Money matters

It's nearly impossible to return anything in Guatemala. I'm used to the Costco "no receipt, no question" policy, but here, if you're not sure you want/need it, don't buy it!

My first experience with this was buying a LARGE jelly roll pan at PriceSmart (our Costco) thinking I could use one pan instead of two when I make rolls, cookies, etc. The problem? It wouldn't fit in my oven. Sounds like a reasonable reason for a return to me--

However...when I attempted to take it back, the clerks acted like I was nuts to want to return a pan that was too big for my oven. It took forever to get the credit (even with the receipt.) Of course it would be too easy to check the price on the receipt and just give me back an equivalent number of quetzales.

I wanted to exchange an unopened (of course) 2 liter bottle of regular 7-up for diet at the local market. The reply: "We don't do that."

?Por que no?

On the other hand, today I took 4 pairs of pants to be hemmed. I've found a place where the seamstress does an excellent job in just a few days. It's not hard to hem pants; I've had plenty of experience doing it, and I should probably be a bit more self-sufficient. I just find that if I wait for me to do it, it never gets done.

The cost?

Q112--that's $15 for 4 pairs of pants perfectly measured and hemmed. $3.75 each. No wonder I don't do it.

I'm getting spoiled.

Central Mercado

The Central Mercado is in Zona 1~kind of a dangerous area of town, so I never go alone. The first time I went with my Egyptian friend, Yosra, it took us 2 hours to get there, even though we had directions. Now, I takes about 15 minutes and I'm going the right way on all the one-way streets!

The Mercado has 3 levels~the first is all shops that sell textiles, crafts, gawdy statues, trinkets~any kind of Guatemala souvenir you could want. You can bargain to your heart's content. We have our eyes on a gorgeous chest, carved with Guatemalan scenes. The price is Q4000, roughly $500, but the shopkeeper said she would give us "un buen precio." When we get closer to leaving Guate, we'll get serious about bargaining.

The second level is food and flowers. You can't believe the enormous stacks of fruits and veggies of all kinds (many that I don't recognize.) We've tried a few mystery fruits that were interesting~

This is the cashew fruit. You can see the pod on the end where the cashew nut grows. No wonder they are so expensive~one nut on that big fruit. I haven't tasted the fruit yet.

Not only do they sell fruits and vegetables, there are shops with prepared food (that we would never eat~like eating on the street, which is a BIG no-no) and a meat market. I must say that the smell at the meat market is pretty disgusting. No refrigeration or ice, just slabs of meat hanging and large containers of mariscos, pescado, and pollo. Interesting, however.

The 3rd level (all the levels go down) has everything you could ever want to have a party or decorate. Baskets, pottery, candles, ribbon, tacky styrofoam figures, dried flowers. We've gotten some fun pots there. I also bought 12 ceramic soup bowls, Q5 each. It is said that these bowls keep soup hot and enhance the flavor of whatever is in them. They are glazed and I got thinking about what they use 1)to make the bowls and 2) to glaze the bowls. I'm certain it's not FDA approved. But soup really does stay hot and is very tasty in these little bowls. And, no GI upsets yet.

A fun, fun place.

January 2011

We got our new post assignment-

JERUSALEM

We will finish our time in Guatemala next January, take 6 weeks of home leave, then head to Washington DC for 10 months of Hebrew language training.

I am trying hard to keep focusing on Spanish, although I want to start checking out the Hebrew alphabet.

I am particularly excited because I want to buy some of these:

This is a Yad, or Torah pointer. It is used to help you keep your place (see the pointing finger on the end?) as you read the Torah from right to left. Yads can be very plain, embellished, ancient...I think they are cool. I will be in the perfect location to start a collection.

We are excited, although we won't be going for 2 years.

!MAZEL TOV!

Destination pending

Our final bid list was sent yesterday. Don't know how long we'll have wait to get the email notifying us where we'll go (M says maybe as early as next week). I'm pretty excited and a bit nervous. Our top 10--

1. Dusseldorf

2. Frankfurt

3. Paris

4. Paris

5. Istanbul

6. Jersualem

7. Jerusalem

8. TelAviv

9. Budapest

10. Sofia

I hope they don't have to dip below 10. It wasn't easy coming up with 20 workable posts, considering timing and the fact that all the posts in Mexico had to be disqualified (M born there=dual citizenship=no political immunity) and we have 3 perritos.

Wish us luck!

Our Little Pixie--Ava

(Picture taken before Ava's first haircut from Aunt Staci)
M and I found this message on our voicemail yesterday...(we could hear Sally whispering in the background)

S: "Hi Nana"

A: (pause) "Hiiii Nana"

S: "Hi Grandpa"

A: "Hi Gwampa"

S: "This is Ava"

A: "I frowed up"

S: "This is Ava"

A: "I frowed up"

S: "This is Ava"

A: "I frowed up"

S: (one more try) "This is Ava"

A: "This is AFA"

S: "I love you"

A: "Wuv you" (smack, smack)



Deelicious!!!!

The American Embassy is about 2 miles from our apartment on 3rd avenida in Zona 14.

Yesterday, I left the Embassy at 4:30 for home. 35 minutes later, the traffic had moved about 100 yards. Horns were honking (short toots are just to get someone's attention; a long, continuous honk is rude), traffic was increasing, cars were filling all the intersections. Gridlock. I was in the left lane and was finally able to turn left on 14 Calle, past the Camino Real hotel, heading for 6th Avenida. We don't like to go that way because it is usually a traffic nightmare, especially with the traffic cops in their neon green vests and [neon green] gloves directing.

There was a lot of traffic on 6th Ave, but I made it home in another 20 minutes. 55 MINUTES. 2 MILES.

I found out today that a friend (who passed me just before I turned on 14C) reached the half-way point at the Obelisco in 2 hours. Who knows how much longer the last mile took.

The paper reported that the commute for some people down Avenida Reforma to said Obelisco--3 miles at the most--took 6, that's SIX hours. The cause: a couple buses broke down (the ones that were taking kids to school in the US in the 70s), a shoot-out, and numerous rude drivers who jammed the intersections so traffic came to a complete standstill.

I love Guatemala.

In case you didn't know...

...today is the start of the 5125th year of the Mayan calendar.