Happy Birthday Johnny! I called you with my new cell phone, but alas, you were working–on a Saturday and on your birthday. Kier would call that an Epic Fail! Hope you had a good one.
Cali woke up at 6 with a bit of a cold. She thought she wouldn’t get colds now that we aren’t in Canada. Last night the mosquitoes were circling, they’ve finally found us. Mia has mosquito netting here, but I can’t figure out how to attach it to the ceiling without some type of ladder. I’ve considered putting Cali on Madi’s shoulders, and her on mine, but that might now work. Upstairs there are rafters you can use, but the girls still won’t sleep up there because of the open window. The window is round so that are quite convinced the birds will see this as a huge birdhouse. The window is coming on Tuesday, but until then, they won’t sleep where a bird might fly in.
People again flocked down to the beach today, the partying looks like it will continue throughout the weekend, Cali’s teacher was right. We did a bit more house rearranging. Cali had been sleeping on the couch the past couple of nights, which we had moved into the bedroom. But that left us a bit short on sitting places in the living room. We moved the couch back. Then Madi and I attempted to move the Queen mattress from the upstairs. Paul would have been proud because we used a tape measure to see if it would fit down the staircase instead of cramming it down and discovering it won’t work. Instead we lowered it over the balcony and that worked. We got the downstairs bedroom all set up. The upstairs bathroom shower is pretty sweet. I’m amazed how hot the water gets from being stored on the roof. I doubt we’d be taking very many hot showers in Canada for about half the year, if this was our method for heating water. Works great here.
We walked to find the house of friends of ours, the people my sister bought the house from. The only instructions we had were to go on the dirt road by the river, they have a big black gate and some steps leading up to their door. I didn’t think we had any chance of finding it, but sure enough, we did. Their house is totally amazing. A style that is both classy, eclectic, and totally comfortable to live in. They also have lots of outdoor living space and a view of the river and at least 2 volcanoes. Sweet. The girls spent all their time playing with the dog while we sat and talked about American politics (one of the favorite subjects these days), Guatemalan local politics, crime, religion, what does and doesn’t work in motivating kids in high school, local schools, racism, classism, local environmentalism and its effects on tourism, bookended with 30 seconds of small talk. I find many of the expats here don’t shy away from topics of substance. I like that. If we are going to take the time to take, then let’s hit on something with some weight.
On a more practical note, I found out that the microwave, dvd player, inexpensive patio furniture, inflatable beds, bike, are not being stored somewhere at his house. Things that aren’t in Mia’s house, aren’t being stored at his, they are simply gone. Good to know. The microwaves are lower in price now than three years ago, so I will likely pick up another one. If the girls are going to cook when I’m not home, I’d feel better if they aren’t using the huge propane tank/stove and a pack of matches. I have to pick one up by myself since the three of us can’t fit in a tuk tuk with the microwave. After our little visit, we walked with him into town because he had to pick up some things at PanaSuper, a locally owned grocery store with a fair bit of imported food products.
We stopped by again to say hello to our family, but only the 16 year old girl was around. Cali hugged and hugged her. In town we went to Saritas for ice cream, of course, then I picked up my phones. I am now connected to the world, hooray! I realize how dependent I am when I have serious cell-withdrawal symptoms when I go without for a few days. The phones are inexpensive. I got them for $15 each and put a few hundred minutes on each one. I got a red one for Madi, mine is a very compact black one. I’d asked people if the cheap ones are crappy and if I should spend more money on a better one and everyone I polled agreed it just didn’t matter that much if all I needed it for was to make calls.
We went to another store in town which is new to us called Sandras. They have all sorts of baked goods, Cali’s favorite chocolate muffins that we used to have to go much further to find. We got four. That place was a great find, we’ll go there frequently for the chocolate muffins, I’m sure.
The internet place was finally open, so we sent emails home that we did in fact get here safely. At that internet place they explain how to do an @ sign. In case you ever need to know it’s Alt 64.
Then we went to the dollar store (equivalent), got a mirror for the bathroom, a few other house items we needed. Then we went to visit one of the school options for Madi and Kier. It’s a smaller school than the one they went to before, but we know the people who running the school and they are amazing. They directed The Producers the last time we were here. We stayed and talked to the school director for quite sometime.
We walked home, went down to the beach to check on the crazy festivities still going on down there. Still lots of opportunities to get pictures taken with geese or turtles, lots of people sitting by the water in small family groups, most of them in the grass.
We put up the hammock and the Cali has already spent a couple of hours happily playing in it. It’s interesting watching the transformation of having little downtime, to having an overabundance of it. She is still adjusting, finding creative things to do, learning to enjoy the time on her own. She has amuzed herself with a variety of made up games in the hammock. Right now it’s a hammock carriage with a built in foot massager, horse cruise control, fancy doorbell, and food fabricator. It’s getting dark outside and she has no interest in coming in, she just wants to stay in the hammock. We had to cut down one leaf because it was hanging way to low. The only tool I had was a kitchen knife, to which Madi says, “You’re supposed to be doing that with a machete, mom.” I forgot to pick one of those up at the store.
I put up a clothesline, which got Cali excited about hanging out clothes to dry. I realized this is such a novel concept since we don’t do this at home…uh ever.
I’ll often comment on the resourcefulness of the people here when it comes to transportation. They are able to transport huge items on bicycles, large families on one scooter or motorcycle. Today I saw something that I’d never seen before. It was a dad on a motorcycles with 3 kids (that’s right, I said 3) and they were carrying 4 full bowls of soup. Two of them were eating while the motorcycle ripped through the streets. One child was holding two full bowls while his dad drove. There should be a Guate-cirque-du-soleil. It would rock.
It starts to get dark around 7. Each day still feels full while we settle in. We’re done for the day.
