Trash: The truck comes by Monday and Thursday and they yell trash in Spanish. You take your trash out to them and give them Q.1.00/bag (about $.12). Then they give you back that many new bags.
Water: first time we got five 5 gallon jugs of water, we had to buy the jugs. Now we just by the water for the jugs. Not used to buying water.
Showers: Our showers are only hot if the "widow maker" (the heating element that heats the water as it exits the shower head) works. This morning, ours burnt through the wiring and quit. It's like torture for us...taking a cold shower. So Britt fixed it with a new widow maker today. Thank goodness for his electrical experience.
Pests: We're rather used to roosters crowing at 5:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m....even on the porch outside our bedroom. So that noise doesn't even phase us here. Dogs too. They never sleep. They didn't back in Indiana and they don't here either. They bark especially at night. Mice. We have none here. Yahoo! One thing I definitely don't miss, for sure! Flies. We were infested with them this summer in Indiana. I believe it was in preparation for living here. They're terrible in this house. We're told it's from the farm across the road. In Indiana we used to wake up to a fly buzzing around our heads. So annoying. We do here too. We've tried this fly tape. We have like 10 hanging around this house, all full. A cold morning is the only cure. Cats. They were never pests in Indiana. They are a very tolerable animal, in Indiana. In Guatemala, they are on the same level as a rat. We have a neighborrat cat that jumps onto our veranda, over the railing and down the steps into our basement/garage every night. One night it left us a nice smelly present. Clint can't wait for his bow and arrows to get here.
Pan (bread): there's two shops just on our street. Probably more further down, but we never walk that way. They sell bread/biscuits/pastries by the price, not by the count. So after Britt's first purchase of 18 requested cookies, he noticed after the kids all took one there seemed to be way more than 9 left. Come to find out we were sold Q.18 worth, not just 18. From then on the pan lady always asks if we want 18 or Q.18 worth and then chuckles.
Transportation: we still don't have our own vehicle. But I'm really okay with that for now. We walk a lot. I love that. I walk the half-mile up the street to the Schmidt's house with a big bag of laundry over my shoulder about every-other-day. Great exercise. When we need to get groceries, we just hitch a ride with the Schmidt's. When we want to visit Buena Vista, we all pile on the Mule. It's a rather fun ride for all, except when we're caught in a downpour.
Weather: there's often a misconception about our weather here. Most think it's hot all the time here. But we're in the mountains. Up nearly 7,000 feet, it's rarely "hot". Granted if the sun is out on a clear day, it does feel rather intense and you can get a nice sunburn. We have rainy season from May through October when it is predictably warmer (between 60's and upper 70's). Then we have dry season between October through May, when it is cooler. We're told it can get down in the 40's at night. Because of the mountains, rain is unpredictable. Kate asked me just yesterday if I knew what the weather was supposed to be like for the day. I just laughed at her. She's been here three weeks, you'd think she would've caught on by now. So we always carry a sweatshirt or rain jacket, unless we're planning to be gone under a half-an-hour. Of course, if we are heading to the big city, we assume a good 10 degrees warmer. It's down the mountain.
People: some are nice, some aren't. They don't know us yet, so should we expect anything less than being ignored? We're the new gringos here for who-knows-why, according to them. If you buy something from a small-barely-making-it-tienda, they are your amigos for sure. If you buy a coke from a large tienda (obviously doing well) that's marked Q.3 and they charge you Q.4 one day and Q4.5 the next, just cause your a "dumb" gringo, they are not your amigos. You have to make friends here just like anywhere. Mickey noted how he missed living in Clunette where everyone waves at you whether they know you or not. Yes, we miss that. But then, these people need some light in their dark world, and that's why we're here. I noticed some Spanish fowl language scratched on our garage door the other day. They think we don't know what it means. But we do. It feels insulting, even coming from the unknown. But I take it as a challenge. I'd love to meet the little vandals. And share some Light.
Water: first time we got five 5 gallon jugs of water, we had to buy the jugs. Now we just by the water for the jugs. Not used to buying water.
Showers: Our showers are only hot if the "widow maker" (the heating element that heats the water as it exits the shower head) works. This morning, ours burnt through the wiring and quit. It's like torture for us...taking a cold shower. So Britt fixed it with a new widow maker today. Thank goodness for his electrical experience.
Pests: We're rather used to roosters crowing at 5:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m....even on the porch outside our bedroom. So that noise doesn't even phase us here. Dogs too. They never sleep. They didn't back in Indiana and they don't here either. They bark especially at night. Mice. We have none here. Yahoo! One thing I definitely don't miss, for sure! Flies. We were infested with them this summer in Indiana. I believe it was in preparation for living here. They're terrible in this house. We're told it's from the farm across the road. In Indiana we used to wake up to a fly buzzing around our heads. So annoying. We do here too. We've tried this fly tape. We have like 10 hanging around this house, all full. A cold morning is the only cure. Cats. They were never pests in Indiana. They are a very tolerable animal, in Indiana. In Guatemala, they are on the same level as a rat. We have a neighbor
Pan (bread): there's two shops just on our street. Probably more further down, but we never walk that way. They sell bread/biscuits/pastries by the price, not by the count. So after Britt's first purchase of 18 requested cookies, he noticed after the kids all took one there seemed to be way more than 9 left. Come to find out we were sold Q.18 worth, not just 18. From then on the pan lady always asks if we want 18 or Q.18 worth and then chuckles.
Transportation: we still don't have our own vehicle. But I'm really okay with that for now. We walk a lot. I love that. I walk the half-mile up the street to the Schmidt's house with a big bag of laundry over my shoulder about every-other-day. Great exercise. When we need to get groceries, we just hitch a ride with the Schmidt's. When we want to visit Buena Vista, we all pile on the Mule. It's a rather fun ride for all, except when we're caught in a downpour.
Weather: there's often a misconception about our weather here. Most think it's hot all the time here. But we're in the mountains. Up nearly 7,000 feet, it's rarely "hot". Granted if the sun is out on a clear day, it does feel rather intense and you can get a nice sunburn. We have rainy season from May through October when it is predictably warmer (between 60's and upper 70's). Then we have dry season between October through May, when it is cooler. We're told it can get down in the 40's at night. Because of the mountains, rain is unpredictable. Kate asked me just yesterday if I knew what the weather was supposed to be like for the day. I just laughed at her. She's been here three weeks, you'd think she would've caught on by now. So we always carry a sweatshirt or rain jacket, unless we're planning to be gone under a half-an-hour. Of course, if we are heading to the big city, we assume a good 10 degrees warmer. It's down the mountain.
People: some are nice, some aren't. They don't know us yet, so should we expect anything less than being ignored? We're the new gringos here for who-knows-why, according to them. If you buy something from a small-barely-making-it-tienda, they are your amigos for sure. If you buy a coke from a large tienda (obviously doing well) that's marked Q.3 and they charge you Q.4 one day and Q4.5 the next, just cause your a "dumb" gringo, they are not your amigos. You have to make friends here just like anywhere. Mickey noted how he missed living in Clunette where everyone waves at you whether they know you or not. Yes, we miss that. But then, these people need some light in their dark world, and that's why we're here. I noticed some Spanish fowl language scratched on our garage door the other day. They think we don't know what it means. But we do. It feels insulting, even coming from the unknown. But I take it as a challenge. I'd love to meet the little vandals. And share some Light.
Chad often comments, "...when we visit the Harmans" it's never "if" ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I read this! I'm REALLY glad its supposed to be cooler in October! ;) Looking forward to seeing you all in just over a month!! (I'll bring some extra fly strips if you want)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the huge update. Sounds like you have some good and bad there, just like here. You aren't missing anything here, so keep enjoying what you have. Reading all your things about the money and people, sounds like China. Still praying.... Love you guys.
ReplyDelete