“This was my first trip to Guatemala, although I have been to Mexico and Costa Rica before, so I think I had a fairly good idea of what it would be like there. Also, I've had friends who have traveled there before and liked it. I had read in a guidebook that Guatemala City is disliked by a lot of people, but for more adventurous travels it's an interesting place to visit which I found to be true.

I tend to think that people in Latin America are generally very relaxed and good natured, which I thought was true in Guatemala. Things move at a nice, slow pace and nobody seems to get angry very easily. I speak some limited Spanish but people were always very patient with me. Also, people seemed indifferent to me taking photos and didn't pay much attention to me despite that there were very few tourists in Guatemala City. I actually enjoyed traveling in a place that wasn't very touristy. The contrast between the strong Catholic culture that exists now in contrast with the ancient Mayan civilization that came before it was interesting to experience.

The architecture in Guatemala City was different than I expected. There must have been a lot of building going on in the 20's and 30's, because there are a lot of very cool Art Deco buildings with amazing ironwork, metal lettering and such. Most of those buildings are in poor condition but in a way that makes them more beautiful and interesting. I was also surprised one Sunday morning when I stepped out into the streets to find thousands of communist protesters out in a parade, rally in central Guatemala City. People yelling and banging drums, carrying Soviet Union flags and banners with portraits of Che Guevara.

After my stay in Guatemala City, I traveled further up north towards an ancient Mayan ruin site called Tikal. I arrived at Tikal National Park after dark and I was impressed at how deep into the jungle the lodge was, driving for miles with no lights or anything along the road on the way in, not the sort of place you'd want to be stranded with car trouble. I had expected the lodge to be pretty basic, almost like camping, but it was actually very nice and modern and clean. The next day I had a guided tour into the Mayan city of Tikal which was really impressive, both because it is so deeply imbedded in the jungle and because much of it is actually still in very good condition. My guide had a masters degree in anthropology from the University of Texas, which surprised me. He had lot of knowledge about the site and was able to answer any questions I had. I was able to climb up near the top of the largest pyramid that extends way about the rain forest canopy, about the height of a 20-story building with an incredible view of the landscape and the other pyramids. Another pyramid I climbed to the top of was constructed in 300 BC and had more of a flat-top observation deck which was specifically designed for making astronomical observations. It really made an impression on me that their civilization was so advanced at the ancient time that they were able to build something like this for that purpose. The next day I had time to explore on my own and woke up early to see the ruins at sunrise. It was a very foggy and misty morning which made the pyramids feel even more mystical and dramatic along with the sounds of birds and howler monkeys all around. I had time for some final photos and also sat and made another sketch on site before I had to leave that afternoon.

While I was on the trip I worked in my sketchbook every day, both doing drawings from direct observation outside or sometimes sketching in my hotel room later from pictures on my phone. I also stopped in a used book store my first day there and purchased some old paperback books and some other ephemera which I cut up into shapes and glued into my sketchbook as collage elements. I did some journal writing in my sketchbook and then for some reason felt like redacting out some it just because I like how it looks and makes the text more fractured mysterious. When I returned home to my studio my original thought was to create some larger drawings that could be turned into prints, but I kept going back to my sketchbook and was really liking what I had done while traveling. I decided to scan pages directly from the sketchbook and reassemble them into compositions for the print designs. I think these images really capture my trip well and retain the more spontaneous feeling of my sketchbook.“

Travel diary

Tuesday 22 October, 2019

My first day went well, just a lot of walking around and shooting. It's somewhat hectic here, I never found a spot yesterday where I really wanted to sit and sketch on the street but I'll definitely do some drawing today one way or another. People are very nice or a least indifferent to the camera here which makes it easier. Oddly, Sweden was the most hostile place I've ever been with my camera.

It helps to review the photos and feel out a direction of how I want to work today. The women in colorful dresses are certainly pretty but they seem like a fairly predicable sort of thing for a tourist to photograph. I'm interested is some of the political posters, graffiti, public art and intense religious images you see here. There is some cool Art Decco architecture here too. Colors are great everywhere.