Surprising methods

We have two boys working on construction, Sebastián and Manuel, brothers ages 18 and 20.  They are hard workers, although inexperienced.  They are quick to offer assistance, and there are a variety of maintenance tasks they help us with as well.  However, we are often surprised by their different way of doing things, which we usually categorize as bad ideas.  

For example, we needed to get rid of some old rotting boards that had been stored for a while.  We assumed we could donate them to a neighbor who could burn them in their cooking fire, because the firewood supply is getting scarcer here.  But we heard a fire crackling and looked out to see an old wheelbarrow base on our driveway with the boards merrily burning inside!  This was a bad idea because we now have a burned patch of paving bricks, but we laughed and admitted to each other that they surprised us again!  And by the way, we did put a stop to the burning and gave the rest of the wood to our neighbor who seemed very glad for the donation.

Events during pandemic

Monday morning we were awakened at 6:00 a.m. by blaring Guatemalan marimba music, which sounded like it was coming from next door.  The music continued for 20 hours until 2:15 a.m., only interspersed with brief respites of someone talking into a microphone, which we couldn't quite understand.  The bass was so loud it vibrated our house and fence all day, even rattling the mirror and circuit-breaker panel door in the kitchen! 

There are only three types of music blared loudly here in Chichicastenango: current contemporary worship music played by evangelical Christian churches, old-fashioned chorus style music with a K'iche' twist played by evangelical Christian churches, and marimba music and latin-beat music played by traditional Mayan religious groups.  This particular music was the latter style, very lively and high-speed, making for an exhausting day!

Heather and Veronica already had plans to go to a park that afternoon, and this is what they saw in the road, a couple of houses down from us.  There were a few hundred people crowded together with hardly any masks.  We are concerned for the lack of caution in the middle of a pandemic which is hitting Guatemala pretty hard right now.

The big black rectangle in center-left
is a stack of 20 speakers.
No wonder it was so loud!

The men lined up are wearing the
fabric headdress of the traditional
Mayan religion.  We weren't sure what
this particular event was celebrating.

Heather and Veronica enjoy going to
hang out at a small local park
where hardly anyone goes.  We
don't leave the house much these
days due to the pandemic, so it is
nice to get out.

Roof work

This week we replaced four sections of our roof which had been damaged by hail and had been leaking during the recent heavy rains.  Now hopefully we can put away the buckets which have been sitting in our living room for a while!

Floor and plumbing

We put in the plumbing and started pouring the concrete floor of our house.

We are pouring the floor room by room because we have to mix the concrete in a small mixer, so it takes a while.  Each section will be pond-cured for a week to increase strength.

Sports court

This week we saw a new sign down the street from our house announcing the opening of a new sports court.  Michael walked down the short side dirt street to take a photo.  We are always glad to see people taking initiative here!

Church blessing

A few weeks ago we received an announcement under our gate inviting us to a "church blessing event" for a church in our community that had bought new land and was moving.  The flyer and envelope were announcing the celebration service and asking for donations.  

The previous church building was made of steel roofing sheets nailed to wooden posts.  It was near our house on borrowed land, but they recently took it down and we weren't sure what happened to it.  A couple of weeks ago we found it being built next to the community soccer field!

Police records

As part of the yearly renewal process for our residency here in Guatemala, we went to the police station in a neighboring town to request documents showing our police record.  Fortunately, our records correctly showed that we are not guilty of any crimes!  Heather and Veronica waited in the car for Michael, who went to request the documents, and this was the view.  The police station is the nondescript gray building in the center of the photo.