Greetings from the Houston airport, where I am enjoying a looong hangover due to storms on the East Coast. Wait, did I say hangover? I meant layover.

I’m on my way back from nine days in Guatemala, where I returned to play at Jamtigua 2006, the second incarnation of the festival I played at last year.

Despite being rather sick, I made it to Guatemala City, where my dear friend Lenin Fernandez (who’s an amazing drummer) not only picked me up at the airport, but interviewed me IN SPANISH on his radio show on Radio Infinita. Despite what I’m sure was a constant stream of grammatical errors, I had a great time doing the interview. Lenin played some tracks from Sugar Shack and some from the new Golem album, and to my great pleasure people called in asking where they could find the albums…I smile at the idea of old-time and klezmer playing on radios across Guatemala City.

The next morning, we drove to Antigua, and thus commenced a series of vegetarian burritos and cafe con leches at my beloved Cafe No Se. This place occupies a disproportionately large part of my heart, considering that I’ve never even lived in Antigua, only visited three and a half times. But there is something really special about it; I don’t know if it’s John & Mike, the candles, the tea, or the tequila, but life seems somehow distilled to its essence at the Cafe No Se. Conversation, food, drink, music, books, beauty, love, and sometimes utter messiness. So I spent roughly half of each day just sitting at the cafe, writing, hanging out with the Surly Bartenders, and staring at the plants. At night, more often than not, I sat in the same exact spot, playing my fiddle.

And then Jamtigua came. A huge field just outside Antigua, over 700 people, Gallo flowing freely, and over twenty acts, from old-time fiddle (yours truly) to a troupe of Guatemalan belly dancers (wow). And a lot of great Central American rock bands. And an hour-long block of Guatemalan heavy metal, to my delight. I did some improvising onstage with Del Vezeau, a great Canadian guitarist I had just met, then played my old-time set as the sun went down, along with Javier, who was not only an organizer of the festival but also my skilled accompanist.

Then followed a few more days of wandering around the cobblestones and church ruins of Antigua, making my traditional trip to the boot-making town of Pastores (this time I ended up with black motorcycle boots, good for navigating aforementioned cobblestones) and ducking into internet cafes.

Monday, I visited the after-school program which my friend JP recently started, Los Patojos (www.lospatojos.org). Besides being a great musician, JP is a truly gifted teacher, passionately dedicated to social justice in his country, and giving disadvantaged Guatemalan kids access to education. It was quite exciting to drop in for the afternoon and watch him, along with a few other 20-something Guatemalan friends, training teen leaders to work with the younger kids.

Even in the touristy town of Antigua, you can see how important this kind of work is. Tiny 12-year-old boys wander around asking to shine your shoes for a few quetzales; by American standards they look about 8. I’ve seen different numbers for the illiteracy rate in Guatemala, but by all standards at least one-third of all adults can’t read. It’s all too clear what happens when kids don’t have access to good education, and seeing someone working in his own community to change this gave me chills.

And so for my goodbye concert at the Cafe No Se, I asked JP to play a little benefit for Los Patojos with me. And play we did, for hours, sometimes with Javier, Sammy, and sundry Surly Bartenders (who were not so Surly while leading a rousing Amazing Grace at the end of the evening, I might add). I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my last night in Antigua. Making music with such sweet friends in a place I love, and raising a little money for something so important.

Now I’m drinking a cup of coffee, typing on my computer in the middle of Texas with my fiddle case leaning on the seat next to me. It’s dark out, and there is something delicious about being in transit. But I do miss my dear friends in Antigua. Entonces, besos y abrazos, hasta el Jamtigua 2007.