Anyways, had a new experience last night. The Latin American abhorrence to silence hasmany manifestations. One of the most, well, annoying is a good word,expressions of this fear of quiet is the extremely liberal use offireworks. Last night I was in Antigua, and was told that there wouldbe a religious procession going past the "Hotel A Nice Place to Stay".Thinking that it would be just some fellows carrying a statue with abrass band and some priests and middle aged ladies walking behind, out ...

There are proper and improper ways to climb Guatemalan volcanoes. I have climbed only one, and unfortunately I chose an improper method. Volcán Acatenango is located about an hour from Antigua, where I reside. That is, it is an hour if you know the proper way to get there. Alternately you can go in a gigantic arc and take two and a half hours to get there. I was first approached about joining the planned mission at approximately 6 pm and my response was essentially, “What, are you kidding? ...

I was sitting at the bar the other night (big surprise, I know) talkingwith my Cuban boss, Pedro. He was asking me in quite broken English ifI was religious. I answered, "well, not really. Actually not at all."His response was, "So you don't know The Mister?" Took me a few minutesto realize that "El Senor" Means mister and lord in Spanish. "No Iguess I don't know the Mister, sorry." "Dat's okay my friend, need somegasolina?" "Gasolina" is the codeword for rum. "Si," I replied,"necesito l...