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Incommunicado

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For Almost Two Weeks I’ve Been Without Phone Service

I was at the supermarket during my Monday grocery shopping when I was approached by a Spectrum salesman offering me a good deal. Already a Spectrum customer, I was paying over $300 a month for combined cable television/internet/telephone service. Since I am now on a fixed income, the idea of saving over $2,000 a year was appealing to me.

There was a slight problem: The salesman was not exactly following his company’s procedures. He kept promising to come to my apartment and set me up, but something was always coming up. This meant I had to contact Spectrum, who duly sent out a tech to set up my cable service and wi-fi. Unfortunately, I was still without access to my land line.

I was not completely without a phone. I have a Consumer Cellular flip cell phone which I only use for emergencies or when traveling. I don’t like to give that number out to my friends because, when my land line is working, the cell phone is shut off. Why? I absolutely refuse to be a slave to my telephone and be available to everyone at all hours. So what I do is prefer to restrict my social calling to the evening hours, when I’m not likely to be shopping or cooking (I do all the cooking in my household)—and for safety reasons I object to answering a cell phone when I’m driving.

Eventually, I will get my land line reconnected; but, until then, I will be in a communication gray area.

“The Vanity of Success”

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Laozi (aka Lao Tzu and Lao Tse)

However you pronounce his name, Laozi is one the world’s greatest thinkers. Born in 571 BC or sometimes thought to be in the 4th century BCE, or whenever, and died whenever, Laozi may in fact never have existed; yet he is a great author.

I have been reading Dancing with the Dead: The Essential Red Pine Translations (Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 2023) with great pleasure. There is something about Chinese poetry—even in English translation—that hits me where I live. And Red Pine (alias Bill Porter) is a superb translator. His explanatory notes are revealing: He says that even Chinese scholars have a difficult time and have to rely on explanatory notes dated in the centuries after the poems were written.

Here is an excerpt from Laozi’s The Way and Its Power (aka Daodejing aka Tao Te Ching) on the subject of striving:

Instead of poring in more
better stop while you can
making it sharper
won’t help it last longer
rooms full of treasure
can never be safe
the vanity of success
invites its own failure
when your work is done retire
this is the Way of Heaven

Around 130 AD, the Chinese sage Heshanggong wrote the following note about this passage:

Excessive wealth and desire wearies and harms the spirit. The rich should help the poor, and the powerful should aid the oppressed. If, instead, they flaunt their riches and power, they are sure to suffer disaster. Once the sun reaches the zenith, it descends. Once the moon becomes full, it wanes. Creatures flourish then wither. Joy turns to sorrow. When your work is done, if you do not step down, you will meet with harm. This is the Way of Heaven.

This is very old and powerful wisdom. But does anyone listen? Not in today’s world.

Gringo Perdido

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La Casa de Don David in El Remate, Guatemala

I couldn’t find the owner’s last name on the Internet. His first name I know, however: It’s David. Supposedly, in 1974 he founded a hotel called the Gringo Perdido, “The Lost Gringo.” At some point, he sold it to its present Guatemalan owners and opened La Casa de Don David, much closer to the intersection with the road to the Maya ruins at Tikal.

If you want to visit Tikal, you can stay just outside the ruins, or hang out with the tourist throngs on the island of Flores. My choice was the village of El Remate, roughly midway between Flores with its airport and the ruins at Tikal. And what a choice it was! My 2019 stay was restful and in every way delightful. The Casa was on the eastern shore of the Lago Petén Itza, the site of the final defeat of the Maya to the Spanish conquistadors in 1697, over a century after Cortés defeated the Aztecs several hundred miles to the north.

Here is the front of the informational handout I received in 2019:

The website listed is still current, in both Spanish and English.

I spent a couple hours talking with David and liked him and his hotel immensely. In fact, I hired a guide to the ruins through the hotel who was extremely knowledgeable.

One of the things I hate about a hotel when I’m traveling is a party atmosphere. I don’t mind conviviality, but it seems that the majority of American travelers particularly travel to get drunk. Me, I like places that are restful and quiet. It helped that the food was excellent and the owner and staff friendly and helpful. If I were to return to Tikal (next time I’d like to access it through Belize, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the east.