Our Home

Time to start sharing with you a little of living in Guatemala. Our home is a condo which is in a gated community about 5 minutes from our school, Christian Academy of Guatemala (CAG). It actually has two gates. The first is one that is like a railroad crossing manned by two individuals who I think are siblings and I have never seen anyone not let in that gate! They are very friendly and a "Buena Dia" gets you in every time. Then you drive past many gates and around a corner about a block and a half someone told me...I'm not sure how you count those...and you see a green gate on your left. By pulling up here and a tap on the horn, a wonderful person named Fransisco opens a big gate and you can pull in to our complex. We are the 5th carport on the right (the only direction anything is). We also have parking places for 2 cars across the driveway...at least it is room for two here...more like almost room for 1.5 Escorts back home. We now have an Astro van that we are buying (that just bearly fits in the carport) and a Tercel that we are renting which ends up priveleged to park in the carport more often then not just due to mere size. Entering our home you would see a 1/2 bath to the left (please notice the trash can for all TP) and a stairway just beyond. This leads to the upstairs which has a full bath off the landing, two bedrooms to the left (Caden's room is an immediate left and the girls are to the right. Closets with 2 bars & a closet with 6 shelves.) The landing also has a desk that will serve as our computer area as soon as we get the internet stuff figured out (keep praying). To the right and through a door is the master bedroom (think very spacious...and I'm not kidding!) with a walk-through closet and another full bath (includes Guatemalan tub...not for soaking really unless I get really adventurous...we'll see). Our room also has a door that leads out to a balcony over the front of the carport. The view is limited, and minus a few tall homes we would have a view that overlooks the city. We are quite high. Back to the downstairs...past the stairs there is a living room area, where we watch way more TV than we did in the states, and to the left is a dining room area. Back to the right again is the kitchen...great area for making and serving food and attached to the kitchen we have what they call a maid's quarter. This consists of an open area (8x8) with clothesline and a wash sink. Here is my washer & dryer under a small roof just big enough so the appliances don't get wet (They work way faster than mine at home.) and then on the far side of that there is a doorway that leads to a space about 4feet by 8 feet which is a space for a maid to live...amazing to me. We are storing our luggage there right now and Maria Luisa, our terrific maid, keeps her personal items there during the days while she works. We also have a back yard which is about 20 by 16 feet. It has a place for a hammock & 4 plastic chairs. Completely fenced in and well sheltered by vines and small trees. As you are thinking of all this you must remember that all building materials are concrete. The floors are polished rock conglomerate tiles...smooth & dangerous in socks. And everything is surrounded by high walls with broken glass bits coming out of the concrete and razor wire as far as the eye can see. It is different but we feel so blessed with this beautiful home. We will post pictures when we get the home computer up and running. Thanks for taking the tour with us and hope this helps you get a little picture of how we are living in Guatmala.