March 24, 2009 Just Like Old Times

We pretty much ran out of money. It’s extra ridiculous because one of our main goals with this move was to live cheaply and save up. But not yet. Moving out of Oakland was expensive, and our budget was thrown askew when my tax refund didn’t go through (still hasn’t, it’s more than 3 weeks late now!) and our security deposit from our apartment wasn’t quickly available (we won’t get it until we go back to SF in April). So even though food is cheaper and we eat in most nights anyway, we’re still constantly out of money. Plus, no places take cards around here, and the only ATMs are in Panajachel or San Pedro, a 50Q or 30Q boat ride respectively.
Still, we’re scraping by. We just haven’t been able to go out and do amazing things and take pictures lately. We even had to skip the San Marcos Consciousness Festival, which may have been overpriced anyway.
But we still manage to have a pretty darn good time. Today we’re in Panajachel, hanging out at Solomon’s Porch. This restaurant was recommended by one of the musicians we saw at the music festival the weekend before last. They have internet and Moza, the good, dark Guatemalan beer. The other Guatemalan beer is Gallo, it’s everywhere. I like it, I like them both, but Moza is more our kind of beer.
Some things never change. We eat rice, beans and quesadillas pretty much every night (or black bean burgers, which is just the same ingredients cooked a different way, bread instead of tortillas). We watch My Name is Earl or Futurama before bed and go to sleep before 11 most nights. Even Sal’s allergies made a nasty comeback yesterday. I’ve heard many others sniffling and even I keep sneezing. Must be the seasons changing.
So, it’s true what they say: No matter where you go, there you are. We may be 2500 miles from where we were a month ago, and surrounded by glass-like lakes and skies full of mountains and living in a big, fancy house crawling with bugs, but even though we’re in paradise, we’re still Sal and Claire. 80% of the time we’re on the computer, and even though we could be hiking, kayaking, fishing, or a million other fun activities we couldn’t do back in Oakland without a bunch of hassle, we still stay home. We laugh about it. I kind of like it. We’ll travel all over the world, living in different cultures just so we can stay in and watch sci-fi/comedy cartoons. I love us.
And as for the future! Well, we’ve rented the Casa Blanca for another month, May. My mother is going to come stay with us during that time. After that we’ve secured a charming little cottage here in Panajachel, where the internet is much faster. We’ll live there for June, July and August. After that? Who knows? Our big plan here is to save up money so we can get married and then go bum around Europe for a few months as a honeymoon. But saving up enough money to afford flying our families to the same place and having an awesome party that makes people say things like, “Aw, man Sal and Claire are the greatest couple ever!” and “You guys (sniffle) are so beautiful….” and stuff like that…. Well, it’ll probably be expensive. When I first tried to pick a date for us, I said July 31st, 2010. Because if we’re not married by then I’ll be heartbroken. Ideally we’ll get hitched much sooner.
And adopt a puppy.
Did I tell you about how there are dogs all over? They run wild in the streets! Many dogs have homes, one golden retriever at the internet/laundry place in San Marcos is the most beautiful and perfect doggy ever. Someday.