I guess it's natural to compare every new place you go to some other place you've been before. I'm here in Guatemala, in some obscure city in the countryside, and I can't help thinking how this arid highland landscape could be parts of California, how these colorful storefronts on narrow streets could be in Bangladesh, how these chilly evenings and lingering twilights could be summer in Montana, this chemical smell of smoke and car exhaust could be in Cairo, these small farmplots of vegetables could be in Palestine, and the concord of children's voices and the sounds of play coming from the nearby school could literally be from anywhere.