Playing Football at the Local Basketball Court
It seems like Claudia and I are synching our thoughts lately. She makes a comment regarding her nostalgia and memories and I am photographing something similar almost at the same time.
For instance, in her last comment, Claudia she was bringing back some long lost memories from her dear Guatemala, in her own words, “No helmets, no amber alerts, no Wiis, just a plastic ball or if lucky a real soccer ball…” Last night, in my way back home, I stopped, for a few moments, to take a few shots of football game at the local school basketball court. Many neighbors sat on the sidelines talking and watching the game. The thoughts the crossed my mind while taking the photos were in synch with Claudia’s latest comment, “… I feel one component that I loved of living down there was that you knew everyone and everyone knew you, or of you, do you know what I mean? You spoke to your neighbors, you knew their names, where they worked, etc. Heck, you could even have refaccion together, at night you could hang. . have some decent conversation about everything and nothing…”
Although things have changed a bit from the old and romantic Guatemala that Claudia is nostalgic about, much have not changed. For instance, I live in small colonia (barrio or neighborhood) of about 100 homes and despite the fact that my girlfriend and I try to keep to ourselves as much as possible, we do know and talked to our neighbors, know their names and what they do for living. Often we give each other rides back into La Antigua Guatemala and together with other neighbors had sent the chucha de la colonial (the neighborhood’s pet dog) to be neutered. Less than two hundred feet from our home there are several pavilions where some neighbors get together on the weekends for the chuparrasco, chupa (drinking) rrasco is short for churrasco or barbecuing. Chuparrasco is the Guatemalan informal colloquialism for a social gathering to drink and eat, especially charbroiled meats.
After you have lived a for a while in La Antigua Guatemala, it is impossible to walk a few blocks without being greeted, waved goodbyes, or fully stopped to chat for a few moments. That’s right fellas, people still chat offline in La Antigua Guatemala. What do you think about that?
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