At the El Salvador, Honduras border, we offered our Guatemalan I.D. and U.S. passport. They don’t need the passports only our Guatemalan I.D., the strangeness is every time we leave or enter Guatemala the country that we have our I.D. from must see our passports. OK so we leave the immigration office of El Salvador drive 1/10 mile to be stopped by armed military. He wants a scrap of paper 1 and ½ inch square with a rubber stamp on it that we got from clearing El Salvador immigration. I thought it was a receipt to say we paid a road tax. I was curious why ours was yellow and everyone else had white. Maybe ours was yellow because we didn’t pay the road tax, no one asked us to and I didn’t look for a chance to give money away. The guard put our scrap with the others in a zip lock bag and off we go. Over a river to another group of armed guards and they want my scrap of paper that I just gave to the other armed guard on the other side of the bridge. No she must have it; not the other guard. We return to the first set of guards for our scrap of paper so we can give it to the 2nd group of guards. No it’s his and he has it, but she said she wants it, no she can’t have it. But we can’t get past without it and you have a bag full. But why does she want it? I don’t know, why do you want it? I just throw them away. I guess she will throw them away also but I must have one to give her or I can’t pass. This is very unusual. I thought well that fits me instead I said but please may I have one? By now we have all of the guards surrounding our car while others are just driving past without giving their piece of scrap paper. I guess my repeated request works, he did give me one and we were again crossing the bridge. Oh Oh he gave me a white one; I hope this doesn’t complicate things. At the second group of guards I said here is your scrap of paper. She almost had it in her zip lock bag but looked again and said this is the wrong one. Yes, I know I started with a yellow but he gave me a white but it is only a scrap of paper. If you want, I can tear some from the first page of maps, they didn’t help me very much anyway. She then explained she wanted one with a Honduras rubber stamp on it and this one is an El Salvador stamp. We turned around again and crossed the river again going to the immigration office. We get another scrap of paper with El Salvador stamp and ask for directions to the Honduras scrap of paper. The other side of the building of course. OK, 2 scraps of paper both white ones with El Salvador rubber stamp and one with Honduras rubber stamp. Crossing the bridge, I thought I am glad they don’t have a bridge crossing tax. OK both sets of guards are happy and we are on our way. Just one more interesting note; one of the guards had a Green Bay Packers hat on. He had no idea what I was telling him. By the way most of this conversation was in Spanish or in our case Spanglish.
Now in Honduras 2/3 through we come to a big city Choluteca, we are on Central American Highway #1. Halfway through the city, we see a sign for Highway #3 which I did not want. Asking directions; we get an escort from a motorcycle with husband, wife, child, and baby. By the way just as on a bus, my van, or a motorcycle; there is always room for more. They weave us through residential area to the highway and wave goodbye. So do I go left or right, let’s go right (it seemed right to me) and to make sure we will ask “Which way to Nicaragua?” That way behind you or straight ahead – straight ahead is a better road and shorter. A half hour later we are convinced we did wrong, the next turn into a small city; El Trunfo straight through will get us parallel with #1 and we will catch it later, armed with a map and manly confidence what could go wrong? We find the sign indicating El Trunfo turned on this gravel road. 20 minutes later, the road is a dirt / dust road. We did not want to drive on this type of road the remainder of Honduras. The map showed a cross road in this town – go straight – simple enough – but the road ended 2 blocks after city park. We asked for directions, we found some that would show us for $10.00, I was a bit fearful he would send us down a dead end road and rob us – so no thank you and we returned to our dust road. Our thoughts were to continue on #3 until the border and get some official directions.
Just outside the city, we offered a ride to an elderly lady, she told us of a shortcut to the road. The next ¾ hour was filled with an occasional laugh as we thought of the day’s events and swatted an occasional ant.
The border to Nicaragua didn’t want our passport and had no scrap of paper. We are south to far by at least an hour, I would take the road north but there wasn’t one. South a bit more then west until we get to #1 then North a bit, the people at the border said that was our best option. After driving a while, I assumed we should have gotten to our cut off road by now. We stopped at a road side store, if you can’t picture what this is; here is a short description. A piece of plastic tied off a telephone post, street sign, and tree branch stuck in the ground. This particular store’s tree was 20 plus feet off the road so an attendant ran to our car to see what we may want. We wanted directions; she gave them but several times turning back to the others in the store and laughing telling us to go a bit more; I was certain that we were too far but we never passed a paved road, a sign, or a city. We came to a fork in the road and typically I would say “look for the knife and spoon” but our daylight was limited and we had no idea where we were except we could see a volcano. OK so if we put the volcano on our left, we should get to the 3rd of the cut off roads. I later found out, we were looking at the 2nd volcano and we should have kept it on our right. What happened to the first one, I am not sure? Finally we get to a city locating ourselves on the map, it seems impossible but we passed 6 cut off roads and 3 towns. Another 15 minutes and we would be in the Pacific Ocean. One other slight problem, we planned on getting money Cordova’s from a bank at our destination rather than the money traders at the border, we would get a much better exchange rate. We drove through town to find a money machine, the 3rd one worked, while getting gas Sue noticed a sign on the door. You could buy 2 hot dogs for $39.00 it did include a soda. I know when you buy a hot dog at a baseball game they are a bit pricy but this is ridiculous. Our gas purchase came to $970.00. The exchange rate is about 20 / 1. Now we know where we are, we know where we want to go, we still have the map and my masculine intuition although it is less powerful.
Our next stop was not to ask for directions, we were stopped by police. He was concerned as to how fast I was driving; his radar gun showed 111 kilometers per hour that is 68 MPH. The limit; we are not sure of. He said there would not stop us at 100 kilometers. Although I later learned the limit is 80 by asking. School districts are posted and we did eventually see a speed limit sign actually a total of 4 other speed signs. That is not many considering we drove 1,300 miles on this trip. There are none in Guatemala and you can pass as many policy trucks (they use the 4 door Toyota pick up) as you want. My defense was we were lost and I was going fast because I hate to drive at night. He told me I would need a pay a fine of $C1, 400 Cordova’s in a bank on Monday then go the nearby city and get my license. But remember I am lost and will not be near this city again. He then offered us some mosquito spray, there was a swarm but I have fished through worse, and at the time I didn’t think it to be my biggest problem. He told me about a school district that I just went through. I thought it unimportant as school was out 5 – 6 hours earlier and it was Saturday but it helped him to emphasize how bad I was. Yes, I was driving fast but how will I get my license, I am not planning to be in this city; remember I am lost. But you have to pay the fine. Yes I will do that but I must keep my license and remember I don’t like to drive at night. But you were driving too fast and you have to pay the fine. Yes but I am lost and how do I get my license. But there was a school zone and you were driving too fast. Yes but I don’t like to drive at night. But you have to pay the fine. Maybe I will give you the money for the fine and on Monday you can pay the fine for me and I will keep my license because I am lost and not coming to this city again. Another 5 minutes of but and yes buts and a talk with the other policeman. OK he would pay my fine for me on Monday and I would keep my license because I am lost. Assuming they would radio ahead and tell the next set of police watch for a gray van with gringos; I set my cruise control on 99. I think he locked his radar fun on somebody at 111 and didn’t reset it. I know I was driving fast, as you know I was lost and don’t like to drive at night, but not 111. I think more like 130 or 80 MPH. I guess I forgot to correct him maybe because I was busy telling him . . . you get the idea.
OK about 2 plus hours to go and the sun is well below the 3rd volcano. Now I know that I have mentioned; I don’t like driving at night but maybe you don’t know that it is because of the many buses, cars, trucks, motorcycles, and bicycles without lights. Here in Nicaragua that is not the biggest problems. We just discovered that horses don’t have lights also, and they use the same lane as I do while driving with lights, and not all horses are white that you may see them a big easier. Also apparently all cowboys where black, not the most helpful after dark. A bit after passing the 4th volcano although it was too dark to see it we were thinking of a new invention, Lights or at least reflectors for horses. I slammed on the brakes; I thought I saw a shadow of a horse only much bigger guessing also much closer. Sue screamed and then said thanks for not hitting that tractor and wagon full of sugar cane. Without lights or reflectors so I guess my invention could be adjusted to farm equipment not just farm animals. But where would we put the battery or how would we attach the reflectors.
We got there late and unraveled. Because this is a story of the Trip, I can’t tell you about being there except to say it was great.
We had a much easier; all in daylight, trip back except for, you remember the road tax, well we had to pay it. $6.00, I asked why they collect it on the way North and not South? He wasn’t very happy so we just paid and left and we didn’t even get a scrap of paper. We also got a city tax of $1.00 per person; if you pass through the city and don’t live there you pay. Good thing I got rid of the Mother and baby earlier.
Go figure, not a problem at borders except Guatemala, they complained because we have the old style (small paper book) instead of the new style (similar to a drivers license.) We explained we have applied but did not receive it yet. Well maybe OK but I see you have permanent residence status. Yes, because I am retired and living here so I applied and received permanent residence. But your permanent residence has expired. NO, permanent residence does not expire. Yes look at this date in your passport. Yes, this is the day I received my permanent residence. No it has expired. No it’s permanent it cannot expire. No see the date it has expired . . . With a promise that next time in Guatemala City we will get a renewed permanent residence he let us go.
2 last things then the end. We were stopped 20 times or more to check for a stolen car and fake driver’s license. One of the stops, the policemen complained he was hungry and wanted $20.00 to buy supper. Sue gave him a cookie and we left.
Last thing during these 6 weeks, we ate new foods. Sue ate one and I ate 2 very unusual foods. If you respond with the correct answer, you will get a gold star. I will give you a clue neither of us ever thought of eating the first mentioned and it is very assessable everyone except maybe in the Arctic; the second well let’s just say it is very unusual.
Dennis and Sue Santkuyl
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
House Building Trip (Part 1 )
Please allow me (although how can you stop me?) to write about the house building and then the trip. Let me introduce both stories by saying not everything went as planned. We are sorry but this story became excessively long so we made Part 1 and Part 2. Part 2 will be in about a week.
The House BuildingArriving at Jose’ Aldofo Fieto’s house, we got our first surprise, the old house was still there, and it should have been gone. Oh by the way Jose’ Aldofo Fieto is only one person and it depends who you are talking with as to what name will be used – Mom uses Aldofo, Dad uses Jose’, most others use Fieto. And because later there is another Jose’ (every family has at least one) we will use Fieto. And by the way not just the house but most things in and around were still there. The temporary kitchen had the post in and grid work for the roof, so this was what I worked on while the family collected their things from the house. Maybe you ask about the kitchen, the old was a lean-to off the house so it must come down. In fact it was the first to go; we used the corrugated metal roof for the walls of the temporary kitchen.
Day 3, we started to strip the roof. I worked on the walls for fear of falling through – most of the rafters had dry rot or wet rot. We didn’t find the hollow logs because of termites until later. Anyway as I was removing the cardboard and plastic from the walls, I made a burning pile assuming that would be the best way to dispose of this junk; also depositing the extreme rotten boards and miscellaneous junk. About noon, I noticed my burning pile was getting smaller instead of bigger. As some of you know, I am a saver of good junk but this wasn’t even junky junk. By 4:00 PM, quitting time for the paid workers, everything was down except for 3 posts that didn’t just fall over.
Hmmm – I didn’t think of this until writing it down but I worked longer without pay. I forgot to tell you on day 2 while moving junk from around the house, we found 3 different piles of eggs with a very angry chicken near each of them. I think that my Spanish heard the question if we should wait for them to hatch or keep going. What they lose, (only 1 hatched out with 6 chicks) was made up for some very well fed chickens; they ate the termites possibly enough for an entire chicken farm instead of the 30 or so that feasted.
Day 4 – Installation of the baton boards (the strings that tell you where to dig and build.) The squareness of the building was set by holding a tri-square by the corner of the string. I later moved them to square – they were only off by 2 inches, actually I was surprised.
Day 5, 6, 7, and 8 – Digging for the footing, actually digging makes one think of a man with a shovel stepping it into the ground, not so, I would be more accurate to say picking the footings. Every crumb of dirt had to be broken free with a pick axe, and sometimes the pick end had to be used instead of the axe end. I thought it is not going too bad until about 1/3 done and we started to hit rock. As you assume it got worse, a rock every foot. The final 1/3 was more rock than dirt. Some too big to carry out and as you guessed it got worse. We got rocks so big two men were needed to roll them out, and it got worse. One we could not get to the bottom so we broke it, a portion off the top and settled for a stepped footing.
Yes, I worked past my energy level; in fact Big Agony (see fish story) would be like taking a break. I soon realized my new and important job, quality control. The mason helper decided to move the string because of the step footing and then said the first 1/3 is too deep; fill in 2 inches with dirt. Another quality problem, he said we have a OOPS so we can only have a 3 inch thick footing; I said it’s your OOPS and we will have a 5 inch footing. He agreed more quickly than when I said the step in footing is the weak spot so I want 7 inches thick and build the form accordingly – he moved them 3 times; each time hoping I would not notice. After the 4th time, I told him “if you move this form again, you are fired.” There were other issues but this half is too long already, when we left, the walls were up. I hope that the roof was on before Tropical Storm Agatha gave its rain. Another and final request for help financially, they will run over budget by $1,000, partially because of 3 extra days of labor digging the foundation, partially because of increased cost of materials and because the original plan was only a 6 inch roof overhang, I insisted on a 24 inch overhang. A necessary adjustment to keep rain off the walls.
The Trip
Several have advised and we have experienced, you must ask 3 times before deciding what way to go. Well because I am a man I think it unnecessary to ask anyone. Well Bill, Sue’s brother found us a short cut. Oh by the way from here forward we will refer to Bill as Guillermo his Spanish name. But we will not use the other names that have been associated with him. Anyway this shortcut through Guatemala City and you end up at the airport on the other side, we wanted both. I researched this shortcut on MapQuest, Google Earth, Guatebyground, Maps R Us and any other that I could find. We were doing fine; we had printed maps and my manly confidence, what could go wrong? After about 6 miles, I had a suspicion that something went wrong about 3 miles earlier. Sue thought we made the mistake 4 miles earlier. Actually the mistake was 5 miles earlier. When asking for direction, one said left, right, left; another said right, left, right; we tried both and no airport. After seeking advice from many, we got lucky because the next one was an airport shuttle service on his way to work. We put an X on the map where he lives in case we need another escort. OK, the rest of Guatemala was pretty straight forward if you don’t count the curves and hills. We did better than average for the rest of the trip to El Salvador. Border crossing was typical; we have permanent resident status in Guatemala so they know we are not the typical tourist.
We were hoping for a traveling companion that my help with map reading (Sue graduated from map folding 101 but not map reading) and listening and interpreting of oral directions. In our almost 2 years here, I have found only 3 people that can respond to, “show me on this map where we are.” Gustavo is one, and he expressed interest in traveling to Nicaragua with us but did not have enough time off and would need to bus from Guatemala to El Salvador to catch up with us. Fieto planned to go but needed to not miss an appointment to get his Visa and he is in charge of the house project. Lorena (sister of Fieto) wanted to go and she would be fun company. She has Spanish that I can understand as compared to the mason. I think I understand about every 10th word when his is speaking slowly. She also has intermediate English and wants more. OK we are all set, except 2 days before departure; she received notice of an interview for a scholarship she applied for. We went from 3 to 0 so Sue would fold the map occasionally, I would read it while Sue steered.
OK, so we are on our way, uneventful the first ½ mile. Whenever I am in the villages, I give rides to people. Our first a Mother and baby; soon another Mother and 3 or 4 year old daughter; the 3rd Mother with a very talkative 10 year old daughter and a parrot in hand, also talkative. OK maybe you are thinking that’s 7 ½ (baby) people in a 7 passenger van, perfect, not exact ally the rear seat was folded down to make room for luggage so that makes 3 adults, 2 children, 1 baby and a bird in 1 seat. Just right, because I get my own seat with elbow room. We continue about 2 miles on this rock gravel dirt road to the paved bus route road and the Mother with the 3 year old gets out. The others asked if we were going left to the next city. May we go also, a little unusually but OK? Arriving at city’s central park one got out with the bird, the other asked if we were going to the next city, very unusual but OK. By the time, 20 minutes, we got there she asked us to hire her as a housekeeper or any other job. She will move to Guatemala with us, NO. She will move to Guatemala with us and get a different job, NO. She will travel with us to Nicaragua, help us with directions, and get a job there, NO. Can you imagine at the border, I.D. please, she would say, I didn’t bring mine; I was only planning to go to market. And does your husband know you are taking his baby to Honduras and Nicaragua; NO, he doesn’t know that I am going, how would he expect to know our baby is going. And when did you decide to go to Honduras and Nicaragua. These people said I had to go with them to give directions. I think we would stay at the Crow Bar Hilton in El Salvador for a long time. When we did stop and asked her to get out, she still insisted she had a good idea, NO. Well give me your phone number so I can come to Guatemala and be with you, NO. Good bye.
About an hour later, we noticed there were 4 or 5 ants that we just killed. Yes let’s count them so we have something to do. Short time later the road curved sun straight on so Sue put her sun visor down. I said WOW that’s a lot of ants, Sue said AAAAH. I stopped the car to help kill ants. Sue got out helping kill from a safe zone. Checked by the visor again to kill more. Opened the cover on the visor mirror, another herd of ants. We didn’t bother to continue our count but the estimate is 117.
Yes, this story ends abruptly; the next blog entry will start abruptly also. See you in about a week.
The House BuildingArriving at Jose’ Aldofo Fieto’s house, we got our first surprise, the old house was still there, and it should have been gone. Oh by the way Jose’ Aldofo Fieto is only one person and it depends who you are talking with as to what name will be used – Mom uses Aldofo, Dad uses Jose’, most others use Fieto. And because later there is another Jose’ (every family has at least one) we will use Fieto. And by the way not just the house but most things in and around were still there. The temporary kitchen had the post in and grid work for the roof, so this was what I worked on while the family collected their things from the house. Maybe you ask about the kitchen, the old was a lean-to off the house so it must come down. In fact it was the first to go; we used the corrugated metal roof for the walls of the temporary kitchen.
Day 3, we started to strip the roof. I worked on the walls for fear of falling through – most of the rafters had dry rot or wet rot. We didn’t find the hollow logs because of termites until later. Anyway as I was removing the cardboard and plastic from the walls, I made a burning pile assuming that would be the best way to dispose of this junk; also depositing the extreme rotten boards and miscellaneous junk. About noon, I noticed my burning pile was getting smaller instead of bigger. As some of you know, I am a saver of good junk but this wasn’t even junky junk. By 4:00 PM, quitting time for the paid workers, everything was down except for 3 posts that didn’t just fall over.
Hmmm – I didn’t think of this until writing it down but I worked longer without pay. I forgot to tell you on day 2 while moving junk from around the house, we found 3 different piles of eggs with a very angry chicken near each of them. I think that my Spanish heard the question if we should wait for them to hatch or keep going. What they lose, (only 1 hatched out with 6 chicks) was made up for some very well fed chickens; they ate the termites possibly enough for an entire chicken farm instead of the 30 or so that feasted.
Day 4 – Installation of the baton boards (the strings that tell you where to dig and build.) The squareness of the building was set by holding a tri-square by the corner of the string. I later moved them to square – they were only off by 2 inches, actually I was surprised.
Day 5, 6, 7, and 8 – Digging for the footing, actually digging makes one think of a man with a shovel stepping it into the ground, not so, I would be more accurate to say picking the footings. Every crumb of dirt had to be broken free with a pick axe, and sometimes the pick end had to be used instead of the axe end. I thought it is not going too bad until about 1/3 done and we started to hit rock. As you assume it got worse, a rock every foot. The final 1/3 was more rock than dirt. Some too big to carry out and as you guessed it got worse. We got rocks so big two men were needed to roll them out, and it got worse. One we could not get to the bottom so we broke it, a portion off the top and settled for a stepped footing.
Yes, I worked past my energy level; in fact Big Agony (see fish story) would be like taking a break. I soon realized my new and important job, quality control. The mason helper decided to move the string because of the step footing and then said the first 1/3 is too deep; fill in 2 inches with dirt. Another quality problem, he said we have a OOPS so we can only have a 3 inch thick footing; I said it’s your OOPS and we will have a 5 inch footing. He agreed more quickly than when I said the step in footing is the weak spot so I want 7 inches thick and build the form accordingly – he moved them 3 times; each time hoping I would not notice. After the 4th time, I told him “if you move this form again, you are fired.” There were other issues but this half is too long already, when we left, the walls were up. I hope that the roof was on before Tropical Storm Agatha gave its rain. Another and final request for help financially, they will run over budget by $1,000, partially because of 3 extra days of labor digging the foundation, partially because of increased cost of materials and because the original plan was only a 6 inch roof overhang, I insisted on a 24 inch overhang. A necessary adjustment to keep rain off the walls.
The Trip
Several have advised and we have experienced, you must ask 3 times before deciding what way to go. Well because I am a man I think it unnecessary to ask anyone. Well Bill, Sue’s brother found us a short cut. Oh by the way from here forward we will refer to Bill as Guillermo his Spanish name. But we will not use the other names that have been associated with him. Anyway this shortcut through Guatemala City and you end up at the airport on the other side, we wanted both. I researched this shortcut on MapQuest, Google Earth, Guatebyground, Maps R Us and any other that I could find. We were doing fine; we had printed maps and my manly confidence, what could go wrong? After about 6 miles, I had a suspicion that something went wrong about 3 miles earlier. Sue thought we made the mistake 4 miles earlier. Actually the mistake was 5 miles earlier. When asking for direction, one said left, right, left; another said right, left, right; we tried both and no airport. After seeking advice from many, we got lucky because the next one was an airport shuttle service on his way to work. We put an X on the map where he lives in case we need another escort. OK, the rest of Guatemala was pretty straight forward if you don’t count the curves and hills. We did better than average for the rest of the trip to El Salvador. Border crossing was typical; we have permanent resident status in Guatemala so they know we are not the typical tourist.
We were hoping for a traveling companion that my help with map reading (Sue graduated from map folding 101 but not map reading) and listening and interpreting of oral directions. In our almost 2 years here, I have found only 3 people that can respond to, “show me on this map where we are.” Gustavo is one, and he expressed interest in traveling to Nicaragua with us but did not have enough time off and would need to bus from Guatemala to El Salvador to catch up with us. Fieto planned to go but needed to not miss an appointment to get his Visa and he is in charge of the house project. Lorena (sister of Fieto) wanted to go and she would be fun company. She has Spanish that I can understand as compared to the mason. I think I understand about every 10th word when his is speaking slowly. She also has intermediate English and wants more. OK we are all set, except 2 days before departure; she received notice of an interview for a scholarship she applied for. We went from 3 to 0 so Sue would fold the map occasionally, I would read it while Sue steered.
OK, so we are on our way, uneventful the first ½ mile. Whenever I am in the villages, I give rides to people. Our first a Mother and baby; soon another Mother and 3 or 4 year old daughter; the 3rd Mother with a very talkative 10 year old daughter and a parrot in hand, also talkative. OK maybe you are thinking that’s 7 ½ (baby) people in a 7 passenger van, perfect, not exact ally the rear seat was folded down to make room for luggage so that makes 3 adults, 2 children, 1 baby and a bird in 1 seat. Just right, because I get my own seat with elbow room. We continue about 2 miles on this rock gravel dirt road to the paved bus route road and the Mother with the 3 year old gets out. The others asked if we were going left to the next city. May we go also, a little unusually but OK? Arriving at city’s central park one got out with the bird, the other asked if we were going to the next city, very unusual but OK. By the time, 20 minutes, we got there she asked us to hire her as a housekeeper or any other job. She will move to Guatemala with us, NO. She will move to Guatemala with us and get a different job, NO. She will travel with us to Nicaragua, help us with directions, and get a job there, NO. Can you imagine at the border, I.D. please, she would say, I didn’t bring mine; I was only planning to go to market. And does your husband know you are taking his baby to Honduras and Nicaragua; NO, he doesn’t know that I am going, how would he expect to know our baby is going. And when did you decide to go to Honduras and Nicaragua. These people said I had to go with them to give directions. I think we would stay at the Crow Bar Hilton in El Salvador for a long time. When we did stop and asked her to get out, she still insisted she had a good idea, NO. Well give me your phone number so I can come to Guatemala and be with you, NO. Good bye.
About an hour later, we noticed there were 4 or 5 ants that we just killed. Yes let’s count them so we have something to do. Short time later the road curved sun straight on so Sue put her sun visor down. I said WOW that’s a lot of ants, Sue said AAAAH. I stopped the car to help kill ants. Sue got out helping kill from a safe zone. Checked by the visor again to kill more. Opened the cover on the visor mirror, another herd of ants. We didn’t bother to continue our count but the estimate is 117.
Yes, this story ends abruptly; the next blog entry will start abruptly also. See you in about a week.
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