I LUURVE MILKSHAKES!

Woke up this morning with a milkshake craving. When did I last had a milkshake?

Hmmmmm. It has been a while. Wednesday the 8^th July. In Escuincla, Guatemala to be precise. Ryan, Adam and I came from Antigua and had to change buses in Escuincla.

Before we got on the bus that would take us to the ranch in Las Lisas, we went in a shop to buy a can of OFF! (Insect repellent) and walked past a tiny place selling Liquados (Milkshakes). I looked at Ryan and said “I luuurve milkshakes!” as I walked in. Ryan wanted one as well so I ordered two of their best Liquados whilst Adam favoured a Coca-Cola.

When the girl brought us our milkshakes we could taste papaya, banana, strawberries, sugar and I don’t know what else. Even Ryan said “Really good!”.

Suddenly a chicken bus stopped outside the liquados shop and the conductor shouted “Chapeton! Chapeton!”. I asked “Las Lisas?”. He nodded so I said to the boys “Let’s go! It’s our bus!”

Once inside, I noticed that the bus was full up, but don’t let that mislead you. You see, any chicken bus will have two rows of seats, one in the left and one in the right. In normal circumstances, each seat would fit 2 people but in Guatemala it actually fits 3!

So, we got in the bus and just stood on the aisle and grabbed the metal bar on the ceiling, as there were no seats available. Remember that we have this _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (fill in the dotted line with any smart/stupid adjective) mentality, so we think that having 2 people in one seat means “Bus is full”.

Then this guy, standing at the very back of the bus, dressed as the police dude from that Y.M.C.A. song shouted in Spanish “There’s room here!”. Ryan and Adam not wanting to contradict the Y.M.C.A. character sat down where he pointed at.

I was standing towards the front of the bus, oblivious to the whole episode, so when I looked at the back of the bus, I saw my two mates squeezed in with the rest of the passengers. They looked so out of place that I couldn’t resist to take a photo:

 So, as I was saying, I love milkshakes and woke up this morning with a craving for them.

I got dressed and walked up to Lito’s house to borrow a bicycle in order to go to Casas Viejas village to get internet. Norma (Lito’s daughter) asked me if I had a Visual Basic compiler on my laptop because she needed to some programming for her school. I didn’t but I promised to try to download the latest version from Microsoft.

When I approached the village I heard commotion, singing and saw lots of people and several pickup trucks parked up so I imagined that it was some countryside festivity. Not so! It was the opening of a new Evangelical Church in Casas Viejas.

Apart from the faithful followers there were a few food stall serving all sort of edible goodies like Pollo frito, grilled fish, tortillas and Liquados.

Did I mentioned that “I luurve Liquados” yet?

Well, I do! I got one and continued cycling until I reached the Internet Cafe. Spent 3 hours uploading lots of pictures under extreme heat (the Internet cafe had no ventilation or A/C at all).

When the signal died (they have satellite connection!) I called it a night and went back to the farm for a shower. When I passed the Church I couldn’t resist and had a second milkshake. I’m such a greedy bastard.

Got to Lito’s house and informed Norma that I downloaded the Visual Basic program but couldn’t install it on my Windows 7. My Windows XP wasn’t booting up at all after I did some stoopid tweaking.

Lito took some workers in his pickup truck and told me that he had to run a couple of errands. Got in the farm and chilled out on a hammock for the rest of the afternoon.

Alfredo came by, asking if I’d seen Lito so I told him that last time I saw Lito, he’d gone out with some workers. Alfredo then told me: “Ah. They went to the slaughter house to kill a cow.”

On Monday I’ll leave this little piece of heaven and spend a couple days in Guatemala City.

Oh, I almost forgot: I’ve just eaten a scrumptious and juicy steak. Lito’s brought me a plastic bag full of fresh meat. He said that the boss sent it.

So, the meat that I’ve just devoured is from the cow that got slaughtered this afternoon.

From the cow fields - to the slaughter house - to my plate, in less than 4 hours.

I love my life and I love whoever is responsible for all the great things that (continue to) happen to me! Thank you very much.

Lito has just been here and put Maria, my CouchSurfing benefactor on the phone. She is resting from her bladder surgery and trying not to smoke any cigarettes.

Also, I’ve been able to fix my Window XP so I lent my laptop to Lito. His daughter will now be able to do her school assignment.

When I told Lito that I managed to fix the Window XP,  I asked him: “Do you want to take the computer to your daughter?” “If you can lend it to me – Lito replied - yes please.”

How could I not?

He’s been making sure our stay in this amazing place was nothing short of amazing so, how could I not?

Ciao 4 now

~ Paulo ~