A Day of Strangeness

Owie.

My left foot's been really swollen lately and I don't know why. It started out as a pain in my Achilles tendon when I got out of bed a few days ago. I figured I had just been hiking up too many damn hills. But the swelling hasn't gone down so maybe there's more going on than I know. I'm giving it a few more days before I ask P. to introduce me to her doctor.

Because of my gimpy foot, we had a short day in town today. Bought a cell phone for myself -- finally -- so now Bert and I can separate in town to do our own thing and text to meet up later.

Shared a delicious plate of Fries Palapa (chili cheese fries) at the Palapa Bar (Q45 or $7.17 Canadian), plus some fruity drinks. Enjoyed watching the dogs interact on the street. Did not enjoy how the street vendors walk right into the restaurant to harass you at your table.

Yummy.

Found the Value Village of Pana! It's next door to the Despensa (Guatemalan Walmart). A tiny entrance off the street opens up into a huge room filled with clothes, shoes, toys, furniture, and shelves full of other people's junk. Bert is having no trouble finding clothes to buy but I haven't found anything in my size. Then again, I'm not a big fan of sifting through racks of unsorted clothes. Maybe the best-jeans-EVER are in there somewhere, but I can't be bothered to seek them out.

Today was my turn to get ripped off. I bought some cards from a young boy named Jesus who had been charming me for a week. I kept telling him I would buy so I just figured today was the day. Of course he gave me the line, "For you, three for Q100." How could I resist? I know I overpaid but he seemed like such a smart, well-spoken, and funny boy, I figured I would help him out.

Bert was super happy to find some flags to sew on his backpack. He even sewed them on himself!

See Bert sew. Sew, Bert, sew!

Later, he took the Canada key chain off and put it on my bag.
It was too much Canada. Gotta maintain our modest demeanor, eh? 

You may have been wondering how Willow is. She's loving it here.
She chases and eats tasty bugs. She prowls in the gardens outside.
And she relaxes like a queen when she's tired.

This was a taste adventure! I bought this thinking it was a large chocolate bar.
I took a nice bite and... EWWWWW. I spit it out! I read the package more carefully,
in Spanish of course, and it turns out it's hot chocolate mix. In bar form. Cool.

Bert is dropping his latest punk Spanish guitar album next week.
Just kidding. Bert has discovered Photoshop.  :)

Bert's acoustic greatest hits album is out soon too.
Kidding again. But doesn't it look like a 70s album cover?

We've got tons of other photos saved up for future blogs posts. You can check them out on my Shutterfly page, which you can get to using the link over on the right-hand side that says "More Photos Here." I've also put a link to my Youtube channel where I'm keeping the videos, although there aren't that many yet. Feel free to bookmark all the sites so you can keep up with our adventures. Time for bed. Beunas noches.