Misionero del Camino

 

Laundry hangs at an Orphanage. Sumpango, Guatemala.

El Amor de Mi Vida

 

Time Traveling

 

Antigua, Guatemala, Day 4, Central America.

I catch myself drifting a lot these days. Nice thing is, when I snap back to real time, I like where I am.  The next time you see a friend with "the distance" in their eyes, they might be orbiting somewhere between here and everywhere they've ever been. They'll be back. 

  

 

  

My new Motto:

 

Life's Dirty. Get busy making it look pretty. 

It Only Takes One Arm To Shoot a Man

Dear Jenny, 

My friend, housewife, live-in guru, bodyguard, badass wingman, shit kicking hilarious i-can-count-on-you roomie...I missed you. It's too bad I got in so late. The empty champagne bottle on the kitchen table was the perfect welcome home gift for when I stumbled in from a 5 hour layover in Houston.

It started with the best movie of all time, Roadhouse. Now, we're savin up all our change for a "Dirty 30" birthday bash while watching every worthwhile western under the sun. Before I left for Central America, we knocked off The G,B and Ugly, Unforgiven, The Lonesome Dove series, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and ok we slipped in a couple of others like Easy Rider. I can't even think of them all. Perfect. 

When I saw this cowboy on the wall of an orphange in Sampango, Guatemala, I thought of you. None of the kids would admit to tearing this cowboy's arm off. Maybe it was an act of God. Regardless, it reminded me, "it only takes one arm to shoot a man." 

So good to be home. xo, Miriam

Day One - Ak Tenamit

Ak Tenamit is a community development project sponsored in part by Rotary. This was one of our feature projects on assignment. The goal is to support the indigenous Q’eqchi’ Maya by providing schools, medical care and vocational training geared towards tourism while preserving their language and culture. 

 

Jungle gear. Canon Eos digital system, PCM d50 .wav file recorder. Moleskin writers notebook, mosquito bandannas, A sig, two Pepsi's and a Patagonia nano-puff.

 

Staff Photographer, Monik Lee shoots the kids on their way to school at the main Ak Tenamit site.

  

Ak Tenamit accessable only by boat.  

Kids arrive at the main dock. 

Path into the community. 

Kids prune the pineapple fields. We had these for lunch. Delish. 

 

On the way to deliver water filters to a small village of about nine families, we try to find a narrow place to cross. 

Nope. 

Better but No.

Perfect.

 

Village peeps. Pretty happy to see us. 

Angel face.

 

Brother and Sister.

A group of Rotarians haul the filters over and explain how to maintain them and why clean water is important. Dehyration/Diareah is a major contributor to infant mortality especially without access to healthcare. 

Monik gets a grip on the edge of an incline and goes for the scene-setter.

 

Working together with the Q’eqchi’ to assemble and test the filters is important for sustaining the use of the filter.

Back to Ak Tenamit to build a library.

 

What is your "Rotary Footprint?"

Rotary Jane got a pedi just in time to look jungle glam. 

 

Raising the tresses on a library they set out to build in two weeks including pouring a concrete foundation. 

Founder of Ak Tenamit, Rotarian Steven Dudenhoefer. Nothing gets to this guy. They call him: "Angel de Rio," Angel of the River.

 

Day one wrap. Back to Livingston..a bit of a ride but everyone is happy. 

The Rio Dulce River: Lifesource of the Q’eqchi’ Maya.

Bon Voyage

I leave at 3 a.m. this moring on assigment in Central America for two weeks. It's right about now that I wonder how the !^*%@$ I got so lucky. Nerves don't come like they used to. I used to worry that MY plan wouldn't happen. Now I know that all you can do is your best. All the rest...duck feathers, let it roll.

I'd like to leave ya'll with something. Here is the first in a series of
 random outakes that stood out because they say something odd, taught me something or make me feel, dare I say, hopeful.

A girl tries to show her her mother that lighting bugs are flashing. But every time her mother looks they aren't there. Despite how enchanted the girl is, her mother is preoccupied.

An oyster farm worker separates oysters from their natural clusters and Mark takes a walk through a graveyard of shucked shells. It's foggy and cool. The scene exudes nostalgia. Consequently I've know Mark since I was 16. He's seen me take every corner including the phone conversation when I told him I didn't believe in God anymore. He knew what that meant to me and said, "Miriam, I don't think you could live long enough to push that love away and why would you want to? What do you love that makes any sense at all? Not making sense doesn't make it any less real."

 

Steve and Clara -Engagment session Chicago El stop. Love stories, some of the greatest.

I got to Alcala's one night just in the nick to pick up a camera bag they did superior leather work on. I'm usually not one for cynicism but ...is this warehouse of hatless cowboys proof that God don't make men like he used to? Nah.

Miriam, the consta-stand in for location portrait set up. Seattle Washington hunger project.

I photographed a goat slaughter from bleat to meat so Tony insists I hold one half of the trophy before I make an apple pie.

 

This guy must have thought I was a loon. His name was Mulana Fazari a Muslim religious leader in Lucknow, India. I was trying to be a floating orb of ease and grace because he told me in the beginning, it was difficult for him to separate me, a young and optimistic journalist, from my country's politics. In response I asked him if his beard was real. Since it had to be translated, the timing was perfect and we had a good laugh. He proceeded to feed me a "yogurt cake" that kept me in my room for 3 days. Paybacks. Thanks America.

Waiting for a Rickshaw driver to pass by at the perfect time so the photographer on the roof could get an aerial shot. Failed attempt. Lots of those. Back on the horse.

This was the first time I'd ever played back someones recorded voice to themselves; recipient at a food bank.

Driftwood on Lake Superior, UP. Discoveries of natural design are worth the chaos. They remind me that over time, stories tell themselves.

Oh, and one more thing.
Thank you.

Teasin and Freezin

D and Jordy dig through a pile of trunk stuff to get invisible. Good thing they're putting on head to toe camo to get inside a camo ground blind where no one will be be able to appreciate their sweet outfit until they're walking back to the car after dark.

Jordy said if I was gonna laugh the whole time that I should go home which I thought was a perfect thing for him to say. They sure were easy to see even though they had so many invisible things on. Maybe I've just got good eyes.

Making fun round two revolved around how bent Dans hunting cap was. So Phi Kappa Retard. I was like "Hey Dan, did you run that hat through the dishwasher and put the bill inside a cup to get it to curl like that?"

Dan said I had to spray this stuff in my mouth so the deer wouldn't smell me. It is so hard to trust him on stuff like this especially when he's laughing on the inside and I have it coming. Stuff is so funny around him.

I'll tell you why we didn't shoot any deer. Because we were having too much fun. The only thing missing was a bowl of popcorn and some venison jerky. We were even texting people about how much fun were having and how many deer we weren't catching.

We did get serious towards the end but it was too late. Every deer in Hickory Corners knew our 10-20 and our punch lines. We were bound to teasin' and freezin'. Dan kept talking about that 15 minute sweet spot right before dark but we'd get to laughin'. Jordy if you're reading this. We admit it, we ruined everything but thanks for a great time.