The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-02

Tor Inc Times goes where he pleases.
when he plesses. in search Of odd stories.
about this and that.
GUATEMALA CITY, May a.
" When a foreigner visits a
strange city, he becomes very con-
scious of little things.
Here are some of the things,
mostly trivial, which my magnetic
mind picked up as it sojourned
briefly in Guatemala City:
The pillowcaSes on the beds are
split open, not at the end. but along
the sides.
The president goes for a ride
every evening at in a bullet
proof car.
The city is full Of bicycles driven
by sput-sput one-cylinder motors,
Q'm told the first one arrived from
Germany a couple of months ago.
and now everybody wants one).
Guatemala has no street cars.
And very few taxis. Buses, mostly.
VOU get on bus and sit down.
Il After a while a conductor
comes around and takes your nickel
and gives you pink slip. Farther
on a second conductor gets on, and
tears each slip in half. Eventually
third conductor climbs aboard,
and tears what's left in two. It's
some kind of checkup system, but
it's also a swell salve for unemploy-
ment. We'd call it boondoggling.
Buses go about 10 miles an hour,
even in the suburbs where there
isn't car in sight.
There is, they say, little depres-
sion or unemployment in Guate-
mala.
Practically everything closes DUR
ing the Holy Week celebration. A
taxi driver caught operating gets .
stiff fine.
NEARLY all the downtown stores
IN are owned by Germans. They
say there are 10000 Germans here.
Ten Germans to every American.
Total population of the city is 1851
900.
You seldom see man carrying a
basket on his head. The women do
the carrying You don't see much
of this native life" downtown. but
out in the edges OF town the woman
without a basket on her head is unG
usual.
A friend of mine told me of see
ing an Indian woman one day, tight
as tick, staggering along with a
basket of eggs, four feet wide, on
her head. She didn't break one,
Guatemalan women weave. and
wear, the most beautiful and wildly
colored cloth l have ever seen. They
make long bustly skirts, and wear
shawl of different pattern, all
weirdly splashed with color. Most
of them go barefooted. !.
lCUATEMALANS look different
NJ from Mexicans. Their skin is
redder, and their faces are squarer
and fuller.
I never saw so many camera
stores in any one place as in Guate-
mala. There must be dozen of
them in two blocks. High-class
places, too.
And "Farmacias" A pharmacy
here is pharmacy, not depart
ment store. There is not a soda
fountain in any pharmacy in the
city.
Guatemala is a very proud ma
ton. They are very strict about
travellers. They say the Guatemalan
border is the hardest frontier in
America to cross.
Either Guatemalan or American
money is good here. But you can't
use Mexican money. =.
ICUATEMALA CITY is a very
~ military. There is an honor
guard in front of the National Pal
ace all the time. The guard bar
racks and armory is just across the
park from the palace
You see many officers on the
streets. I don't know whether the
cops are in the army or not, but I
know a cop has to salute an army
officer
On every corner is a traffic COP
in khaki uniform, standing on a
red wooden box. The box has a
sign advertising beer. The cops
don't have much to do. There
aren't many autos. Whenever an
auto approaches, the cop makes an
individual case of directing il
around the corner.
Guatemalans must love art. In
nearly every store the walls are
covered with paintings by native
artists.
There are many rich people here
owners of banana and coffee PLAN
tations. The residential districts
have magnificent estates.
There are no high buildings. I
don't remember anything over three
stories, and mostly just one. Afraid
of earthquakes, 1 suppose. -