It has been nice to get home, but also difficult as we face
adjusting to a different world again. When we first returned to Chichi, we
found that our car battery had died since our trickle charger had failed and ruined the battery while we were gone. So Carrie and I (Heather/Erica) rode a tuk-tuk into
town to check out what was for sale there. We found a couple of batteries that
would work, but the newest one was 6 years old.
Then on another day,
Elena and I took a public-transportation microbus to the neighboring
town of Quiché (about 11 miles to the north). That was our first time
to ride a “minivan bus”, and I thought it was fun. After asking
around for car battery stores and walking several blocks to find each
one, we didn't find a battery that was right for our car. All of the
batteries I saw were 5 to 9 years old.
So the next day, Veronica and
I rode a tuk-tuk back into Chichi in the pouring rain to buy one of
the batteries sold there. Michael and I installed the new battery, and
what a great feeling we had when, after a bit of hesitation,
sputtering, and gray fumes, our car started!!!