The Dry Season

Guatemala has seen periods marked by beauty and dignity...its name has been glorified through its works of science, art, and culture; by men and women of honour and peace. Pages have also been written of shame and infamy, disgrace and terror, pain and grief, all as a product of the armed confrontation among brothers and sisters.

--Prologue, Guatemala: Memory of Silence

Almost to the day, I am halfway through my time here in Guatemala. Not a bad point, I decided, to start writing on the relevant, the interesting, the colorful and what I think is the especially important about what’s going on here. Guatemala is a country a bit off the radar screen, although in and out of international headlines occasionally. Recently it garnered attention for such events as the murder of four Salvadoran diplomats, a freak sinkhole, and a brief visit by the American president. But as the country struggles to build peace after 36 years of violent conflict and new problems rage on, Guatemala surfaces in the press only once in a while.

Living in any small country whose issues have grown stale enough for reporters to have long packed up and left makes it harder to agree with its absence from headlines. I guess that’s because, living amongst them, issues never seem irrelevant. I’ll do my best to shed light on what is interesting enough to capture attention, just not sexy enough to make the morning news. The beautiful and the tragic, a little bit of everything, with the admitted human rights-slant you all know I'll have. Plus to keep everybody updated--friends, family, onlookers--rather than various emails, I thought I’d jot stuff down here and entertain you with some of my photography as well. Because, above all, Guatemala is a strikingly photogenic place--a knockout, truly...

La Catedral, Antigua

Lake Atítlan, San Marcos

Monterrico, Pacific Coast

Downtown market, Guatemala City