Our house stands in a swamp essentially. We don’t have mosquitos though; this is a pleasant surprise. The man who owns the greenhouses that face our home also bring cattle, usually 2 or 3, to graze on the wetland grass. Recently we were also the home to a flock of these white birds. Any ideas … [Read more…]
Amber and I are still up in the air for a boy’s first name. I hope we land soon. We have 18 days (+/-) left to decide. The middle name is picked. A girl’s name is easy because we still have the one’s we had picked out for our first born if he were a … [Read more…]
We are cooperating with Helps International to provide special stoves to families that need them. The stoves were purchased through a variety of gifts from Canada. Two men came out to do a demo of the stove for interested families from our school and church. They put the stove together in front of us in … [Read more…]
In Guatemala, each adult is issued an ID document from the municipality where they live. I’m not sure if they have to get a new one when they move (this doesn’t happen too frequently). So, because we are now residents of Guatemala, part of the process is getting a Cédula de Vecindad. The information contained … [Read more…]
INCIDENT 1: It just so happens that here in Guatemala employees are given ZERO authority at their job. So, when I ordered a bagel sandwich at a modern mall in Guatemala City and asked to have the yucky processed cheddar slice replaced with a piece of Swiss cheese, the sandwich artiste had to ask her … [Read more…]
While driving a short-term mission team from Regina to Antigua for their last 2 nights in the country, my van, the Kia, brokedown. We managed to get the team to where we needed to go and left the van at a highway road stop. Two days later on our way back, we had a ‘tow … [Read more…]
I’m picking up a short term mission team in Guatemala City tonight. They arrive late, so we spend the night and then visit a couple sites in the capital then drive the 4 hours to Tactic tomorrow. Les isn’t here, so I have to do all the paying for the 19 of us in the … [Read more…]
Amber, Blaise and I are applying for Guatemalan residency. This is a lengthy process that I will enter into once I actually understand it. Yesterday, I received an email from our lawyer in Guatemala City that we had an appointment on Feb 1 at 8:30 AM at immigration. For this meeting we needed our passports … [Read more…]
Last April, while a group from Calgary were helping us construct a new school in Mocohan, accross the field a group of seniors from a Vancouver public high school were inaugurating a project they had spent 5 days working on. Their project was a communal chicken coop for women of the community to raise chickens … [Read more…]
These tortillas are made from black corn. The house is full of smoke. Spanish has a verb for making tortillas: tortillar Spanish has a noun for the person who makes tortillas: tortillador Tortillas don’t have much flavour – think Doritos without the seasoning. Process for making a corn tortilla in Guatemala: plant the corn weed … [Read more…]