Internet fix

Our internet went out.  This happens frequently, so we waited.  But it didn't come back on for several hours, so we called the internet company who sent a technician to review our setup.  He found everything in order, so as a last resort he decided they needed to trade out our antenna and internet box and try again.  Later that afternoon he climbed a rickety ladder resting on one skinny metal pipe to exchange our antenna.  

Many prayers were being offered by Michael, Veronica, and myself as he was up there, oblivious to the danger.  Veronica took this photo to document the feat.  The result wasn't a brilliant improvement of our service, but with Michael's help with the software configuration we are up and running again.

"Pumpkin" pie

We were driving through our old neighborhood and saw these for sale at one of the little stores in someone's house. 

There were two, but I said I wanted three, so the lady went around to the side of her house and grabbed another one that had just been cut from her vine! Now we can have "pumpkin" pie for Thanksgiving! So happy! I'll cook them now and put the mashed squash in the freezer, then I'll thaw it when I'm ready to make the pie. I found out this separates a lot of the water from the squash when thawing, making a less watery pie. I also have to beat it a lot with a hand mixer to break up the tough fibers and make it more like canned pumpkin. Yummy!

"Mayan correction"

There were some photos posted yesterday in the local news showing a man and a woman who were caught by local people for stealing from individuals and businesses in a town a few miles away from us.  They were taken to the local indigenous leaders, who after talking to them, decided to apply "Mayan correction," which meant taking them to the center of town, having them remove their shirts, and whipping them.  It is amazing that Guatemalan traditions are so strong that this is still happening in 2022.

Electric lines

While we were in the U.S., our house's electricity went out in Chichicastenango. Fortunately, however, the boys who were staying in our house (for the purpose of guarding the house and feeding the dogs) were able to find and fix the problem.  Thanks to Michael video calling with the boys and instructing them in the use of a voltmeter, as well as Heather searching old photos of construction to find where our underground electric lines are buried, we diagnosed where the outage was.  The boys dug down to the cable in the ground and found out our line was damaged and had corroded apart.  This is the fifth time we have had such an outage due to a pickax used by our first (fired) construction team!  So the boys patched the lines back together with electrical tape, wrapped them in asphalt roofing paper, and reburied them... a fix which won't last forever, but will hopefully last until we are able to transfer to a new line when the new house is finished.

After they successfully got the electricity back on, the boys finally confessed that there had been a lot of smoke in the kitchen, but that they were glad to see both of our refrigerators still worked.  We didn't understand the "smoke" comment until we got home and saw the burnt surge protector, which had actually done its job!

We now have the refrigerators on a new surge protector, and we are glad everything is up and running again!

Good visit

Our two-month visit to the United States went well!  While we were gone, our two workers took turns staying in our house and taking care of the dogs.  We were glad to find everything was fine when we returned home!

Family

It is so nice to have all our girls together at Michael's parents' house in Oak Ridge, Tennessee!

Signs

The other day I pulled up to a local hardware store, and Michael and I had a good laugh at their attempt at English!

Then, on the next visit I noticed a new large sign the government had just posted on the other side of the door.  The sign is supposed to have a number in the box declaring the maximum number of people allowed inside.  These signs have been on various stores since the beginning of the pandemic, and apparently the government is not done putting them up.  We're not sure if anyone pays attention to them though.

Vaccine for our 12-year-old

We are happy to report that Veronica has now begun the Covid vaccination process!  She turned 12 years old this week and finally became eligible to receive a vaccine (Pfizer) here in Guatemala. We are guessing these vaccines, as well as the Moderna ones we, Michael and Heather, received, are donated by the United States. We are very grateful for that!

On Friday, Michael and Veronica went to the local neighborhood elementary school and waited for a couple of hours in line amidst children running all around the area.  The funniest moment was when one little boy came up to Michael, who was at least a foot or two taller than every adult there, and said, "¡Ya creciste!" (which translated means, "You've grown!") followed by the moms in line giggling.

Never say "no"

The longer we live in Guatemala, the more cultural tidbits we pick up.  The current thing we have noticed is that the people seem to have a "Never say no" mindset.  We see it not just with us, but when they deal with each other, too.  Not that they never MEAN no, they just don't like to say it.  For example, if someone is invited to an event that he doesn't plan to attend, he will answer, "Yes," but not go.  At a store, if they don't sell the item you are asking about, the store clerk will say, "We will have it in two weeks," which we have learned to interpret as, "We will never sell that item."  When I used to ask a student if they were coming to my English class that week, they would always answer, "Yes, see you then," but I remained wondering if they would actually show up because more than half the time they wouldn't.  If you ask someone to find out some piece of information, they will answer, "Yes, I will go ask," but then never reply.

The specific event that brought this to our attention recently was when our construction workers told us they wouldn't be able to take our trash to their dad's work site for a few months.  We had been grateful to them for including our trash with theirs, because there is no trash pick-up here, except in town where their dad has his car shop.  The boys told Michael, "Don't worry, it will just be for a couple of months.  The owners of the place our dad rents gave him a week to move his car shop out so they could do construction on the adjoining building.  They told him he could move back in two months."  Michael questioned the speed of the construction and how they could finish that fast.  The boys responded, "Yeah, people always tell you something positive, but then it never happens that way.  Or they tell you they will get back to you, but then they never do.  It is very frustrating."

Now, that is the norm, but we are always pleasantly surprised when we come across people who actually do as they say and tell you the truth... but even then the truth will be spoken in a way that they never actually have to say, "No."

Heather's driving stick

This is a photo of the homemade driving stick Heather uses while driving in Guatemala.  We copied the design of a $200 driving stick that she found demonstrated on YouTube.  She steers by holding the spinner knob in her left hand, while holding the right side of the driving stick with her right hand: push for gas, pull for brake.  It works well!

Fireworks and fog

This year, like every year, people all around Guatemala set off fireworks on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve at midnight.  

This is a video of Veronica silhouetted against our closest neighbor's fireworks display on Christmas Eve.  We discovered an interesting phenomenon this year, which has actually happened in previous years, too, but we didn't figure it out until we could hardly see any fireworks due to thick fog this year on New Year's Eve.  

On both nights, the night started off clear as a bell, but it started getting foggy right before midnight.  Especially on New Year's Eve, the fog increased in intensity until we couldn't see the fireworks at all, just loud booms all around!  So we investigated "smoke-induced fog" and learned from the internet that it is an event that can happen if the atmospheric conditions are ripe for fog anyway.  In fact, the fog increased in thickness until even the grass was wet around us and we could hardly see the outline of our fence, a phenomenon also described by the website as "induced fog thicker than normal."

So, as midnight approached and the merry-makers were getting started with small firecrackers all around us, they were actually inducing a fog that would inhibit the enjoyment of the actual event at midnight!  Too bad!