Turkey Mess

Poo inside.
Poo outside.

Poo in the grill.

I am going to miss Houdini, but not his poo.

Houdini

Theft prevention.

Hanging out in the house.

Wishing he was in the house.

Planning his next escape.

Ready to be cooked.

Chunto Numero Dos

It is only seven days until Thanksgiving, and the preparations are already well underway. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a turkey that will eventually be our dinner, though, he doesn’t know that yet.

In keeping with the Lone Range theme set by last year’s turkey, Tonto, I was planning on naming the new guy Kemo Sabe. But after he carried out three successful escapes in less than two days, I decided on Houdini instead.

Given the constraints of my living arrangement last year, I had one of my Guatemalan friends take care of Tonto. But now with my new house and spacious yard, Houdini has been residing here with me. After his initial escapes, it seems Houdini has resigned to the fact that this is his new home, and he has spent his days pecking about my yard, perching on my grill, eating tortillas (he is puro Chapin), and strutting around my patio (he can see his reflection in my living room window and therefore thinks there is another turkey inside).

I bought Houdini from one of my neighbors, and when she came over to drop him off, she warned me I had better keep him inside or someone would steal him. I didn’t want anyone to steal my new pet/soon-to-be-dinner, so I unwisely let Houdini stay in the house the first night. I woke up the next morning to find a mess that took my determination not to vomit and two rolls of paper towels to clean up. Since then Houdini has spent his evenings tied to the grill, which is his preferred place to sleep.

But now that Houdini is sleeping outside, it has greatly increased the chances of thievery. The other night Michelle and I foiled a plot to steal my turkey by using a pile of strategically placed flour, two machetes, two cans of mace, a pair of scissors, a handful of rocks, a heavy chain, a padlock, and a camcorder. Actually the fact that we chained Houdini to my grill and the bars outside my bedroom window did the bulk of the work in thwarting his theft. The tampered with flour (we searched my house for anything that could pick up a footprint) proves an attempt was made, and we have seven hours of video surveillance footage to review to identify a suspect. The mace, machetes, scissors, and rocks were just a backup in case our plan went awry.

After so much time spent protecting and feeding (Eat your tortillas!) Houdini, I know it is going to be really difficult to kill him. Despite the fact that he has turned my patio into a fecal mine field by defecating, urinating, and vomiting on nearly every square inch of it, I do really enjoy his presence. Without the daily interaction, Tonto and I never really bonded last year, but even still I gave pause when the time came to put a machete to his throat. Killing Houdini would be like killing my pet. I might have to pass off the duties to someone else this year, but no, mom, in spite of your wishes, I am not just going to let Houdini go free. It is his lot in life to eventually become someone’s meal, and he should be honored (again, though he doesn’t know it yet) to be the main course in the gringos’ Thanksgiving dinner.

Hot Water

I realize most people have no idea what a calentador is. Basically it is just an electric water heater that is attached directly to the shower nozzle. It heats the water just before it drops, which means when you want warmer water, you are going to have less pressure.

And since you are mixing water and electricity, problems sometimes arise. I haven’t had any issues with the calentador at my new house, but I was shocked a handful of times by the one at my old place. Recently our Safety and Security Coordinator sent out a warning email after two volunteers’ heaters caught fire while they were in the shower. Though the calentadores may not be the safest contraptions, I would take the slight risk of a little shock or a small fire over a cold shower any day.

In the dark

For the first (and hopefully only) time in my life, I had my electricity cut off. The usually very responsible owners of my house had forgotten to pay the electric bill, and as a result I spent three days in the dark at the end of last week.

At first I thought that the power had simply gone out in Tactic, which is not a rare occurrence. But I realized there was a problem when I came home in the evening when everyone else’s lights were on and mine still didn’t work. I went to inquire with my neighbor, Angelica, who told me flatly, “Yeah, I saw Osa [the nickname of the nationalized electric company] disconnecting your power earlier today. You must have not paid your bill.” Not my fault. Great. How embarrassing.

Though frustrating, the situation was far from dire (and I probably got a small taste of how volunteers in less developed countries spend their whole service). Angelica let me keep my perishable items in her refrigerator, and my sitemate, Michelle, let me shower at her apartment (no electricity means the calentador doesn’t function which means no hot water). I blew through two books reading by candlelight.

And once again I am blaming Canada for this one. Had Tactic not been without mail service for over a month (we finally have a new postman), the owners of my house would have received the electric bill and paid it on time as always, and I would have not had my power cut as a result of a delinquent payment. You have failed me yet again, Canada.

Lighting of the Tree

Tactic recently held a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. The tree has been up in the town square since the middle of October (Guatemalans really get a jump on Christmas) but had remained dark until last night. Gallo, the “famous’ Guatemala beer company, donated trees to 28 of the 332 municipalities in the country (Tactic obviously being one of them), and then held a joint ceremony last night to light all the trees at the same time. Tactic’s little fiesta was fit with a band, a message from the Vice-Mayor, and a rather impressive fireworks show. Below is a short clip of the tree being lit.

Child Stealing

I was really tempted to bring my niece with me back to Guatemala...and I think she was ready to go also.