Life in the rhythm of extremes.
Of the many Guatemalas I know, I have seen too many moving at speed “between fright and tenderness,” carrying the cadence of a bird of ill omen where life and death nestle disturbingly close to each other.
Andrés Zepeda, El Pais mas Feliz del Mundo.
Guatemala is a place where people live at very different speeds. Some seem to want to move faster than their environment and capacity allow them: urban animals, unable to leave the city, enjoy it, and suffer it. Cops and criminals step on each other’s toes, knowing they depend on each other. Others, like Eva Sosa, imprisoned for wanting to eradicate criminals disguised as policemen, are the ones who suffer the most from the detuned and isolating speed of the justice system.
At the opposite extreme are the people of the countryside. People of simple customs, with little more than a deep connection to the land. They have a keen sense of belonging to the cosmos and an intimate relationship with the elements of nature. They live at different speeds, at different rhythms, in a cyclical and non-linear way. Not even during their trials, in which they argue to the tune of the problem and not to the tune of office hours. The ticking is not of the clock but of the duration needed for the parties to be heard and to merge into a communal solution.
