#panajchel

To Fight or Not To Fight?

If you watched the video above, you will get a tiny glimpse of our weekend at Lago Atitlan …  We ended up in Xela, because we did not know to notify the driver to drop us off earlier to end up at the Lake.  It was slightly humorous since last time Rob and I went to the unimpressive Xela, we vowed to never go back… But luckily, we knew what hostel to stay at and where to get food, so this minor accident was a bit of a speed bump, rather than a crisis. 

Little speed-bump events like this happened throughout the weekend, and have happened throughout my stay in Guatemala.  I order a licuado (fruit smoothie) without sugar, and get it with sugar, yet still have to pay for it and drink it.   I am expected to know how to hike a volcano without any warning on what  or what not to do and learn by trial and error.  I get dropped off in the wrong city even though I was told I was going to another and am just forced to deal with it…  The normal response to my complaint is just a shrug, sometimes a “disculpe” and no change in the circumstance.

However, I have also watched the passivity of people who accept their economic status or situations of injustice.  Taxi drivers who get pulled over for unexplicable reasons, pay the police to get out of trouble, fathers accepting that their daughters are pregnant because of abuse and people who get robbed not filing any reports.  I don’t know if this is more of a cultural attitude or a feeling of powerlessness in a justice system, but it is one thing that I feel strongly against. 

I remember experiencing similar incidents in Ecuador and coming back to the States to see grown adults throw temper-tantrums at Starbucks, because their coffee was not brewed correctly, because it is an “injustice” to wait in line for an extra fifteen minutes or because an un-wanted someone was going to be in the same room for three hours.   The reactions to these small frustrations have been a lesson in learning to just “deal with it,” and accept that some things are just not worth fighting for.