Happy Monday! Time for your favorite telenovela, set deep in the Guatemalan jungle. After the handyman debacle last month while we were away, we are so relieved he quit. Once he was gone, the carpenter who had been working as well during our month of absence admitted that he never saw the handyman when he came in at 7am or left at 4pm. The guy was supposed to sleep there every night and leave around 9am to come back at 4pm. Considering the super high electric bill, we think he came in around 6pm and just left all the lights on until early morning when he would come around to shut them down, pretending someone was in.
Our hens are back to laying one egg a day each, when they were barely laying one egg a day between the 9 of them when we came back, which tells us that he couldn’t be bothered to feed them. Strangely, he went through two 100lb bags of corn that he did charge us more than what we usually buy them for, so not only was he starving our animals, he was feeding his with our food. When he came back with his daddy on the day he resigned and his dad asked why we were firing him, knowing in retrospect everything he did and didn’t do in our absence, I think that was the highest insult to our intelligence to think we were so blind not to notice. So. Happy. He. Is. Gone.
His daddy had taken responsibility of his motorcycle debt, and we are almost shocked he paid it off in full. How he came up with almost $1,000 in three weeks is something we don’t understand, it is not like the man had income protection or three months of savings in the bank.
We replaced the dead rooster with a new one who doesn’t fight with the turkey or goose, but doesn’t seem much interested in the ladies or in a hurry to give baby chicks either.
new rooster
The carpenter is now the only staff left at the house. He is a discreet teenager who always kept to himself even when half a dozen builders, including his brother, were working on the house. He comes every morning at 7am on the dot, in a place where punctuality is a rare occurrence. And he is a bright boy in spite of his shyness, he has suggested a few clever improvements around the house and has done a great job altogether. We asked him if he wanted to stay on as a full time handyman and he said yes, but that he would like a few days off here and there, as he bought a house on his own and needed to work on it. So we came to an arrangement that three mornings per week, his girlfriend would come clean our house while he did what he had to do at home, and between the two of them they would be one full time worker for us.
I have said many times before that I don’t like maids and didn’t want to have one, but BF was becoming really insistent and once again I had to pick my battles. The girl is Spanish, she came here with a Spanish boyfriend who owns a hotel nearby but left him for this shy teenage carpenter/gardener who seems to be the love of her life, and she is obviously not working for the thrill of a Guatemalan wage but to relieve the boy to go work on their house. She is discreet and efficient too, so no complaints so far.
We had another storm last week as well, thankfully we now have an emergency routine as soon as the wind starts to blow, to take the boat out of the water and bring everything inside the house. When the heavy rain followed, with the winds still strong, we were quietly enjoying the show from the comfort of the dry, solid new room… until it started to rain inside! The roof is a solid layer of concrete but the water was coming through the stones of the wall! For visual reasons we didn’t pour too much concrete in between the stones, thinking about all those old houses in Europe that are just stones and a little sand and do not get wet in winter. We forgot two things. First, the strong side winds have a similar effect when it rains to someone pointing a water hose with full pressure against the wall. Second, those European houses have wide roofs, while our roof covers exactly the footprint of the house. So even the slightest wind would make it rain against the wall.
It was really raining a lot and pretty impressive to see all the water running from the walls, but no damage was done, we will just have to figure out a way to close those holes while keeping the nice aspect of a stone wall.
Those storms should not be happening, BF and his family have owned ranches around here since the early 80s and he was just as surprised as I was with those mini hurricanes. Generally hurricanes hit Belize, sometimes the Pacific Coast of Guatemala but almost never the North of the country.
On the 90 acres development, things are slow. The mayor was supposed to give us a list of all the required documentation to provide so they can approve the development. Since there is no post office they haven’t, and I think it is weird they are taking 6 weeks to provide that list, as we should be treated like any other developer and the rules should be previously set for anyone to consult. I don’t like that we are getting the special treatment.
I am reading Atlas Shrugged from Ayn Rand at the moment and this is a fascinating read about how screwed the world would be if people like the ones working for this council had all power to stop private enterprise for the sake of equality between men.
The book talks about a man who has invented some kind of revolutionary metal but shouldn’t be allowed to produce it because all business opportunities should be shared with less successful entrepreneurs, and other kind of nonsense that makes me perfectly relate to his situation and frustration. Like when his mother comes to ask him to give a job to his inept brother and he refuses, she says:
“That’s your cruelty, that’s what’s mean and selfish about you. If you loved your brother, you’d give him a job he didn’t deserve, precisely because he didn’t deserve it—that would be true love and kindness and brotherhood. Else what’s love for? If a man deserves a job, there’s no virtue in giving it to him. Virtue is the giving of the undeserved.”
Read that book if you get the chance, it is amazing. There is a lot of resentment in my region for people who have more money, and understandably so because of the colonization, but that was 500 years ago and it may be time to move on, and recognize that some of us did have to work hard to get to where we are today and for that you can’t blame Christopher Columbus. Playing the victim and sitting there waiting for the government to give you a handout won’t get you far.
Anyway, we are still progressing with the works, the wall is finished and so is the entrance gate, we have closed it at the moment as many curious people came in, other were too lazy to go through the village and its speed bumps so they took the shortcut home through our land, and we aren’t maintaining roads for their freeloading comfort. The negotiations with the council will determine if we keep it 100% private or transfer the roads (and maintenance responsibility) to them so everyone can use them.
We are also maintaining the grass, after burning everything to the ground a couple of months ago, with the heavy rains the grass is greener and thicker than ever, it is too humid to burn so we had to hire a few guys with machetes to cut the grass and bushes and keep the land neat.
Oh and Mrs Duck had the cutest four little ducks this week :). They are much brighter yellow than the picture shows, like they could glow in the dark! Their daddy is white so I don’t know how they came to be that yellow with a black mommy but they sure are funny!
This post was featured in Canadian Budget Binder, Young Adult Money, thank you!
Cute ducks and they will change colour – this is their baby attire. As to the rooster. I suppose their is a trade off between fighting and interest in the lady hens :). Well done on the rest, Pauline, you are doing really well. Little House will become a Hacienda Grande!
haha I hope it will become just a peaceful little house, no more works on it at the moment.
Perhaps your new rooster is interested in the hens but is shy like your young carpenter and prefers to conduct the important business of being a rooster in the privacy of the chicken coop.
Jane! Ha!
lol. I hadn’t thought about that. I hope it is true!
Those little ducks look so cute! I love duckies 🙂
Glad to see you got everything straightened out…sometimes you just have to cut ties.
Sounds like you guys finally found some good workers. Definitely a huge relief. I love seeing the pictures of the different animals and work going around your property. It’s very different from the life I live and provides a fun escape.
glad you like it! yes it is so much easier when people don’t slow you down the whole time.
Congrats on getting all of your issues resolved with your former help and finding someone who will do a good job. Its always a pleasure to work with people who take pride in their work.
it is. too bad it is so rare.
Atlas Shrugged is actually my favorite book of all time. I also really enjoyed “The Fountainhead,” another book by Ayn Rand. The section of Atlas Shrugged where Francisco D’Antonio talks about what money truly is might be my favorite excerpt from any book I’ve read. So glad you are reading it! I’m considering giving it to a high school graduate whose graduation party we are going to.
Haha I just copied that money talk and turned it into a post! Giving it to my 16yo brother as well. Can you believe it wasn’t translated in French until 2009?
There is a big development on your little house project. You have a new ducklings and grown up roosters. I am curious how much the price of rooster in Guatemala?
it is about $11, $15 in less rural areas. How about where you live?
I heard some farmers can sell about $50 to $65 per rooster.
wow that’s a lot!
I read Atlas Shrugged in High School and really enjoyed reading it. That’s great to hear that the motorcycle was paid off by the guys father. I would be surprised as well, but like you said it really doesn’t matter now that you have the money. 🙂
I am still in shock haha but so happy there isn’t anything linking us anymore. Like I said to SFL I am happy to know you liked it in high school, I am going to send a copy to my 16yo brother I think he’ll love it.
I read Atlas Shrugged almost ten years ago when I was 14. How time flies! At 14, I thought it was a great book, and then read many of Rand’s other books. While I don’t agree with all the terms, I do think Rand’s philosophy of giving opportunities to the hard working resonated with me.
Glad you found a new carpenter. The kid seems extremely hard working!
Your comment is very timely, I was wondering if my 16 year old brother would enjoy such a read. He is really into alternative reads and I think it would do him well but wasn’t sure it was for teenagers. I’ll send him a copy then. thank you!
Glad you’re liking atlas shrugged – I liked it and i’ll give you the same advice a friend gave to me when he loaned it to read for the first time. When you get to the chapter called John Galt Speaking, feel free to read a few pages and skip the rest. You can always go back and read it later, but a 50 page monologue really breaks up the plot flow =).
Thank you. I am almost there and read on Wikipedia it would take 3 hours to read it out loud. I loved the money talk by d’Anconia though, that one was worth going through it all.
At least you got one worker you seem you can count on. The rooster just hasn’t gotten warmed up yet! At least you are getting your one egg per day thats better then before. I didn’t realize this before but you got 90 acres?
yes! my little patch of land by the lake is 2000 sqm or half an acre then on the other side of the road there are 90 acres I am turning into residential development.
Those little duckies are quite adorable. I’m glad you found a decent handyman who shows up and doesn’t need you to follow him around to make sure he’s doing his job. It’s great for you but unfortunate that his Dad had to pay off his motorcycle debt since he was too lazy to honor his commitment. Unless, this kid steps it up, his dad is going to be following him around and cleaning up after him for the rest of his life.
Well we didn’t give him much of an option, he couldn’t keep working for us at his current pace (plus stealing) and he didn’t have a dime in savings. I hope his dad now charges him for the bike but I don’t think so.
Sounds like another interesting week. I’d love to have the problems that you’re having, it sounds like a great spot to be. It’s fun watching the storms come in as long as you know everything is safe and tucked away.
I LOVE storms, watching them from bed with a good book is perfect… the last two we spent trying to salvage the boat and running after our clothes that were drying by the lake, not so much.
Could you use a cement that looks more like sand to close up the gaps in the walls? I loved all the pictures in this post!
yes, there is white cement, and at the moment we have tried with lime and sand mixed together, it makes a paste so let’s see if that is waterproof.
Atlas Shrugged is excellent. I’m with whomever above said they like the Fountainhead, too. All the same principles in maybe a third of the pages. BTW, don’t bother with the Atlas Shrugged movie. What a bore that was. Disappointing.
They are so bad! I saw the first after I finished about 2/3 of the book and don’t want to see the 2nd. But I have been trying to think about a way to make a good movie out of that book and there is so much that go on in people’s mind that putting it on a screen is really hard.
They are so bad! I saw the first after I finished about 2/3 of the book and don’t want to see the 2nd. But I have been trying to think about a way to make a good movie out of that book and there is so much that go on in people’s mind that putting it on a screen is really hard. Btw thank you, it was your podcast that made me bump Atlas Shrugged back at the top of my reading list.
I’ve been meaning to read Atlas Shrugged, so it’s on my reading list now.
About the resentment – I lived in Vanuatu for three years, and they largely didn’t have any resentment for the French and British colonisation, and the continued presence of expatriates. It’s a tough balance, any inequalities in $ usually. I live in an area where there is public housing, and then very very expensive private properties, and I’m sure there’s some of the same ‘why can’t we be them’ from the ‘poor’ looking at the ‘rich. I have no idea how you get rid of resentment like that…
When I see rich people I don’t feel jealous, you can’t know what is behind (hard work from scratch, inherited wealth to a deserving or undeserving person, lottery luck…). I believe you can work harder, be richer especially in developed countries where access to education is pretty easy. But I don’t want to work harder for more. I did however get where I am on my own so I’d rather people ask questions on how to get there than resent me for it.
You know, Pauline, no one will ever say your life is boring. You have a ton of stuff to keep you occupied and busy all the time.
haha, you can call it many things, but boring isn’t one of them.
Aren’t the ducks adorable… they are very bright yellow. The more I read about your handyman the more I’m happy you got rid of him. I can’t believe they would have the nerve to ask why unless the daddy really didn’t know what his son was doing. I’d be pissed if he did that to me and leaving the lights on all night was wrong. I’m happy that you now have an emergency arrangement in case of storms which is a smart idea. It sounds like your new handyman and his girlfriend are working out for you well. Is it normal for younger teens to own their own homes? Thanks for the update. Mr. CBB
The old handyman lives with daddy so daddy was totally aware of him bringing home eggs and hen feed. Normally you live with your parents and bring your wife to live with you and your parents until you can afford a home. This girl is Spanish and she just inherited from her grandma so they could afford a $5,500 land with a small house on it, otherwise it would have taken them years to save the money. Rarely do they go get a mortgage because this is informal economy, they don’t have a contract or a payslip, so they build the house one step at a time. The bad counterpart is they go to payday loans to get money.
I certainly enjoy you evolving cast of characters and livestock. I hope Mr. Rooster gets over his shyness and jumps in with the crew. I am not a fan of birds, but those baby ducks are adorable. There are several families of geese near our house, and I always hold my breath when they cross the road for fear of a careless driver. We also have two big cranes in the park where I do my exercise class on Mondays. I would love to see a baby crane, but have no idea if they do one at a time or a whole litter.
I think most birds go for about a dozen eggs but not all will be fecundated, or survive in the egg, so it gives birth to 2-3 in the end, up to half a dozen if they took really good care of it, and a bit more if humans intervene.
Fun to read post as always, Pauline. Keep that carpenter. What a fine young man. Thanks for the adorbale duckling pics.
As for Atlas Shrugged commentary, I was offered an easy online job by a family member who is an admin at a college. It’s great easy money. I have a masters in music and I am reliable, so I get offers like these. Another unreliable, trouble making, college drop out family member needed work and got angry because she did not get an offer at the same college.
??????????????????????????
Thank you, Pauline, for the novella. Oh I want to squeeze those little ducklings! I can’t take it!
I am so happy for the little carpenter and his Spanish girlfriend. I am a sucker for love stories where the hero is not the hotel owner! hee hee
I have had a friend who said Atlas Shrugged is a must read, and now you are tempting us with quotes.
You and BF really are amazing with the raining room and the work and all of it! This is so much fun to hear about!
haha the poor hotel owner spent months crying apparently but he let her go fishing under the moonlight with that guy so you have to expect it one day or the other!