Hello! I am happy to see you 🙂 Remember it is not too late to enter the $100 giveaway that I am co-hosting, all the details are here.
My life has changed significantly since I moved to Guatemala in October. Here is a list of things one wouldn’t probably expect at first that are now part of my daily life.
Wake up at 5am
This one is not strange for many of you, especially if you have a young kid jumping on your bed at this time of day. Or night. I still call it night, until my usual wake up time, around 8am. Now I wake up with the sun and get so much done by 10am that I feel like having lunch and a nap. With the jet lag from Europe, it has been very easy for me to wake up this early, and this is a habit I am hoping to keep, my mornings are much more productive. I usually check emails, write a little, make the bed, and have breakfast ready by 730. The handyman gets in at 8 and we start working on the house.
 Beautiful early morning colors (and a freshly thatched deck still with green leaves).
Be in bed at 7pm
When you wake with or even before the sun, you will probably find yourself tired very early too. The sun here sets around 6pm, so at 7, I have usually had dinner and am tucked in bed. When there was no electricity, my day was over and I went to bed, or had a candlelit night with BF, playing the guitar and drinking beers. Going to bed at 9pm feels like a crazy night out.
Pack all valuables before leaving the house
At the moment, the house has no windows, just mosquito nets, so it is really easy to break in. The water pump of the previous owner has been stolen, as well as most of the electric wiring, suffice to say that I take my laptop, money and other valuables when going to town.
Shake my clothes and check my shoes before wearing them
So far, the scorpion death count is 2 Â 9. I have seen cockroaches (big, ugly ones) crawl out of my bags when I open them. So to avoid a bite, I shake my clothes and check inside my shoes before putting them on. I have a flashlight to go to the bathroom at night too.
              A disgusting surprise to find in your bed.
Wear the same thing over and over
Remember that suitcase that I packed? I haven’t used a tenth of my clothes. I wear khaki pants and a gray tank top most of the day because it is comfortable to work and you don’t see the mud, dirt and other stains. Then I go down to the lake and bathe fully clothed, hang my washed work clothes and wear sweatpants for the night. When we go shopping for groceries I wear jeans and feel like a million dollars!
Never store my bathing suite
Nice one! Because I swim every day in the lake, my bathing suite is never stored in the closet, always out for grabs!
Shower outside
As there is no running water yet, I shower in the lake, using as little soap as I can. It is fun to be in the middle of nature and have the fish come and say hi. They prefer when I do the dishes, so they can eat too.
Have dinner for breakfast
Because there is no fridge, the food goes bad quickly, and everything has to be eaten as soon as possible. Resulting in breakfasts made of dinner leftovers.
Use a pit toilet
There is a dry toilet on the land, with a whole about 5 meters deep. Very convenient while the water gets installed. Except that there was a strange noise at the bottom once, and BF says it is a bat. Now I am afraid to go.
Update: Since I wrote this post, I have had access to running water (bye bye, bats) and electricity (hello, blog updates, and you can see the last update about Guatemala here).
Have you ever spent a few days without luxuries we usually take for granted? What is your experience?
I’m not sure I would want to go if a bat was in there either.
On the other hand, think about the poor bat, I don’t think it would be much fun being underneath that…
Also, I’m super jealous of that view you get to wake up to every morning!
Yes, poor bat, I came and bothered her peace. I try to remember that I am the intruder here, although humans tend to think they are the king of everything. And a bat is really just a disgusting rat with a set of wings!
I am truly jealous of your experience EXCEPT for the bugs and scorpions!!! That totally freaks me out!
Yeah, whenever we go on vacation near the beach we always end up getting up early and going to bed early. I don’t know why. Maybe its because of being close to the water?!?!?
I think it is because you are out of your routine and back to a simpler one. Not so many obligations, no kids activities, no house to tidy…. so you can wake up early and fall like a stone at night.
Yikes I would not be a fan of the scorpions, but it sounds like it’s a tradeoff to live in a tropical area. Will you be installing a shower/bath inside? I’m super intrigued at what your house will look like when all your work is done!
There is a shower and a quite cool bathroom. I’ll put pictures. We can use it now that the water is connected.
I can relate to the getting up at 5 am, we have to in order to get any quiet time to get some work done before the hooligans wake up. 🙂 The closest I can relate to was the summer after I graduated that I spent in Alaska. We spent several weeks just camping out in the middle of absolutely no where. Our “shower” was in the nearest body of water and dinner was what ever we caught in the same water and absolutely no electricity. It was worth every minute of it.
sounds like heaven. I’d like to visit Alaska some day, wasn’t able to go last year on the bike because Canada didn’t give my BF a visa. It looks so wild and so pure.
I agree with Holly, you’re having quite the experience that I would LOVE to have but could do without scorpions and such! I love your updates!
I am not freaked out since no one bit me so far, safe for mosquitoes. I guess I wouldn’t sleep at night if I really new what was going on in my roof!
Sounds a lot like how I live when I’m at the lake house in Northern Michigan. (except for the waking up at 5am part, and checking for scorpions)
I still can’t get over your view, it is purely spectacular! With all the improvements you have made it won’t be long before you will be able to double your money (if you ever want to sell)
I think I could sell today for double the price, since I got a real bargain. And the dirt road should be asphalted soon. But my plan is to use the other patch of land which is 90 acres on the other side or the road and sell small plots to get the lakeside parcel for free.
dude, I am the least experienced in this area. I never grew up camping, and even when I’ve gone for a couple of days with friends I hated it. And it was easy camping, meaning we had local showers and nice restrooms…I just suck at roughing it. 🙂 I can easily see how in that environment you’d get up early and go to bed late…although I don’ think I’d be able to sleep with the critters nearby. ha ha!
Camping can be fun! Sometimes it is better in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful landscape rather than in a proper camping packed with 500 other happy campers. You just have to chose a mosquito free season, or it would really suck.
Your schedule is a lot like mine, at least timewise, up by 5, falling asleep by 8. I don’t know if I could live without modern conveniences, but I sort of envy the simple lifestyle. If I never had to wear dress clothes again, that would be just fine.
I am trying to have the best of both world. Nature, slow pace, and installing modern conveniences like a deep freezer or wireless internet.I couldn’t go all Amish but when I visited that region I was amazed at how happy those people were.
When I was a kid my uncle had a cabin that was off of the grid. No electricity and it had an outhouse. Needless to say, as a child I had to go to the bathroom at night and my dad had to come with me. If you’ve never used an outhouse in the pitch black wilderness while your father shined a flashlight in there for your count yourself lucks.
lol. At night we got a free pass to go wherever because of the bat nest.
Oh my, that’s just awful, oh my. Ok I know I sound like a baby but ya those bugs really get under my skin. You are a strong strong woman. Those pics are beautiful. Mr.CBB
The house is deep cleaned now, which should deter them for a while. The are disgusting.
Aww, I am loving the image of fish coming to nibble on your plate scraps. It sounds so quaint and tranquil in Guatemala. Maybe it is time for the boy and I to pack up from the city and build a simpler way of life somwhere. Thank you for the continued updates. They are like a breath of fresh air!
The simple life is pretty nice. I can see how I change when I go to the next town, I am stressed and bothered by the noise, the dust, the heat… There are pretty nice areas in the US to try it out, you can get a good sized land, regroup and dedicate more time to your family, etc. Of course rural living has its downsides too, like being far from everything and less socializing with others.
I’m officially jealous of you Pauline. Can you go fishing where you are? What sort of fish do you have in your area?
there are some fish, called “blanco”, that means white fish. The flesh is delicious, they are usually 1-2lbs but apparently now is reproducing season so fishing is not allowed.
Oh wow some of those are wild. I could deal with waking up early and going to bed early, but not having to watch out for scorpions.
I am ok with that because they haven’t attacked me yet so I can only imagine how bad the sting is! Guess things would be different if they had.
When we traveled to the tropics we had the same time shift. I found we woke up much earlier and went to be much earlier. I think it is because the locals in these countries live while it is light out and sleep when it isn’t.
That makes so much sense. Energy is saved, your day is productive from the start, and you are in synch with nature. I really enjoy it.
This sounds refreshingly simple! Is there good snorkeling in the lake? Thanks for commenting over at my site.
Hi Ryan! yes it is quite simple and fresh! The lake is crystal clear but not many fish unfortunately. You can look for remains of mayan artifacts though.
what a strange jeurney! i can’t even imagine it. i think you are so brave that you’ve gone there. any way have a ince and enjoyfull trip. i will be so glad if you visit my blog.