La rumba! That’s the name of the club I went to last night with Kirsten. It was sooo much fun just to get out for a night because lately I’ve been stuck in the office since it’s not very safe to walk by yourself at night. However, now I have a phone and a few friends in town so hopefully there will be lots of nights out in the near future. I might go to the free salsa lessons that they hold at several clubs around town because at the moment I’m pretty horrible. Anyhoo, this morning was super exciting because I got to go running!!!! Kirsten and I met at 6:30 and ran el Baul, which is a nearby mountain hike. We had to walk the uphill part because hills + much higher altitude = an inability to breath. On the run back this guy ran right behind us the whole time, slowing down and speeding up when we did…not sure if he was being creepy or if he was just trying to be manly and keep up with us. Then, after taking a FREEZING cold shower, I walked to the park, bought breakfast and sat in the center square and people watched. Afterwards, back to the office to work (and play).
Rather than just sharing my itinerary with you guys, I’m also going to try to share some interesting information about Guatemala! La vida en Guatemala es una vida economica (cheap/economical) for los gringos (white people). As I explained yesterday, produce is definitely much cheaper than it is at home, a mango here costs roughly 35 cents. Anything that’s imported is going to be much more expensive though! I bought breakfast this morning from a street vender in the park and for $1 got a chile relleno with spaghetti and beans (I know, it sounds strange). Even at restaurants you can buy a full breakfast for around $3. And it makes sense if you think about it. When the minimum wage is $1, which it is here, and a business likely isn’t paying for social security, Medicaid etc. the value added from the service is going to be a lot less. Housing is cheap too, Cater pays a little under $100 a month for here rent and that includes internet, cable, water and gas! However, all these numbers are relative and like I said, it’s an economical life for gringos…not for your average Guatemalan. Roughly 25% of Guatemalans live on less than $1 a day and more than half have an income of less than $2 a day (these statistics are a little dated). So, even though I think the food here is cheap, your average Guatemalan is spending more than 50% of their income to feed themselves. And we think we have it rough when the price of food rises (the average American spends like 7% of their income of food). Anyways, in short, you can travel in Central America pretty cheaply relative to American standards (which means all of you should be jumping up and down to travel with me next time I come).
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