In reading old emails with Mike (and lots of other people) and either deleting or saving them, I sometimes run across an interesting one. This was so typical of our communication then - lack of grammar and spelling, going off on our own tangents - but so much fun. Interesting that in 2009 Mike didn't know about Google Search. He was late to the party on things like that, along with social media, but no one had more fun with it.
This was in 2009, and he was encouraging me to write something on the blog about Dina passing an important test, and unfortunately I don't have the name or the details of it saved. It was a big deal, and he was so proud of her.
While he was talking about it, he mentioned the transportation problems he ran into in Guatemala. The highlighted blog is also interesting. A good writer echoing a lot of what Mike said about the combis.
=====The highlight of my several guatemalan trips was riding from koramsa back downtown with dina...on a guatemalan city bus. an old worn out blue bird bus from the usa. packed to the gills with people, and driven by an absolute animal. so rude to the passengers, including old decrepit ladies. an animal. the upside was that one way fare anywhere in the city was 1Q (quetal), about thirteen cents. dina still mentions how much that bus ride impressed me.
| Sep 6, 2009, 1:40 PM |  | ||
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| Sep 6, 2009, 2:04 PM | | ||
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Morelos, Mexico.
Combis are VW vans that run certain routes. They are independent of
one another, but operate with a loose, informal organization that sets
and enforces rules. Rather like the guilds of medieval Europe, I
should think.
I rode in a combi once. You could go from one end of town (probably 15
miles) to the other for 2 1/2 pesos; around 21 cents. The interior
was gutted except for the driver's seat. The people lucky enough to
get on first have small wooden boxes to sit on, which line the
interior perimeter. The others sit on the floor and pull their knees
up under their chins. The drivers take complete command of the roads
with the recklessness of their driving.
When Burlington first built the plant, it was about 18 miles out in
the country near the ancient village of Yecapixtla, where Hernando
Cortez had founded a convent in the very early 1500's.
Burlington's approach in this $65 million undertaking was that of
enlightenment and providing benefits to the hourly workers. This
included direct deposit, a doctor on the premises, a furnished hot
meal prepared for each shift, and...mass transportation. They bought a
series of nice, air conditioned modern buses and established routes to
provide transportation to and from work for all shifts.
This lasted about a week.
Two bus loads of workers were stopped by a combi roadblock halfway to
the plant, the people and the drivers unloaded and both modern buses
were burned to a crisp.
The employees rode on into work in the combis that had a few minutes
earlier burned their earlier free transportation.
One week later Burlington announced the termination of their free
transportation benefit.
| Sep 6, 2009, 2:06 PM | | ||
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| Sep 6, 2009, 3:12 PM | | ||
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I find that very impressive that you know to do this.
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