Entrance

Hallway, bedroom to the right

Exciting news: About a week ago I moved into my very own house. It’s only a block from where I used to live, large, and safe. It’s connected to the house of a family and we both enter the same door from the street to a tiny courtyard and then their house is to the left, mine straight ahead. It came furnished with two beds, several tables and chairs, which made things much easier for me. The hot water for the most part is reliable and pretty incredible by developing world standards. I have two bathrooms, although one only seems to work in the morning when the water from the city is available. The pila (large Guaemalan sink) also only has access to running water before noon as well. A pila is a large – in my case huge – basin where you let the water run. You can let the water run when it is available and then it sits and stores in the basin and you can dip into it with a guacal (plastic cup/bucket) to wash dishes, clothes, etc. Water in the shower is connected to a deposito (water basin here in the house) so showering is available at all hours, just so long as the water in the deposito doesn’t run out. The house is all on one floor, but there’s a staircase that leads up to the terraza (roof) that right now doesn’t have much, but would be a nice spot for some plastic chairs. I have an extra bedroom so hopefully some of my friends back home will plan a little trip one of these days.

Menacing clouds as seen from my roof