In Guatemala

Inspired by yarnography we begin our thoughts on travel to Guatemala with a young child.




We arrived yesterday after a very early in the morning flight and very little sleep.
After morning breakfast (beans, mosh- oat and rice warm very sweet cereal, fried plantains, and scambled eggs with onions and tomatoe) we went shopping for essentials. After a nap there was running on the rooftop and around the house- some of it unaided.



As expected, I went to change money today and was amused by the process of printing receipts in a computer that are later arranged in a neat pile to which carbon paper is added so that they can then be inserted into a machine that prints two lines on them. After these lines are printed you can sign the papers. Further checking of the submitted currency and a phonecall later, the printing/signing process is over and you proceed with your papers-carbon sheets removed for later use- to the cash line. Where further carbon paper is procured and more printing and signing follows. I could see if I was in a hurry this process might be less amusing.

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Pat's addition: Well, I'm pleasantly surprised to be here—I guess a 30-odd degree temperature increase will do that to you. I enjoyed about 15 seconds of culture shock as I was leaving the airport & was instantly swamped by would-be porters. "Oh yeah," I thought "I forgot that this was what it was like to be a six-foot gringo in public." Well, one of the 4 porters that accompanied me ended up chasing Sam´s plastic bathtub into a 3-lane highway after it was blown away by the wind. I'm not sure what tip he was hoping for, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't worth risking his mortal soul for it.

Another revelation from my first 24 hours here: who knew that (a) mush was an actual dish and (b) that is was so tasty?