Day 77 – Wednesday, September 11, 2013

We spent most of today looking for a laundry service that was open. We went to the same place 4 times and the lady was never there so we finally gave up for the day. We are getting down to the critical stage on the unmentionables however so we better find a laundry service tomorrow. Julie notes “Can’t really blame the lavenderia lady for hiding when the big truck stacked to ceiling with gringo undies pulls up in front of your shop. The locals going back and forth really tried to help us and kept telling us she was eating and to come back in an hour, in 10 minutes, at 2 o’clock, etc. She must owe them money and they want to keep her in business, something like our guide and us.”

We also went back to a very nice modern shopping area for groceries and had a hotdog and pop while we were there. Julie notes “American hotdog with lots of Guatemalan fixings. It was tasty. Also for those of you contemplating storing your fruit on the roof of your RV, Brad just found the mango that had fallen during our roof whilst ‘camping’ in the bomberos parking lot. It wasn’t a happy find. The car parked near us at the barnyard campground experienced a drive-by fruiting. And we had to buy new fruit.”

Otherwise, it was a pretty lazy day. I made an egg scramble with leftover steak, potatoes, and peppers for breakfast (Julie notes “He snuck the rest of the mystery meat into the works as well thinking I wouldn’t notice. But it turns out tarantula meat and eggs go nicely together) and cooked mushroom pasta for supper. Julie notes “Yummmy and nothing mysterious about it except for how he was able to whip that all up in this little kitchen. Although the dishes afterwards did tell some of the tale.”

It rained most of the afternoon and evening as is typical these days. Julie notes “Our guide/weather man says there is a tropical depression hanging over Guatemala, Mexico, etc. and here I just thought it was the proverbial black cloud following us around.”

A stinky fire was burning close to the RV Park making us hope the wind would keep the smoke away. Julie notes “No such luck so we went off on our laundry mission impossible. Things I’ve learned in a 3^rd world country #23 “You are never far away from an unpleasant smell or some very pleasant people.”

Searching for a laundry service in Amatitlan. Julie notes “Who knew doing the laundry could be such an adventure! Had 2 more pairs of soiled undies to throw into the works once we were done manoeuvering the streets I tell you in our quest for freshness.”

A soccer game in our RV/Water Park. Julie notes “Not the national team as you could probably tell by the skins and shirts uniforms. But they were having fun.”

Contemplating life or trying to decide what to make for supper? Julie notes “Or maybe hoping the soccer guys would ask him to play. But they didn’t. One disappointed little mule skinner for sure. I let him make supper for me to take his mind off of that.”

…that’s it for today folks, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “Okay I reread last night’s wrap up words and I promise no more red wine induced self-pity. From now on just regular self-pity which is probably induced by that tropical depression. We’ll see how I feel once that lifts. Probably drier anyway.”