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.
