I have been really annoyed with the land workers lately. Well, with the contractor, the other ones just obey him. He is a macho and only listens to BF, and at the same time wants to be treated like one of us, which leads to awkward situations. Anyway, BF was gone for a few weeks and I was supervising the guy, he did ok the first week but the second he put the 6 workers plus himself with machetes to clear the land. I asked him to do a cleaning team and another team to fix the road as it had rained a lot and we needed a way to evacuate the water without damaging the road. He said people were more motivated cleaning together then building together. Oh ok, should I bring you a beer as well to motivate you? The next day, I formulated my request again, and was ignored again. So the third day, I went to see him to give him his check and lay all seven off until further notice. While 5 were basic workers and could be doing any work, he had a skilled builder and himself doing basic cleaning work while I was paying them double the others? Yeah, sure.
My doubts that he was delaying the works while BF was away to make sure he and his 6 friends stayed employed longer than needed got confirmed when he came for his check. Every Saturday, without fault, for the past 8 months, we have given him a check for the week’s salaries. Every Saturday, on his work hours, he has gone to the bank to cash the check, gone back with cash and given it to the workers. He needs his ID to cash the check. Here is what he did (while I was paying him hourly): gone to work in the morning with no ID. Gone to me for the check. Gone back home, past work, for his ID, gone back to the bank, past work and past my house.
Losing about an hour in the process. If life can be complicated, why make it simple?
While he was with me he was repeating “next week, we’ll do this”, “next week we’ll do that”. I savored my “there will be no work next week” and his face changing as I said so. Yes, I am mean, the poor guys won’t have work and they have to eat, but maybe they will understand that you need to do the work you are required to do and not what you feel like doing.
I also mentioned that as long as the council was not budging on our permits, there would be no more work, so they should go bug the mayor if they want their jobs back. And the soccer field we will give the village.
Another bureaucratic process we had to go through this week was the land registry visit for our waterfront plot. You know how each plot should have a cadaster number and clear limits, so when you buy plot 123 from Mr. Smith it is just a question of title transfer? Well here, every time you buy, someone comes to visit and take GPS data of the land you claim is yours. First, because of corruption. The councils have been known for selling one same plot to 2-3 people. Then, because people are sneaky. We have no neighbors around, so we could have pushed the limits of our land 10 meters with no one knowing. It took the guy 8 months to come and should take another 8 months for him to validate that our land is our land. Awesome. We had to pay the architect to draw a map of the land, even though there was one attached in our sale’s notarized papers, and we now have a huge banner in front of the house saying “hey, we are claiming the place we have been living in full time for the past 8 months without anyone having any conflict with it!”. I understand the need for those banners on an empty land, but our main residence? Gotta love the bureaucrats.
Enough with the rants! I had company this week, a friend came to stay for a few days and he wanted to visit a few Mayan ruins I didn’t know, next to the Belizean border. We went with his bike, and since it is Guatemala, were allowed by the National Park rangers to take the bike to the jungle in search of the ruins. It was a lot of fun. My friend is one of the best drivers I know, and I don’t say it lightly, BF has driven me for 50,000 miles around the US and Europe, and his predecessor crossed Africa from Cape Town to Cairo on a bike. But this guy makes it look like the bike is an extension of himself.
So off we went, the rangers had said that the road was “50% bad”, which meant really terrible, and they hadn’t driven there themselves for months, but we decided to give it a try anyway. It had rained a lot, and the 650cc was quite big to handle, not like those light trail bikes. As we kept going, we came to a stop as a tree had fallen and was blocking the road. “Step down” said awesome-driver. I obeyed, the guy accelerated and jumped over the trunk! It was amazing. That is another tree he jumped.
And one he got stuck on :). The vegetation was too luxurious to gain speed.
As we went deeper, the road turned into a path, it was steep and slippery. Awesome-driver accelerated to go over a small hill, lost control, and we fell. At 5 mph it was ok, but then he turned to me and said “all the falls will be like that”. The WHAAAAT? Falls like plural falls? I kept my thoughts and we fell “only” twice in total.
The red dot is his helmet, the bike is buried in jungle.
Never found the ruins we were looking for as the rangers had been very vague with the directions but we ended the day at Yaxhá, that is where Survivors Guatemala was set, and one of the most impressive ruins of the region.
The Mayas sure knew how to enjoy a view! I also love that it is so rough, there are no safety nets, you can climb everywhere, touch everything… if it were Europe you would only see it from afar, let alone be the only one on site! Tons of fun for $5 (Guatemalan price, I think foreigners pay $20, but I kept my helmet at the entrance lol).
The Mayan biosphere canopy, miles and miles of pristine forest.
Then we had fish on the lake and one of the nicest swims of the month, after a day in the heat and humidity of the jungle, being eaten alive by mosquitoes, getting in the water was heaven.
This post was featured on the Satisfying Lifestyle Carnival, thank you!
I completely agree with you on not giving the men work! Because they have to learn from the consequences by not doing the work they are supposed to be doing. You´re not paying them to just sit around and drink beer!
The trip to the Mayan ruins looks like so much fun!! I hope to visit a place like that someday!
yeah, if I had been a good people person I would have been patient and motivated them but I just can’t stand people openly laughing at my face…
Phew, that was quite a ride!! And look at that view, totally and awesomely breath-taking 🙂
Thats just awful about the corruption and the protracted hoops and loops you have to go through with the land…so yeah, keep pressing the bureaucracy till it gives…
fingers crossed!
Graft and corruption are big reasons why these countries remain poor. I probably would’ve paid the bribes.
really? I don’t know, I like to make my life easier but if you do pay, you keep feeding a rotten system.
Wow, what a cool adventure. When my wife and I went down to Costa Rica for our honeymoon, I was nervous about my ability to navigate their roads. Listening to you talk about biking through the jungle just makes me feel like a wimp, haha! Sounds like an awesome experience though.
lol I didn’t ride so I can’t take credit but the normal roads aren’t that bad either.
Sorry about the fools that dont want to work but want money. I think they are all around us. No denying that one. But hey as least your friend came and you guys had a blast. Thats seems like it was a wonderful experience. Poor BF he’s been replaced by a professional transporter.
Those ruins look awesome! I’m glad you got a chance to have some fun with your friend, especially since you put up with so much crap from un-motivated workers and all the bureaucracy crap!
a lot of crap it was… haha but the trip was a nice change of scenery.
Even in politically correct Canada I find that furnace guys and mechanics speak differently to me. They just want to chat until the man appears to make the real decisions. There is no man. There is just me and I will negotiate with you and you won’t have to talk using little words to try to explain the big problem to me.
this is so annoying. But if you prove you have a brain they’ll respect you more. too bad they judge on looks first.
Those ruins do look awesome, along with the views as well. Like the others, sorry you had to put up with the craziness from the workers. I like how you said his facial expression changed once he realized there was no more work. I wonder if he really sees the connection or not – though I doubt it.
you’re right, I don’t think he does.
Love those ruins!
I hate it when men pretend that they can only take orders from other men. I guess that didn’t work out too well for him!
losing his job and that of 6 of his workers was not a happy day, I hope they learn a lesson.
Pauline, I’m always so impressed by how you handle those rotten construction workers who treat women like crap – you go girl! The day trip with your friend sounds SO much fun, and I’m impressed with his driving skills too – wow! Thanks for sharing the pics. What great fun that looks like. 🙂
I am the worst manager because I have zero patience with people like that, a good manager would have put them back in place and motivated them without firing them but I just got bitter every time I went and see they didn’t do things my way so I’d rather they do nothing.
What a cool trip! Awesome pics. I would have loved to have seen the look on the worker’s face when you let him go. Why do some people think that they’re clever by doing their job poorly? I’ve never understood the desire to suck at your profession.
I understand not going the extra mile if you are on a fixed salary with no bonus in sight. But doing less than agreed is a breach of contract. When I let him go he said “oh, ok, so BF vaguely talked about building a house on the land some day, should I proceed with that?”. Yeah, sure, I just cut the 6 workers, let’s hire 12 instead and build a house!
Those pics looks like you people had a cool adventure and love those ruins photo. Whatever the landworkers are doing is not fair in delaying the work as they are being paid checks consistently.
thank you Rita. Yes they are a bit complicated to handle but life wouldn’t be interesting otherwise…
Wow! I would love to go visit some Mayan ruins one day, what an awesome day trip! And good on you for putting your foot down with with the workers. PS I loved your picture depicting his Saturday trip schedule!
haha yes it was pretty wtf
I bet hacking your way through the jungle on the bike helped clear some of the stress from dealing with the workers. =)
it did! that was an awesome day.
Otherwise I just go for a swim and kick and scream underwater lol.
Wow, what a beautiful place. I wonder how well these countries would thrive without corruption? Thanks for the great read!
I don’t know, I think there is a level of corruption in any country, in France many presidents and senators are later accused of stealing but they do it at a whole other level, sums are huge. It is almost impossible for the average public servant to get a bribe, you can’t bribe a policeman, but you can a senator. In Guatemala you can bribe anyone or almost, but the amounts are less, the problem is the system is stuck at every single level.
Good job standing your ground and being firm. People “milking the system” is universal! Hopefully he learned his lesson about taking advantage of you. Glad you were able to have a fun adventure though!
I was an employee too, trying to work as little as possible for the pay but at least my job was done. He gets paid by the day so kind of has an incentive to make the work last longer.
I love that you can really explore without the regulations. I get the point of keeping people at bay so things won’t be destroyed, but it kind of spoils the experience to have ropes and guards around everything. Not related at all, but I got chased off by a Swiss guard at the Vatican once. I was 6 months pregnant and tired and just sat in the wrong place. It’s really funny to get yelled at in Italian or whatever language he was speaking by someone who looks so ridiculous!
I love their pompom shoes! it is funny how they seem more like machines, devoid of any emotion or thinking capacity, they just get the job done.
That trip must have been a great way to take the frustration out. Those places look nice.
yes, it was beautiful, and great to get out of the daily worries for once.
I would have done the same thing to the workers. They need to do what they are told and paid to do, not what they want to do.
I am jealous of the ruins. That is one of my biggest dreams and I hope my wife and I get to do it one day.
if you check Spirit there are often great deals, Guatemala is about $200 to $300 from Miami, don’t know where they land nearest to you. It is an amazing country!
Those views are spectacular, Pauline! So lush and green. You are braver than me, I’m not sure after one “fall” that I’d be up for multiple for “falls”!!! Sorry to hear that you’re still dealing with lazy workers and a slow and corrupt government. It would be annoying no matter what but it’s even worse since you are really trying to build something that benefits the community.
slowly but surely, I am keeping faith. My neighbor tried to ship old computers from the US to donate to the school and was told donations would have to pay more taxes than what the computers are worth. now that is really frustrating.
I loved the pictures of the ruins…I saw the Mayan ruins in Copan in Honduras. Luckily, I didn’t have to navigate a bike in that jungle. Though when she talked about falls, it reminded me of the time I was on an ATV in Costa Rica in the pouring rain. I hit a rut and the ATV flipped on its side. I later learned that there was a cliff not too far from me…scary!
that sounds really scary! Copán is really nice, the ones I saw are bigger ruins but they don’t have such find sculptures like the ones in Copán.
How cool are those ruins? I’d be terrified to ride through the jungle like that (OK the jungle would be fine, but I’d be terrified of snakes and creepy crawlies living in the jungle).
I don’t mind too much the animals, what bothers you most is a cloud of mosquitoes following you as you walk, if you stop, they just bite you!
Amazing view! Ditto on everyone else’s thoughts re: the worker. I dig the graphic too..when you put it THAT way! Almost a year in Guatemala..how about that!
yes, almost!! I just made it to Paris for some cool weather and stinky cheese though 🙂
So pretty!
You live in such a cool place. Honestly, we have nothing here like that in the States. I’m afraid of mere garden snakes, which I guess are nothing in Guatemala!
We have small snakes in the garden too, but there is also a pretty mean one that can bite you and you really have to rush to the hospital to make it, I hope we never cross paths!
Pauline, I just can’t tell you how much I enjoy Little House in Guatemala posts. I cannot believe you were involved in falls (plural, as you say) and still have that big smile on your face. I am telling you, if I didn’t think you were brave when you told the head worker to take a hike, I was assured later on when you’re hopping over logs!
haha thank you Tammy! I let my friend jump over the trunks, just in case, and so I could have video proof :). But in the meanwhile the mosquitoes had a feast on my arms!
Pauline! I would totally follow your directions whether I had a machete in hand or not.
“If life can be complicated, why make it simple?” A whole other very successful site could be created on this theme alone.
And man, that jungle is thick as peanut butter and no where near as tasty I am presuming;) Have a wild Wednesday!!!
no, the mosquitoes aren’t very tasty haha. Off to register letsmakelifesupercomplicated.com before you beat me to it!!
I actually clicked on the link to make sure!!! HAHAHAHA!!! You’re way too much fun, Pauline!
Wow after all that worker drama glad you got to enjoy some touristy time with your friend. I’m so not a jungle-y person so I’m not sure how much I would have enjoyed it but the payoff is that great site!
Good for you putting your foot down and getting rid of your lazy workers. I really hate when men talk down to women or just ignore them. My boyfriend kind of works in the construction business and always says contractors are a pain to deal with – they’re very egotistical. On the bright side, the trip to the ruins sounds like it was fun! Gorgeous views. I would have been so nervous biking through the jungle, but that’s quite the experience to have!
yes, it was really fun. totally makes up for the rest of the week!