WEBVTT - SYSK's Guatemalan Adventure, Part One 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.800 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:14.680 from House Stuff works dot com. This episode of Stuff 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:16.760 you Should Know is brought to you by Go to Meeting. 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:18.959 We all have to meet, but the average cost of 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:21.600 a single business trip is one thousand dollars. With just 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:23.959 one click, you can save time and money and have 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.920 your meetings online with affordable and easy to use Go 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.800 to Meeting. Use Go to Meeting for sales, presentations, product demos, 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.360 training sessions, collaborating on documents and more, and at forty 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:37.879 nine dollars per month for unlimited meetings, it saves time, money, 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.760 and travel. Try Go to Meeting free for thirty days. 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:44.000 Visit Go to Meeting dot com slash stuff. That's Go 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:51.080 to meeting dot com slash stuff give me your side podcast. 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:10.039 And what the heck was that? That was not you, 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.000 my friend? No, it wasn't. Clearly that was the booming 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.760 voice of our buddy that we met down there, who 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.399 had such an impressive voice for radio. We said, we've 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:21.280 got to get this guy to record our podcast intro 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:23.680 if we can use it. Yeah, he's ah. He works 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.520 at one of the schools we went to and he 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.440 was m seeing an event and we're like, holy cow, 0:01:30.280 --> 0:01:35.959 he's the the Guatemalan meltor matvelvet. Yeah, and this is 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.280 a very special pair of podcasts, right, Chuck, Absolutely our 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:45.680 Guatemalan Adventures. Yes, our Guatemala not there. Yeah, so um 0:01:45.840 --> 0:01:50.160 Chuck and I and Jerry went down to Guatemala. As 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:54.480 many of the listeners, no team s y Chuck Um, 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.240 and our eyes were open quite a bit, you could 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.200 say that, Yeah, we were originally going to go down. Uh, 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:03.120 we should probably tell the back story. Do you want 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.360 to take it? Chuck? Chuck loves emailing people back, especially 0:02:07.360 --> 0:02:09.919 when they say, do you want to come to Guatemala 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.000 with this? Will take exactly? That's pretty much out went down. 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:17.720 We got an email from a fan name and Dempsey 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.640 our buddy now yes, and she emailed us so, I 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.240 don't know last year last fall and said, hey, I 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.120 worked for this nonprofit called Cooperative for Education and we 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:33.000 do work in Guatemala supplying school books and uh computer 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:38.320 centers for rural indigenous poor people in Guatemala. And check 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.520 out our video and our website and we'd love it 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.480 if you guys came down we'll we'll sponsor you to 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:46.760 come down on this trip and see what you think 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.440 about it. No strings attached, of course. We just think 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.360 you would enjoy it and you know, having a great experience. Right, 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.440 it's pretty much out happened, and we're like, what's the 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.639 catch and what's your what's your game here? Right? And 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.600 she really was like, no, really, we just want you 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:01.320 to see. I mean, if you guys want to mention 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.560 this on the podcast or something, that'd be awesome because 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:10.200 they are donor driven organization like all nonprofits exactly. Um, 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:15.359 because nonprofit can't turn a profit yeah, um. And uh 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.600 So we went down there initially with the idea of like, okay, 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:23.040 we can't just completely throw to this organization, let's do 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:28.080 one on can education alleviate poverty? Can it actually happen? 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.680 Because that's what CoA does well. Originally she just asked 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:32.120 for us to come down, and then we were like, 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:34.760 wait a minute, why don't we bring Jerry and then 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.400 we can record down there and do our first like 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.560 on the road, live recording type of deal. That was 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:43.040 your idea. I think I was snacking while you were 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.920 thinking of your way down with it though. Yeah, so Chuck, 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.320 we never go anywhere unprepared, or I should say, we 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.160 never do anything. I don't put on my pants without 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.320 doing a little research first to find out if overnight 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.600 while I was sleeping, somebody figured out a better way 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.880 to do it. And that is true. Um, so we 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.440 did some research on Guatemala, and UM, I actually have 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.440 a little story for you. The night before we left, 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:12.120 I secretly wrote a note to my dear Yumi, telling 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.640 her that I love her in case anything happens to me. 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.080 I really wanted to make sure she knew that I 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.320 went down thinking that there's a chance I was going 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:22.960 to lose my life in Guatemala. Yeah, here's a little tip. 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:24.960 If you guys are going to travel in some country 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.320 that's not you know, like France or Italy, don't go 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.760 to the State Department website and that where you found 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.599 it to read like the travel warnings and all, because 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:35.359 you got to some of these countries that are a 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.760 little off the beaten path, and they do they make 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.160 it sound like you will be lucky if you come 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.480 back alive. Yeah, and that's exactly what I thought. Um 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:49.279 there's about eighteen paragraphs. You're scared that detail kidnappings, Ransom's beheadings. Um, 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:53.200 straight up murder. Uh. Just it sounds like the country 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:57.039 is just overrun with criminals and disease, all manner of disease. 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:59.840 We got shots at the yin Yang. What do we get? 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:05.960 We got lockjaw, Yeah, I got a It wasn't dip ted, 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:08.520 it was ted something like that. I don't know what 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.000 they shot me full of. I just hold my arm 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:14.039 out when somebody presents me at the storringe. Jerry got 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.599 sick actually, um from the shots ahead of time and 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.400 a little bit of foreshadowing. A little chucky got sick 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.400 on the way back. Yeah, I think I ingested some 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.080 ice from a rum drink or two. Yeah, there's last 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.039 there's some precautions you have to take. Oh and to 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:31.479 finish my story, you we found the secret note within 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.360 hours of us leaving, so that worked out well. Yeah, 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:38.320 it's great, Um, all right, Chuck. We also did some 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:40.640 background on the country, and one of the first things 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:43.479 you find out about Guatemala when you look into it 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:48.640 is that it had a pretty serious civil war. Yeah, 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.520 for about thirty years thirty six, my friend. Yeah, that's 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:56.680 why I said about Actually that's about forty years. But sure, 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:02.800 internal conflict. Uh formerly end in that's a long time 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:05.720 to be under a civil war. Yeah. And actually, um, 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:09.159 guatemala Is is is kind of this very put upon Latin 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.800 American state. Um. It was run by a dictator in 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.880 the up to the forties when there was a I 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:17.880 don't know if it was a bloodless revolution, but I 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.600 think it was one of the softer revolutions. And there 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:22.960 were some liberals running the show for about ten years, 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.960 and Guatemalan still referred to it as uh ten years 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.080 of Spring, right, Chuck. They referred to everything in regards 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.400 to spring. It's the land of eternal spring. The spring 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.560 is like the spring spring. Yeah. Um. It's so they 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:40.160 had this great this area this time of peace. Um. 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:45.039 And part of that was involved taking land from the 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.839 United Fruit Company, which owned a bunch of land it 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:52.880 wasn't using, and redistributing it to uh farmers, right. And 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.320 the United Fruit Company didn't like this, went to the 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.960 CIA and said, hey, you know, you've got some lefties 0:06:57.960 --> 0:07:00.440 in your backyard. You should probably supply or to qu 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:03.560 CIA back to coup end of the ten Years of 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:07.720 Spring in the beginning of the civil war, which they 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:09.680 did not refer to you as ten years of summer 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.320 that followed the spring. No, No, it was pretty bad. 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:15.520 And we'll get into a couple of stories. We've got 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:17.480 a couple of stories while we were down there. Yeah, 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.600 a couple of like bad massacres that happened. Yeah, there were, 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.840 um I think a hundred thousand killed and a hundred 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.200 thousand disappeared is what they called them, which meant killed 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.520 that they didn't find your body, um, and they A 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:37.040 later Truth Commission report concluded that of the atrocities committed 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:40.120 in that in the civil war were done by government 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.320 soldiers and actually oftentimes they disguise them like to make 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.480 it look like the guerrillas had done it, to drum 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:50.960 up um resentment antipathy towards them. Yeah, it was a 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.480 It was a bad thirty six years for Guatemala, and 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:57.240 like you said, it ended in so they're still kind 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.880 of coming out of this right, very much. So. I 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:05.200 think more than half of Guatemalans are direct descendants of 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:09.440 the mind people, and they some of them, like you said, 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.640 speaking the mind tongue, still church. Some of them don't 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.280 speak Spanish, right, many of them, right, Yeah, I mean, 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.000 if if you run into a Guatemalan who speaks Spanish. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:22.000 Likely they're bilingual because they speak their indigenous mind tongue 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.920 and Spanish as well. Right, they are one of the 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:29.280 most populous Central American countries. Most of their population is 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:34.560 rural and fifties six percent live below the poverty line. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.640 And that's Guatemala's poverty line. Yeah. Well, that's a very 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.760 important thing to point out. None Americans very different and 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:48.040 they are mainly agricultural, uh, labor industry, services industries only 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:53.559 about Yeah, they're their economy. The top three um segments 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:59.400 of their economy are agriculture, remittances, and tourism. Yeah, let's 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.720 Remit says this. People that leave the country to go 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.960 make a decent wage and then send money back home. 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:08.160 And that's the number two segments of their economy. And 0:09:08.280 --> 0:09:11.480 uh with them tourism as well, it's it's number three, 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:14.719 but it's not entirely enormous. I think it makes up 0:09:15.080 --> 0:09:17.400 a pretty decent portion, but it's not that big of 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.000 a money maker. Again because of things like the State 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:22.400 Department website and the fact that the civil war only 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.360 ended fourteen years ago. Yeah, and I tell you, despite uh, 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:28.679 except for Antigua, which we'll get into, that was the 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:31.080 end of our trip. We didn't see any spurs where 0:09:31.120 --> 0:09:34.920 we went. No, we went definitely off the beaten pathway. Yeah, 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:37.280 way in in country, weren't We weren't like hanging out 0:09:37.280 --> 0:09:39.679 on the beach or anything like that. And check the 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.200 educational scene in't exactly happening down there. Yeah, which is 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.160 why we went and why ed is there clearly right? 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:50.600 And uh, you mentioned Anne, So here's a clip of 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:55.000 and explaining, Um, a couple of a stat that we 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.959 found a little staggering. We know that in rural indigenous 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:02.600 villages in guatemal Uh, three out of four students who 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.640 start first grade will drop out of school before they 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:09.440 complete sixth grade. So of the four of us standing here, 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:13.400 only one of us would actually complete sixth grade. That 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.120 would be Josh exactly. But that's good to know, Josh, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.040 that you would have been the one to stay in school. 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.920 It's possible. I think you're the clear winner. I appreciate 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:25.880 that and seem to get a kick out of it. Yeah, 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:30.240 and um, most students who live in Guatemala, she also 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.920 told us during that interview, UM, don't learn to read 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:37.880 until maybe third grade. And um, the teachers don't really 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.319 feel it's a problem because they think that kids can't 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:43.280 learn to read until that age, so they don't teach them. 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:46.960 They're finding, thanks to groups like co ED that oh wait, 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:48.880 well kids can actually start to learn to read in 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.520 the first grade if they have books, right, which is 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.160 a big deal. So that's why they're there, the whole 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.439 thing that all of this hinges on. Yeah, but that's 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.760 one of their big programs. We'll break that down load 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.640 a little bit later, right, Yeah, So that's why co 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:03.760 Ed's there, that's why we got invited to see the 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:11.560 stuff firsthand. And so we begin our trip. So, Josh, 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.480 we meet the three of us early early at Heartsfield Jackson. 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.600 So early. What a bonus for us is there's a 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.439 direct flight to Guatemala from Atlanta, just scant what was 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.160 it like three hours maybe three hours? Three hours and 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.679 likes for air fair round trip. Yeah, it was a 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:30.320 pretty good deal. So we get on the plane, Jerry 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:33.200 and I are we sit together, Josh, Alex not to 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.880 sit with us, because I love the quote you gave 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.120 me when I was like, what's up with that? You 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.240 said you'd like to leave it to the gods. I'd 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.760 like to leave it to fate to determine whether I'm 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.400 going to die in an air or not. So Josh 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.320 is behind us, and a funny nickname came out of this. 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:49.839 Josh I turned around at one point because we all 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.719 know from previous podcasts you don't love to fly. It's 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.400 not your favorite thing in the world. No, it's not. 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.880 So you actually put the black blanket that kid you. 0:11:59.040 --> 0:12:01.640 Jerry is so cracking up right now, the black blanket 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.440 that they give you over your entire body and head. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:06.960 And I was like, Jerry, check it out. And we 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.319 started calling you, what the black ghost of the sky, 0:12:10.440 --> 0:12:13.240 black Ghost of the skies. Yeah. I went to sleep. 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:15.840 I needed to sleep because I don't like to fly. 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.959 It was so funny. Um, and I had um taken 0:12:20.000 --> 0:12:23.600 a painkiller right so that that did you right, right. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.000 I didn't wake up until we landed. I think that 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.880 was pretty And I remember I, um when we did 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.320 land I actually woke up right before we landed. And 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:36.760 as we were coming in to the runway. Um, right 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.520 as we were touching down, I noticed there was like 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:44.640 a line of airplanes that had apparently been stripped for parts. Yeah, 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:47.000 it runway, and I just thought, you've got to be 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:49.920 kidding me because I thought I was going to die. 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:52.840 Remember sure you probably thought that when we took off 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:54.959 from the same airport, but that I was gonna die. 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.200 Well not from the heading, no, but we're just reminded 0:12:58.200 --> 0:12:59.640 when you say like, hey, we need a tire, go 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:03.040 get one off that plane. It was hilarious. So we 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.920 get there. The first like ten minutes in the airport 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.480 is literally like a three Stooges episode. We're just kind 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.360 of like walking in circles. We know we have to 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:13.480 go through uh and shore our passport, we know we 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.400 need to exchange some money Combio, we need to go 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:20.280 to Cambio. We eventually get outside and this is when 0:13:20.360 --> 0:13:22.880 this is when co Ed shines. They really I can't 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:24.719 stress enough because we're gonna try and get some of 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:26.800 you people out there to go on one of these trips. 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.960 On these tours, they're so they really take care of you, 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.600 so there's no need to be worried about going to 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.480 a foreign scary land. Like the second we got out 0:13:35.480 --> 0:13:37.880 to the airport, they had the signs and the bus 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:40.400 waiting for us. We met our cohorts and got on 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.120 the bus and went to Guatemala City. Yeah, and Chuck, 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.520 I think all three of us. I was um still groggy, uh, 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:50.480 and we we decided that we needed to kind of 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:55.440 um create some intro in the field that we could 0:13:55.559 --> 0:14:03.559 use and um. We started drinking gaios, which is the 0:14:03.240 --> 0:14:06.880 the national beer of Guatemala, and actually you can get 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:13.640 Guyo here. Guyo is uh rooster, right, yeah, it means rooster. Um, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:15.760 so they call it famosa here, but it's the exact 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.160 same beer, right. Well. Coed hit the ground running, though, 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.840 remember they when we first got there. Oh yeah, Holly awesome. 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:24.160 Holly met us at the hotel and it was like, 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.320 here's the subway sandwich. We gotta go to our first school. 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:27.960 Do you guys want to go? It's your option, And 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.440 we're like, uh, we we want to like record an 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:32.680 intro here, so you guys go ahead and we'll meet 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:34.960 up later. So so that was time well spent because 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:36.800 we were thinking about what to record while we were 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.560 drinking gios, and eventually we got to the point where 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.160 everything we recorded was just kind of useless. So I 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.520 wish we could include some of that because it's really funny. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.360 Jerry was so frustrated with us because we just we 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.440 were we were doing a good job. Yeah. So, um, 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.680 but it wasn't just that. It was also we didn't 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.480 really have a conception yet of what co Ed did 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:01.040 and um, that was about to change actually because we 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:03.360 remember we were still going down on the premise that 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.880 we were going to record a podcast, can uh Education 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:11.160 Alleviate Poverty? Um? And and this was about I think 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.120 it was in Guatemala City that night where the turning 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.840 point began and our eyes started to open more and 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:20.680 more like Holy cow at dinner, at dinner. Yes, So 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:22.440 they took us. They got back. I was setting us 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:24.760 up for a clip. We don't have a clip for that, okay, 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.200 so take it sounded very much like an MPR set up, 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:29.760 Thank you. Uh so yeah, we met up. They came 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.200 back to the hotel. We um had a couple of 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:35.000 beers at that point and failed miserably with our intro 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:37.960 and they all said, hey, let's uh walk down the 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:39.800 street here to this restaurant and we can talk a 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.080 little bit. And I thought, are we going to be 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.720 kidnapped at any point during this walk? Yeah? But we weren't. No, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.480 we weren't. And we ended up hanging out with Joe 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.080 can I mention real quick our our kidnapping plan that 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.160 Jerry and I hatched, Yeah, because we we came up 0:15:54.200 --> 0:15:55.800 with a plan. If the three of us were kidnapped, 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:58.920 then we were to tell them that Josh was a 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.640 a prince or a very rich man in the United States, 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:03.880 and that we worked for him, we were mere servants. 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:06.680 And I figured that probably would have gotten us off. Yeah, 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:08.760 it would have gotten you too off. Thank you for 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:15.600 the Prince, Josh. Yes. Um, so we hung out with Joe. Yeah, 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:17.920 Joe Burninger is one of the founders, along with his 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:21.600 brother Jeff. Yeah, and they Joe and Jeff used to 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.800 go down to Guatemala for spring break, right. Yeah, they 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:27.440 were going down there having a good time. But they 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.920 kind of they come from this like fairly uncommon family 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:35.520 where like they had tons of like values instilled in them. 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.920 So they're going down hanging out, and it was I 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.600 felt like a piece of trash. Jeff was telling us 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:43.120 all about his parents. I was like, wow, yeah, it 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.800 sounds like really great people. Yes, so much so that, Um, 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:49.000 I guess they kind of led to the to Joe 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:52.000 and Jeff being inspired to actually go back to Guatemala 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:56.440 and live there, right, to help this country and and 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.200 they've done it in a very clever way. Do you 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.920 like all this like um teasing that we're doing right? Right? 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.800 People like, what did they do? Exactly? Yeah, I told 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.400 you it hinges on books. It does. So we had 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.600 this awesome dinner Joe and Holly give us this really 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.840 really great rundown to where we finally feel like, all right, 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:14.440 we got a really good idea what's going on here, 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.280 and we're not ready to share that with you yet. 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.120 We're not ready to share that. We go to sleep. 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.440 We go Betty by, I watch a little uh Spanish 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:26.520 language signfeld. I watched Um, I think Law and Order 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.640 in English was on down there, and I was like, oh, 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:47.920 thank god. So we awake in our was the Radisson 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:51.879 at Guatemala City, and we they have a couple of 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.240 busses arranged for us. So it's like Mercedes, the small 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:56.480 sprinter busses, and I know they are not yeah, not 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.200 the huge chicken busses, although we saw plenty of those. 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:02.120 Those are rat They're brightly colored and a little aside. 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.240 Do you know why chicken busses are painted brightly, vividly 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:09.200 and differently? I do, but you should say so it's 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:14.440 because a significant amount of the Guatemalan population who used 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:18.360 those busses can't read where it's going, so they just know, oh, 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.040 this red bus with the Tasmanian devil on it is 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.680 going to and that's where I need to go, and 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.160 I'm going there. Pretty cool, nice little factive attention. So 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:32.600 we actually that's where we went. We went to uh Santiago, Yeah, 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:36.280 which is where Lake Atiflan is beautiful and actually you 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.800 should check out the coolest stuff on the planet, um 0:18:38.960 --> 0:18:42.679 cast on lake. Yeah, footage that Jerry took while we 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:45.400 were down there. So we arrived there and it's like 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:47.040 I think it was a few hours by bus. We 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:53.800 got to see some of the countryside, tobacco farms, coffee, coffee, bananas, bananas, agriculture, 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:58.040 poor poor towns. Yeah. So we arrived there at the 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.800 lake and this is a volcanic formed a long long 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:05.119 time ago from a volcano, and I think three volcanoes 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.480 are surrounded, right, Yeah, those are dormant, but on the 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.479 way up we saw a couple of volcanoes that are 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.639 um active had smoke coming out of them. Yeah, the 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:16.480 first time for me ever, Yeah, me too, um and yeah, 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:18.760 I t line. I think was formed about eighty thousand 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.240 years ago. I learned from the coolest stuff cast Um. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:27.320 And it was actually ridiculously polluted for many, many years, 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.200 which is kind of screwy because it's a major tourist 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:34.760 destination for Guatemala. So they actually bioremediated it and they 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.040 said it's all good now. Yeah. I saw people swimming 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.879 in chuck and I didn't. We thought maybe after a 0:19:39.880 --> 0:19:42.280 couple more years of buyo remediation getting in it. But 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:48.480 it was gorgeous, man, unbelievable, and people um canoe standing up. Yeah, 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:51.840 it's the craziest thing I've ever seen. Very good balance. Yeah, 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:54.879 so we're at this idyllic scene. We go to this 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:58.800 little uh place that this run by this hippie ex 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.000 pat American next bat, which is my dream to do 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:07.280 this one day. Yeah, you're jealous of that guy. Yeah, 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:11.080 it going on. And actually there was the resort that 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:14.440 we stayed at was around in the sixties I think, 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.119 and it was taken over by the army and they 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:21.720 had to evacuate. The guy's mom had owned it originally, right, 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.240 And to call it a resort is like kind of 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:26.640 overstating things. It was really awesome, but there were little 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:31.080 huts like like stone cabanas, kind of peppered, like ten 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:33.080 or twelve of them peppered on the property. It was 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:36.439 called Pasada de Santiago. Yeah, and it was awesome. And 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:37.800 this was that we should point out. This is the 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:41.199 first first time on the trip and only time and 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:43.720 probably only time in our history, that we will all 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.960 stay in the same place. We had to share, not 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:51.000 a room. Jerry luckily had could close the door and 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.160 had her own room. But you and I were there 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.399 like New Hampshire, Vermont, on those little twin beds. Right. 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:00.000 And apparently Chuck confirms something that I've I've been told before, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:04.600 or that snore really really really loud. Oh wow, yeah, 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:06.639 it's kind of a problem. Actually it sounded like a 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:12.440 sow being murdered with a spoon. Weird. It was bad, 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:16.040 you know. The first person who said that the room 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.400 was awesome though a little fireplace was very cool. So 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.280 we get there, we set up and had an awesome lunch. 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.040 All the food was great the whole trip. It's gonna 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:26.840 get old saying we had an awesome meal because it 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.280 was so delicious. Well, I noticed that in the in 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:31.760 the rundown you noted every single one of them. So 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.080 those things really stub good. You didn't, I'm all about 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:38.639 the awesome meal mentioned this, so U. One of the 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:40.480 first things we did was we went out. They took 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:42.359 us out for a little tour of the of the 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:45.119 main square in town. I saw a church from like 0:21:45.359 --> 0:21:49.760 seventeen thirty or something, the church where Um the lead 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.080 I guess, priest, the head priest Um was murdered. He 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.639 was an American priest down there, and he was murdered 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:58.960 in the civil warrant. That was kind of a big deal. Yeah, 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.880 very big deal. And remember they had like the carpet 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:08.040