New Home?

Tuesday went to Guajimbo's for lunch. Saw a flyer pasted on the bano door advertising "Alquilar Casa", house for rent. Our waiter, who remembered us from last February,  asked the cashier, Juandiego [a brother from the Cakchiquel congregation] to call for us. He arranged to meet us back at Guajimbo's when he got off and take us there.

The landlord turned out to be his uncle. He showed us 5 different places.  Two 1-bedroom penthouse suites atop Hotel Los Angeles Panajachel [too small], a casa west of the market [too far down alleyways], a casa east of the market [suspect neighborhood], and a gated-community casa [impressive,  expensive, mildewy], and it's guesthouse again too small]. Most if not all of these houses would not be given a second thought in Sheboygan,  but this is Guatemala and construction and living standards are somewhat lower. Juandiego spent 1-1/2 hours with us, really displaying loving kindness. His uncle, Marvin, was very nice and was trying his best to help us. We thanked them and deferred a decision until later.

Sister Llora had informed us of a casa near their home that was coming available this week,  so we stopped at their place to arrange a tour. The current residents agreed, and showed us the house. It was the nicest of the ones we had seen that day, 3-4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, living, kitchen, and second living/kitchen. It seems to be set up as a 1-story single bedroom house with a 2-story 1-bedroom guesthouse and a third floor maid's room. Not ideal for our family arrangement but manageable,  and very good for hosting guests. We have one more casa to possibly view today or tomorrow,  but more than likely will take this one.

Pictured above is the outside gate at night as we were leaving in the rain. We spent about 6 hours house hunting and were quite exhausted. Raquel observed that although the first 5 didn't really suit our needs or our tastes,  they gave us perspective and brought our expectations back to earth.