MARKET DAY

Let me start this by saying; we are not going to the grocery store. Maybe to give you a first glance I will say grocery street.

Getting there is part of the adventure; if you wanted a good parking spot you would have to arrive at 5:00 AM or before. But now leaving would be impossible because the venders have swollen around and the shoppers have crowded the streets. Another interesting part is all the rules of the road aren’t for this day. Stop signs; one-way streets; no parking; or yield to pedestrians; all these types of driving rules are changed to… if you are brave enough or as in my case stupid enough, go ahead. One time, I decided to follow a bus. It sure seemed like a good idea, he is wider so surely I can fit. He has a louder horn so surely people will move for us. He is braver than I so surely people will respect our passing through. No true; he only wanted the most passengers so he drove directly to the market and stopped at a now dead end passage. OK; I have 2 choices; either I stick a for sale sign on my van and hope it sells in 2 minutes or I back it out. Because it’s missing the radio (see TTL Story #2) it would not sell. You may think if the bus has to back out surely you can. It is not quite that simple; most of the people that swarmed in behind us didn’t mind the bus but were quite irritated with me. Another advantage that the bus has is a runner or two. They will be behind the bus yelling dollie – dollie – dollie. My Spanish is not fluent but this could be interpreted as, telling the driver it is clear; keep coming. Or it could be telling the people get out of the way; we ARE backing up. Well I must be pronouncing it wrong or my gringo accent hinders me because no one moves for me. I backed approximately ½ blocks and it took about 10 minutes.

If I am not in a hurry; I will use a parking lot. Once you get into the lot, you wait your turn; one leaves; another gets that spot. The lot attendant will direct you and watch as to not hit another car. As I said my Spanish isn’t that good but I am always listening for new words like undollie or dis-dollie; something to say stop. I am guessing a bit but apparently the attendant has short term memory loss because he will direct a car from behind me to the empty spot. A more realistic guess would be that he gave the attendant a very tangible thank you; some may call it a bribe.

That reminds me of another time riding on a bus and the helper folded a Q10.00 bill (about $1.30) into a very small wad and threw it out the door. I had to ask, the person explained it as a thank you to the police for not stopping us because we were over-crowded. Apparently, it’s not a bribe if the police happen to see money fly out of a bus. I may want to remember this and keep the window open a few inches in case I have to thank someone.

Anyway back to the parking lot, keeping your window open is the same as saying; I want to buy what you are selling. There are movable venders; they carry whatever they are selling – maybe in a backpack – very typical for CD’s or DVD’s; music or movies. They may also be carrying their things in a basket on their head; typical; this would be food or drink; both hot and cold. Of course, some will be carrying their things in their hands, arms, belt, or shoulders. Others would get creative and use a 2’ x 3’ piece of wire mesh full of cell phone accessories; clothes pinned to it. I just mentioned a few things that were offered for me to buy as I am waiting to park; the following will complete the continual list. This is an actual list that I wrote one time to help pass the time and avoid the irritation of the attendants’ memory loss. Extension cord; shoe shine; TV remote; handmade wooden child’s pull toy; banana leaves; windshield wipers; tarps; mirrors; steering wheel cover; peanuts; cashews and the last frozen kool-aid; they call helado which translates into ice cream. Well, it’s my turn for the emptied spot and I must respond to the call of dollie – dollie.

Oh yes; there is another option with no waiting – Norma (Reyna’s sister) taught me this; they have a large empty lot where they will park your car after the hand washing inside and out for Q30.00 ($3.90). The other parking lot cost is according to time but is typical Q10.00 – Q20.00 ($1.30 - $2.60)

You may ask why not use the carwash all the time; well someone forgot to undollie or dis-dollie me. While turning extra sharp to avoid a recently placed vender; I scratched the car on the curb / sidewalk. This particular spot they are more than a foot high.

OK, the car is parked and we are on foot; not necessarily walking but standing. The crowd reminded me of a swarm of mosquitoes; not just their irregular direction of travel; excluding the pushing and shoving and taking my space but also the hum of the mosquito as people are calling to gain anyone’s attention in order to sell their wares. Another reason for the metaphor of the mosquito is the persistenance of these sellers forcing you to think them as irritable and simply want to squish them; the mosquito that is; not the person; however the irritably can be more than bothersome. Ok, aside from the swarm of people / shoppers there is another concern that I must have and be constantly vigilant of and that is not just looking down so I don’t trip or step on someone. Also looking straight and to the side to avoid congestion but I must look up to avoid decapitation. Most permanent venders (someone who plans to be there for the day) will string a piece a plastic overhead to keep them out of the sun or rain. Generally, this is tied off at the 5 foot level which allows 99% of the Guatemalans to walk without concern.

I’ve had the extronary experience to go on a Mediterranean Cruise to celebrate my retirement. One of our stops was Turkey; we took a side trip to visit the spice market; possibly a ½ mile long of exotic spices being sold from bulk to a daily need size bag. This more than delicious aroma and wide passages is a good thing to remember when I am in Guatemala where we have neither. The aroma here is more accurately described as stench. The meat markets consist of a quarter of a cow and they will slice you off some. Some parts that they don’t have to slice because they are sectioned and ready for sale include the stomach; tongue; and a third that I cannot recognize. Also, the chicken markets are anywhere from a live chicken that is in a reed basket with rope netting over the top; possibly another would be the chicken handcuffed together. There are others that have been processed; some venders to prove the freshness leave the undeveloped eggs in the cavity. If you say give me a pound of chicken; they simply toss the carcass on the chopping block; not really more like a stump and whack it with a butcher knife or some use a machete. Typically, there are no identifiably sections of the chicken. This is not 100% true some sections are recognizable; they would be the heads and the feet and some insides that I do not recognize. I am not referring to the neck or the drumstick.

The next vender would have fruits or vegetables; you might think lovely citrus or the sweetness of a freshly cut pineapple. The problem is a citrus pineapple doesn’t smell good. There are also some fruits and vegetables that I don’t know the name of even after attempting to learn. A final combination of smells is the people; some will take care of business where they are rather than pay a Quetzal to use the public bathroom. Frequently, the sellers are ladies with children that aren’t toilet trained and are in need of a diaper change. Typically, Guatemalans are clean; however when you’re surrounded by hundreds; some working very hard causing perspiration. There is also the added aroma of the exhaust from buses and if I can use the term exhaust from the dogs.

The next vender might be the biggest offender of all with fish. You can tell when you are approaching one even before you see it. There will also be one selling Cerviche (cold fish soup) to the other extreme; spicy hot (loosely phrased) tortillas.

A few items that you might find from the moveable venders would be silverware; blenders; mouse poison; soap; machetes; rope; matches; light bulbs; a piece of candy or gum; medicine; belts; roof patching tape; pen or pencil; TV antennae; shoe laces; plastic table coverings; necklaces; hand woven table runners; and Chinese style lampshades.

Slightly different versions of the (permanent vender) is one that will spread a piece a plastic on the ground and display all 200 pair of shoes that he is attempting to sell; another will have sawhorses with boards across to form a table display; there 4 foot x 8 foot space will carry anywhere from several hundred pounds of various soaps or traditional dress called Wupilis stacked 3 feet high; they will have every color combination that you can think of; I’ve termed these permanent displays, however; it a daily set up, sell sun up to sun down, then take down, replenish, and travel to the next city; others will tarp off an area off the back of their pickup truck. Without exaggeration; these ½ ton Toyotas are the strongest trucks made; they can carry a mounded load of pineapple or watermelon; with 2 to 3 foot sidewalls or eggs stacked at least 5 feet high.

A trip to a Guatemalan street market is not something I look forward to similar to shopping at the mall close to Christmas.

Dennis & Sue

August 2009

Sorry that we haven’t posted for a while. We have been in Wisconsin for 7 weeks with side trips to Canada and Michigan for fishing and camping. The Canadian fishing went well if you can believe a fish story. We over limited one day because of Karen’s greed and my talented guiding and netting skills for her. We ate Muskie or Lake Trout every day. We are now back in Guatemala and getting back into the routine. Dennis is working on a true to life story for those of you who enjoy those. We assumed to be returning to a month of rainy season; however it only rained once a week instead of daily. While we were home; we received some generous contributions of cash and school supplies. We also did some school supply shopping ourselves making more than 20 trips because of limited quantity per visit.

Lidia (our former student) left for Taiwan on Sunday, August 23 at 7:00 AM; we drove her to the airport and left our house at 2:30 AM (a short night.) She will be in Taiwan for 5 years learning the language and studying.

Reyna will be starting a new job in Panajachel make more money and learning new things.
We have 2 ladies from coming in October for volunteer work in our area.

Sue’s brother Bill and coming in November and Bill and Arlene will be returning in January / February for another visit.

Our friends Guy and Karen will be heading to Guatemala in March 2010 for a week of sightseeing and seeing where we live.

If you are interested in visiting, let us know and we will see if we can accommodate you.

Today in English classes at our house; we had the sister of another girl that comes to class. The sister is 3 years old and is as cute as a bug. We were reading a picture book story in English and Spanish and she wanted to read. She was reading and not making any sense but she was having a great time making a story out of the pictures. It was so cute to watch and listen to.

Dennis and Sue

Latest Updates

Dear family and friends:

We are a little late with our update from Guatemala; a little because of things are typical most days.

We are more accustomed to the daily inconvenience but consider them an interesting part of living in Guatemala. One such inconvenience is not having water; typically we get water every 3 days and we have a storage container on top of the house that will hold approxiatematly 275 gallons. This can last from 5 to 7 days. A few weeks ago on our day to get water; we did not get any assuming that there was a small problem (such as a funeral; they get priority) and we would get it tomorrow; tomorrow and the day after no water. Certainly our next scheduled water day we would get water, replenish our tank and everything would be great; we did implement some conservation efforts that were helpful but now we are on day 7 and still no water so we went from conservation to rationing. One way of rationing is to use our outside bathroom during the day; this doesn’t require water. I checked the tank level on day 8; we were down to about 25 gallons. Day 9 we got water; only it was a very small trickle similar to November and December; during the dry season we would only get a trickle so I bought a small utility pump in order to help it along. Appromately 3 hours later, we felt wealthy again because we had a tank full of water.

Another inconvenience is finding a car mechanic; we made a day trip to the beach with Sara and family; my van was full and another pick-up truck full of people. Typically a 3 hour drive; as I followed the pick-up; my Guatemalan driving skills were tested. Things were going well until about the last 20 miles and the van would hesitate when passing; not the best thing because I could only pass 4 or 5 at a time instead of the typical 10 to 15. It also hesitated enough that I couldn’t prevent being passed while passing but the day at the beach was great if you like crowds. The pick-up with half the people left a little early to beat the traffic unfortunately they also left with Dennis’ glasses. We assumed it would be OK if he didn’t have to pass too much and it wasn’t. The hesitation was now much worse; instead of a few coughs and spits it was near death. If I was on a flat ground and babied it a little bit, I could get it up to 30 or 40 MPH; climbing the hills; I proved to be the slowest car on the road. With a little luck; I could get it to 10 MPH; obviously at this speed, my impaired vision wasn’t a handicap until the sun went down. (Remember many cars in Guatemala do not have headlights or tail lights.) We are now about an hour away; the remainder of the trip is on a mountainous, gravel road; we found out by accident because we needed to stop for a bathroom break that after restarting the car; I could again get to 30 MPH even up hill. We arrived home a little late with only one major incident. Oh yes, the mechanic; talking with some of my advisors; they suggested where to bring it. We found a leaky gas tank probably from excessive vibrations on the bumpy roads. The mechanic said this could be the problem because of insufficient fuel pressure; I kind of guessed it was a sensor between the transmission and engine. The second visit they said our “candles” were bad; it took a little bit ingenious intreptation to figure out they were referring to our spark plugs. I suggested multiple times that they connect it to a computer analyzer rather than guess at what might we the problem. After replacing the fuel pump, my problems were solved; I thought it inconvenient that they had to remove the gas tank twice. A few days later while Sue was shopping someone asked “what is the best orange juice?” After conversation, we found a new mechanic; he has a computer, speaks English; and was trained by Porsche.

Life is good! We are teaching English 3 times a week; we have students age 5 to 30. We are finding out how much we really don’t know about the English language; for example did you know that the letter O has 8 different sounds? I am very happy to say that 2 of our students; ages 21 to 23 just completed the vowel sounds. Another is studying suffixes and prefixes. She asks questions like why don’t you just use loosen instead of untie? So here’s a challenge for you; we were able to give her a qualified answer to this question; can you? Please explain increase and decrease, the in and de were the easy part but how do they connect with crease?

We are planning a trip home for our annual doctor visit; more importantly annual fishing trip; we will also visit family and friends. This is July and most of August. Maybe we will see you while we are here. It seems funny to say that we have 2 homes but indeed we do.

Dennis and Sue

A Guatemalan Funeral

Well first of all; when a person dies; it’s the responsibility of the family to bring the body home (if they didn’t die at home.) Typically you have to put makeup on the body and wheel them out in a wheelchair; it has to appear as if they are alive otherwise; there is a fine.

Once at home, you dress the body (there is no embalming of the body) and place them in a casket. For the next 24 to 40 hours, you have visitation at home. (This continues through the night.) The body can’t be left alone; someone or several people must accompany all hours. Friends and family come to pay their last respects. It is the responsibility of the house where the funeral is to feed everybody who shows up (friends and family help with the preparation of the food.) It may include 3 meals a day for 2 days. They have somber/sad music playing (loud) the whole day, sometimes live musicians. Some people go home to sleep; some stay all night.

The following day visitation starts again early morning. Breakfast and lunch are served. After lunch, the casket is opened for the family to say one last goodbye. The casket is then carried on the shoulders to the cemetery. Family and then friends follow. The flowers will be carried to be placed around the tomb. At the cemetery, there is a small prayer service and the casket is slid into the tomb (above ground.) Some of the person’s favorite things are placed in the tomb with them. The tomb is then bricked up while everyone watches. Everyone walked back to the house and are serviced a snack. Family is served supper again.

The following day; a trip to the river (this is primarily family and godparents. They literally wash all the clothes and bedding from the house in the river to get rid of the death germ. This is the job of the women. The immediate family does not help. They are also a symbolic washing of the immediate family (household.) (This is done with an herb and rose pedals. This is to get rid of the sadness. The rose pedals and herbs are then thrown in the river to be washed away; past the laundering area. There is also incense to purify the area and the buckets of dirty laundry. After the clothes are washed and laid in the grass to dry. They are put back in the buckets and we leave and go back to the home and are served lunch.

Several months ago, I followed a procession for more than a mile and decided to turn around before I got lost. Occasionally, the casket is placed on sawhorses for the pall bearers to rest. You may also expect vendors of ice cream outside the house or selling among the procession. The people dress very casually; black is not the primary color. Candles are burning and will continue for at least 2 weeks and probably longer. We are learning and experiencing some of their cultures and customs. It seems that each day we have a new experience or an unanswered question; this time is very enlightening for us.

Dennis and Sue

A Poem by Dennis while sitting in his chair.

“AS” Shadow or Life

As swift as the dog’s tail; longer than white pines

As defined as a blade of grass; assumed to have no meaning

Its purpose is never completed; as meaningless as money to a rich man

Like a cloud of smoke; or a moonbeam splashing in the lake

Desired in the noon of the day; overpowering or escaping in the night

Fleeting as a unpened idea; or a voided opportunity

As a gifted imagination; uncontrolled as enthusiasm or anticipation

The flowers sharing in the trance they cause or a flower without fragrance

The grass that holds my feet give me excitement for tomorrow

Can you… see…notice…care?

Will you...look…remember…change?

A story that Dennis wrote about his life

January, 2009

Why am I here? Not so much the question why but I; and another question here. The reason that I ask myself these questions is, if it is not too cool (above 60) or windy, I have some coffee sitting in the back yard. With this I see hundreds of acre sized fields, some with milpa (corn still on the stock); strawberries; celery; carrots; tomatoes; flowers; or other things. There may be a person tending the progress or 2 or 3 cultivating the field preparing it for the next crop. This is with a large blade hoe, with full over the head swings. Sometimes as many as 6 men, women, or children, picking corn or strawberries. Later they inspect as they hull them. All this labor while I am here; in a chair; busying myself with only thought. The first part of time my thoughts were Wow, now more of why. Is it because I am American therefore I get the easy life? Definitely not, I am embarrassed that as American I have these thoughts. Shame on me; shame on us. Is it because I am a Christian; and God said, there is Dennis, and didn’t see the man burdened with a load of wood so his wife could make tortillas? Even bigger shame. If that were true I would not want to be a “Christian.” So why I? And why here?

I will attempt to answer the second questions first. Why here? Maybe because about 1/3 of my life past, we were living “out of the box.” If you know me personally, you know that I am not normal. Now I should be careful because those that don’t know me personally may try to get me help. Don’t bother; I am too far gone.

Some years past I did much personal evaluation and discovered that I didn’t like what was “in the box.” That was me, I must say it wasn’t a magic moment where I got all warm and fuzzy inside instead just the opposite. I cowered in the corner of myself and thought of my hopelessness. This is the part where God did look and say “ah there is Dennis.” “What can I do for him and what can he do for me.” The what can God do for me part would fill these pages. The short version is Love, Grace, Forgiveness, and Opportunity. Love is . . . well I guess that I can’t describe it except to say, it is grace and grace is love and both are God. This understanding allowed me to accept forgiveness. By this time of my life I had more than 20 years of painful living, so I guessed that I overdrew my account. I have since learned that God’s Love, Grace, and Forgiveness are inexhaustible. As I said I am a slow learner so in my mid 20’s to 30’s, I tried to repay God by doing. Well here is the key; God accepts opportunities (service) because you understand His love and grace, not to get His love and grace. So in my 40’s, we started doing because of, not for. Well, that is why I am here, because of an opportunity to live God’s Love and Grace.

So than back to the people with the hoe, firewood, or just plain work. Why am I in the chair? Not to say that I had a silver spoon, far from it; I did work 39 years in a paper mill. Then a disabling illness, (Labrinthithis.) How can this be grace? Because of my illness, I received a medical disability (early retirement) and because of physical therapy most of the disabling is gone. I will try to explain it as hitting an infield grounder and getting a home run.
A lot of people thought we were crazy. Using vacation time for non vacations, giving money when payday was a full week away, helping teens when everyone else gave up on them, filling a peaceful home with strangers and so on the list goes. We call it “out of the box.” After 31 exchange students, the next opportunity seemed obvious. We go to them.
So the here, I just answered. The I is because of more than 30 years ago, understood God’s Love, Grace, Forgiveness, and Opportunities.

By the way, it is not all chair. A few days ago, I unloaded a pick-up or more than a ton of maize (cornels of corn) and moments later a second truck full pulled in. 2 days ago, a knock on the door. Two girls asking about English lessons. They are 12 and 14 years old and had to quit school after 2 years because they could not afford the papers for school. They are now strawberry pickers; there small income goes to the family needs. Our part is to help them advance themselves.

Why? Because I can do an out of the box.
I? We use out of the box opportunities.
Here? It is out of the box.
Too far gone? No, just far enough.

After years of working with some of the best and some of the worst teenagers, now we work with some of the most needing teenagers, and others.

If you have questions about God’s Love, Grace, and Forgiveness, or personal issues that make you cower in yourself, please e-mail or leave a comment on the blog site so I can explain more.

Dennis Santkuyl

Greetings from Guatemala (February / March 2009)

We are starting our 6th month; boy time goes by fast. A summary of our experience is change. Originally we assumed to be well into our building project. We haven’t started; partially because my savings is shrinking due to the economy; partially because of the reduced urgency. It’s not a dead idea but for now it’s on hold. Another change is in our tutoring; we’ve had 20 different elementary aged students; some can only attend occasionally because they must work. This makes it hard in lesson planning. Our teenager / adult class is quite diverse; one has a good command of the language and needs only occasionally pronunciation grammar correction. We’ve discovered the others apparently have a higher priority of basic education instead of English. We have 4 ladies from 12 to 22 that have only received 2 years of schooling; so we are teaching English and Math. We assume that this will expand when our Spanish skills will allow it. Mathematics can be taught without advanced Spanish skills. We’ve noticed most people will make a single item purchase, pay for it and then request a second item, pay for that item. If they have money, a third request and so on. We are assuming this procedure of multiple payments is because they cannot add the costs together for a single payment.

We thought about scolding our housekeeper (empleada) because of her missing several consecutive days of work. She surprised us and came much earlier than expected the following day, apologizing for missing work due to the death and funeral of her Father. The hardship this girl faces is overwhelming; her Mother died a few years ago and Dad remarried abandoning his children. She and 1 older and 1 younger brother are living in the family house. She is responsible for 100% of the domestic duties. The brothers work in agriculture. They are now assuming they will lose the house to the widow. If she wants it, she can take it from them.

Another overwhelming experience. We traveled for Christmas to Maura’s house about 3 hours away. After about 1 hour of travel we were in the mountains; we noticed some children on the side of the road waving at us. We assumed it was a holiday greeting so we waved back; another ½ hour and several hundred children, we assumed it’s more than a holiday greeting. We then recognized there were no children near the villages; only in the extreme remote areas and their general appearance indicated poverty. We had nothing with us except for some bread from our neighborhood bakery. We gave that to a young mother; possibly 13 – 15 years old. She was overwhelmed and expressed great gratitude. We felt much different as we drove past several hundred more all enthusailly waving, all hoping to receive something, anything for Christmas.

We’re hoping to collect things to give away to these children with the potential of being a teaching aid; crayons, markers, pens, pencils, paints and notebooks. Maybe cash to cover the expense of shipping the items to Guatemala or giving cash away about $2.00 to $4.00 per family that could provide a nice meal for them.

Another change is we are doing Marriage Counseling. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed, the only training that we have is 36 years of experience. The newlywed couple travels about 4 hours one way. This month’s topic is happiness-contentment-joy. Of course, we will explain the source of our joy is God’s love and grace.

February, we traveled to El Salvador to visit our past students and their families. All went well with our trip; we were smart enough to bring a translator. She was a big help when asking for directions [several times]. An afternoon of playing marbles with nieces & nephews, the play area is dirt with ¼ inch of dust. We didn’t play “for keeps” because we only had 4 marbles and 2 rocks. We also visited the family of a “this year” student. The road to her house is s path without trees in the way, and crossing the river, without a bridge. We did ask a boy on horseback if we could make it and he said I think so.

We thank God for these unexpected opportunities and continue to look forward to more opportunities as God provides. Our health is good, and we are (almost) living within our budget. We found a monthly internet plan cheaper than the occasionally day plan, so this will improve E-mail commutations

In His love,

Dennis & Sue Santkuyl

True to Life Story from Sue

MY KITCHEN!

When we first moved to Guatemala Mari (our housekeeper) made food on the wood stove. The 2nd day she couldn’t get the wood stove going so I said use the gas stove; she said I can’t; “I don’t know how.” I showed her how and now she really likes the gas stove. She says it is much faster. She still needs to learn to cook on lower heat because some things are crunchy. There is a deforestation problem here because most people cook with wood. Another job we trained Mari to do is make coffee in an automatic coffee maker. The next day the coffee was late. After an impatient wait, I discovered the grounds were in the water reservoir and the pump was plugged.

Our past visits allowed me a chance to see the future, so I own a potato masher and a can opener, most here don’t. I also thought that I would fix Guatemala’s entire problem, the salt shaker. The great plan, to put rice in the salt, not only did it not work, but I had to throw it out. Now my salt is Guatemalan style in an open dish; literally a pinch of salt.

My kitchen also includes a 5 foot section of cabinets (a luxury). Dennis mounted it to a brick wall. About a week later I noticed the doors were funny. That evening a large crash, the screws pulled out. Apparently the bricks are different here. We broke about ½ of our dishes.

I have learned how to improvise here. Sometimes you can’t find an ingredient or don’t have a utensil. When I first arrived I bought a cookie sheet so I could make a large pizza. Well, the oven door would not close because the cookie sheet was too big. It worked; I just had to cook it longer, with several rotations. Since that day, I have purchased 2 pizza pans that do fit in the oven and they also work great for making cookies. I also decided to make apple pies for Dennis’ birthday; well another problem no rolling pin; we made one out of a piece of white PVC pipe. It works great! Another improvision is a plastic bag instead of a pastry cloth. I made 4 pies which took several hours because I can only cook 1 pie at a time in my oven; but at least I have an oven. Bill (Sue’s brother) was here visiting and Dennis and he decided that they wanted mashed potato donuts (a Kniskern family recipe). Well, I needed lard to make donuts, and Bill found lard for me in Tecpan (a city close to where we live) so he bought some. It is different than in Wisconsin. Here it is liquid so the store triple bagged it so it wouldn’t leak. I made donuts with this lard and the donuts were a bit heavy and tasted greasy. I found out that lard here is pure unrendered fat right from the pig when they slaughter it. From now on, I will only use Crisco. Another interesting lesson learned. I made fudge at Christmas but I couldn’t find marshmallow crème but I did find marshmallow topping for ice cream. It worked; the fudge was a little soft, but tasted good. I decided to make a turkey; well it’s a good idea except a roasting pan won’t fit in my oven so I ended up cooking the turkey in a stewing pot. In order to not burn the bottom, I put a saucer in the pot, it looked strange but it worked great. So we had a turkey dinner with all the trimming including cranberry jelly (Sue’s favorite.) I tried chili because I found chili coban (chili powder) so I made chili using the typical amount of chili powder. I smelled the soup but couldn’t smell the chili powder so I added some more, several times. When we sat down to eat, I took one bite and said WOW! It’s very spicy! I found out that chili coban is made of crushed red peppers. Apparently “chili” and “chili” is different. Now I have learned my lesson and I taste everything, just to make sure. I’m still getting used to cooking with gas. I’ve only burned a few things and it is getting better. Another is the need for a funnel, cut the bottom off of a 3 liter Pepsi bottle.

A few other things that are different, ketchup, mustard, and mayo come in a plastic bag, bleach has no smell, potato chips are thicker with flavor, brown sugar is more granulated similar to white sugar only brown.

It’s interesting here because you wash dishes in cold water; there is a bar type soap that works great on grease in cold water. I bought some terry dish towels to dry the dishes with; well the problem with the towels is the lint stays on the dishes. I thought after the towels are washed they will be better; well not so. I bought some different towels that work better.

When I moved to Guatemala I was concerned about having ice cubes; well I can make purified ice cubes but it’s a lot of work so I have learned to just drink things chilled without ice. It’s amazing what you find out you can do without.

We’ve learned how to flexible and figure out ways to do things in the kitchen, because you can’t just run to the store when we need something here. Except for an emergency run, I needed more peanut butter, Christmas cookies. Two and a half hours later Dennis returned. Other calculations, half as much oatmeal than water and 7 minutes for microwave popcorn.

Life is always interesting in Guatemala and I love it!

Sue

True to life story from Dennis

Hello to everyone – Merry Christmas, you may think that I am late with this greeting but actually today is December 25. Happy New Year, which is probably when you will read it, my editor takes a few days. Sue is expecting this to be about “The Market” maybe next month or possibly you may get the “Christmas Story” ”My Kitchen” or another, for now “The Car”.

Let me start by saying that I have great respect for my Guatemala advisors, I do ask for their advice, and most of the time I follow their advice. I also must say that often after receiving advice I ask, why? or what about? or as my friend Steve says, so how is that working for you?

So, I would look in the newspaper classified for a car within my price with low mileage without all the extras. You may be wondering why you don’t want options.

Advice #1

You don’t want to look like you’re rich. The banditos (bad guys) will look for this. Also with my few hours of driving here (a borrowed pick-up) I know that you don’t need cruise control; too many hills, curves, and obstacles (for more information read true to life story #1) and buses. Interminent wipers would never be used; when it rains they are on full speed. Maybe if turbo speed wipers were an option I would want that. Radio, well for the most part that is a maybe want, although I don’t understand Spanish, most stations are too fuzzy to understand if you did and after more than 3 months I haven’t heard a song that I like. So maybe a cassette player; yes they are still used here or a CD player. This is a target item for the banditos because resale is quick (everybody needs one because theirs was just stolen.) The most obvious reason is the guy next to you has his loud enough for the both of you. I thought that I would like remote entry with anti-theft. I used Norma’s (Reyna’s sisters) car that has this bell and whistle and it is an inconvenience. Anytime I hear any of these alarms the person has the keys and buttons but the car thinks he is a bandito so, toot, toot, beep, beep and so on. And to shut it off you must have the secret code (I didn’t.) Also the secret buttons are all mounted in the same spot. And just my luck a bandito would steal my CD or entire car and the guy next to my car would have a working stereo and the police wouldn’t hear the alarm. So what else, power windows, I don’t need, I have time to crank them up or down. A clock, no I don’t wear a watch and I only care about the time at meal time. There are also 2 after market add ons that I will avoid; it is the “go fast” exhaust amplifier and alloy rims with bald tires. I do want (apparently optional) head lights, tail lights, and brake lights (turn signals aren’t used), a horn, I don’t want to be rude and not say hello. Air conditioning maybe but I wouldn’t use it until mid or late January.

Advice #2

Don’t buy from the classified, they give you a fake title, keep a copy of the keys (and secret code for the anti theft) and steal the car after a few days and resell it multiple times. How or what now? We will drive to the Mexican border, there are a lot of cars to choose from and they wouldn’t drive this far to steal it back to resell. OK; Saturday morning; we plan to leave at 4:00 AM. A call to financial advisor about transferring money for the car.

Advice #3

The economy is bad don’t spend so much. OK, buy a little older, a little cheaper, we can make it work. So Friday, I go to the bank to cash a check from my American bank. Well, the Saturday trip to Mexico is off, there is a check clearing wait time of 30 business days. It seems a bit slow but I am in Guatemala. 28 days later, let’s make a plan to go to Mexico in a few days.

Advice #4

You can’t go. They will see you are a rich gringo and rob you before you buy a car. How or what now? We will go to the border without you. Next week, transfer a pile of money to Gustavo’s (Reyna’s brother) bank account; opps no bank in this border city, cash only.

OK, now for the short story. Maybe one cab driver’s brother can sell you a nice car, very cheap. Maura’s brother has a friend that can sell you a car better and cheaper than that guy. Gustavo has a friend that can out do both of them blindfolded and his hands tied behind his back (OK, that is an exaggeration) but you get the idea. Now a new idea, the mechanic will go with you next week to Shela (another city in Guatemala) there are as many cars as the border and less banditos and this city has a bank.

Advice #5

You are the rich gringo, we will go without you. OK, different mechanic, different brother-in-law next week, Oops this mechanic doesn’t have enough special tools to speck the engine, well the other took 10 minutes to find a drill bit, any size smaller than ¼ inch so I am sure there was another reason but by now it didn’t matter what the reason was. I bought a 2000 Mazda Van with cruise, intermittent wipers and air that doesn’t work and a hole in the dash for the radio, CD player.

What an adventure!

We are attempting to set up a service trip for some friends, hoping for some vacation trips from others. I just wanted to tell you my van capacity is somewhere between 7 & 11, if you have a lap that can be used.

All is well. Hope the same for you.

Dennis


Here are some pictures: