Last night, Pip and I headed off across town to what sounded like a quirky place called 'Rainbow Cafe'. After a few wrong turnings, we found the place. It was very friendly and chilled, packed full of Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians. This was a proper ex-pat hang-out. The beer was flowing, people were gathering. I liked it straightaway. A poster at the entrance boasted 'Wednesday - Open Mic Night'. I thought to myself - shame it's not Wednesday. Then I thought - hang on a minute....!
I signed up to perform, then set about writing myself a comedy routine, exploring our experiences on this amazing trip, then I got up and performed! It was fantastic, engaging with the crowd, asking if they were in the Girl Scouts - one man claimed that he was, but I think he was lying - then I chatted on about Twitter, vegetarianism, time management and other subjects close to my heart, then finished with my poem, Broken Society. It was well-received and extremely exciting. Pip was tweeting out pictures, telling the world about my stand-up debut. I've got into stand-up and comedy impro in the last few months and have some gigs coming up in London, having almost come to the end of my Central American tour (Mexico last week, Guatemala yesterday). If you're around, come to The George Pub in the Strand on Mon 22nd April, 7.30pm for 8pm, £5 on the door. See you there?
But enough about all that.
We checked out early this morning, then Elgar, our trusty driver, who is taking some time-out from his composing regime to drive us round Guatemala, piled our luggage on top of the bus quite spectacularly, lashing it all together with what he called a 'carpet' was in fact, a tarpauline, under which everything was quite safe.
We headed for Chichicastenango, the famous site of the bustling market, where they sell everything you can possibly imagine, from TV remotes, to live budgies, very dead chicken (which looked sumptuous in the morning heat), to thimbles, worry dolls, and every type of Guatemalan mask imaginable. We hired a guide called Tomas, who showed us around. All the guides were smartly clad in khaki jackets and it felt like an organised operation. The market was an exhilarating jumble of smells, stupendous colours, curious noises - a cacophony of small boys chasing us with wooden flutes, vendors shouting 'Hola, I give you good price'. I was followed the entire time by a woman trying to sell me a giant piece of weaving, which was beautiful, but there's no way it would fit in my bag. I commended her for her persistence.
As yesterday, women sat by the road weaving, or embroidering, with their babies lashed to their packs in beautiful traditional cloth.
This place thrives on the informal economy and we all put some of our tourist dollars into it. Several of the group bought Christmas decorations, most appropriate at this time of year in Guatemala.
We bundled back into the bus and in the late afternoon, arrived at our hotel, where I am currently sitting on the balcony, overlooking a glorious white tree covered in white lights, listening to distant barking and the hum of music from nearby bars.
We spent a fun hour or so on a balcony, having a beer at Helena's Restaurant, which is nearby. Her restaurant consisted of 3 plastic tables, with chairs, a fridge, a lot of dead flowers, tinsel and multiple Christmas decorations. My Spanish is quite limited, but we established that she is 24, with twin sons - Alphonso and Louis. We agreed to go back there for dinner tomorrow, she was asking what time we would come. A 12-year-old boy then appeared, and started chatting to us in English, which he told us he has learnt from the tourists he had met in the street, as it's too expensive to learn it at school. He proceeded to translate the entire menu for us. His name was Jesus; so yes, the Region Chief and I met Jesus.
Pip taught the local child population our 'Oggy Oggy Oggy' chant, which can be heard in towns and villages across Guatemala.
Well I shall leave it there for now - off to dinner soon. Hope you are doing well.
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