Q’s in Cups and a Ginormous Cow Liver

Family Travel Guatemala

Family Travel Guatemala
neighbor hen

Cali woke up at 6am and couldn’t go back to sleep. Last night I was up late sorting out my skype issues. I had to take it off my computer and then reload it. I have it sorted it out now. Skype is a bit of a lifeline for us. After skype was happy again, I was awake for about an hour listening to my roof drama. Paul and I decided I need a roof-cam to see what exactly goes on at night up there.  Madi and I did a bit of detective work on that. Seems our neighbors have a balcony and a wall that butts up against our roof. It wouldn’t take much for dogs or cats to jump off that wall and land on our roof with a pretty good thud. It’s a mystery to me what they do after that.

I rode the bike into town for a coffee and to get a new book. Ah, so nice…

Another one of Madi’s teachers works at the bookstore on Saturday. She was extremely nice, originally from Florida. Found out a bit about what brought her here. She did a number of work terms down here and now is here for a longer stay. This town has a way of attracting people, they keep coming back, some stay.

Family Travel Guatemala
Pana market

Family Travel Guatemala
Pana market

Family Travel Guatemala
huge cow liver

Family Travel Guatemala

I had yet to see the new market, so I went back and got the girls, we walked up past the church. When we last lived here, the market was a very make-shift set up, and when it rained it was a huge mud pit that was tricky to maneuver. The new one is a large covered area, extremely civilized. The girls and I were blown away how large it is on the inside, compared to the old one.

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We bought tomatoes, cucumbers, limes, apples. Madi should be set for the week. Cali also wanted to buy a pineapple, but I told her should would have to carry it all the way home. She agreed.

Family Travel Guatemala
Cali and her pineapple

Along one outside wall of the market, the butchers were all in a row. Madi was grossed out, which is ironic since she loves all things grodey. She decided she doesn’t want to eat any meat while we are here, with the exception of turkey slices from the PanaSuper deli.

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We saw Jonathan in the tuk tuk when we came out of the market, said hello.

We also bought a comforter because we’ll need one more when Kier comes. We’re getting ready for you!

Since we had a bag full of cucumbers and tomatoes, the girls thought it was appropriate to sing Veggie Tale songs most of the way home. Bob and Larry have some stiff competition.

There is an older man who often sits by the side of a certain road we frequent and holds out his cup. It bothers Cali if when we pass him, his cup is empty. This is usually the case. Cali has money of her own since I always give her extra Qs when she goes to get our water. Cali likes to put money in the older man’s cup. She’s right, he’s probably someone’s grandpa. Today when we passed him, she didn’t have her purse with her, so she didn’t put anything in his cup. This bothered her as we kept walking. She said, “I really don’t like that when he has nothing in his cup, but I don’t have any Qs.” I told her I’d give her some money to put in his cup. We waited for her as she walked back to give him the money. She came back with a huge smile on her face and said, “I have always liked giving him my Q’s but it makes me even happier to give him your Q’s.”

At the grocery store they have DVDs for sale. I think I may need to pick one of those up. I don’t think my guy will be able to fix it.

We also three people we know at PanaSuper. It’s a very social place, for everyone. Even I see people I know almost every time I shop there. There is usually a man sitting in front of the store greeting people as they come in, hoping for some change (but he doesn’t have an empty cup, so Cali doesn’t feel the need to give him money). Since he wasn’t there, Cali decided to take his place. She didn’t get any money.

When I came out from the store she had created lots of hypothetical situations having to do with her pineapple. Such as, “Suppose I was kidnapped by a man on a motorcyle and I had to use my pineapple to hit him over the head. Would we walk back to the market to buy a new pineapple for me, or would you make me eat the bruised one?” We played the hypothetical pineapple game the whole way home. For a while she tried to carry it on her head like the girls here. I gave her a non-hypothetical situation. If she tries that and the pineapple falls on the ground and breaks open, I for sure wasn’t walking back to the market to get her another one. Fact.

At home we finally connected with Paul and K and skyped for a bit. Kier is incredibly busy with presentations, has to write a paper on Sports Feminism by Monday, getting ready for exams. She gets her braces off on Thursday. They are taking good care of Madi’s bunny Bonsai.

The girls disinfected all the fruit, unpacked the comforter, I cut up the pineapple. Cali went to get our family more water, so now she has more Qs for the men with cups.

The newly painted church next door got its name painted on the building in white letters today. Tonight it’s a bit more of a mellow service. Maybe they’re saving some energy for the 7:30 am service tomorrow morning.

The girls are actually learning some Spanish from watching cartoons.

We skyped home for a bit, had supper, read before going to bed.

Cali’s Frog Blog: Today I had lots and lots of fun. First I woke up early and then I watched some cartoons. Mommy made me breakfast. We went to the market. I took all the pictures at the market today. It was an indoor market. We saw some pineapples, brussel sprouts, full chickens and just chicken legs. Mommy bought me a whole pineapple, and I carried it the whole way home. The girl at the market broke the green prickly part off the top of my pinapple, so it wouldn’t poke me all the way home. That was nice of her. My bag started breaking half way, so I carried it without a bag for the rest of the way. Walking home I saw a bird with no legs and no head on the ground, it was part of a bird, just like the chickens at the market. We did a lot of relaxing today. We got to watch a bit more tv because that is relaxing. I went to get water, had supper, then I went to bed. That’s how my day went today. P.S. Love you all.

Madi’s Day: We went to the market. I got cucumbers, tomatoes, and a few limes. We saw lots of meat. We saw a huge liver of a cow. It was incredibly large, I can’t even describe it. Cali got a picture of it. It was right then that I decided to become an every-meat-but-turky-etarian, at least until we get home. We came home and watched some cartoons. My mom went to go see teacher to see what day Kier could audition, but then got her on the phone after all. We found the program Charmed in English, so I watched a few of those. It was nice to do nothing for the afternoon. Then we went to bed.