Tony’s Guatemala

Every time I make a trip back to the states, I have a list of things I need to bring back with me upon my return. sometimes the things on that list might surprise you. maybe more surprising would be the things not on the list.

Things you can get easily in Guatemala:
Prescription medicine, not everything, but antibitiotics, etc, are easy to get, and cheap.
Cellular internet, cheap and fairly reliable
Tortilla’s
Fruit nectar and juice
Eyeglasses
Dental work
Non-specific batteries (AA’s AAA’s D’s etc.)
Cellphones (starting at about $15 with $12 service included free)
Amoeba’s
Horses and cows
Umbrella’s
tuk-tuk’s
Steak
Clothing (Paca’s have a lot of american clothing, though not frequently in my size)
Chickens
Fresh Fruit
Dynamite
Incarcerated
Drink coasters
Sushi rice
Amazing coffee
Cheap lodging

Things that are either hard to find, or ridiculously expensive:
Clothing (other than T-shirts, in my size)
Clean water
shampoo (available, but not cheap, and it all makes my hair fall out)
butane gas
Fresh fish (available, but not safe to eat)
Real Ketchup (the stuff here is more sugar than Tomato)
Steak sauce
Gringo’s that aren’t crazy (not a cost comparison, but very hard to find)
Sturdy silverware
Anvils
Specific batteries (for camera’s, phones etc.)
Good roads
Raspberry or maple syrup
Canned Tuna (hardly ever found for less than $2 a can for the cheap stuff in oil- and it’s in smaller cans!)
Milk in a carton (it mostly comes in bags that don’t need refrigeration)
A decent mattress

All in all, it makes life interesting. I bring back what I think I’ll need, and invariably forget something, or discover that I need something not available locally, and add it to my list for the next return trip. Last time I brought a mattress pad with me rolled up and stuffed tightly into an old military duffel bag, along with gun-magazines (the reading type, not the holding ammo type) and fire starter flint thingies, along with my normal clothing, laptop, camera’s etc.

I just returned to Panajachel after spending a few days in la Antigua Guatemala. Literally “The old Guatemala”, a city that was the capitol prior to 1773. I was there to go to the dentist. Finally getting the last of the work done on a broken tooth I’d had for quite a while. An unwanted, but somewhat necessary expense, as the tooth kept getting infected, and was costing me an arm and a leg in antibiotics.

It rained almost the entire time I was in Antigua, so I didn’t get to walk around as much as I would have liked. I did make it to the market, where I ate lunch, and probably got a parasite. And I made it to the arch and the central square. I didn’t get to hang out in the Square at all, due to the rain, but I did stop by an interesting coffee shop. It’s run by a guy named Tony, he slow roasts the coffee, and I wasn’t really impressed by it. But the chocolate he made was interesting, if a bit “rustic” if you will, with bits of the cacao bean still in it. tasty, but crunchy, and not like a nutty candy bar.

On my second night there, I ran into an interesting old Guatemalan man. We discussed things for a bit, and it occurred to me that he was kind of crazy. He told me about how his father had been a catholic priest, and how he went to “religious school” and after informing me that he worshiped “jesus” he offered to show me his “jesus” idol. I declined. Afterward, he confided that he was a witch doctor, and offered to bless me, I declined again. We talked a little bit more, and now he’s gonna look me up on facebook. Imagine that!

I also met a very nice young man named Jonathan Tiemensma, He lives in Antigua, and is married to a Guatemalan woman, they have a 6 month old daughter. He’s from Holland, and wants to work in the US as a social worker, that’s what his degree is in, and he loves helping people. I hope he finds his way to the US.

After the rain finally let up for a bit on my last morning in Antigua, before catching the shuttle back to Pana, I finally made it to a Guatemalan blacksmith shop, something I’ve been wanting to do for quite a while now. I was impressed by the level of work they produced based on the fairly simple tools and techniques they were using. I took a lot of photos, I’ll be adding an album later on, and will post back with a link when I do.

I have to go back to Antigua next week for the final crown to be fitted, maybe I’ll have more adventures then!