Merry Christmas to everyone! Sorry we posted 1 day late; however, we have been traveling around lately and could not post yesterday. No pictures this time as we did not have our camera but we did take some with Roberta's, just cannot download them. :(
On Sunday we finished cleaning up the house and headed to Guatemala City to be there to pick up Kemmel's mom, Roberta, and step-dad, Duane, on Monday. We were able to go see a movie on Sunday and enjoy some Sushi. One of our cravings we get every now and then. We have actually found supplies to make sushi, so that is one of our next ventures. We can get fresh sea bass here in Chichi so we may try it or some tuna that we can get in the capital. Lisa enjoys the California roles so they may be easier since we do not have to do the raw fish thing - just crab or shrimp.
On Monday we did some running around and then started to have a problem with the truck. It was due for its checkup and oil change and it appears that the oil is pretty watery so may be mixing with the diesel. As a result, it started to make some not so good sounds. So we ended up parking it at the office in Guatemala City and got a cab back to the hotel. Hopefully it is nothing serious and can be repaired quickly once everyone is back from vacation. It is still under warranty so the dealership should cover provided they do not blame us for doing something which it does not appear we have.
On Monday afternoon we went to airport and picked up Roberta and Duane and then we went to the Christmas Eve service at the Union Church in Guatemala City. The Union Church is where my family and I, Kemmel, attended while we lived in Guatemala. It is a non-denominational church servicing the English speaking community in Guatemala including missionaries, Guatemalans, embassy employees from various countries and American / European business people. The service brought back many memories and we were to reacquaint with some old friends we had 20 years ago. After the service, we did a trek trying to find something open for dinner and all was closed! Christmas Eve is the big celebration in Guatemala where families and friends all come together so most things are closed. We ended up eating at the Camino Real Hotel and had an enjoyable meal. The Camino Real also brings back many memories as we stayed there for 2 weeks when we first moved to Guatemala back in 1975 and then on multiple other occasions as well. Between 11pm and 12am, the fireworks started and lasted for about 1-2 hours.
On Christmas day we enjoyed a relaxing morning, check out all of the goodies sent to us from the US and then went to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Guatemala City, the Inca Grill which is a restaurant with food from Peru. Very good, so check it out when you are in the city. It is on the street behind the Camino Real. Since our pickup was parked, we had to find a shuttle to transport us to Chichi on Christmas Day. We were not sure how possible that would be and were not to hopeful, but we did end up finding one although he did charge us a pretty penny. Overall it was still cheaper that having to stay in Guatemala City another night and buy meals, etc.
We arrived Monday to no water - still! We think they turned down the water pressure for the fair so that people would not use all of the water. What that does to us is turn off our water as we are at the end of the line. So we have been without water for about 1-2 weeks and were hoping for better luck. We have started to build the water cistern where we can house water and pump it out so this will be very helpful for us. Even in times when there is not enough pressure it will still drop into the cistern because of gravity so it will be a nice luxury to have. This morning we did have some water for awhile, so hopefully we are back to normal of at least having water each day until about 9am. Here is a picture of the guys working on the water cistern. The longest we have gone without running water is 2 months so hopefully we will never have to go through that experience again.
A water cistern is basically a big hole in the ground with concrete walls on all sides in which you drive your water source to to keep it filled up. It will have a on/off system much like a toilet to allow the water level to rise and to stop when it is full. Then we use a water pump to pump the water through the house. So not only will we have more water we will have better water pressure as well.
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