Homer's Travels: Travels, Day 18, On The Way To Guatemala

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Travels, Day 18, On The Way To Guatemala

Mom's travelogue continues:
Date: July 6, 1972
Place: Plaza Motel
"Today we drove out to Bob M. farm. He was there alone. Betty was in the city. He drove us to a farm on shore of Pacific Ocean that is reported to be for sale. No house. Only a sand dune between ocean and headquarters.
We ate lunch with Bob - pork, cucumbers, mashed potatoes, black beans + lettuce w/hot dressing - lots of lemonade. He has a man cook - very good. Hot on farm - so dusty. They need rain. Cotton is about up 3 inches."
When I started this series, I was asked why we went to Guatemala. This entry deals with the reason. My dad was the only one of three brothers who did not farm. Before the move my parents ran a resort on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. At my Uncles' suggestion, my parents decided to go to Guatemala to farm. Bob M. was a friend of the family and I believe he was instrumental in convincing my Uncles and my dad about the opportunities that existed back then in Guatemala.

While most of my family - Grandparents, Uncles - were farmers, I never was interested in that stuff. I think it was a little too physically demanding for me. Farming takes a very special type of person. I think my lack of interest in the family farm contributed to the gulf that opened between me and my dad.

3 comments:

  1. So, did your Dad not farm by choice? Did he have an interest in it that he was unable to pursue?

    Sorry about the gulf that developed between the two of you. Seems so very common with father/son relationships...

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  2. GH: I threw this post together and really didn't write it very well. My parents chose to go to Guatemala at the suggestion of my uncles. They weren't forced. My dad, as far as I know, ran the farm well. I do know that our life in Guatemala was easier for my parents. Being an eight year old at the time my life was easy anywhere I was and the move didn't affect my life as much as you would think. I do believe it changed how my life went. I mean my life would have been very different if we'd not moved. I don't know if it would have been better or not. There's really no way to know ... without a flux capacitor.

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  3. Just a note...before you were born, your father was a farmer. Thus the move to Guatemala to be a farmer was not new to him, other than in a different country.

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