1 February 2006
So the day I had was as follows: One step forward, two steps back.
4:00 am – give up on sleep, get up and ready for the day
5:45 am – hit the road, singing CCR (my one English tape) at the top of my lungs
6:30 am – arrive in San José to find nobody ready for work, drive around a little
7:00 am – all workers have arrived except one, and we start clearing brush, collecting tools, and cleaning the profile of the enormous looter's pit
7:15 am – last worker arrives
7:16 am – father of the site owner arrives, followed by entourage of a son and a daughter
7:17 am – I look up from my note taking and greet them politely
It quickly goes downhill from there, and there is not much certainty about time for the rest of the day, except that I was back at the lab by 9:30 am.
Don Angel, with whom I shared some warm backstabbing moments last year, decided again to let his son (age sixteenish) take the lead in the arguments, after claiming that he had the title to the property in his possession (great – does the property belong to you?). The son argues very forcefully that the illegal, unauthorized excavation of units on his land is an affront to the very fabric of Guatemalan society (but, I interrupt, what about the illegal, unauthorized looting of the mound that your family is doing?). I explained about Guatemalan law, that the subsurface remains were cultural patrimony, and that the state had given me permission to excavate. He said I did not have permission from the landowner, and that was the only thing that mattered (grumble, grumble, human rights violation, grumble grumble).
He actually used the human rights violation line twice. If my hopes of working for the UN had survived my ill-fated attempt at translation, they died a painful death when I was convicted without trial of crimes against humanity…
I called the Office of Monuments in Petén, who are in charge of this. No answer (it is only 8:00, after all). I call Gustavo, the head of Monuments for Guatemala, and our contact at IDAEH. Then I think better of it and call Adriana, my boss and co-director. I hand her the phone and overhear the human rights violations speech for the third time (he has obviously practiced the speech and is willing to give it several times).
I get a phone call from Adriana five minutes later, and she tells me it would be best for me to get off the site until things can be straightened out. "What kind of time frame are we talking here? I have workers ready to start digging for me."
The order to immediately stand down is given, and I do so as graciously as possible, explaining that I will be back as soon as I can. My guys and I go off to look around, while they guard jealously their heavily looted 60'x60' plot of undeveloped land.
The truly funny thing is that they think I am going to find cool loot. And what I am after is information about the way people made stone tools. That is why, once they found out that I was interested in excavating, they started tearing the site apart trying to find the treasure before I could come and find it.
The truly disturbing thing is that the owner of the property has a job guarding an archaeological site in Petén. And he and his family go home to loot another site…
Anyway, as soon as we are off the site, things settle a little. Then we come back for the car, and I am accosted by another, more hostile brother, who yells at me about staying off his brother's land. I look him in the eye, and say "You are saying nothing that has not already been said. We are not on your land, and I am going to go see what I can do to get permission tomorrow."
And I start climbing the bureaucratic ladder. Adrianna is horrified that this happened (I asked her a week ago whether the owner had been contacted… ) and cannot understand what is going on. Quite naïve for a woman in charge of all sites in the Petén.
I talk to the town mayor. He is in total agreement with me, but private land it outside of his bailiwick (and he is quite relieved that he is absolved of any responsibility).
And so I call and talk to Don Pedro, who is Adriana's boss. He relies on Adriana to get this done, so I have to go to her. Pedro will wait for Adriana to return. Furthermore, he had talked to his employee (Miguel Angel, the owner of the site) and was told that the land does not in fact belong to the Miguel Angel, but his father, the two-faced backstabbing Don Angel. Adriana is obviously the go-to person.
But she is on the road from Guatemala, and out of touch (in more ways than one). And I call Gustavo, the head Monuments guy at IDAEH, and our main contact. He tells me that it really is something Adriana has to do, but he needs names to go on the letter he is preparing. His boss, Salvador, will be in at 4, and will sign, if I will just get the information together to give Salvador when I call.
At four o'clock I call Salvador. "What do you want me to do?" he says. "This is Adriana's problem. She needs to get the job done."
And I am kicked back down the bureaucratic hierarchy, back to where I started.
So I pay workers for the day, I fight with the landowner, I get no work done, either in lab or in the field, and I am utterly exhausted at the end of the day.
As was pointed out to me, the term "frustrating Guatemalan bureaucracy" is redundant, in triplicate.
And the sun sets on another day…
So the day I had was as follows: One step forward, two steps back.
4:00 am – give up on sleep, get up and ready for the day
5:45 am – hit the road, singing CCR (my one English tape) at the top of my lungs
6:30 am – arrive in San José to find nobody ready for work, drive around a little
7:00 am – all workers have arrived except one, and we start clearing brush, collecting tools, and cleaning the profile of the enormous looter's pit
7:15 am – last worker arrives
7:16 am – father of the site owner arrives, followed by entourage of a son and a daughter
7:17 am – I look up from my note taking and greet them politely
It quickly goes downhill from there, and there is not much certainty about time for the rest of the day, except that I was back at the lab by 9:30 am.
Don Angel, with whom I shared some warm backstabbing moments last year, decided again to let his son (age sixteenish) take the lead in the arguments, after claiming that he had the title to the property in his possession (great – does the property belong to you?). The son argues very forcefully that the illegal, unauthorized excavation of units on his land is an affront to the very fabric of Guatemalan society (but, I interrupt, what about the illegal, unauthorized looting of the mound that your family is doing?). I explained about Guatemalan law, that the subsurface remains were cultural patrimony, and that the state had given me permission to excavate. He said I did not have permission from the landowner, and that was the only thing that mattered (grumble, grumble, human rights violation, grumble grumble).
He actually used the human rights violation line twice. If my hopes of working for the UN had survived my ill-fated attempt at translation, they died a painful death when I was convicted without trial of crimes against humanity…
I called the Office of Monuments in Petén, who are in charge of this. No answer (it is only 8:00, after all). I call Gustavo, the head of Monuments for Guatemala, and our contact at IDAEH. Then I think better of it and call Adriana, my boss and co-director. I hand her the phone and overhear the human rights violations speech for the third time (he has obviously practiced the speech and is willing to give it several times).
I get a phone call from Adriana five minutes later, and she tells me it would be best for me to get off the site until things can be straightened out. "What kind of time frame are we talking here? I have workers ready to start digging for me."
The order to immediately stand down is given, and I do so as graciously as possible, explaining that I will be back as soon as I can. My guys and I go off to look around, while they guard jealously their heavily looted 60'x60' plot of undeveloped land.
The truly funny thing is that they think I am going to find cool loot. And what I am after is information about the way people made stone tools. That is why, once they found out that I was interested in excavating, they started tearing the site apart trying to find the treasure before I could come and find it.The truly disturbing thing is that the owner of the property has a job guarding an archaeological site in Petén. And he and his family go home to loot another site…
Anyway, as soon as we are off the site, things settle a little. Then we come back for the car, and I am accosted by another, more hostile brother, who yells at me about staying off his brother's land. I look him in the eye, and say "You are saying nothing that has not already been said. We are not on your land, and I am going to go see what I can do to get permission tomorrow."
And I start climbing the bureaucratic ladder. Adrianna is horrified that this happened (I asked her a week ago whether the owner had been contacted… ) and cannot understand what is going on. Quite naïve for a woman in charge of all sites in the Petén.
I talk to the town mayor. He is in total agreement with me, but private land it outside of his bailiwick (and he is quite relieved that he is absolved of any responsibility).
And so I call and talk to Don Pedro, who is Adriana's boss. He relies on Adriana to get this done, so I have to go to her. Pedro will wait for Adriana to return. Furthermore, he had talked to his employee (Miguel Angel, the owner of the site) and was told that the land does not in fact belong to the Miguel Angel, but his father, the two-faced backstabbing Don Angel. Adriana is obviously the go-to person.
But she is on the road from Guatemala, and out of touch (in more ways than one). And I call Gustavo, the head Monuments guy at IDAEH, and our main contact. He tells me that it really is something Adriana has to do, but he needs names to go on the letter he is preparing. His boss, Salvador, will be in at 4, and will sign, if I will just get the information together to give Salvador when I call.
At four o'clock I call Salvador. "What do you want me to do?" he says. "This is Adriana's problem. She needs to get the job done."
And I am kicked back down the bureaucratic hierarchy, back to where I started.
So I pay workers for the day, I fight with the landowner, I get no work done, either in lab or in the field, and I am utterly exhausted at the end of the day.
As was pointed out to me, the term "frustrating Guatemalan bureaucracy" is redundant, in triplicate.
And the sun sets on another day…
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