Mi Amor

Before I went to the grocery store, I picked up the permission letter at the Walmart head office. There I met Gaby who greeted me with a kiss and the permission letter. Nice way to start the day. What sucked is that I got stopped every 5 seconds by someone who wanted to read the damn letter. I was constantly losing my place. At the grocery store today, Mamas everywhere called their little ones “Mi Amor”. Pretty normal for Latin culture, but I loved it. How cute it was. Also, I saw a few instances of Mom, child #1 and baby #2, and maid #1 and #2. Maid 1 and 2 were all dressed up in their little maid outfits. Pretty impressive I thought, Lisa (below) told me that domestic help of all sorts was found very frequently, but I didn’t realize I would see that much of it. In uniforms, to boot! I didn’t even see that in India. The grocery stores here were somewhat comparable to what we are use to, with more local products like salsas and corn products. What you would expect in Central America.

I met with a realtor, or rather relocation agent today (Lisa). She was super nice, had a very interesting background with a Nicaraguan mother and a German father who is deceased 10 years. She grew up in Germany until age 12 where she moved to Guatemala cause Dad was offered a position in the embassy. Very interesting looking girl, definitely looked Central American but she was really very, very tall. Needless to say, towered over me; who tends to tower over the local women here, at least. She certainly was tall for local standards. She paid for my breakfast and gave me a little present of some local coffee. I love it! I gave her a Harvard cap and tee.
Frederigo was my taxi driver. And he speaks English. I will call Frederigo manana. The city is busy and trafficky and polluted. I think I may have bronchitis at the moment and the pollution definitely does not help. Thank God I have my inhaler. Busy, but not too exciting day. More tomorrow!