This week starts with the great news of getting electricity. The electrician had already been fixing the wiring from the meter to the house, and inside the house. Most wiring had been stolen, maybe by thieves, maybe because the previous owner stopped paying wages to his guardian some months ago and the guy may have grabbed what was of value.
Two guys on a bike getting my wires ready.
Eventually the guys showed up to connect the meter to the main electric line over the dirt road. We were expecting a big truck, but two guys arrived on a small motorcycle, got up the electric pole with a rope, grabbed the main line (without toasting themselves!) and connected us with a new meter. It was scary, but didn’t take more than half an hour.
That also allowed us to connect the water pump and start filling the water tank with water from the lake. The pipes were already installed so we just had to go buy a pump, fix a few leaks and that was it. Well, it was a lot of work, but we have water! The water permit still hasn’t come out from the council, so it is probably for the better. I will make a post with the costs and details, but am pretty confident that it will be cheaper in the end than getting public water.
Installing the water pump in a little house by the shore
The wall that is separating the property from the road is almost built too, I helped the two builders and learned a bit about masonry, which was interesting as well. You know when you play Lego and you need to build a wall, how you have to slot in the Lego pieces because if you build two towers of Lego, this is not a strong wall, it’s two collapsing towers? Well, the mason didn’t know that, or was too lazy to do his job well, so he put the blocks almost on top of one another instead of shifting them so they strengthen one another. I thought BF would fire him but it’s a small village so getting another one would be hard.
The first two lines of blocks is how NOT to build. The last ones are fine.
We have an old SUV at the moment and are looking for a smaller, more efficient little 4WD, an old Suzuki or Toyota will probably do the job. At the moment we are getting 20 miles per gallon at most, even less on the dirt road, and trying to limit the trips to the city, about 20 miles away.
Last time I went, I got a USB modem that gives me a slow but welcome access to internet, and in the wee hours of the morning, it goes a bit faster so I try to upload blog posts and do jobs that require more bandwidth. At night it is desperately slow.
Bye bye, dry toilet.
The dry toilet that was a nest for bats is now covered and we are able to use the toilet and shower inside the house. You really get to appreciate a bit of comfort after living with the bare minimum. The shower is probably the most dangerous part of the house, because it has an electric heater with a weird wiring on top of the showerhead, and electricity has never mixed well with water… I wear flip flops to shower, just in case I need some insulation.
Now with a fridge running it is easier to follow my November goal of wasting no food, the handyman often brings fresh eggs and he brought a hen too that I made soup with. The next city has a supermarket with most products and when we go to the capital I will buy things that are harder to find here, like cheese, spices, olive oil… So far our diet is mainly vegetables with rice or potatoes, you find all kinds of delicious veggies year round due to a wonderful climate. With that a bit of meat or chicken. When fishermen sail close from the property fishing we ask them to sell us some fish, but they haven’t caught anything good so far.
With electricity installed, life is a bit different. I really enjoyed those days waking up and sleeping with the sun. Now it is more comfortable, and less authentic. I can still unplug everything I guess, at least now I have the choice!!
Projects this week include finishing the entrance wall and installing a parking door, thatching the roof of the deck, maybe painting the house and some gardening!
What do you have planned? Any projects or goals for the week?
Looks like you have a busy week of projects! Best of luck on finishing them all up, looks like a ton of fun. I would be a bit overwhelmed, though, if I moved across the globe and on top of it had all these projects (I’m not used to traveling internationally in the first place). Looks like you are handling it well, though!
I am used to it, speak the language and have lived in Guatemala between 2004 and 2006 already (7 months last year too), so it is like moving to the nearby town to me. I am overwhelmed by the projects because I don’t know the first thing about building, electricity, plumbing… but I cross bridges when I get to them!
Looks like things are going well for you. I knew playing with Legos would someday payoff. 🙂 Good thing you were there to make sure the wall was built right. If I haven’t said it before, the pictures look just beautiful!
I have to give the credit to my BF, when I heard him scream I knew something was wrong hehe. I am not very technical but with a bit of common sense we should be able to make something decent of the house.
I envy your adventure!
It is a lot of fun!
Wow, your experience sounds awesome. Im glad you are getting electricity!
Life has been so easy since! Fridges are amazing inventions.
I’m sure the process is helping you appreciate the things we all take for granted here. Enjoy the adventure.
Oh, I surely do. Although the climate is very clement so I don’t need heat, hot water, a dryer… So many people have been worse off with Sandy.
I can’t remember, did you fix the roof already? Nice progress!
No, the roof still has a big plastic on top. A thatch roof is a bat and insect nest so the whole structure has to come down and the plan is to build a metal structure with a tile roof. I am waiting for quotes and also thinking about how the house will be extended so we don’t need to rearrange the roof later on. My guess is we start at least in a month.
This looks awesome! I am completely jealous. I would love to live overseas but I am still warming my wife up to the idea. One of her main concerns is being away from family. Eventually I want to visit South America and do a tour of 4-5 countries and see which ones we like the best. I look forward to seeing your progress in the coming months.
Thank you Marvin. Living abroad has a lot of advantages, but being away from loved ones can be the main drawback. There is a low cost company in Guatemala that flies to the US for about $200 round trip so you can still easily come back. Touring a few countries before deciding which one you like best is a great idea.
Yay for electricity! Sounds like things are moving along just fine, despite the bumps in the road! So beautiful….so impressed by you for just DOING it!
one step at a time it is taking shape. I met people who did the same with three kids and full time jobs, I don’t know how they found enough hours in a day!
Oh my gosh! I can barely handle school (which I consider to be a full-time job for the time being) and the kids…don’t know how they did everything else, too!
I’m not sure how well I would go with helping out the workers. I am terribly unhandy and would likely just get in the way.
Are you able to post a photo of your shower with the wires? I work in the electricity industry and would be interested to see how it is setup.
Thanks
I will! Actually took some yesterday but my camera wasn’t happy to transfer the file. It looks like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Showers_in_Guatemala.JPG
You’ve accomplished so much! I have to be honest, the outside toilet setup would have freaked me out, even for a week.
It had a bed sheet around for privacy, and we have no neighbors, so it was ok, until I heard the bats… All kinds of scary thoughts rushed up to my head, but I think they are more afraid of us than we are.
This looks absolutely amazing! I think you should seriously consider starting a travel blog on the side!
I do some travel writing already, if you speak French or Spanish 🙂
The shower setup would terrify me. I’ve been zapped a couple of times with the reno work that we’ve done, and it is not fun. Glad it’s coming along – can’t wait to hear more about the water setup comparison with the utility vs pumping and filtering your own.
The fridge has zapped me! Fortunately, not the shower (yet?). I am not filtering the lake water. I use it for everything except drinking water, there is a water delivery truck that stops just in front and a 5 gallon tank is $2 so not worth filtering the whole thing. More on it soon!
I love that the electricians showed up on a motor bike! I guess you just can’t make this stuff up. I am living vicariously through you, and look forward to the next chapter.
They were so funny. When we asked if we could take a picture, they put their protective hats on! Don’t know if they wanted to look good and professional, or would get fired for not being safe at work is their boss found out. Probably the former, Guatemala is not big on work safety.
Oh wow a hot shower must feel so good after all of that. Oh and a toilet without scary bats! I have one video editing project, then the rest is working on my blog!
A normal toilet is heavenly…so is having a fridge and not needing to stuff myself not to waste food.
Good job on the blog already, keep it up! I have to work on it too but there aren’t enough hours in the day..
I’m glad everything is moving along in the right direction for you. I can’t picture elections driving on bikes. Here they always come in a big white van, I always know when the show up because you hear them bang the back door shut.
Good luck with you adventure.
Thanks Justin. Guatemala is a pretty picturesque country. I am trying to keep my eyes open because after a while those things just seem normal to me!
Wow, looks like your place is really coming along. Having electricity must feel like heaven after a couple weeks without. When you have electricity and water, you basically have it all. (and internet)
It does feel very good. Before water and elec, it was having a leak-free roof and a bug-free house, which was even more important. I can’t keep the bugs from coming back but after killing a dozen scorpions, I wondered how I managed to sleep for the first nights!
Nice! I love living vicariously through your posts!
I know the shower heaters that you mean, they freaked me out too, in Bolivia!
The lack of local choices is a tricky one, when you need tradespeople. Hopefully you’re able to keep a watchful eye and people are willing to do quality work for you.
Those showers are freaky! The tradesmen situation is a bit difficult since I am a woman in a macho country and they barely listen when I speak… my BF has to do most of the bossing around. I hope I can change that.
Holy cow! You’ve got a big project on your hands! That is exciting.
Tell your BF you’ll pay. They’ll listen to whoever the money comes from LOL
-Rich
I am the one writing the checks, the guys just grab them, say thanks and look the other way. One was really pissing me off the other day ignoring me and I was about to say “look you *bad word*, I am paying half your salary” but I have had those problems before and the guys quit out of pride, since this one is a good worker I bit my tongue.
Re visa runs, thinking about new year in Belize, I tried the new Mexican border from Tenosique the other day, the Mexican side was corrupted as hell. Usually it is the Guate side, go figure.