Almost back to Oakland for the Mirador Four

It's the last leg of our journey back from Guatemala and I marvel at the difference in the landscape from above — houses neatly dotted against the foothill ridges and valleys of California's sloping red terrain inching all the way from Los Angeles in random sproutings of civilization. It's the same feeling I had while staring out at the Pacific from Laguna del Rey today — kids ran from the onrush of crashing waves and boogie borders chased their boards only to bounce on them within an inch of a quick slide beneath their feet. Five hours away is Guatemala City, chaotic, sprawling and a nightmare in city planning (if there actually was ever any real planning behind the city's massive overpopulation during the some 36 years of war). It's a research project onto itself, how a city like la capital developed into such an unwelcoming place in its design and the impact it must have on the psyche of its inhabitants ...