This black ash covers all roof tops, parked cars and streets. It is not as easy to move as snow and you can't make 'snow angels' in this stuff.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Photo of Volcanic Ash clean-up
This black ash covers all roof tops, parked cars and streets. It is not as easy to move as snow and you can't make 'snow angels' in this stuff.
Trouble in Guatemala
Hello
Just wanted to let all of you know that we were in parts of Guatemala that is now having fun with the volcano we climbed during our first visit and the tropical storm is playing havoc on parts of the country that we moved around in. We were only in the airport in Guatemala City but we lived in Ciudad Viaja (aka 'the old city) where they are coping with lots and lots of water and mud. In Xela we walked the streets that were really underwater and now know exactly why all of the sidewalks are at least a foot above the street. There are a couple of tiny bridges that are for foot traffic to cross flooded streets. It is the rainy season there now so the ground is saturated and the sewer system is not doing so hot. The volcano has the people there using shovels to clean off the spewed rock and ash from the volcano. There have been many deaths already with both events so please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers.
Just wanted to let all of you know that we were in parts of Guatemala that is now having fun with the volcano we climbed during our first visit and the tropical storm is playing havoc on parts of the country that we moved around in. We were only in the airport in Guatemala City but we lived in Ciudad Viaja (aka 'the old city) where they are coping with lots and lots of water and mud. In Xela we walked the streets that were really underwater and now know exactly why all of the sidewalks are at least a foot above the street. There are a couple of tiny bridges that are for foot traffic to cross flooded streets. It is the rainy season there now so the ground is saturated and the sewer system is not doing so hot. The volcano has the people there using shovels to clean off the spewed rock and ash from the volcano. There have been many deaths already with both events so please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Home - Stay Tuned for the rest of the story and photos
Stay Tuned for the Rest of the Story and photos.
Our Internet during the last six weeks was disappointingly slow and cumbersome. We could send emails and did do a couple of postings while in Xela however, not being able to send pictures soon had us not wanting to put forth the effort to get that done. While in Xela we were "Living" and not doing so much traveling around.
We hiked on foot to wherever we needed to go. The market was just a 1/2 block away for our fresh produce. This kind of stuff was a daily thing we did as we "lived" in Xela and we didn't feel like those following the blogs wanted a daily accounting of getting up, eating breakfast, hiking to the big mall, shopping in the market, etc., etc. It was just normal daily living.
Part of the reason for being in Xela was to see if would prefer to live in Xela or Antigua. The cost of living is much lower than it is in the USA. I think it is a crying shame that we cannot afford to live in our own country because we keep trying to 'keep up with the Joneses' and hiking the cost of everything from food to housing in the USA. I hope we are beginning to 'smell the roses' here and are beginning to bring things back into a more practical way of life making it affordable for everyone in the USA.
At any rate we still have a couple of stories to share so stay tuned for me as we get rested and we should be able to get photos up for you to enjoy. Guatemala is a very colorful and cool place to live or visit.
Our Internet during the last six weeks was disappointingly slow and cumbersome. We could send emails and did do a couple of postings while in Xela however, not being able to send pictures soon had us not wanting to put forth the effort to get that done. While in Xela we were "Living" and not doing so much traveling around.
We hiked on foot to wherever we needed to go. The market was just a 1/2 block away for our fresh produce. This kind of stuff was a daily thing we did as we "lived" in Xela and we didn't feel like those following the blogs wanted a daily accounting of getting up, eating breakfast, hiking to the big mall, shopping in the market, etc., etc. It was just normal daily living.
Part of the reason for being in Xela was to see if would prefer to live in Xela or Antigua. The cost of living is much lower than it is in the USA. I think it is a crying shame that we cannot afford to live in our own country because we keep trying to 'keep up with the Joneses' and hiking the cost of everything from food to housing in the USA. I hope we are beginning to 'smell the roses' here and are beginning to bring things back into a more practical way of life making it affordable for everyone in the USA.
At any rate we still have a couple of stories to share so stay tuned for me as we get rested and we should be able to get photos up for you to enjoy. Guatemala is a very colorful and cool place to live or visit.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
'Nother Adventure
Hi There,
We went on another adventure today. Don had a bee in his bonnet about seeing the big yellow church in San Andres just up the road a piece. So we hiked out to the park where we catch the bus to the Terminal, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then hunted down the bus that would take us to San Andres. The church is in a small village built into the side of a mountain so main street goes straight up. It is similar to a 'painted lady' house but with extremely bright colors. Don went on up the street to a bright yellow chapel but I decided not to do the hike. We took the scenic route back.
We went on another adventure today. Don had a bee in his bonnet about seeing the big yellow church in San Andres just up the road a piece. So we hiked out to the park where we catch the bus to the Terminal, grabbed a quick bite to eat, then hunted down the bus that would take us to San Andres. The church is in a small village built into the side of a mountain so main street goes straight up. It is similar to a 'painted lady' house but with extremely bright colors. Don went on up the street to a bright yellow chapel but I decided not to do the hike. We took the scenic route back.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Mail service does work in Guatemala
Today is Don's Birthday - send him a birthday greeting -- at >> dongua2010@gmail.com
This week we had proof that the mail service does work inside of Guatemala. The crutch tips we bought and spent forever getting ready to mail actually reached it's destination. Joan sent a message back saying they had arrived and she was thrilled. Now she will be able to get around much more easily.
We have been walking everyday and learning to get around Xela even if the streets are not clearly marked. Each trip is an adventure all to itself. You see all kinds of people out and about and you see the homeless sleeping where they drop. One day a may was curled up on the street in a parking space. I hope no one parked on top of him. There are a lot of young people in town with no place to go and nothing to do. It is sad to see such a waste of good minds. Jobs are scarce here also.
Today we had one of my prescriptions refilled. We had to go to 3 pharmacies to get it done including taking a bus to the third one but I have enough pills to last till I get back to Iowa. Between my doctor and Medco I allowed myself to miss count the number of pills I ended up with so it is partly my fault. The pharmacy did not even ask for any kind of ID, just the money, which was strange to me but I left with my pills.
We were also successful getting back by bus to the spot we left from this morning! We often just walk home because it is easier and down hill. Today we rode a chicken bus and nobody was standing. That is very different from Antigua. After getting back this morning we stopped at the market on our street and bought some more fresh veggies. It is so nice to have fresh produce so very close.
This week we had proof that the mail service does work inside of Guatemala. The crutch tips we bought and spent forever getting ready to mail actually reached it's destination. Joan sent a message back saying they had arrived and she was thrilled. Now she will be able to get around much more easily.
We have been walking everyday and learning to get around Xela even if the streets are not clearly marked. Each trip is an adventure all to itself. You see all kinds of people out and about and you see the homeless sleeping where they drop. One day a may was curled up on the street in a parking space. I hope no one parked on top of him. There are a lot of young people in town with no place to go and nothing to do. It is sad to see such a waste of good minds. Jobs are scarce here also.
Today we had one of my prescriptions refilled. We had to go to 3 pharmacies to get it done including taking a bus to the third one but I have enough pills to last till I get back to Iowa. Between my doctor and Medco I allowed myself to miss count the number of pills I ended up with so it is partly my fault. The pharmacy did not even ask for any kind of ID, just the money, which was strange to me but I left with my pills.
We were also successful getting back by bus to the spot we left from this morning! We often just walk home because it is easier and down hill. Today we rode a chicken bus and nobody was standing. That is very different from Antigua. After getting back this morning we stopped at the market on our street and bought some more fresh veggies. It is so nice to have fresh produce so very close.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Have You Noticed? --No Daily Blog
Hi Everyone,
I suppose by now you have noticed that we are not doing daily blogs. There is a reason for that -- we are living in Xela and not doing much exploring outside of the city. We figured that you all know that we get up fairly early in the morning and that Don cooks breakfast -- that is standard. We fix beds, sweep floors, and wash dishes as part of our daily routine. Actually, one of the young ladies made what we called in Girl Scouts - a Kaper Chart - so that in the common areas we rotate through the chores (scrubbing the toilet is not high on their list of things they like to do). The chart is working as well as it did in scouting -- someone sneaks by without doing their part now and then.
The work Don is doing right now -- grant writing-- he can do from our own space. That means we have less interaction with the Chicken Bus! Okay, here is another chicken bus story. Here in Xela instead of the tuc-tuc they use 15 passenger vans as well as the school buses. They can over stuff the buses but it does not happen as often as it does in Antigua. Now that is not the same as the 15 passenger vans which they do stuff to over full so that 2 or maybe 3 people have their backsides hanging out of the open side panel door! Don and I do not get on a bus if we cannot get a seat! Now our biggest problem is getting on a bus from Parque Calverio which is close to us and THEN finding one that will bring us back to the same location!!! Most days we head out around 11 or 11:30 am to get lunch - our big meal for the day-- and our return usually happens at the same time that school lets out near the big mall. Then we have to compete with high school age kids for space on the buses. One day we got on a 15 passenger van and the two seats available were at opposite ends of the van. After the first stop a very old Mayan gentleman got Don's attention to let him know that he could join me in the middle of the van because I had moved up so that we could sit together. Being at the back of the bus was fun when I was a kid going to school but here you can miss your stop if you can't get to the front of the bus fast enough.
We are enjoying the days of beautiful, cool weather in the common area of our guest house. It works out that we all manage to be gone for a time during the day so each of us has quiet time at home. Our roommates introduce us to their friends when they come up as the 'young folks' living at the guest house. Don does his writing and research and I play on the computer and read books on the computer. We are both feeling well and that is wonderful. Each day we get in a good long walk which is plenty of exercise because Xela is not flat. It is surrounded by mountains and volcanos and the city has plenty of ups and downs but terrible sidewalks.
I suppose by now you have noticed that we are not doing daily blogs. There is a reason for that -- we are living in Xela and not doing much exploring outside of the city. We figured that you all know that we get up fairly early in the morning and that Don cooks breakfast -- that is standard. We fix beds, sweep floors, and wash dishes as part of our daily routine. Actually, one of the young ladies made what we called in Girl Scouts - a Kaper Chart - so that in the common areas we rotate through the chores (scrubbing the toilet is not high on their list of things they like to do
The work Don is doing right now -- grant writing-- he can do from our own space. That means we have less interaction with the Chicken Bus! Okay, here is another chicken bus story. Here in Xela instead of the tuc-tuc they use 15 passenger vans as well as the school buses. They can over stuff the buses but it does not happen as often as it does in Antigua. Now that is not the same as the 15 passenger vans which they do stuff to over full so that 2 or maybe 3 people have their backsides hanging out of the open side panel door! Don and I do not get on a bus if we cannot get a seat! Now our biggest problem is getting on a bus from Parque Calverio which is close to us and THEN finding one that will bring us back to the same location!!! Most days we head out around 11 or 11:30 am to get lunch - our big meal for the day-- and our return usually happens at the same time that school lets out near the big mall. Then we have to compete with high school age kids for space on the buses. One day we got on a 15 passenger van and the two seats available were at opposite ends of the van. After the first stop a very old Mayan gentleman got Don's attention to let him know that he could join me in the middle of the van because I had moved up so that we could sit together. Being at the back of the bus was fun when I was a kid going to school but here you can miss your stop if you can't get to the front of the bus fast enough.
We are enjoying the days of beautiful, cool weather in the common area of our guest house. It works out that we all manage to be gone for a time during the day so each of us has quiet time at home. Our roommates introduce us to their friends when they come up as the 'young folks' living at the guest house. Don does his writing and research and I play on the computer and read books on the computer. We are both feeling well and that is wonderful. Each day we get in a good long walk which is plenty of exercise because Xela is not flat. It is surrounded by mountains and volcanos and the city has plenty of ups and downs but terrible sidewalks.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Good Friday in Parque Central
Today was spent in Parque Central for the Lenten Church services and Processions with at least half of the population of Xela. We left the house close to lunch time and ate shrimp at Pollo Campero then walked around the park taking in the sights and sounds of 'Santa Semana'. We had an hour and a half or so to fill in before the start of the Good Friday Church service in the cathedral scheduled to start at 3 pm. The cathedral is a very, very large church and the pews on one side of the church were folded up to make room for several of the large barge type 'floats' with depictions of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, angels and assorted saints. The archbishop held the service and I am really beginning to like the way he does things. He does not sit around and let all of the peons do the work but jumps right in to get things accomplished. After the service we went outside where the people were lined up waiting for the next procession to begin. We joined in the waiting, standing on concrete, while they moved the largest barge we have seen yet out of the church and lined up on the street. This barge takes about 90 men to carry and the men are stacked as close together as they can get. Spaced out among the carriers are metal poles that can be placed under the barge to rest it on when it becomes necessary to change the carry crew out with some of the men who walk beside the barge. It took the better part three hours to allow the archbishop to say a few prayers and sing a song then start moving and circle half way around the park! I don't know how far they were going but it will take the forever to complete the route. We watched them exit the church and line up, then walked to the other side of the park and watched them pass by before we had our dinner and walked our aching feet back home. This puts a whole new meaning of Lent and Easter. They get into the celebration in a big way.
Don took some pictures but we have to find a way to reduce them and then try to get them uploaded for you to see. We may have to carry the computer to Wendy's where they have a second floor with an area dedicated to Skype so their Internet speed may be better than ours.
Happy Easter!
Don took some pictures but we have to find a way to reduce them and then try to get them uploaded for you to see. We may have to carry the computer to Wendy's where they have a second floor with an area dedicated to Skype so their Internet speed may be better than ours.
Happy Easter!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Three Hours to Mail a Box
We started out to mail the crutch tips to Joan on Lake Atitlan today. Can I just tell you that the postal service here is just past the pony express stage? The young lady behind the counter (yes only one person) did not even bother to stand up to assist us. She wanted to know if we wanted stamps. Our Spanish was not good enough to get her to understand that we wanted a package, envelope, something, that we could use to mail the small box in. So we left the post office on the hunt for packaging materials. The first paper store only had brown envelopes which busted the minute we put the box inside. We left to find another paper store that might have a different inventory, no luck. We ended up at Mont Blanc, having walked there, where we bought a gift bag that was made of brown craft paper. We cut it up, taped it up, and addressed the box and started back to the post office. It took us about three hours to get this small package ready and then mailed! We can only hope that it reaches Joan. It cost as much to mail the crutch tips as it did to buy them. Don sent Joan a note about the tips and she responded with delight. It will make her life much easier. All together we walked for about 3 1/2 hours, I will say we SAT to eat for maybe 30 minutes. I was tired by the time we arrived back at the house.
Don and I had a quiet evening at home. We spoke to Susan and Donna and of course Nic and the twins by computer. Donna is sick and Nic is home chattering away as it is spring break. The twins are coping with our slow Internet and wait for us to dial back in so that can 'see' us. The system works better if we do not do the video part but that is not good enough for the twins. It is fun to seem them even if it is hard to stay connected.
Don and I had a quiet evening at home. We spoke to Susan and Donna and of course Nic and the twins by computer. Donna is sick and Nic is home chattering away as it is spring break. The twins are coping with our slow Internet and wait for us to dial back in so that can 'see' us. The system works better if we do not do the video part but that is not good enough for the twins. It is fun to seem them even if it is hard to stay connected.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Successful Hunt!
Another day in Paradise! Well it is Spring here all the time. The weather forecasts have been calling for rain but the volcanoes are the ones in control and if conditions are not right we do not get rain but lots of Sunshine. We woke as the sun did this morning and made a cup of tea to start the day. Don did his breakfast cooking and we were then set for the day. We spent the early morning on the computers reading a story (me) and doing research (Don). Late morning we started out on our continuing quest to find stoppers for a pair of crutches.
The Hunt is On - Again
We walked to Parque Calverio to chat with Tom who was our contact when we came to Xela the first time. He lives here with his wife who is Guatamalan so we thought they could give us a better address for the medical supply store we had been told about. Tom was able to show us on the map where the place was - complete with street address and everything. Only one small problem with that -- none and I mean NONE of the streets have any signs!!!! You can not identify the streets! It is most frustrating! We hiked and hiked and by golly we did stumble on the medical supply store. For less than $4 we bought a set of crutch tips! The next step is to find the post office here and mail them to Joan on Lake Atitlan. They should be delivered to her and it might even happen before she can no longer walk at all. Mission Accomplished.
As we continued our walk we stopped at McDonald's to get an ice cream and rest for a little. We then hiked to Mont Blanc, a shopping mall with a grocery store attached, to pick up a couple of things we could not find closer to home. When we were done Don looked at the map and we decided we would just walk back home and not do the bus search. Lucky for us the walk back was ALL down hill (really, really down hill). It's a bit hard on the knees to keep yourself doing only a walk down something that steep. It didn't take very long and we were back in our own stomping grounds. All of our chickens were out and about inside the house when we got home so we unloaded our shopping and went to our room, me to rest and Don was going to read but he ended up taking a short name (I did not go to sleep!). We spent the later afternoon messing around on the computers. I have a good book on the computer so I was involved in my story until time to warm up the soup for our dinner. After dinner we once again went out for a walk and tried to find the Lenten procession we could hear but we did not locate it. Our walk took us to Parque Central where people were out walking about and visiting. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the Lenten Procession will be around Parque Central along with lots and lots of people. If we go we will not have anything on us for anybody to steal. Lesson Learned.
I finished my computer book and have another one to start tonight but first I thought I would pop some popcorn the old fashioned way. We discovered that the popcorn taste much better cooked this way. When that is done I do believe I will call it a day. Catch you tomorrow with more Spring.
The Hunt is On - Again
We walked to Parque Calverio to chat with Tom who was our contact when we came to Xela the first time. He lives here with his wife who is Guatamalan so we thought they could give us a better address for the medical supply store we had been told about. Tom was able to show us on the map where the place was - complete with street address and everything. Only one small problem with that -- none and I mean NONE of the streets have any signs!!!! You can not identify the streets! It is most frustrating! We hiked and hiked and by golly we did stumble on the medical supply store. For less than $4 we bought a set of crutch tips! The next step is to find the post office here and mail them to Joan on Lake Atitlan. They should be delivered to her and it might even happen before she can no longer walk at all. Mission Accomplished.
As we continued our walk we stopped at McDonald's to get an ice cream and rest for a little. We then hiked to Mont Blanc, a shopping mall with a grocery store attached, to pick up a couple of things we could not find closer to home. When we were done Don looked at the map and we decided we would just walk back home and not do the bus search. Lucky for us the walk back was ALL down hill (really, really down hill). It's a bit hard on the knees to keep yourself doing only a walk down something that steep. It didn't take very long and we were back in our own stomping grounds. All of our chickens were out and about inside the house when we got home so we unloaded our shopping and went to our room, me to rest and Don was going to read but he ended up taking a short name (I did not go to sleep!). We spent the later afternoon messing around on the computers. I have a good book on the computer so I was involved in my story until time to warm up the soup for our dinner. After dinner we once again went out for a walk and tried to find the Lenten procession we could hear but we did not locate it. Our walk took us to Parque Central where people were out walking about and visiting. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the Lenten Procession will be around Parque Central along with lots and lots of people. If we go we will not have anything on us for anybody to steal. Lesson Learned.
I finished my computer book and have another one to start tonight but first I thought I would pop some popcorn the old fashioned way. We discovered that the popcorn taste much better cooked this way. When that is done I do believe I will call it a day. Catch you tomorrow with more Spring.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Nice Weekend
We had a very nice, restful weekend. We did not do much but read, locate and prepare or eat our meals and check our email. Saturday I was still coughing but the meds picked up at the big grocery Hiper Piaz seemed to be helping with the spasms. I go for longer stretches of time without coughing so I call it progress. Our third guest/roommate returned from her travels and spent Saturday cleaning and repairing her 'nest'. Her room is as small as ours. The designer of this building was a nut case! This place make little sense to me but it is comfortable enough so it will do till the end of April.
Sunday we walked to church early enough to catch one of the Lenten processions as it went by the church. This one was a women's float of Mary and all of the carriers were older women in 'ropa tipica'. It was really beautiful. Then we walked on to the church. All along the sidewalk in front of the church were vendors selling Lenten Palms with flowers and ferns in the arrangements. When you entered the church you were given a simpler arrangement of palms so that everyone had their palms. The Archbishop said the Mass and entered the church from the front blessing the palms and the people as he came up the aisle. The palm arrangements added a simple beauty to the process. The altar was well decorated with just palms. We had forgotten our Mass books so we had to listen hard to catch the Spanish which the Archbishop spoke very clearly and using simpler Spanish. We were able to follow pretty well and we knew the story of the passion. We had lunch right after church since we were out and then walked back across the park to our house. The rest of the afternoon we spent reading and computing. Around 5pm we took ourselves out for a walk in our neighborhood since the weather was beautiful and we were needed to get out for a bit. The three girls we live with is a great deal like living with chickens! They chitter-chatter and giggle and run around much like brainless chickens but they are nice. The girls were all out for the evening so we took our showers and were in bed reading long before they came home. I slept well and the coughing did not wake me up with every other breath so all total---a good night.
Monday morning and I have had my oatmeal and tea made by Don and below us the Spanish school has begun class for the day. Our chickens are still sleeping. I am not sure how they sleep through the process of us cooking breakfast because this place is a sound chamber.
Sunday we walked to church early enough to catch one of the Lenten processions as it went by the church. This one was a women's float of Mary and all of the carriers were older women in 'ropa tipica'. It was really beautiful. Then we walked on to the church. All along the sidewalk in front of the church were vendors selling Lenten Palms with flowers and ferns in the arrangements. When you entered the church you were given a simpler arrangement of palms so that everyone had their palms. The Archbishop said the Mass and entered the church from the front blessing the palms and the people as he came up the aisle. The palm arrangements added a simple beauty to the process. The altar was well decorated with just palms. We had forgotten our Mass books so we had to listen hard to catch the Spanish which the Archbishop spoke very clearly and using simpler Spanish. We were able to follow pretty well and we knew the story of the passion. We had lunch right after church since we were out and then walked back across the park to our house. The rest of the afternoon we spent reading and computing. Around 5pm we took ourselves out for a walk in our neighborhood since the weather was beautiful and we were needed to get out for a bit. The three girls we live with is a great deal like living with chickens! They chitter-chatter and giggle and run around much like brainless chickens but they are nice. The girls were all out for the evening so we took our showers and were in bed reading long before they came home. I slept well and the coughing did not wake me up with every other breath so all total---a good night.
Monday morning and I have had my oatmeal and tea made by Don and below us the Spanish school has begun class for the day. Our chickens are still sleeping. I am not sure how they sleep through the process of us cooking breakfast because this place is a sound chamber.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Normal Day to Where is the Chicken Bus
Friday Morning March 26
TGIF to all who pass this way today. We were up with the sun this morning because the day did not start out overcast. The sun is a bit hard to ignore when you have just light fabric covering the windows. At any rate we are up and fed and ready for what the day may bring. Our only plan at this point is the lunch special at Pollo Campero’s which means we will have to be dressed by then. We lounge around in our sweat suits because it is chilly here early in the morning. It will warm up nicely during the day although if you stand in the shade for too long you begin to get a little chilled.
We are a bit of a pain to the young folk staying here because the whole house is one giant sound chamber. It is concrete and brink construction with no insulation (judging by other construction we see going up). Our young folks are also a pain for us because they like the night life and burning the candle at both ends. They come in extremely late and even when you try very hard to be very quiet it is nearly impossible. Don is a bit like a bull in a china cabinet when he works in the kitchen. Add his whistle to his nearly every waking move and you have noise in motion. Thank heavens he does not whistle when he works on the computer. When he is working on finding grant opportunities he is as quiet as mouse. He will be well occupied while we are here.
We did check out the other volunteer group Don located here in Xela but they really wanted someone with more time to commit to the project and someone with more Spanish than we have (of course this one is being run out of a Spanish school). It turned out to be a massive number of computers, scattered around in 30 communities. Don decided we really did not need to put that much effort into a project that would not be self sustaining if no one could continue to keep the computers spy ware and bug free. That frees up more time to explore Xela when we get our ‘sea legs’. I am guessing by next week we will venture out to see what we can see (and I will carry food as well as water).
The Chicken Bus That Wasn’t To Be Found
Another different kind of chicken bus story. We walked to a location not far from the house where we know we can get on a bus to take us to the big grocery - the Hiper Piaz-- ( I will not try to tell you how to say this) We boarded the bus and took off and while there seemed to be a lot of people in town we didn’t think much about it but went on our merry way. There is no way for information on what is happening in the city to be broadcast so that there would be some rhyme or reason for when things happen. It turns out that Friday is Big Market Day! That means that several more streets are closed and anyone who has or grows something they want to sell set up a stall and viola! Jack is Your Uncle! They are in business. How you actually shop on these days is over whelming. Maybe part of the problem is that as gringos we have to be security savvy around that many people. We were hungry by the time we reached the mall so we started off by fueling up. We strolled through the mall first just because it was there and to be sure there was no place there that we could find a crutch tip before we went down to the grocery. At the grocery we were looking for a pharmacy to find something to help with a cough that is not really a cough but a spasm and is driving me crazy at night. At first all we saw was Vicks -- the full alcohol version -- that might have knocked me on my butt, however, the pharmacist saw what I was looking for and heard me hacking and he pulled something of the shelf from behind the counter that has no alcohol or sugar so we decided to give it a try. Next we wanted to find a medical supply place that was suppose to be near where we were but after a lot of walking did not find it. The search will continue tomorrow. Our last location to hunt for is a Mennonite bakery where they sell a brown bread, fresh cheese, and even butter. This is a place we had shopped at when we were here last time. Don would like to try the butter but we are afraid we could never get it home and today would be a fine example of that.
Chicken Bus Story -- we were done with our shopping and decided to head back home because my energy level was dropping. Sounds simple when you see or say it that way. Today was not a simple day. On top of all the people prowling around for the Market Day this week's Procession for Lent was going to happen right there also!!! It was the most noisy, chaotic, nonsensical, difficult situation we have enjoyed in a while. There is street construction to add another twist by changing bus routes. There were lots of buses - just none going our way! Finally someone heard us asking yet another bus if they went our way and pointed out a spot on the other side of the street where we might catch the right bus. Success was a last ours and we headed back stopping to eat our second lunch which was just another light snack but was plenty for the need.
Tonight in our place one of the girls is having friends over to help her celebrate her birthday. She says they will arrive around 7 pm for about an hour or so. Not sure if I buy that because her evenings out last six hours or more into the wee small hours of the morning. Don wants to leave but I am not one to venture out with no destination and no place to be. Does not seem smart to me. The party will just have to take into account a couple of old poots on the premises! Ha! sorta tickles my funny bone.
TGIF to all who pass this way today. We were up with the sun this morning because the day did not start out overcast. The sun is a bit hard to ignore when you have just light fabric covering the windows. At any rate we are up and fed and ready for what the day may bring. Our only plan at this point is the lunch special at Pollo Campero’s which means we will have to be dressed by then. We lounge around in our sweat suits because it is chilly here early in the morning. It will warm up nicely during the day although if you stand in the shade for too long you begin to get a little chilled.
We are a bit of a pain to the young folk staying here because the whole house is one giant sound chamber. It is concrete and brink construction with no insulation (judging by other construction we see going up). Our young folks are also a pain for us because they like the night life and burning the candle at both ends. They come in extremely late and even when you try very hard to be very quiet it is nearly impossible. Don is a bit like a bull in a china cabinet when he works in the kitchen. Add his whistle to his nearly every waking move and you have noise in motion. Thank heavens he does not whistle when he works on the computer. When he is working on finding grant opportunities he is as quiet as mouse. He will be well occupied while we are here.
We did check out the other volunteer group Don located here in Xela but they really wanted someone with more time to commit to the project and someone with more Spanish than we have (of course this one is being run out of a Spanish school). It turned out to be a massive number of computers, scattered around in 30 communities. Don decided we really did not need to put that much effort into a project that would not be self sustaining if no one could continue to keep the computers spy ware and bug free. That frees up more time to explore Xela when we get our ‘sea legs’. I am guessing by next week we will venture out to see what we can see (and I will carry food as well as water).
The Chicken Bus That Wasn’t To Be Found
Another different kind of chicken bus story. We walked to a location not far from the house where we know we can get on a bus to take us to the big grocery - the Hiper Piaz-- ( I will not try to tell you how to say this
Chicken Bus Story -- we were done with our shopping and decided to head back home because my energy level was dropping. Sounds simple when you see or say it that way. Today was not a simple day. On top of all the people prowling around for the Market Day this week's Procession for Lent was going to happen right there also!!! It was the most noisy, chaotic, nonsensical, difficult situation we have enjoyed in a while. There is street construction to add another twist by changing bus routes. There were lots of buses - just none going our way! Finally someone heard us asking yet another bus if they went our way and pointed out a spot on the other side of the street where we might catch the right bus. Success was a last ours and we headed back stopping to eat our second lunch which was just another light snack but was plenty for the need.
Tonight in our place one of the girls is having friends over to help her celebrate her birthday. She says they will arrive around 7 pm for about an hour or so. Not sure if I buy that because her evenings out last six hours or more into the wee small hours of the morning. Don wants to leave but I am not one to venture out with no destination and no place to be. Does not seem smart to me. The party will just have to take into account a couple of old poots on the premises! Ha! sorta tickles my funny bone.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday - Yet another Great Adventure----grrrrrrrr
Today my eyes popped open at 6:50 am - late enough to be able to get out of bed and stir around and not feel guilty about waking anyone (most especially the one who was out last night from 9pm to 4am--I would not be functioning today but she left at mid-morning). I woke feeling almost human, a good thing. Don made breakfast but had to get creative with the food we had available. We had gone to the Market the day before to pick up odds and ends needed but the store was playing music SO LOUD! you could not think. So Don bought more powdered milk (for cooking oatmeal) instead of more oatmeal. It is hard to shop when the person standing next to you can not hear you! It's also not a lot of fun. Breakfast you say? - well it started with a banana, hot tea, and a bowl of left over soup followed by an orange and more tea for the one who wanted more. Not bad really as it has held us together up to this point in the day. The time here now as I write is 11:20 am. Guatemala has plenty of sunshine and does not change times which is great for me because I don't have to make that adjustment along with learning to live next door to a mountain.
After eating we both pulled out the computers and checked our email. Then we took a quick trip to the open air mercado to buy eggs where we can get a dozen instead of 36 at a time. We have no place to put more than a dozen eggs. Guatemala does not put eggs in the fridge even in the stores. We do after they are bought place them in the fridge and I can't tell you if this is good or bad. The eggs are good when cooked, look right, smell right so perhaps I need to research the refridgeration of eggs, hmmmmmm. It is close to lunch time so I am going to go pry Don's hands of the keyboard so we can do something about it.
Today is a no plan day. Don can work for the non-profit from here so that makes life a tad simpler.
Yet another Great Adventure----grrrrrrrr
Okay are you ready for another 'chicken bus' story? To be honest this was not a chicken bus but Xela's answer to the tuc-tuc -- a 15 passenger van! Yes the ayudante still hangs out of the door and yes they can overstuff them. On our bus today they managed to stack 25 people into the thing! But wait!!!!! That is NOT the story! We left the house at lunch time. Don Said, "we can take a bus and get off at Polo Campero" it won't take very long! Hah! famous last words! The bus had signage that said they went by the terminal from which we could get to the mall. Our seats were the last seats on the bus! We watched the bus load and unload. It amazes me that they get on even when there is no place to go/sit. We got a grand tour of a part of the city we have never been to AND did not come close to the mall, our destination. When all of the people on the bus had been delivered and we were still sitting on the bus the driver wanted to know where we were going. Imagine that! He said his bus did not go there but Don pointed out that the sign on his bus said he did. To give the driver credit he did find us another bus that WOULD stop at the terminal. So Don paid the man for the 'tour' and we got on the new bus. Much to our surprise we went right back to the location we had started from (where we got on the first bus). The new bus would indeed take us to the terminal but he had a route to complete in the process. Now you all know that diabetics get 'testy' when they get hungry and by now it was almost 1:30 pm. You will be happy to know Don still lives --he just was the handiest person for me to vent on. I bought some peanut butter and crackers today and I will not leave without having something with me to eat---just in case. To be fair---things like this happen all the time in GUA -- not everything you plan to do actually happens the way it was planned. You must have Plan B ready all the time.
Once we arrived at our destination the first thing Don did was FEED me. This Pollo Campero was completely hidden behind more or less permanent street vendors. We found the front door, entered, and found a nearly full restaurant. We were lucky and found a table and quickly placed our order. It less than 15 minutes there was not a table available in this fast food restaurant! It was hopping! Here in Xela the music seems to be mostly marimba music and not too loud. When our meal was done we went to Mont Blanc which has a grocery store to buy some spices we can't find closer to home. We were done quickly and headed back out to find a bus that would take us back to our starting point. We took most of the same scenic route we had coming out but we did land where we started and that is a short walk to the house.
Can I just tell you how much fun it is discovering which buses will take you where you want to go???? There is no printed schedule and while their route maybe on the front of the bus that does not mean they will actually go there. It will be trail and error. I will be bringing food with me if we leave here headed for a meal. Generally we eat two meals at home and one 'on the road'. The travel is difficult and time consuming so if we go out we eat out. Seems to be working well as my BG was 105 this morning so something is working.
Yet another Great Adventure----grrrrrrrr
Okay are you ready for another 'chicken bus' story? To be honest this was not a chicken bus but Xela's answer to the tuc-tuc -- a 15 passenger van! Yes the ayudante still hangs out of the door and yes they can overstuff them. On our bus today they managed to stack 25 people into the thing! But wait!!!!! That is NOT the story! We left the house at lunch time. Don Said, "we can take a bus and get off at Polo Campero" it won't take very long! Hah! famous last words! The bus had signage that said they went by the terminal from which we could get to the mall. Our seats were the last seats on the bus! We watched the bus load and unload. It amazes me that they get on even when there is no place to go/sit. We got a grand tour of a part of the city we have never been to AND did not come close to the mall, our destination. When all of the people on the bus had been delivered and we were still sitting on the bus the driver wanted to know where we were going. Imagine that! He said his bus did not go there but Don pointed out that the sign on his bus said he did. To give the driver credit he did find us another bus that WOULD stop at the terminal. So Don paid the man for the 'tour' and we got on the new bus. Much to our surprise we went right back to the location we had started from (where we got on the first bus). The new bus would indeed take us to the terminal but he had a route to complete in the process. Now you all know that diabetics get 'testy' when they get hungry and by now it was almost 1:30 pm. You will be happy to know Don still lives --he just was the handiest person for me to vent on. I bought some peanut butter and crackers today and I will not leave without having something with me to eat---just in case. To be fair---things like this happen all the time in GUA -- not everything you plan to do actually happens the way it was planned. You must have Plan B ready all the time.
Once we arrived at our destination the first thing Don did was FEED me. This Pollo Campero was completely hidden behind more or less permanent street vendors. We found the front door, entered, and found a nearly full restaurant. We were lucky and found a table and quickly placed our order. It less than 15 minutes there was not a table available in this fast food restaurant! It was hopping! Here in Xela the music seems to be mostly marimba music and not too loud. When our meal was done we went to Mont Blanc which has a grocery store to buy some spices we can't find closer to home. We were done quickly and headed back out to find a bus that would take us back to our starting point. We took most of the same scenic route we had coming out but we did land where we started and that is a short walk to the house.
Can I just tell you how much fun it is discovering which buses will take you where you want to go???? There is no printed schedule and while their route maybe on the front of the bus that does not mean they will actually go there. It will be trail and error. I will be bringing food with me if we leave here headed for a meal. Generally we eat two meals at home and one 'on the road'. The travel is difficult and time consuming so if we go out we eat out. Seems to be working well as my BG was 105 this morning so something is working.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Want to see the pictures?
If you want to see the pictures check out Don's blog. They take forever to load so I am not going to take up the band with to load them.
Go to http://dongua2010.blogspot.com/
Go to http://dongua2010.blogspot.com/
Shopping in Xela
This morning Don had a bee in his bonnet to take one of Xela's version of the tuc-tuc (took took) to go to the mall. We woke at seven and he was up and making breakfast to the tune of some diddly -dang dog barking it's fool head off (and had been barking since 2:45 am). I am not sure why people have dogs here. They seem to mean nothing to them and they are poorly cared for, never neutered or heck ever see a vet. They don't revere them and they don't eat them (this is judging from the hords of dogs around). Okay, enough, I was just peeved because no one put a concrete block around this dogs head this morning ....... that's mean but at 3 am I WAS mean.
We ate a chicken buritto at Polo Comparo for lunch with a bit of fries to go with it and a bottle of water. It turned out to be too much food for me, I was over stuffed. I guess if I learn to pay attention to my tummy I won't put on any weight. Then we entered the mall which is two story. It has the usual stores and this time we even found a bookstore. The bookstore was a little 'out there' like a throw back to our hippie era.We had a couple of needs for our 'kitchen' like a knife that would cut hot butter! We found us a Crocodile Dundee knife! It will cut anything but there is little finesse in using it. We hunted down a couple of mugs for tea instead of the dinky cups we have been using and need to make a second cup to complete any meal. When I ran out of juice (energy) we headed back to catch a small bus back across town.
Tonight I cooked. It was not fancy. I have dubbed it a scrambled omelet. I thinly slice onion and any vegetables we have on hand and top it with a little tomato and then pour in the egg. It is filling and not fancy but provides a bit of protein along with some vegetables. Don did the manly thing and helped me do the dishes. We have some issues with the cleanliness of most things in the kitchen so we do our own thing and use our own stuff and feel better about the whole thing. I got sick but it was not because we have been careless. We have not eaten street food (and now it may be sometime before I take that step).
Earlier in the day Don had taken in the laundry so when we returned from the mall we set an alarm to remind us that it would be ready at 4 pm. It was clean and not wadded up but their folding skills need some work.
At the mall we got more clothes hangers and hung up most of our shirts so we don't look like a wrinkled mess when we head out into the wild blue yonder.
My energy level is all used up but we are still alive and we will continue to blog as we can.
We ate a chicken buritto at Polo Comparo for lunch with a bit of fries to go with it and a bottle of water. It turned out to be too much food for me, I was over stuffed. I guess if I learn to pay attention to my tummy I won't put on any weight. Then we entered the mall which is two story. It has the usual stores and this time we even found a bookstore. The bookstore was a little 'out there' like a throw back to our hippie era.We had a couple of needs for our 'kitchen' like a knife that would cut hot butter! We found us a Crocodile Dundee knife! It will cut anything but there is little finesse in using it. We hunted down a couple of mugs for tea instead of the dinky cups we have been using and need to make a second cup to complete any meal. When I ran out of juice (energy) we headed back to catch a small bus back across town.
Tonight I cooked. It was not fancy. I have dubbed it a scrambled omelet. I thinly slice onion and any vegetables we have on hand and top it with a little tomato and then pour in the egg. It is filling and not fancy but provides a bit of protein along with some vegetables. Don did the manly thing and helped me do the dishes. We have some issues with the cleanliness of most things in the kitchen so we do our own thing and use our own stuff and feel better about the whole thing. I got sick but it was not because we have been careless. We have not eaten street food (and now it may be sometime before I take that step).
Earlier in the day Don had taken in the laundry so when we returned from the mall we set an alarm to remind us that it would be ready at 4 pm. It was clean and not wadded up but their folding skills need some work.
At the mall we got more clothes hangers and hung up most of our shirts so we don't look like a wrinkled mess when we head out into the wild blue yonder.
My energy level is all used up but we are still alive and we will continue to blog as we can.
Discovery March 23, 2010
Discovery -- I will survive Montezuma’s revenge
We left the Lake Atitlan area in a pick-up truck. I rode in the cab with Joan and Don rode with ALL the luggage in the back. Francisco, the young man Joan sometimes calls for trips into Pana, was due to pick us up by 7:30 am at the gate so that we could arrive at the travel agency by the designated 8:15 am He was late. That would have been no big deal because it would have just meant no breakfast. Joan only allowed him to pick up a couple of women going our way because we would miss our bus if he did more than that. He and Joan dropped us off and then went to run another errand. We went into the hotel dinning room next door and ordered breakfast. The trip to Xela is about 2 hours from Pana. Joan and her driver returned in time to have a cup of coffee with us then the doors opened to the travel agency. Joan cried when she hugged us good-bye and left before our 15 passenger van arrived. I wish her well on her Bed and Breakfast and that her son finds the courage to come out and visit her.
As we left Pana we discovered that we were the only passengers making the trip! Can I tell you that tourism is more that 50% down this year! I put on my sea bands than Van gave me and enjoyed the view all the way to our door. These shuttles will drop you and your luggage at your destination, hotel or guest house. When we were here studying Spanish the last time our home stay was directly across the street from our current location. We watched this place go up and wondered about would it would grow up to be. When we arrived we discovered that it is both a guest house and a Spanish School. The guest here do not necessarily study Spanish here but work on other projects.
Our room is a rather large closet. NOT KIDDING! We have a double bed slam up against the hot water heater which is boxed in, a very poorly made chest of drawers that make a horrible noise when we open the drawers, a table that does the duty of night stand and catch all and a plastic chair. The room has windows on both ends which is great during the day for light and ventilation (only one end opens) The ceiling light had 2 yellow/orange 25 watt bulbs in it. I know that utilities here are expensive but that is not enough light to keep you from running into the bed!!! We washed the light fixture and put in a incandesant bulb with 60 watts. We don’t spend much of the day in here and do not read very long at night but we like to see when we are in here. The common area is open to all with a kitchen with two burner stove top, bigger fridge, a bin for food for each room, a shelf in fridge for each room, space in cupboards for each room. a sofa with TV, and a dining room table, plus two outdoor patios available for all of us. We have more freedom here than at Hortensia’s and like it just fine. About ½ block down the street is a market with farm fresh produce and plenty of fruit. The grocery store is a bit more of a walk but the music there makes it a pain in the ears to shop there (I know they say if it is too loud you are too old) but this is grocery shopping and not a dance hall or disco where the DJ wants to see if he can make your ears bleed!!!! Not much fun!
Discovery!
I will survive Montezuma’s Revenge! Yep! when we got here on Friday I was feeling a little bit ‘punk’. Bye night fall I thought I had fallen off of the truck and that something rolled over me and drug me down the mountain. I was really, truly and terribly sick. I was up most of the night. I think Don missed some of the trips but I have not asked him (payback can be hard). I laid low and by Saturday afternoon was beginning to feel like survival was possible, maybe. I was hungry but stayed with bland stuff, which is not so hard to do here and drank plenty of water which stayed down. Success! (the staying down part). On Sunday I got up and drug some outdoor clothes on a trudged behind Don to church (I figured it could possibly help) and trudged back to bed. Don did the cooking, scrambled eggs, oat meal, boiled potatoes, and plenty of water. I can’t remember what day I made a soup--a very bland soup-- but it was tasty enough for me. I have been doing the disinfecting of the bathroom and any surface I touch in the kitchen so as to keep this thing all to myself -- nobody deserves this. The worst part of this is that Coke Light, Seven Up, etc. taste absolutely terrible!! I am not able to drink any of them but water taste just fabulous! I am happy to report Judy that ALL systems are working. I tire easily and breath like a steam shovel if we go up hill too long -- Don does an ERIK -- he just waits. I am having to watch my blood sugar more closely. This mornings reading was 97 which is a new low for me in the past couple of years. My afternoon reading was 127.
Our readings/research say that getting use to the altitude takes a good week and I plan to use the whole week. Sometimes the beginning of both are very much the same yuckiness! I was sick at the apartment the weekend before we left so this may well be round two of the same thing. This time it may be overkill but I am taking my dose of Cipro. I have had enough of this for now (or ever).
We left the Lake Atitlan area in a pick-up truck. I rode in the cab with Joan and Don rode with ALL the luggage in the back. Francisco, the young man Joan sometimes calls for trips into Pana, was due to pick us up by 7:30 am at the gate so that we could arrive at the travel agency by the designated 8:15 am He was late. That would have been no big deal because it would have just meant no breakfast. Joan only allowed him to pick up a couple of women going our way because we would miss our bus if he did more than that. He and Joan dropped us off and then went to run another errand. We went into the hotel dinning room next door and ordered breakfast. The trip to Xela is about 2 hours from Pana. Joan and her driver returned in time to have a cup of coffee with us then the doors opened to the travel agency. Joan cried when she hugged us good-bye and left before our 15 passenger van arrived. I wish her well on her Bed and Breakfast and that her son finds the courage to come out and visit her.
As we left Pana we discovered that we were the only passengers making the trip! Can I tell you that tourism is more that 50% down this year! I put on my sea bands than Van gave me and enjoyed the view all the way to our door. These shuttles will drop you and your luggage at your destination, hotel or guest house. When we were here studying Spanish the last time our home stay was directly across the street from our current location. We watched this place go up and wondered about would it would grow up to be. When we arrived we discovered that it is both a guest house and a Spanish School. The guest here do not necessarily study Spanish here but work on other projects.
Our room is a rather large closet. NOT KIDDING! We have a double bed slam up against the hot water heater which is boxed in, a very poorly made chest of drawers that make a horrible noise when we open the drawers, a table that does the duty of night stand and catch all and a plastic chair. The room has windows on both ends which is great during the day for light and ventilation (only one end opens) The ceiling light had 2 yellow/orange 25 watt bulbs in it. I know that utilities here are expensive but that is not enough light to keep you from running into the bed!!! We washed the light fixture and put in a incandesant bulb with 60 watts. We don’t spend much of the day in here and do not read very long at night but we like to see when we are in here. The common area is open to all with a kitchen with two burner stove top, bigger fridge, a bin for food for each room, a shelf in fridge for each room, space in cupboards for each room. a sofa with TV, and a dining room table, plus two outdoor patios available for all of us. We have more freedom here than at Hortensia’s and like it just fine. About ½ block down the street is a market with farm fresh produce and plenty of fruit. The grocery store is a bit more of a walk but the music there makes it a pain in the ears to shop there (I know they say if it is too loud you are too old) but this is grocery shopping and not a dance hall or disco where the DJ wants to see if he can make your ears bleed!!!! Not much fun!
Discovery!
I will survive Montezuma’s Revenge! Yep! when we got here on Friday I was feeling a little bit ‘punk’. Bye night fall I thought I had fallen off of the truck and that something rolled over me and drug me down the mountain. I was really, truly and terribly sick. I was up most of the night. I think Don missed some of the trips but I have not asked him (payback can be hard). I laid low and by Saturday afternoon was beginning to feel like survival was possible, maybe. I was hungry but stayed with bland stuff, which is not so hard to do here and drank plenty of water which stayed down. Success! (the staying down part). On Sunday I got up and drug some outdoor clothes on a trudged behind Don to church (I figured it could possibly help) and trudged back to bed. Don did the cooking, scrambled eggs, oat meal, boiled potatoes, and plenty of water. I can’t remember what day I made a soup--a very bland soup-- but it was tasty enough for me. I have been doing the disinfecting of the bathroom and any surface I touch in the kitchen so as to keep this thing all to myself -- nobody deserves this. The worst part of this is that Coke Light, Seven Up, etc. taste absolutely terrible!! I am not able to drink any of them but water taste just fabulous! I am happy to report Judy that ALL systems are working. I tire easily and breath like a steam shovel if we go up hill too long -- Don does an ERIK -- he just waits. I am having to watch my blood sugar more closely. This mornings reading was 97 which is a new low for me in the past couple of years. My afternoon reading was 127.
Our readings/research say that getting use to the altitude takes a good week and I plan to use the whole week. Sometimes the beginning of both are very much the same yuckiness! I was sick at the apartment the weekend before we left so this may well be round two of the same thing. This time it may be overkill but I am taking my dose of Cipro. I have had enough of this for now (or ever).
Escape to Pana
Wednesday March 17
Escape to Pana
Today we decided we would take a walking tour of our neighborhood then slip off to Pana without taking Joan with us. We hiked the 2,000 feet (I’m exaggerating but not much!!!) straight up the mountain to the church we can see from here which is next to the market. This is also the place where you can catch a ride in the back of a pickup truck for Q10 into Pana. These pick ups have a frame constructed over the bed that leans itself to supporting a tarp if the weather turns to rain. They build a seat on each side of the truck bed so you can set and hold on for dear life as you travel through the mountains.
Once in Pana we headed out to find lunch, a chicken, black bean, rice, and cheese burrito with guacamole and Coke Light. We stopped first at the bookstore in the same complex and bought each a book to read (we have no TV in our room). Then the hiking began up and down the open craft stores and shops. How can they think to make a living when as far as the eye can see down the street there are vendors selling the same stuff?? It is very colorful and very beautiful but every store has the same merchandise. Today we had to fight off all of the street vendors but there are so few tourist that no one is selling much. The question “What part of No, Thank You” are you not understanding comes to mind often. We walked along the ’beach front’ enjoying ourselves till I heard thunder then decided we needed to get back before the heavens opened up. We managed to get back to the Casa just before all of the heavens opened up. It was some rain! It was over in a couple of hours but we also lost power for 45 minutes. We ate early so we could see what we were doing then found the candles and lit them so we could move around safely. The lights were back on in a timely manner so our shower will not be an adventure.
My only purchase was a small purse/cell phone holder. I wanted to be able to have my phone with me but not stuck in my pocket which is not deep enough to keep anything from falling out.
Tomorrow we plan to take Joan with us for breakfast in Pana which she loves to do but has not done much lately. It is very hard for her on her own to get out much. The search for the crutch tip and/or another set of crutches is still on. It is the very least we can do to help Joan improve her quality of life.
Escape to Pana
Today we decided we would take a walking tour of our neighborhood then slip off to Pana without taking Joan with us. We hiked the 2,000 feet (I’m exaggerating but not much!!!) straight up the mountain to the church we can see from here which is next to the market. This is also the place where you can catch a ride in the back of a pickup truck for Q10 into Pana. These pick ups have a frame constructed over the bed that leans itself to supporting a tarp if the weather turns to rain. They build a seat on each side of the truck bed so you can set and hold on for dear life as you travel through the mountains.
Once in Pana we headed out to find lunch, a chicken, black bean, rice, and cheese burrito with guacamole and Coke Light. We stopped first at the bookstore in the same complex and bought each a book to read (we have no TV in our room). Then the hiking began up and down the open craft stores and shops. How can they think to make a living when as far as the eye can see down the street there are vendors selling the same stuff?? It is very colorful and very beautiful but every store has the same merchandise. Today we had to fight off all of the street vendors but there are so few tourist that no one is selling much. The question “What part of No, Thank You” are you not understanding comes to mind often. We walked along the ’beach front’ enjoying ourselves till I heard thunder then decided we needed to get back before the heavens opened up. We managed to get back to the Casa just before all of the heavens opened up. It was some rain! It was over in a couple of hours but we also lost power for 45 minutes. We ate early so we could see what we were doing then found the candles and lit them so we could move around safely. The lights were back on in a timely manner so our shower will not be an adventure.
My only purchase was a small purse/cell phone holder. I wanted to be able to have my phone with me but not stuck in my pocket which is not deep enough to keep anything from falling out.
Tomorrow we plan to take Joan with us for breakfast in Pana which she loves to do but has not done much lately. It is very hard for her on her own to get out much. The search for the crutch tip and/or another set of crutches is still on. It is the very least we can do to help Joan improve her quality of life.
The Move to Lake Atitlan
March 17, 2010 Lake Atitlan
We spent Sunday evening packing our stuff in preparation for our four day vacation on Lake Atitlan. It didn’t surprise me that getting all of our stuff back was not easy. It never seems to fit the second time you pack it up. We had not bought anything other than kitchen stuff which we ended up packing into a laundry bag. We may or may not need our few small pots and pans in Xela. Does it surprise you that we do not want to buy that kind of stuff twice?
Don had contacted Mark, our downstairs neighbor and father of 10, to arrange for a taxi to pick us up at the apartment by 6:15 am so we could make the 7 am bus to Pana. This is the same bus we took to Chimal and whose transmission gave it up one day on the way to Chimal. Ready for a surprise? The bus was not running on Monday! There we were with all of our unbelievable amount of luggage, including a “kitchen” in a bag, with no place to be and no way to get where we need to be! Cute! Don’t you think? This is Guatemala -- there is no way to disseminate this kind of information to the general public until the last minute. So onto plan B which is very important here. There must always be a plan B. Don took off on a short hike to locate a ‘shuttle’ bus from one of the travel agencies (of which there are dozens here). He found a shuttle departing at 8 am for Pana. They picked him up at the agency and drove out to get me and The Stuff. We picked up other passengers who were mostly other tourist. Once full we took off on out trip over the mountain.
Our driver was very cautious which explains why there bus is in good shape. He crawled over that mountain and because he did I didn’t have a problem with motion sickness. We even had a ‘bathroom’ break half way through the trip. Once we arrived in Pana the driver proceeded to Back down the street where he was to drop everyone off for either tours by launch, travel by a shorter bus to hotels, or in our case, met by Joan, the owner of the Bed and Breakfast we are currently staying Casa Sonrisa a.ka. A House of Smiles. Joan met us with two Took-tooks! We had to split the cost of the trip from Pana to San Antonio Polopo on Lake Atitlan.
Now please meet Joan. She is an older woman, living alone here in Guatemala at San Antonio Polopo. I think that early last year she had a stroke which left her a bit damaged. She says she use to be able to speak Spanish very well but that it seems her Spanish stayed at the hospital. Her left side is weak and she must get around on crutches, one of them needs a new rubber foot which we have so far been unsuccessful finding nor can we find another pair of crutches. During her recovery her 27 year old son came to help her, which was a blessing even if part of the time he was with her she did not really know him, because when he went home he was in a skateboarding accident which caused his death before the end of the year. Joan is a bit needy now but is trying to hold it together. Her brain is recovering but she still has lapses like her telling me she married late when she was 99! Little things get away from her and words or sometimes elusive. She has included herself in our activities and she is extremely slow in getting around. She is game though, and will climb into the back of a pick up truck like everyone else. The bed and breakfast has turned out to be all meals with her and the “guest” pitch in to help. She was going to charge us $12 a night which we felt was not enough so Don gave her more than she was asking for and we get all meals when we can’t escape without her. She decided she trusted us so much that she gave me her bank card and asked that I get Q2,000.00 (about $250).
Our room is most adequate. It contains bed with two side tables that have the BEST light we have had in Guatemala for reading at night. There is a wooden love seat, wooden chair, side table, and a chest with extra sheets and candles. The bathroom is large with good light and the shower stinks. Actually we have had worst showers but it is still one of those where the water is heated in the shower head (also called a ‘widow-maker’) as electricity is flowing over water! It is not as cold here as in Xela which makes the shower just adequate and the room isn’t cold enough to make one shiver while dressing. All of our meals are eaten out of doors facing the rising or setting sun over the lake. We have an excellent view of the lake and it is for the most part not very noisy. There is a great deal of building going on here. It is a very poor village but the people seem content and they work very hard. Housing here is a mish-mash of beautiful concrete block construction or shabby tin and perhaps bamboo. We have a hard time walking down the street because they all want to sell their wares and tourism is not good due to the bad economy every where. We are relaxing and doing the tourist bit here and actually enjoying ourselves.
We spent Sunday evening packing our stuff in preparation for our four day vacation on Lake Atitlan. It didn’t surprise me that getting all of our stuff back was not easy. It never seems to fit the second time you pack it up. We had not bought anything other than kitchen stuff which we ended up packing into a laundry bag. We may or may not need our few small pots and pans in Xela. Does it surprise you that we do not want to buy that kind of stuff twice?
Don had contacted Mark, our downstairs neighbor and father of 10, to arrange for a taxi to pick us up at the apartment by 6:15 am so we could make the 7 am bus to Pana. This is the same bus we took to Chimal and whose transmission gave it up one day on the way to Chimal. Ready for a surprise? The bus was not running on Monday! There we were with all of our unbelievable amount of luggage, including a “kitchen” in a bag, with no place to be and no way to get where we need to be! Cute! Don’t you think? This is Guatemala -- there is no way to disseminate this kind of information to the general public until the last minute. So onto plan B which is very important here. There must always be a plan B. Don took off on a short hike to locate a ‘shuttle’ bus from one of the travel agencies (of which there are dozens here). He found a shuttle departing at 8 am for Pana. They picked him up at the agency and drove out to get me and The Stuff. We picked up other passengers who were mostly other tourist. Once full we took off on out trip over the mountain.
Our driver was very cautious which explains why there bus is in good shape. He crawled over that mountain and because he did I didn’t have a problem with motion sickness. We even had a ‘bathroom’ break half way through the trip. Once we arrived in Pana the driver proceeded to Back down the street where he was to drop everyone off for either tours by launch, travel by a shorter bus to hotels, or in our case, met by Joan, the owner of the Bed and Breakfast we are currently staying Casa Sonrisa a.ka. A House of Smiles. Joan met us with two Took-tooks! We had to split the cost of the trip from Pana to San Antonio Polopo on Lake Atitlan.
Now please meet Joan. She is an older woman, living alone here in Guatemala at San Antonio Polopo. I think that early last year she had a stroke which left her a bit damaged. She says she use to be able to speak Spanish very well but that it seems her Spanish stayed at the hospital. Her left side is weak and she must get around on crutches, one of them needs a new rubber foot which we have so far been unsuccessful finding nor can we find another pair of crutches. During her recovery her 27 year old son came to help her, which was a blessing even if part of the time he was with her she did not really know him, because when he went home he was in a skateboarding accident which caused his death before the end of the year. Joan is a bit needy now but is trying to hold it together. Her brain is recovering but she still has lapses like her telling me she married late when she was 99! Little things get away from her and words or sometimes elusive. She has included herself in our activities and she is extremely slow in getting around. She is game though, and will climb into the back of a pick up truck like everyone else. The bed and breakfast has turned out to be all meals with her and the “guest” pitch in to help. She was going to charge us $12 a night which we felt was not enough so Don gave her more than she was asking for and we get all meals when we can’t escape without her. She decided she trusted us so much that she gave me her bank card and asked that I get Q2,000.00 (about $250).
Our room is most adequate. It contains bed with two side tables that have the BEST light we have had in Guatemala for reading at night. There is a wooden love seat, wooden chair, side table, and a chest with extra sheets and candles. The bathroom is large with good light and the shower stinks. Actually we have had worst showers but it is still one of those where the water is heated in the shower head (also called a ‘widow-maker’) as electricity is flowing over water! It is not as cold here as in Xela which makes the shower just adequate and the room isn’t cold enough to make one shiver while dressing. All of our meals are eaten out of doors facing the rising or setting sun over the lake. We have an excellent view of the lake and it is for the most part not very noisy. There is a great deal of building going on here. It is a very poor village but the people seem content and they work very hard. Housing here is a mish-mash of beautiful concrete block construction or shabby tin and perhaps bamboo. We have a hard time walking down the street because they all want to sell their wares and tourism is not good due to the bad economy every where. We are relaxing and doing the tourist bit here and actually enjoying ourselves.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Tummy trouble so check Don's blog
For the past several days I have not felt like writing much since my tummy has not been happy. Fortunately I have not have a fever or other sad conditions but generally just felt awful. Top this with an Internet system that has been ultra sluggish we are both behind in our blogging. Don is way ahead of me at this point and he has pictures so if you want the latest on our adventure check his blog http://dongua2010.blogspot.com/
Tomorrow we leave Antigua and will spend 4 days in a Bed and Breakfast on Lake Atitlan before we head to Xela for the final six weeks or our adventure in Guatemala. We will be home in May to pack up the house and get it ready to sell. After that.....well I can't tell you because we have not figured that out yet. The job market is still not good so we will probably come back to Guatemala because the cost of living here will allow us to live well and not on or below poverty level in the USA. That is a very sad state if affairs if you ask me.
Time to get to the packing so I can be in bed early enough to make that 7 am bus to Pana headed for Lake Atitlan. Take Care All.
Tomorrow we leave Antigua and will spend 4 days in a Bed and Breakfast on Lake Atitlan before we head to Xela for the final six weeks or our adventure in Guatemala. We will be home in May to pack up the house and get it ready to sell. After that.....well I can't tell you because we have not figured that out yet. The job market is still not good so we will probably come back to Guatemala because the cost of living here will allow us to live well and not on or below poverty level in the USA. That is a very sad state if affairs if you ask me.
Time to get to the packing so I can be in bed early enough to make that 7 am bus to Pana headed for Lake Atitlan. Take Care All.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Breakfast with the Ex-Pats
Thursday mornings the Ex-Pats get together for breakfast and share stories. There are perhaps a dozen people that are there on any given Thursday. They are all older people (even older than we are) who have decided to make their homes here. Most of them because it is a cheaper place to live. A little social security goes a much longer distance here.
Today we were invited to travel with Carl and his wife, Clare and friend Patsy to Chimal to shop at the Max Bodegona and a small mall. We did just a bit of shopping because we also had our laundry in Antigua. We all ate lunch together and Carl dropped us and our laundry at our door. We had a very good time and now also have our laundry done to boot! Tomorrow and Saturday we will pack our stuff up for the move to the Lake Atitlan area and beyond.
The meeting with John from Child Aid was canceled as we pulled up to our door. He is too far out to get back at this point but will drop by to pick up the computer Don worked on for him. The computer in John's home office will not be optimized this trip. Don prefers not to work on Saturday.
Sunday we will go to church then we will have lunch with the two priests which will probably be followed by another procession. This time we will not be available as a pick pocket victim. We shall go prepared and not carry anything we don't want to loose. Monday we will be on a pullman bus bright and early.
Today we were invited to travel with Carl and his wife, Clare and friend Patsy to Chimal to shop at the Max Bodegona and a small mall. We did just a bit of shopping because we also had our laundry in Antigua. We all ate lunch together and Carl dropped us and our laundry at our door. We had a very good time and now also have our laundry done to boot! Tomorrow and Saturday we will pack our stuff up for the move to the Lake Atitlan area and beyond.
The meeting with John from Child Aid was canceled as we pulled up to our door. He is too far out to get back at this point but will drop by to pick up the computer Don worked on for him. The computer in John's home office will not be optimized this trip. Don prefers not to work on Saturday.
Sunday we will go to church then we will have lunch with the two priests which will probably be followed by another procession. This time we will not be available as a pick pocket victim. We shall go prepared and not carry anything we don't want to loose. Monday we will be on a pullman bus bright and early.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Apartment Hunting
Today we had a appointment to view an apartment in Jocotenango (say ho-co-ten-ango). We told the man we were just looking right now to see what apartments look like here and to get some idea of the cost for renting. His apartment is in a gated community and was most impressive. It was a one bedroom, with shower, closet, and a good size kitchen (full stove with oven, and fridge) with a Dining room / living room. I could be very content living in this community. It is outside of Antigua but close enough for shopping purposes and it is quiet.
They also had a house that we looked at. It is a four bedroom house in Antigua. The man is in construction and built both of the places and I must say he did a fabulous job. He used beautiful wood and made beautiful homes. We told him our story and that we are testing the waters in Guatemala as a country we could live in and be happy in with the income we will have, but that this will all take place in the near future. We are not ready to commit to anything just now. Of course, we could miss out on this property because we have so much to do before we can resettle anywhere. There are other places to rent in Guatemala if we really have to make such a move to make our income take care of us.
After apartment hunting we spent the afternoon at the Rainbow Cafe and Book Store because they have Wifi Internet. Don updated our virus program and then like a genius started it scanning the computer. Which took about 3 hours to finish! I was ready to be up and out of there long before the scan was done (which could have been done at home overnight if it needed to run that long grrrrrr.) We ate lunch in the cafe and drank lemonade and finally left in time to eat supper out as well since we left about 4 pm. We had to go to the market to get bananas as the Bodegona had none for our breakfast then we caught to bus for home. This bus decided to drop everyone off in Ciudad Viaja and head back into Antigua which meant about a 20 minute walk (not power walking) for us back to the apartment. We finished the day with some TV watching and blogging, and Don worked on a lap top for Kristin. Day is done.
They also had a house that we looked at. It is a four bedroom house in Antigua. The man is in construction and built both of the places and I must say he did a fabulous job. He used beautiful wood and made beautiful homes. We told him our story and that we are testing the waters in Guatemala as a country we could live in and be happy in with the income we will have, but that this will all take place in the near future. We are not ready to commit to anything just now. Of course, we could miss out on this property because we have so much to do before we can resettle anywhere. There are other places to rent in Guatemala if we really have to make such a move to make our income take care of us.
After apartment hunting we spent the afternoon at the Rainbow Cafe and Book Store because they have Wifi Internet. Don updated our virus program and then like a genius started it scanning the computer. Which took about 3 hours to finish! I was ready to be up and out of there long before the scan was done (which could have been done at home overnight if it needed to run that long grrrrrr.) We ate lunch in the cafe and drank lemonade and finally left in time to eat supper out as well since we left about 4 pm. We had to go to the market to get bananas as the Bodegona had none for our breakfast then we caught to bus for home. This bus decided to drop everyone off in Ciudad Viaja and head back into Antigua which meant about a 20 minute walk (not power walking) for us back to the apartment. We finished the day with some TV watching and blogging, and Don worked on a lap top for Kristin. Day is done.
Hard Lesson
Sunday March 7
We were up with the sun this Sunday morning which is not all that hard to do since we have a window up high that catches the early sun and lets it shine in our space. Don fixed our breakfast of oatmeal with banana and hot tea. Then we dressed for church and collected the books we needed to be able to follow the Mass and understand the readings. That is one book in English and one in Spanish. We caught the bus and got out on the street near the church in Ciudad Viaja for the 11 am service. Since we were just a wee bit early Don took some pictures which at this point we can’t post since our Internet service is a bit on the flaky side.
We went into the church a bit early so we could read the English version of the readings before Mass began. Soon we received a visit from the priest as he made his way up the side isle. His name is Bernard Lee from Toronto by way of Korea and is Don‘s age. He spoke to us for several minutes and before he moved on we had plans to have lunch with him in Antigua. He got our names and welcomed us to their church at the front of the congregation.
After the service we met with him and he said we would be taking another priest with us. The other priest Father Andre another Korean who has been here for two years and speaks Spanish with the Korean sing-song quality when he gets going. We had a great lunch of Shish-ka-bobs, with salad, rice and mushroom gravy and fries served rather dramatically with the skewers hanging from a loop with saucers with the rest of the meal attached to the center pole -- rather like a Christmas tree or condiment server. Other people in the restaurant asked permission to take pictures of our table. Don had gotten cash the day before so he picked up the tab for the meal which turned out to be a good thing because this was the day the pick pocket snatched Don’s wallet. Lucky for us he only carried one debit card and about $50. The wallet was stolen while we were involved in the Lenten Procession in a crowd of people. We know it was a tiny little woman, not a Mayan, who probably was the pick pocket. At any rate we were reminded to be more vigilant and not let ourselves be sidetracked so easily.
After the meal we went with the priest to a plant nursery/coffee shop and enjoyed walking among the plants. We were able to put names to a couple of plants we see a lot around town. Don had hot chocolate since he is not a coffee drinker. It was very pleasant sitting amongst the plants and various flowers and greenery while we chatted and drank our coffee. We drove to a spot near where the procession would pass and parked the car, walking the rest of the way. This float took over 50 people to carry it. It really is an awesome sight. Except for the lost wallet it was a very nice day. The two priest drove us right to our door and they have invited us to be their guest next week for lunch after Church. We leave Antigua on Monday for Lake Atitlan for about 4 days before going on to Xela (shay-la).
We were up with the sun this Sunday morning which is not all that hard to do since we have a window up high that catches the early sun and lets it shine in our space. Don fixed our breakfast of oatmeal with banana and hot tea. Then we dressed for church and collected the books we needed to be able to follow the Mass and understand the readings. That is one book in English and one in Spanish. We caught the bus and got out on the street near the church in Ciudad Viaja for the 11 am service. Since we were just a wee bit early Don took some pictures which at this point we can’t post since our Internet service is a bit on the flaky side.
We went into the church a bit early so we could read the English version of the readings before Mass began. Soon we received a visit from the priest as he made his way up the side isle. His name is Bernard Lee from Toronto by way of Korea and is Don‘s age. He spoke to us for several minutes and before he moved on we had plans to have lunch with him in Antigua. He got our names and welcomed us to their church at the front of the congregation.
After the service we met with him and he said we would be taking another priest with us. The other priest Father Andre another Korean who has been here for two years and speaks Spanish with the Korean sing-song quality when he gets going. We had a great lunch of Shish-ka-bobs, with salad, rice and mushroom gravy and fries served rather dramatically with the skewers hanging from a loop with saucers with the rest of the meal attached to the center pole -- rather like a Christmas tree or condiment server. Other people in the restaurant asked permission to take pictures of our table. Don had gotten cash the day before so he picked up the tab for the meal which turned out to be a good thing because this was the day the pick pocket snatched Don’s wallet. Lucky for us he only carried one debit card and about $50. The wallet was stolen while we were involved in the Lenten Procession in a crowd of people. We know it was a tiny little woman, not a Mayan, who probably was the pick pocket. At any rate we were reminded to be more vigilant and not let ourselves be sidetracked so easily.
After the meal we went with the priest to a plant nursery/coffee shop and enjoyed walking among the plants. We were able to put names to a couple of plants we see a lot around town. Don had hot chocolate since he is not a coffee drinker. It was very pleasant sitting amongst the plants and various flowers and greenery while we chatted and drank our coffee. We drove to a spot near where the procession would pass and parked the car, walking the rest of the way. This float took over 50 people to carry it. It really is an awesome sight. Except for the lost wallet it was a very nice day. The two priest drove us right to our door and they have invited us to be their guest next week for lunch after Church. We leave Antigua on Monday for Lake Atitlan for about 4 days before going on to Xela (shay-la).
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Internet Connection is flaky
Hello there, we are still in Antigua and still having adventures but our Internet has been a bit on the flaky side this week. We shall attempt to update our blogs next week in town. All is well with us.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Local Security Guards
Today was an easy day for us and we started out at 9 am. We had plans to work on Child Aid computers today to optimize them before we move on from Antigua. Each day as we walk to the bus stop we pass a 'nest' of armed security guards. These guys have automatic weapons and sawed off shotguns. Each day we tell them Buenas Dias (or Good Day) and wave. They have been responding to us as we go back and forth. This morning as we stood at the bottom of the drive to our apartment a truck full of security guards drove past and honked. We responded with a wave and a Buenas Dias. They then responded to us with a fan fare from their sirens as they drove on down the street. We have not tried to take a picture of them because they generally frown on photos. I think may have caught them once when taking a photo of the mountains but I don't plan on hunting for the picture. At any rate it was a great way to start the morning.
During the night (Thursday) starting at 4:30 pm Don had some tummy trouble. It lasted until 4:20 am. We guess that on Wednesday when Socorro school was without water he picked up a virus. Lack of sleep made him slow down just a bit today and we were back in the apartment by 2 pm ready for a nap. There is no sleeping for anyone when you live in a very small space. There is no place to go if you can't sleep. Everybody is awake. We took a siesta this afternoon and will probably call an early night tonight.
Saturday is another laundry day.Yipee! I hope to convince the girl that she doesn't need 6 hours to do our laundry so we can head for home early. We could do our laundry here but the Mom of 10 kids wants 24 hour notice and that somehow does not work well for anyone. She does one or two loads every day. It is funny but she has not once asked us why we have not done our laundry here. It is just simpler to take it in and not get too involved with the workings of a family of 10 kids.
During the night (Thursday) starting at 4:30 pm Don had some tummy trouble. It lasted until 4:20 am. We guess that on Wednesday when Socorro school was without water he picked up a virus. Lack of sleep made him slow down just a bit today and we were back in the apartment by 2 pm ready for a nap. There is no sleeping for anyone when you live in a very small space. There is no place to go if you can't sleep. Everybody is awake. We took a siesta this afternoon and will probably call an early night tonight.
Saturday is another laundry day.Yipee! I hope to convince the girl that she doesn't need 6 hours to do our laundry so we can head for home early. We could do our laundry here but the Mom of 10 kids wants 24 hour notice and that somehow does not work well for anyone. She does one or two loads every day. It is funny but she has not once asked us why we have not done our laundry here. It is just simpler to take it in and not get too involved with the workings of a family of 10 kids.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Walk a Mile or Two in My Shoes
If you walk that mile in my shoes then you too will feel like you have been pulled through a key hole backwards! The lack of signage in Antigua is a real stinker. We picked up a magazine that has a nifty listing of places to eat, see or visit and we ran across a listing for a book store. Today I had the wild hare idea that we could go check it out during our free afternoon. So after lunch we started out to find it. We walked all around the place but it was like looking for a needle in a hay stack. Today the day was a rather warm one so walking just added to the heat. Don and I don't have much sense when it comes to finding a book store or fulfilling a plan. We walked and walked and walked and....well, I think you get the picture. By the time we found the book store I already didn't like the fool place. Viola! we located the store in the middle of the block and went in to see what we could see. It was a disappointment. The store did not live up to it's hype. Someone over bought a bunch of travel books. Somehow I just can't see anyone buying a book on travel to Italy from Guatemala, but I could be wrong.
This morning we left at 9 am for our final trip to the Socorro School where Don wanted to put some of the CD's from several of the books on the computer as Virtual CD's. That way they would be easy to access and not as likely to 'walk' out of the library. The solution to the problem had to be researched which is why we were there today. It was very nice to see the kids from the school come into the library and either read or do research for their homework. Books are not cherished here as they are in the USA. In The USA young children are read to long before they start school. They learn early that books can take them places, make them laugh, and give them information. Guatemalan's have been in a revolution for a very long time and they are very poor so books are not among the first things parents think of to provide for their children. Most of the time the children have to work along side of their parents so that the family can eat and buy the essentials of life.
Tomorrow we plan to have breakfast with the other Ex-Pats and perhaps have another computer to checkout for one of them. After that I want to return here to rest and read. Don wants to 'take and adventure' and pick a bus and travel to one of the near-by cities. My vote is to do that on Saturday.
On Friday we are meeting at Kristin's to put some more memory into her computer. She may also have a couple of other computers from Child Aid that they would like to have optimized. They seem anxious to have these computers cleaned up before we leave Antigua. Friday should be easy enough because Don will have to stay close to the computers which means we will not be walking for more hours than makes any sense.
This morning we left at 9 am for our final trip to the Socorro School where Don wanted to put some of the CD's from several of the books on the computer as Virtual CD's. That way they would be easy to access and not as likely to 'walk' out of the library. The solution to the problem had to be researched which is why we were there today. It was very nice to see the kids from the school come into the library and either read or do research for their homework. Books are not cherished here as they are in the USA. In The USA young children are read to long before they start school. They learn early that books can take them places, make them laugh, and give them information. Guatemalan's have been in a revolution for a very long time and they are very poor so books are not among the first things parents think of to provide for their children. Most of the time the children have to work along side of their parents so that the family can eat and buy the essentials of life.
Tomorrow we plan to have breakfast with the other Ex-Pats and perhaps have another computer to checkout for one of them. After that I want to return here to rest and read. Don wants to 'take and adventure' and pick a bus and travel to one of the near-by cities. My vote is to do that on Saturday.
On Friday we are meeting at Kristin's to put some more memory into her computer. She may also have a couple of other computers from Child Aid that they would like to have optimized. They seem anxious to have these computers cleaned up before we leave Antigua. Friday should be easy enough because Don will have to stay close to the computers which means we will not be walking for more hours than makes any sense.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
A Different Kind of Chicken
Hold on and I will get to the "Chicken"
We started our morning after 7 am and not because of the 10 kids who live in this building with us. Somehow they manage to keep them quiet in the wee hours on the weekends. We putzed around here for a portion of the early morning because we wanted to be in Antigua for lunch. Don's scheduled activity (Joyce he still has that list running), was to watch a Mayan football game in the afternoon.
After we had our lunch we again scoured the mercado for the tableware that we are currently using but does not belong to us. There is nothing much about the tableware that makes it special except that the 'steak' knives will slice through broccoli and cauliflower like they were butter. I want a set to take with us to Xela but so far we have not found them. We poked our heads into several vendor tienda's (little shops) and just enjoyed the browsing and the people.
Don had the bright idea to walk to Jocotenango at the edge of Antigua where the coffee finca is located and that we have visited. Of course I was not in the greatest of moods by this time because I am still getting over the altitude sickness so I stomped for a long time behind Don fuming. We got a bus for the last leg of the trip which wasn't far but was hard for me to climb uphill and still breath.
The game field was a bit small to my thinking for any kind of ball game. However, the game was introduced as more of a religious ceremony and that the conquering Spainards thought it was connected to witchcraft and would not allow the game to be played. The traditions and rules of the game have been passed down generation to generation by word of mouth. Three young men were dressed in traditional garb and they played a portion of the game which could have lasted as long as three days in times past. Using only knees, tummy, elbows, forearms they had to get the ball through a ring on a wooden background. (Picture the ring like a nose ring--that is how it stood out from the wall). It was a lot harder to do than one might have thought. There is some research left to do to prove or disprove that the loosers of the game were sacrificed. There is not enough information to confirm so they prefer to leave that part open ended. At any rate we enjoyed the game then we grabbed a chicken bus and returned to Antigua for dinner at McDonald's (my tummy won't tolerate native food right now).
Now for the CHICKEN: I refused the first bus headed our way as it was already too full. The second had lots of room and we boarded and found seats at the front of the bus. This line of buses will only deliver us to the head of the cemetery as it turns there to go on to Duena's a piece down the road. I was happy about the front row seats. I was the third backside in the first seat next to an older couple. Of course when you are riding shotgun you must stand, wriggle, and aide any more boarding passengers get past you to stack up in the rear of the bus. One family got on the bus with a pinata----in the form of a chicken, maybe----all that was visible were a pair of orange legs and a white body. I made some comment about a different kind of chicken and that older lady laughed. A short way down the road the 'chicken' came loose from it's mooring next to the driver so I stood and re-hooked it. I had to tend to the safety of this chicken. Believe it or not but the young family got off of the bus with their chicken still in one piece! We were the last two people on the bus and we were lucky that this driver knew his highway and that he could both turn around to head back to Antigua and drop us off at our stop at the same time. We thanked him and his ayudante and exited at our stop.
On the short walk home we began to feel a few raindrops on our heads. Don said we needed to pick up the pace so I suggested he whistle us up some marching music. So he did and using his walking stick as a drum major would we picked up the pace. Shortly, coming up there road toward us was a panel van with hugh speakers on the top playing some music so I did a little bit of the dance Gianna and Cos do on the side of the road and a pick up passing gave us a bit of encouragement as they passed and the panel van played another tune as they went by. The Guatemalan people do know when to have fun.
We started our morning after 7 am and not because of the 10 kids who live in this building with us. Somehow they manage to keep them quiet in the wee hours on the weekends. We putzed around here for a portion of the early morning because we wanted to be in Antigua for lunch. Don's scheduled activity (Joyce he still has that list running
After we had our lunch we again scoured the mercado for the tableware that we are currently using but does not belong to us. There is nothing much about the tableware that makes it special except that the 'steak' knives will slice through broccoli and cauliflower like they were butter. I want a set to take with us to Xela but so far we have not found them. We poked our heads into several vendor tienda's (little shops) and just enjoyed the browsing and the people.
Don had the bright idea to walk to Jocotenango at the edge of Antigua where the coffee finca is located and that we have visited. Of course I was not in the greatest of moods by this time because I am still getting over the altitude sickness so I stomped for a long time behind Don fuming. We got a bus for the last leg of the trip which wasn't far but was hard for me to climb uphill and still breath.
The game field was a bit small to my thinking for any kind of ball game. However, the game was introduced as more of a religious ceremony and that the conquering Spainards thought it was connected to witchcraft and would not allow the game to be played. The traditions and rules of the game have been passed down generation to generation by word of mouth. Three young men were dressed in traditional garb and they played a portion of the game which could have lasted as long as three days in times past. Using only knees, tummy, elbows, forearms they had to get the ball through a ring on a wooden background. (Picture the ring like a nose ring--that is how it stood out from the wall). It was a lot harder to do than one might have thought. There is some research left to do to prove or disprove that the loosers of the game were sacrificed. There is not enough information to confirm so they prefer to leave that part open ended. At any rate we enjoyed the game then we grabbed a chicken bus and returned to Antigua for dinner at McDonald's (my tummy won't tolerate native food right now).
Now for the CHICKEN: I refused the first bus headed our way as it was already too full. The second had lots of room and we boarded and found seats at the front of the bus. This line of buses will only deliver us to the head of the cemetery as it turns there to go on to Duena's a piece down the road. I was happy about the front row seats. I was the third backside in the first seat next to an older couple. Of course when you are riding shotgun you must stand, wriggle, and aide any more boarding passengers get past you to stack up in the rear of the bus. One family got on the bus with a pinata----in the form of a chicken, maybe----all that was visible were a pair of orange legs and a white body. I made some comment about a different kind of chicken and that older lady laughed. A short way down the road the 'chicken' came loose from it's mooring next to the driver so I stood and re-hooked it. I had to tend to the safety of this chicken. Believe it or not but the young family got off of the bus with their chicken still in one piece! We were the last two people on the bus and we were lucky that this driver knew his highway and that he could both turn around to head back to Antigua and drop us off at our stop at the same time. We thanked him and his ayudante and exited at our stop.
On the short walk home we began to feel a few raindrops on our heads. Don said we needed to pick up the pace so I suggested he whistle us up some marching music. So he did and using his walking stick as a drum major would we picked up the pace. Shortly, coming up there road toward us was a panel van with hugh speakers on the top playing some music so I did a little bit of the dance Gianna and Cos do on the side of the road and a pick up passing gave us a bit of encouragement as they passed and the panel van played another tune as they went by. The Guatemalan people do know when to have fun.
Friday, February 26, 2010
I Am Alive and Okay-- I think
Hello I am still kicking just not has hard as the first three weeks here in Antigua. When we were here before on our first visit I came down with Altitude Sickness. I can tell you I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. I stayed in on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week hoping to get over this and on Thursday thought I was doing better and I was but I am not over it yet. I have had a problem all my life with motion sickness and I don't have to be on a boat to have a problem. I know from experience that this queasy motion induced yuckieness can last for what seems like forever. I have on my wrist bands as I write and someday I may take them off! I do have medication but I want to hang on to it till we head for Xela which is higher up than we are here. I did take a couple of them along with tylenol. I will live.
I walked behind Don with my eyes to the ground. I warned him that if he fell into a rather large gopher whole that he needed to be ready for me to land on top. I was not watching the things around me just his big feet.
Chicken Bus Stories for this week
Thursday we got on a bus that was already nearly at capacity in that all of the seats had 3 seats (people) in them. The ayudante kept taking on passengers and we kept moving to the back of the bus. I can tell you that there is a magic hole at the back of these chicken buses. We just keep moving back and nobody falls out! But I digress.... On this day a miracle happened.....a you Guatelmalan male got up from his seat and allowed me to hang on to the special THIRD spot on a seat at the back of the bus. I bet you can't guess how we exited this bus. Yep, right out the back door! This ayudante actually assisted me to reach the ground.
Second Story happened today. We have been trying to wait for a chicken bus that is not already to full for fun or comfort but we failed again. We got on one that was not too bad as we started out the both the driver and ayudante were after as many paying customers as they could stuff into a bus! It went beyond common sense which is something the many Guatemalan's seem to be missing. Instead of making it possible to enter and exit a bus that pack it beyond capacity. There is no regularity group or faction that monitors the safety of these buses. At any rate this bus was too full for anyone to get off. Don and I were stuck and ended up riding the bus all the way into Alotenango where folks got off like they were leaving the Titanic! The bus got to the end of town (which turns out to be a long strip straight down the highway and not much else) where the bus turned around and headed back to Antigua with us still on board. We moved up to the front seat and driver turned around and looked at us with such a funny look. I told him we wanted to get off at the 'end of the cemetary at the end of Ciudad Viaja. He said we missed it-- his face said "I just drove past there". I told him that we were not able to got up or out of the bus at that stop. In their favor they did not charge us again for the ride back to our stop and he let us off at the end of the drive up to the apartment.
I walked behind Don with my eyes to the ground. I warned him that if he fell into a rather large gopher whole that he needed to be ready for me to land on top. I was not watching the things around me just his big feet.
Chicken Bus Stories for this week
Thursday we got on a bus that was already nearly at capacity in that all of the seats had 3 seats (people) in them. The ayudante kept taking on passengers and we kept moving to the back of the bus. I can tell you that there is a magic hole at the back of these chicken buses. We just keep moving back and nobody falls out! But I digress.... On this day a miracle happened.....a you Guatelmalan male got up from his seat and allowed me to hang on to the special THIRD spot on a seat at the back of the bus. I bet you can't guess how we exited this bus. Yep, right out the back door! This ayudante actually assisted me to reach the ground.
Second Story happened today. We have been trying to wait for a chicken bus that is not already to full for fun or comfort but we failed again. We got on one that was not too bad as we started out the both the driver and ayudante were after as many paying customers as they could stuff into a bus! It went beyond common sense which is something the many Guatemalan's seem to be missing. Instead of making it possible to enter and exit a bus that pack it beyond capacity. There is no regularity group or faction that monitors the safety of these buses. At any rate this bus was too full for anyone to get off. Don and I were stuck and ended up riding the bus all the way into Alotenango where folks got off like they were leaving the Titanic! The bus got to the end of town (which turns out to be a long strip straight down the highway and not much else) where the bus turned around and headed back to Antigua with us still on board. We moved up to the front seat and driver turned around and looked at us with such a funny look. I told him we wanted to get off at the 'end of the cemetary at the end of Ciudad Viaja. He said we missed it-- his face said "I just drove past there". I told him that we were not able to got up or out of the bus at that stop. In their favor they did not charge us again for the ride back to our stop and he let us off at the end of the drive up to the apartment.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Correction - Thunder not Fuego
Correction
I've just learned that the "belch" we heard on Sunday evening was not Volcan Fuego. Instead, it was the Space Shuttle Endeavor breaking the sound barrier as it prepared to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Evidently bad weather in the U.S. caused it to take the more southerly route over El Salvador.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Back to Socorro School
Monday Feb 22
This is Monday's Blog
Back to Socorro School
We took our time this morning getting out the door. It was nice not to have to catch a 7am bus. Don is working on the computer in the library which is so heavily infest with spy ware and viruses that it is always 100% occupied (or working). It takes forever to be able to get anything done because the computer has to shift and wiggle and make room for anything new to operate. So far the and anti-virus program has not been successfully run on the computer. It is a hurry up and wait approach to de-bugging a computer.
We are going to take in the ruins at San Francisco today that is if I don’t box Don on the head for reading about his rhinoceros out loud. While we wait for the computer we work on our blog or study our Spanish.
I am working off-line on the baby computer on my blog. Don carried baby in because we may need to use it to do research.
Well Don has found a Mal Ware program that will run but we will need to start it as soon as the school opens tomorrow because the library computer is so messed up that it can hardly function and any program has to be jostled around to work at all. There has been some progress made but there is a long way to go before they have a computer and not a door stop!
As we left today we were exiting at the same time as one of the nuns from the school She invited us to see inside the gardens and the chappell of the convent. It was an oasis in the midst of a crowded city. There are only 4 nuns left of this order here in Guatemala. We still have a language barrier so we cannot ask as many questions as we would like. Our Spanish is improving but we have a lot more to learn. We ate dinner out because it was almost 5 by the time we set out for a bus.
Can I just tell you how very tired I am of getting on a bus that is well beyond full? In the one sit I was hunched on there were 6 (3 adults 3 sleeping children) of us and 3 in the seat across the isle. We climb over people like they were part of a jungle gym. I am going to start pushing Don to wait for the second bus we see headed our way. Maybe we can find one that has fewer people on it as well as fewer people to pick up along the way.
For those of you in snow country ---- Don't you wish you were here? There is NO snow and beautiful weather with the occasional volcano belching. Life is good.
This is Monday's Blog
Back to Socorro School
We took our time this morning getting out the door. It was nice not to have to catch a 7am bus. Don is working on the computer in the library which is so heavily infest with spy ware and viruses that it is always 100% occupied (or working). It takes forever to be able to get anything done because the computer has to shift and wiggle and make room for anything new to operate. So far the and anti-virus program has not been successfully run on the computer. It is a hurry up and wait approach to de-bugging a computer.
We are going to take in the ruins at San Francisco today that is if I don’t box Don on the head for reading about his rhinoceros out loud. While we wait for the computer we work on our blog or study our Spanish.
I am working off-line on the baby computer on my blog. Don carried baby in because we may need to use it to do research.
Well Don has found a Mal Ware program that will run but we will need to start it as soon as the school opens tomorrow because the library computer is so messed up that it can hardly function and any program has to be jostled around to work at all. There has been some progress made but there is a long way to go before they have a computer and not a door stop!
As we left today we were exiting at the same time as one of the nuns from the school She invited us to see inside the gardens and the chappell of the convent. It was an oasis in the midst of a crowded city. There are only 4 nuns left of this order here in Guatemala. We still have a language barrier so we cannot ask as many questions as we would like. Our Spanish is improving but we have a lot more to learn. We ate dinner out because it was almost 5 by the time we set out for a bus.
Can I just tell you how very tired I am of getting on a bus that is well beyond full? In the one sit I was hunched on there were 6 (3 adults 3 sleeping children) of us and 3 in the seat across the isle. We climb over people like they were part of a jungle gym. I am going to start pushing Don to wait for the second bus we see headed our way. Maybe we can find one that has fewer people on it as well as fewer people to pick up along the way.
For those of you in snow country ---- Don't you wish you were here? There is NO snow and beautiful weather with the occasional volcano belching. Life is good.
Volcano Thunder!
Written on Monday but this is Sunday's Adventure
Monday Feb. 22, 2010
Volcano Thunder!
Feeling refreshed this morning I am ready to tell you all about our Sunday. By the time I returned to the apartment last night I was not in the mood to tell my tale. Today however, is a new day.
One thing I have to write about happened about 10 pm last night. If you have been looking at Don’s blog then you have seen the pictures of the Volcano Fuego smoking. Fuego is a active volcano and last night we heard a rumble like there was a factory going up in smoke but was actually Fuego. Our neighbor told us that when Fuego overflows it sounds like thunder. She also said it was the loudest incident she has heard from the volcano. There was another rumble about 1:15am which Don slept through but it was very minor.
Now before anyone gets concerned --- While we can see Fuego in the distance it is not as close as it looks and we are UPHILL from the volcano. That may not be much help if lava really starts spewing toward Antigua but from what we can tell it did not impact the local folks since we could find no mention of Fuego on the early morning news.
Okay now back to Sunday. We slept in late and lounged around thinking we would try to get to church at 10 am but as usual when you do that we left it a little late to start. So change of plans, check out the Cathedral in Ciudad Vieja which is the little village we live outside of and is said to be very poor. We walked. Why not - it just down the road. Well it is a very long road to this white church on the hill. As we walked we did see a small and very poor village. The people were friendly and greeted us with Buenos Dias when we greeted them. We found the church and were just in time for the 11 am Mass.
The church is beautiful on the inside. It has long rows of wooden pews and plastic chairs available for use as needed. We sat closer to the front so we can see and understand as much as possible. The altar was beautifully decorated for the first Sunday in Lent. With the improvement of our Spanish we are understanding more each time. The language of the church is different than the language you use outside of the church, there are unique words we have to learn. The priest was still wet behind the ears, in other words, a really young priest, but he had a presence and personality. He spoke clearly and engaged the people following the gospel reading. The people in the church were welcoming and we think we shall make the trip to this church each Sunday from now on.
After church we did not return to the apartment to rest and relax because that would just be silly. We headed off to find a bus to Antigua to hunt down the Mariposa garden. We found our bus and rode into town and got off in the general area that we saw the signage for the Mariposa garden. You might be guessing that we had yet another long walk and you would be right. We followed the signs and actually found the garden. Our improve Spanish made it possible to understand the Guide’s explanation of the stages of life for the butterfly. He had samples of two species in various stages. We understood that life is very short for the butterfly but that it lays a ton of eggs to allow the species to survive. After the presentation we entered the garden to view and try to photograph the butterflies which was extremely difficult. We spent well over an hour walking around in the enclosure of butterfly garden but we did not see a Monarch.
When we were ready to return to Antigua we waited on the street with other travelers for a bus to come our way. There is always a bus nearby if you wait. Don had planned for us not to cook anything at the apartment but we returned to early for dinner. Let’s take a hike! We walked to the Spanish courtyard were we put in a little time reading Spanish and enjoying the day. We could hear music but on a weekend in Antigua that is not out of the ordinary. As we left to hunt down dinner the “guard” at the door mentioned that there was a parade happening. We never caught up with the parade. We saw the crowds on the streets but did not see anything other than young folks in purple robes. After we ate we went to catch our bus and that’s when we saw the band and a part of the parade but we were behind it and the street was packed with people. It turns out that it was the first parade marking the beginning of Lent. We caught our bus and were dropped off in Ciudad Vieja to walk home. Not sure why we were let out there but the bus turned itself around and headed the other way. My guess is that there was money to be made as a result of the parade.
Once home we took our showers and Don tried to do his blog but our Internet connection was flaky. I just crashed---done for the day.
Monday Feb. 22, 2010
Volcano Thunder!
Feeling refreshed this morning I am ready to tell you all about our Sunday. By the time I returned to the apartment last night I was not in the mood to tell my tale. Today however, is a new day.
One thing I have to write about happened about 10 pm last night. If you have been looking at Don’s blog then you have seen the pictures of the Volcano Fuego smoking. Fuego is a active volcano and last night we heard a rumble like there was a factory going up in smoke but was actually Fuego. Our neighbor told us that when Fuego overflows it sounds like thunder. She also said it was the loudest incident she has heard from the volcano. There was another rumble about 1:15am which Don slept through but it was very minor.
Now before anyone gets concerned --- While we can see Fuego in the distance it is not as close as it looks and we are UPHILL from the volcano. That may not be much help if lava really starts spewing toward Antigua but from what we can tell it did not impact the local folks since we could find no mention of Fuego on the early morning news.
Okay now back to Sunday. We slept in late and lounged around thinking we would try to get to church at 10 am but as usual when you do that we left it a little late to start. So change of plans, check out the Cathedral in Ciudad Vieja which is the little village we live outside of and is said to be very poor. We walked. Why not - it just down the road. Well it is a very long road to this white church on the hill. As we walked we did see a small and very poor village. The people were friendly and greeted us with Buenos Dias when we greeted them. We found the church and were just in time for the 11 am Mass.
The church is beautiful on the inside. It has long rows of wooden pews and plastic chairs available for use as needed. We sat closer to the front so we can see and understand as much as possible. The altar was beautifully decorated for the first Sunday in Lent. With the improvement of our Spanish we are understanding more each time. The language of the church is different than the language you use outside of the church, there are unique words we have to learn. The priest was still wet behind the ears, in other words, a really young priest, but he had a presence and personality. He spoke clearly and engaged the people following the gospel reading. The people in the church were welcoming and we think we shall make the trip to this church each Sunday from now on.
After church we did not return to the apartment to rest and relax because that would just be silly. We headed off to find a bus to Antigua to hunt down the Mariposa garden. We found our bus and rode into town and got off in the general area that we saw the signage for the Mariposa garden. You might be guessing that we had yet another long walk and you would be right. We followed the signs and actually found the garden. Our improve Spanish made it possible to understand the Guide’s explanation of the stages of life for the butterfly. He had samples of two species in various stages. We understood that life is very short for the butterfly but that it lays a ton of eggs to allow the species to survive. After the presentation we entered the garden to view and try to photograph the butterflies which was extremely difficult. We spent well over an hour walking around in the enclosure of butterfly garden but we did not see a Monarch.
When we were ready to return to Antigua we waited on the street with other travelers for a bus to come our way. There is always a bus nearby if you wait. Don had planned for us not to cook anything at the apartment but we returned to early for dinner. Let’s take a hike! We walked to the Spanish courtyard were we put in a little time reading Spanish and enjoying the day. We could hear music but on a weekend in Antigua that is not out of the ordinary. As we left to hunt down dinner the “guard” at the door mentioned that there was a parade happening. We never caught up with the parade. We saw the crowds on the streets but did not see anything other than young folks in purple robes. After we ate we went to catch our bus and that’s when we saw the band and a part of the parade but we were behind it and the street was packed with people. It turns out that it was the first parade marking the beginning of Lent. We caught our bus and were dropped off in Ciudad Vieja to walk home. Not sure why we were let out there but the bus turned itself around and headed the other way. My guess is that there was money to be made as a result of the parade.
Once home we took our showers and Don tried to do his blog but our Internet connection was flaky. I just crashed---done for the day.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Learning Spanish May Actually Be Possible
Spanish---Not quite a break through day but close enough to be encouraging. I would have preferred staying in today as the constant traveling into and out of Antigua begins to wear you down after a time. However, Don wanted to go in and play the tourist game. He had found that we could take a tourist van out to a Finca (plantation) just outside of Antigua which had a couple of museums as well as a coffee plantation. We located the tour van after our late start leaving the apartment (he did allow for a later take off time as it is Saturday). Our tour group was made up of two Americans, one lady, Jane, from the UK and the rest were stand-off-ish Germans.
At any rate we arrived and were soon met by our guide, a very capable young lady. She spoke Spanish as though she was speaking to a bunch of -----wait for it---------tourists! She was clear and concise and lo and behold both Don and I could understand her Spanish. By that I mean that as she spoke we understood and did not have to do translations in our head before figuring out what was being said! (You loose a lot of the conversation when translations have to be done!) It was so much fun! I was happy that I was not too big of a grump getting started today. We still cannot understand normal conversation (or speed Spanish) because our ears hear too slow and our brain has to translate and we have a lack of vocabulary but we are working on it.
The lady from the UK, Jane, was just passing through Guatemala and it was fun to show her a little of the places and things we have done and seen. Tomorrow she is off on a sleep over Volcano sight seeing trip. She did not know the Mercado was out there and she was as amazed as I still am of the things women (and some men) carry on their heads. Don and I bought fresh vegetables and some fruit. After the tour we shared an appetizer and drank our complimentary glass of wine (given by the tour group) and had a good lunch from it. We had planned to take her to our Comedor (Guatemalan family style restaurant in the Mercado) but found we were no longer hungry. We topped of the meal with an ice cream cone at Pollo Compero. We dashed across the street to the Bodegona and let Don go in to buy the one DVD he needed then we helped her to catch a took-took and we went to catch our bus back to the apartment. We had soup for dinner because we were not starving and that was light enough to end the day. Now there is nothing to watch on TV and not really enough light to read so I am going to call it a day and wish you all a good night.
At any rate we arrived and were soon met by our guide, a very capable young lady. She spoke Spanish as though she was speaking to a bunch of -----wait for it---------tourists! She was clear and concise and lo and behold both Don and I could understand her Spanish. By that I mean that as she spoke we understood and did not have to do translations in our head before figuring out what was being said! (You loose a lot of the conversation when translations have to be done!) It was so much fun! I was happy that I was not too big of a grump getting started today. We still cannot understand normal conversation (or speed Spanish) because our ears hear too slow and our brain has to translate and we have a lack of vocabulary but we are working on it.
The lady from the UK, Jane, was just passing through Guatemala and it was fun to show her a little of the places and things we have done and seen. Tomorrow she is off on a sleep over Volcano sight seeing trip. She did not know the Mercado was out there and she was as amazed as I still am of the things women (and some men) carry on their heads. Don and I bought fresh vegetables and some fruit. After the tour we shared an appetizer and drank our complimentary glass of wine (given by the tour group) and had a good lunch from it. We had planned to take her to our Comedor (Guatemalan family style restaurant in the Mercado) but found we were no longer hungry. We topped of the meal with an ice cream cone at Pollo Compero. We dashed across the street to the Bodegona and let Don go in to buy the one DVD he needed then we helped her to catch a took-took and we went to catch our bus back to the apartment. We had soup for dinner because we were not starving and that was light enough to end the day. Now there is nothing to watch on TV and not really enough light to read so I am going to call it a day and wish you all a good night.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
The Most Successful Project To Date
This morning we struggled up through the fog of sleep and got our act together so that we could meet John from Child Aid for a trip to another school 2 hours away near Lake Atitlan. John drove us in his Honda SUV up the mountain. They had a computer lab that has not been used in the past year or more, mainly due to viruses and things that were preventing the computers from proper operations. Bless their little pea-picking-hearts but this group was wise enough to cover their computers and monitors to help keep them dust free. They were the best computers we have looked at thus far. In short order we had run a System Care program to clean and defrag and optimize each computer followed by running a virus scanner all around. One computer had over 400 viruses! We have no idea how the viruses were gathered since they are not connected to the Internet. Don also loaded a typing tutor program on each computer which will give them a tool to teach keyboarding.
Each school we have been to have no idea why they want a computer lab. They have no teacher or curriculum for teaching computer skills that would enhance their program. The teachers in general have no idea what a lesson plan is or how it would help guide their teaching. Guatemalan schools are like a step back 30 or 40 years in time. Some teachers know that education is very important but the general population does not and could not care less about education. At any rate, we left this library ready and able to be used by whomever will be teaching computer skills. This school actually looked and sounded like education was taking place. The classrooms were in control (after the teachers were done with their early morning meeting and entered the classrooms).
John had said that the school would provide us with lunch today so we were really surprised at the meal that was served. The school is done by mid-day so the 'school lunch' we had in our minds turned out to be something different. It seems that one woman has a small 'comida' a.k.a. restaurant across the street. Our meal was served to us in the connecting library. It consisted of a bowl of a clear vegetable soup, the always present corn tortillas, fresh and hot, followed by roasted or baked chicken, mixed vegetables done to perfection, and rice, with a bottle of water or if you were brave instant coffee. It was the best 'payment' we have yet received for the work that we do on these computers.
When we were done with the computers there was the two hour trip back to Antigua. It was much more comfortable in Johns car but on the trip down he began to whip around the S-curves and up and down valleys which soon gave my anti-nausea bracelets a run for their money. Don asked how I was doing and I mentioned the growing difficulty and John smoothed out his driving and sea-sickness was averted. We stopped at a shopping mall in Chimal to return a backpack then made our way to Antigua for dinner and the trip to the Bodegona. We have learned that if we eat before we attempt the trip home we do better. The extremely overstuffed buses make the trip home very hard. They pack 3 to a seat and then cramme as many into the isles as possible. Exiting the bus at your desired stop is a trial and a nightmare. I am done by the time we get back to the apartment. We try to be headed home by 3 pm so that the buses are not as full and on those days we cook up a large pot of soup or stew.
Each school we have been to have no idea why they want a computer lab. They have no teacher or curriculum for teaching computer skills that would enhance their program. The teachers in general have no idea what a lesson plan is or how it would help guide their teaching. Guatemalan schools are like a step back 30 or 40 years in time. Some teachers know that education is very important but the general population does not and could not care less about education. At any rate, we left this library ready and able to be used by whomever will be teaching computer skills. This school actually looked and sounded like education was taking place. The classrooms were in control (after the teachers were done with their early morning meeting and entered the classrooms).
John had said that the school would provide us with lunch today so we were really surprised at the meal that was served. The school is done by mid-day so the 'school lunch' we had in our minds turned out to be something different. It seems that one woman has a small 'comida' a.k.a. restaurant across the street. Our meal was served to us in the connecting library. It consisted of a bowl of a clear vegetable soup, the always present corn tortillas, fresh and hot, followed by roasted or baked chicken, mixed vegetables done to perfection, and rice, with a bottle of water or if you were brave instant coffee. It was the best 'payment' we have yet received for the work that we do on these computers.
When we were done with the computers there was the two hour trip back to Antigua. It was much more comfortable in Johns car but on the trip down he began to whip around the S-curves and up and down valleys which soon gave my anti-nausea bracelets a run for their money. Don asked how I was doing and I mentioned the growing difficulty and John smoothed out his driving and sea-sickness was averted. We stopped at a shopping mall in Chimal to return a backpack then made our way to Antigua for dinner and the trip to the Bodegona. We have learned that if we eat before we attempt the trip home we do better. The extremely overstuffed buses make the trip home very hard. They pack 3 to a seat and then cramme as many into the isles as possible. Exiting the bus at your desired stop is a trial and a nightmare. I am done by the time we get back to the apartment. We try to be headed home by 3 pm so that the buses are not as full and on those days we cook up a large pot of soup or stew.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
The Bodegano a.k.a. The Grocery Store
The Bodegano
Yesterday I took some pictures of the Mercado where we generally shop for fresh produce. I did not mention that we can eat anything we can peal and cook well. We also have a vegetable wash called Sanivida which is a Clorox solution where we let most of the things we buy soak for about 5 minutes. I also use the solution as a final rinse on the dishes which I then let air dry. It must be working as we have had no food/tummy issues so far.
There are no neon signs to indicate the location of businesses on the street. You have to walk on the opposite side of the street to read the signs over the doors easily. Walking on the same side of the street is just slightly more difficult to find places.
Now the things that we need like paper towels, toilet paper, Ziploc bags are best bought at the Bodegano. We could actually buy most of the things we need in the Mercado but if we have to go to Bodegano we might as well buy them there. This is a store off of the main drag that is painted a baby blue.
Upon entering the store you must lock your backpacks in lockers provided there for the purpose.
We can select our shopping basket/carts and join the crowds looking for food and stuff (stuff is such a good word- covers a lot of territory). There is no and I mean NO rhyme or reason for the placement of articles in this store. Things that we think would be in the same area as our stores just doesn’t happen. Paper products can be located at a number of spots inside the building.
The eggs below are sitting on a shelf inside the Mercado and eggs bought inside the grocery store "the Bodegona" sit similarly on shelves in a small alcove in the store.
Last week we had to ask where they were hiding the eggs. We could find yogurt, cheeses, etc. in refrigerated sections but no eggs. Turns our the eggs sit on a shelf in a little side corner and are not refrigerated here. There are eggs available in the Mercado, also not refrigerated. The front half on the lower level of the Bodegona has grocery items. And one side of the building is a pharmacy where you can get rubbing alcohol, band aids, hair care products, etc. - this area has some similarities to Walgreens but no prescription drugs. The back half, which exits on the next block, has dry goods, socks, underwear, towels, kitchen ware, stoves as well as an ATM machine. If we exit on this back side we can walk maybe half a block and find McDonald’s.
Upstairs you can find paper, pencils, notebooks, some Hallmark type cards, arts and craft items along with computer disks/CD‘s, electronics, and in other words just a bit of everything.
When your check out is complete you move to a table provided to load your items into the bag or box of your choice. They will ask if you want to purchase a ‘bolsa’ (bag) or you can use some of the empty boxes you can find. We use our handy-dandy bags that we carry in backpack at all times. I much prefer the bags we brought because they do not stretch and tear and actually hold more thus cutting down on the number of items we have to lug home on the chicken bus.
Below is a bird's eye view of the Bodegona from the top of the stairs. From here it looks like a grocery store. But the actual fact is that finding the things you want is like a scavenger hunt. You look for clues and ask questions and eventually you strike gold.
This photo is as close as I have seen representing a Hallmark type of shopping. This is the largest collection of cards that I have yet to run across. It is located upstairs in the Bodegona.
Yesterday I took some pictures of the Mercado where we generally shop for fresh produce. I did not mention that we can eat anything we can peal and cook well. We also have a vegetable wash called Sanivida which is a Clorox solution where we let most of the things we buy soak for about 5 minutes. I also use the solution as a final rinse on the dishes which I then let air dry. It must be working as we have had no food/tummy issues so far.
Today I present you with a small tour of the
local grocery store.
local grocery store.
The Front of the Bodegona
There are no neon signs to indicate the location of businesses on the street. You have to walk on the opposite side of the street to read the signs over the doors easily. Walking on the same side of the street is just slightly more difficult to find places.
Now the things that we need like paper towels, toilet paper, Ziploc bags are best bought at the Bodegano. We could actually buy most of the things we need in the Mercado but if we have to go to Bodegano we might as well buy them there. This is a store off of the main drag that is painted a baby blue.
Upon entering the store you must lock your backpacks in lockers provided there for the purpose.
Don opening a locker in the Bodegona
all backpacks and bags must go in there and
there is a guard at the doors.
We can select our shopping basket/carts and join the crowds looking for food and stuff (stuff is such a good word- covers a lot of territory). There is no and I mean NO rhyme or reason for the placement of articles in this store. Things that we think would be in the same area as our stores just doesn’t happen. Paper products can be located at a number of spots inside the building.
The eggs below are sitting on a shelf inside the Mercado and eggs bought inside the grocery store "the Bodegona" sit similarly on shelves in a small alcove in the store.
Eggs in the Mercado
Upstairs you can find paper, pencils, notebooks, some Hallmark type cards, arts and craft items along with computer disks/CD‘s, electronics, and in other words just a bit of everything.
When your check out is complete you move to a table provided to load your items into the bag or box of your choice. They will ask if you want to purchase a ‘bolsa’ (bag) or you can use some of the empty boxes you can find. We use our handy-dandy bags that we carry in backpack at all times. I much prefer the bags we brought because they do not stretch and tear and actually hold more thus cutting down on the number of items we have to lug home on the chicken bus.
Below is a bird's eye view of the Bodegona from the top of the stairs. From here it looks like a grocery store. But the actual fact is that finding the things you want is like a scavenger hunt. You look for clues and ask questions and eventually you strike gold.
Bird's Eye View of Bodegona
This photo is as close as I have seen representing a Hallmark type of shopping. This is the largest collection of cards that I have yet to run across. It is located upstairs in the Bodegona.
Largest Selection of Cards I have found
There is another much smaller store call Dispensa Familiar which is a subsidiary of Wal Mart. They do not have a large selection of items but do carry meat that others here have said is 'gringo' approved. It sometimes takes DAYS to check out of here.
Robyn's Story as Told By Robyn
I just wanted to share my joy in that I have gotten engaged as of Sat Feb 13! His name is Nathan Rife and he is a research chemist with MI Swaco which is an oil services company.
We have been talking about getting married for a little while and started shopping for rings. I finally found one I liked and since my tastes didn't stay the same from store to store, Nathan bought the one I liked to stop the madness. I knew he had the ring, but he kept telling me he got to choose when he proposed to me and that it WAS NOT going to be on Valentines, his birthday (Feb 27), my birthday or any other day that already had a meaning.
So.....He proposed during our Valentines day dinner which he shopped for and cooked for me. We enjoyed a quiet night in and enjoyed a candle lit dinner. We were just sitting back and having a conversation when he started talking about being my best friend and how I made him laugh as he reached behind him for a drink coozie. I assumed that he was going to show me some smart ass quote that was printed on the coozie, but I was wrong as he pulled out the ring box. He got down on 1 knee and asked me to marry him. He said that today was the only time that I WASN'T expecting it and therefore the ONLY day that he could actually surprise me. He did. As with any woman being asked for her hand in marriage I started crying and laughing at the same time. Even knowing he had the ring it was still a shock.
We are currently looking at dates in August as Fort Bend ISD is strict on truancy and Max will be entering first grade, and Nathans mom is a teacher in Keller, TX. I will let you know more information as I get it myself. Dates and locations are still to be determined.
Love you all.
Robyn
We have been talking about getting married for a little while and started shopping for rings. I finally found one I liked and since my tastes didn't stay the same from store to store, Nathan bought the one I liked to stop the madness. I knew he had the ring, but he kept telling me he got to choose when he proposed to me and that it WAS NOT going to be on Valentines, his birthday (Feb 27), my birthday or any other day that already had a meaning.
So.....He proposed during our Valentines day dinner which he shopped for and cooked for me. We enjoyed a quiet night in and enjoyed a candle lit dinner. We were just sitting back and having a conversation when he started talking about being my best friend and how I made him laugh as he reached behind him for a drink coozie. I assumed that he was going to show me some smart ass quote that was printed on the coozie, but I was wrong as he pulled out the ring box. He got down on 1 knee and asked me to marry him. He said that today was the only time that I WASN'T expecting it and therefore the ONLY day that he could actually surprise me. He did. As with any woman being asked for her hand in marriage I started crying and laughing at the same time. Even knowing he had the ring it was still a shock.
We are currently looking at dates in August as Fort Bend ISD is strict on truancy and Max will be entering first grade, and Nathans mom is a teacher in Keller, TX. I will let you know more information as I get it myself. Dates and locations are still to be determined.
Love you all.
Robyn
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Mercado (Market Place)
We spent part of the day at Socorro school and Don became frustrated after we had the computers booted. It seems that this donation of computers comes with a freezer type program that locks the programs on the computers and does not allow anything new like a virus checker for instance to be loaded and saved. When he reached his frustration level we left and then had to find things to do for nearly four hours while we waited for the laundry to be ready for pick up. We took at 'took-took' taxi back to the mercado and I pulled out my camera.
The Mercado covers several city blocks. Most of it is covered, more or less, if it rains many of the vendors cover their items for sale with plastic and business goes on as usual. This section (above) is a long line of vendors on what was once a street (I'm guessing here) You can find nearly anything you could want out here as well as inside. Here we have paper towels and hats and a vendor with sunglasses followed by a stall with a large assortment of bags and purses.
The photo below is several stacks of jeans and above shirts. The young man is the vendor who inserted himself into the shot. Sometimes these guys want you to pay them to take their pictures but I was not taking a shot at him but the jeans. I am not sure how you would actually select a pair of these and if you would ever find your size.
The Guatemalans love their sweet stuff from candy which you see below and they also love sweet breads. You can find shops all over that will sell you sweet breads. There is also a growing market of American foods like McDonald's, Burger King, Pollo Compero, and list continues to grow as are the Guatemalans. They also have a growing problem with diabetes as their staple diet is corn tortillas, rice and black beans.
Street Vendors
The photo below is several stacks of jeans and above shirts. The young man is the vendor who inserted himself into the shot. Sometimes these guys want you to pay them to take their pictures but I was not taking a shot at him but the jeans. I am not sure how you would actually select a pair of these and if you would ever find your size.
Jeans and Shirts
The Guatemalans love their sweet stuff from candy which you see below and they also love sweet breads. You can find shops all over that will sell you sweet breads. There is also a growing market of American foods like McDonald's, Burger King, Pollo Compero, and list continues to grow as are the Guatemalans. They also have a growing problem with diabetes as their staple diet is corn tortillas, rice and black beans.
Sweets and Candies
For me there is still a bit of a problem when it comes to buying meat here. They do not have the same standards for meat that the US has and I cannot buy meat at a stall like the one below. This is way inside the mercado and the area around this stall has other types of meat from white sausage, raw slabs of liver, and chickens that just sit out here for who knows how long. Can't do it!
Beef Vendor
I have discovered why we are nearly always served strange "chicken parts" in some locations okay for gringos to eat -- they hack them apart with a very large meat cleaver! When we were here the first time I had a hard time identifying the parts of the chicken we were actually eating. Now I know the rest of the chicken story.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and Vegetables on market day are there for you to choose from. In our case we are limited by how much we want to carry home on a bus. Once again we loaded up on a bus today with our laundry and our veggies and were pushed all the way to the back of the bus. I had to laugh once as the driver kept picking up people and they kept making their way to the back because at some point the back just had to fill up. When the back filled up the ayudante appeared at the back door (via the top of the bus) and help us to disembark by the back door.
Don Returning with the Laundry
I am waiting near the bus stop to return to the apartment with our selection of vegetables while Don picked up the laundry. He is carrying a back pack and I have a large purse/bag and a small sling backpack with my long sleeve shirt in it and the shopping bag with veggies. Can you understand how much they love us on these chicken buses? Of course there are many others who carry stuff and sometimes it ends up at the very front on the bus or on top. We tend to hang on to the stuff that is ours, not being willing to share so much with others.
Today I will leave you with a photo I took for Nick. We arrived at the 'bus barn' (for want of a better description) and these young men were unloading the top of their bus. They tie down everything they put up there and can get it down in record time. If they put luggage up there they cover it with canvas. These chicken buses are really amazing, mostly uncomfortable, but amazing just the same. It is affordable enough that nearly anyone can pay for passage to different parts of the city or even the country.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Happy Valentine's Day and Congratulations Robyn
Happy Valentine's Day! We had a wonderful day today. It was a beautiful day with blue skies, cool temps and No white stuff to kick around. While our day was great it probably didn't measure up to Robyn's day but that is her story to tell.
We made our way to church by bus and then by tuk-tuk try to have an easier day and allow my right foot to get some relief from walking. It is doing much better but I doubt that it is completely well. With the help of the printed pamphlet the church puts out and our Sunday Missal Susan sent to us we are able to more easily follow Mass and understand the readings (reading both English then Spanish).
After church we walked to our favorite sitting space to enjoy the day and make a few phone calls while we waited for our 1 pm reservation at the 'Steak House'. During our walk-abouts in the week we picked up some info on things that were happening in Antigua. One such event was a Marimba Band playing at the steak house. I have to say that this steak, while expensive, was the best we have had in a long time. We had a table in the courtyard with umbrella just in front of the band. The food was excellent and the music most enjoyable. Since Don really loves marimba music we bought our second CD so far. All of the women in the restaurant received a single red rose for the occasion. When we left the Steak House we saw other women carrying roses so this is something they do for the celebration of the day. In the Bodegona (store) I did see your typical table/booth with young girls putting together sweetheart mugs with hearts and flowers and teddy bears. There were cards available but not like you see displayed at Hallmark and lots of red balloons and some heart shaped ones also. We did catch a couple of young lovers now and then doing what young lovers do and not caring that everyone in the world was watching.
Tonight we plan to finish blogging and watch a little TV to rest up for our battle with some of the dirtiest computers we have seen in a while. One day during the week we will travel to Melotto and finish up there.
Everyone have a good week. Catch you later.
We made our way to church by bus and then by tuk-tuk try to have an easier day and allow my right foot to get some relief from walking. It is doing much better but I doubt that it is completely well. With the help of the printed pamphlet the church puts out and our Sunday Missal Susan sent to us we are able to more easily follow Mass and understand the readings (reading both English then Spanish).
After church we walked to our favorite sitting space to enjoy the day and make a few phone calls while we waited for our 1 pm reservation at the 'Steak House'. During our walk-abouts in the week we picked up some info on things that were happening in Antigua. One such event was a Marimba Band playing at the steak house. I have to say that this steak, while expensive, was the best we have had in a long time. We had a table in the courtyard with umbrella just in front of the band. The food was excellent and the music most enjoyable. Since Don really loves marimba music we bought our second CD so far. All of the women in the restaurant received a single red rose for the occasion. When we left the Steak House we saw other women carrying roses so this is something they do for the celebration of the day. In the Bodegona (store) I did see your typical table/booth with young girls putting together sweetheart mugs with hearts and flowers and teddy bears. There were cards available but not like you see displayed at Hallmark and lots of red balloons and some heart shaped ones also. We did catch a couple of young lovers now and then doing what young lovers do and not caring that everyone in the world was watching.
Tonight we plan to finish blogging and watch a little TV to rest up for our battle with some of the dirtiest computers we have seen in a while. One day during the week we will travel to Melotto and finish up there.
Everyone have a good week. Catch you later.
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