LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN

Okay, so that last post wasn't received as intended. Things aren't bad; they're actually good. However, this isn't a travel blog, and I'm not going to shoot sunshine up your asses all the time. Like everywhere, there's good and bad here in Guatemala, and last week was not my best week. This one is better.

First, Adventures with Steve. So, we had a consultation with a dog whisperer here in town. If you've been playing along, Steve has a barking issue when I'm gone, and he remains terrified of everything. So, we're trying to get him not to be that way. She confirmed what I guess everyone who has met Steve already knew: he was definitely abused pretty badly before I got him. The weird thing is his reaction when anyone or anything foreign is introduced into his environment, whether it's a person, a box, whatever, he becomes an entirely different dog. Naturally, when the whisperer was here, he was afraid of me, leading her to tell me that he has all the signs of my beating him. So that went over well. But, I get it. He's just an odd dog, but a great one when it's just us but I can't be here all the time and I refuse to be held captive in my own house because I can't leave my dog alone. So, we're trying a few things. Will report back.

That said, he's getting better at being in town, as you can see here.

He's found The Snug to be his go-to spot, and especially likes the peanuts on the bar.

Speaking of peanuts....Let's talk about food.

I grew up in Alabama, and while my parents were middle class by anyone's definition, my grandparents grew up dirt poor. So, my mom's cooking was influenced by her mother's, so I grew up eating alot of "poor people's food." If you're from rural Alabama, you know what I'm talking about. If not, it's stuff you can grow in the garden or that's really cheap to make. Which brings me to Guatemala. It's the same situation here: folks are poor for the most part and tend to do the same. The weird thing is that there's not much overlap in the way it's cooked. Here's my example of what I made today. Pastalaya with fresh veggies and some fried green tomatoes.

Probably cost me $5 and I will have pastalaya for days. Folks in Guatemala would never make that though. They would use the same $5 and grill fresh pork with black beans and rice. Both are good, but it's interesting to me how culture influences food for similar socioeconomic groups.

A friend shaved her head for money two nights ago. So my friend Grace, who has a magical voice--you should really hear her, up and got drunk and shaved her head at the bar the other night. But there's a reason. Other friends are in a challenge to raise money for Las Ninas de Guatemala, a charity that benefits Guatemalan children. Grace promised to shave her head if folks in the bar raised Q3000 -about $400 USD. Well, 10 minutes later, the hat will brimming with Quetzales and the hair came off. Anyway, Grace had to play the next night and rocked the house in a red wig. She added Dionne Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer" to her repertoire and I really wished I had a pair of lobster claws to wave in appreciation. If you get that reference, you're good people. A quick note about going out in Antigua. So many different languages and accents in the same place, but somehow it works. Austrian dudes, Australian girls, and the Dutch. So many Dutch. Dutch everywhere.

Today was interesting. Or at least I thought it was. I made my usual Sunday trip to Caoba Farms, where the people didn't understand why I was buying the green tomatoes instead of the ripe red ones. See above. Anyway, I had an interesting chat with a girl who is in town with Habitat for Humanity. First, I didn't know there was Habitat in Guatemala, but there is, so that's something I want to look into. Anyway, we were talking about how Guatemalans don't really value their own products. Everything local is ridiculously cheap here, but anything imported is insanely expensive. There's a store that basically brings in the U.S. Goodwill rejects and sells them at an absurd price because they're American products, and because they're American, people will buy them no matter how bad the quality. Meanwhile, the Guatemalan stuff is of great quality but nobody wants it because if it's Guatemalan, it must suck. I argued that Americans do the same in some respects. We buy Japanese televisions and cars because we assume the quality is superior. It sort of morphed into a chat about the President and trying to force companies to make things in the U.S. I understand both sides of that argument, and I come down on the side of free trade, but we agreed that if we really want to #MAGA, we need to value and buy stuff made locally, whatever your country may be. Anyway, something to chew on, and it's cool to live in a place where it's not in the least bit strange to talk about political and social issues with a total stranger over a grilled fish sandwich. Something else, today's required reading is La Cuadra Magazine. Hard copy is printed right here in Antigua but you can read it online right there at the link, and it's chock full of libtard prose and a little bit of poetry. Good stuff.

Oh yeah, Dispatch has a new record coming out and ya boy is hype. That has nothing to do with Guatemala, but quite relevant to my life.

Anyway, gang, that's it for now. I still miss Alabama, I still miss you, and I always will