La hora chapina

There is definitely one thing in Guatemala to which I never will or want to become accustomed: la hora chapina.

“La hora chapina” is the little phrase people use here to laugh off the fact that nothing starts on time. But I don’t think it’s funny. Being the Type-A American that I am, I find it maddeningly frustrating that people routinely do not show up for meetings for at least an hour after their scheduled start times. There is no excuse or apology when a person strolls in an hour and a half late—she just takes her seat and joins in on the meeting (that is if enough people had arrived by that time to actually start it). My exasperated countenance occasionally elicits the aforementioned irking expression, “Es la hora chapina, Seño,” but there is no compunction in the phrase—it is only the person’s way of dispelling any culpability in her tardiness.

A couple of weeks ago following a meeting with members of the European Union in which the last member of the board of my association didn’t show up until a full two hours after 8:00 am (saying that a meeting will start that early here is really just a joke), I delivered a stern speech on punctuality to the board of directors. The women intently listened and nodded as I went on and on about how punctuality is a sign of respect for other people and a reflection on how our association does business. I even translated the saying, “To be early is to be on time. To be on time is to be late. To be late is to be left,” into Spanish to get across the American mentality about time. After the lecture, the women seemed genuinely excited to turn over a new leaf, singing the praises of “puntualidad” and “la hora americana”. The next morning one women arrived 45 minutes late to leave for a meeting in Cobán and two didn’t show up at all.

This lax concept of time is by no means exclusive to my women’s group (as any Peace Corps volunteer would tell you), but is just the way of life here. Everyone has the mindset that there is no point in showing up on time because no one else will be on time and therefore nothing starts on time. This culturally ingrained habit isn’t going to change just because the anal gringa has anxiety if she is not at least 10 minutes early for a meeting. And even though I know this post already reeks of ethnocentrism, I can’t help but say that the way things operate here is just a horrible waste of time. Meetings in which everything could be accomplished within an hour end up taking half a day waiting for everyone to arrive (unprepared). So I am going to keep on lecturing on punctuality. Maybe by the end of my two years I’ll be able to deliver the speech in Poqomchi’.