilized the large majority of downtown Manhattan. I was even fortunate enough to have a run in with the New York park authorities, receiving a ticket for apparently trespassing in a public park after hours, of all my travels throughout the developing world, this was the first time I was made to feel genuinely uneasy!

I was inspired however by the creativity exuded by the youth of New York. In a crowded city of 20 million inhabitants, it seems many are driven to pursue a sense of individuality in fashion, music even eating habits. And in typical American style there is now a huge consumer market to feed the demands of this alternative culture, broadly known as 'hipsters', a counter-culture inspired movement, fallen prey to widespread consumerism.

Of course the whole city did not enjoy the opportunity for such oppulent expression. Moving throught the hecticness of midtown where each individual goes largely unnoticed in the swarm of commuters, tourists and street vendors, I arrived north of Central Park in Harlem. Only 15 years earlier I would have been extremely unwelcome in this part of town, whereas now it was home to a vibrant Spanish culture, the colours and smells resembled more Mexico than Manhattan, and was rapidly being embraced by a non-immigrant population as "the" place to live.

New York truly never sleeps. Even now, having returned to the Old World and enjoying the quiet pace of rural Portugal, I am still aware, somewhere across the Atlantic, of this nucleus of energy. The thousands awakening hopefully this morning at the early hour of five, inspired to work another day, all seeking their fortune in this great city of opportunity.

The Guatemala Diaries: Part II

 

The journey through the rural Guatemalan south led across the highlands, reaching 3000m above the coastal plains which descend towards the Pacific Ocean. A two day marathon journey had me sitting nice and tightly at the rear of a small Korean made minibus. As is customary in Guatemala they managed to overfill the van by about 20 people leaving me as the centre of attention for inquisitive locals and livestock alike. I was beginning to discover that this country consisted of little else than a large rural population whose lives stood in stark contrast to the 20% living in Guatemala city and a few tourist enclaves.

I made my way to the refreshingly diverse Lago Atitlán, as a guest of a fellow traveller currently resident at the lake. With ten villages surrounding the edges of the lakes shore, it offered some of Guatemala’s most spectacular views with a backdrop made up of two volcanoes, towering 1500 m above the lake’s edge, a perfect opportunity for hiking.

As a guest, I had the privilege of a staying in a lake-side cabin as well as an introduction to the sizeable foreign community permanently based there. Small business owners, expats from Guatemala City, long-term travellers and gracefully ageing hippies lived side by side with the Guatemalan population in a bitter-sweet relationship which for the most part seemed mutually beneficial.

A two day local religious festival in the local village of Santa Cruz proved a fascinating experience. Aside from a traditional procession common to most Christian festivals, villagers were entertained late into each night by a dancing procession consisting of some quite confusing dress, think Star Wars meets the Village People. I was informed that the purpose of most of the festivals was for the men to drink themselves into a complete stupor while wives and children patiently waited for them to collapse allowing them to be dragged home to sober up in time for the following day’s festivities.

A week spent enjoying the hiking opportunities through the jungle and the very slow pace of life afforded me time to enjoy my surroundings. Subsequently I only spent a final night in Guatemala City. The reality of the city stood in contrast to the relaxed atmosphere of the country. The relative lack of any bandit activity in the hills was replaced with high walls, razor wire and tinted SUVs. There was no doubt that a few centralised monopolies constituted the dominant economic forces in Guatemala, one family owns the entire nation’s speed bump production. The insight derived from the contrasting regions of Guatemala has not progressed significantly further than the era of Guevara’s own writings on the Latin American condition. An indigenous population subsumed by the modern day state yet denied the full range of privileges expected with citizenship and manipulated for the benefit of the urban commercial-political elite.