Traveling

In the strange other world of plane flight, I've been reading The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane, a digital book borrowed and thought overdue, but still readable on my Kindle app. Curious.

After immersing myself in guide book reading for most of the journey so far, it's seemingly apt, now, in the last leg of the journey, in a darkened airplane, to read his lyrical descriptions of walking in places that evoke their ancient heritage, and the paths made by those who lived there many years before.

We'll be in equally ancient places, but perhaps not in a culture that's easy to know. Already surrounded by Spanish speakers, and Guatemalans traveling home, Spanish is the first language spoken on the announcements and directions. And it also seemed to be dominant in the Miami airport, just left. But much of Guatemala harbors speakers of various Mayan dialects as their first language, rather than Spanish, reflecting the rich and diverse past of their country, even with Spanish as the official universal language.

 

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