Omens

I drove to my bank to send the deposit for our place in Guatemala that we will be renting from mid April to mid September. As I pulled up, I spied an FJ Cruiser in the bank parking lot and had to snap a picture. We are actively looking at FJ Cruisers as the likely vehicle to carry us south to Guatemala.

And of course I sent it to Ken with a cutesy message about it being an omen, and he of course, agreed.

On my way in, the "greeter" tells me to have a seat at an empty desk and they will get me a wire transfer form. The poor woman seems awfully busy, moving back and forth asking people about this form. Several minutes later, she approaches with a four page form and tells me to follow her to see a personal banker who is seated at a desk.

He tells me it's better to fill it our online and then spends some time searching online using the number of the form printed in front of him. He eventually apologizes and says that they just changed their wire transfer process and that's why it is taking so long.

He eventually finds the form and begins to enter my information, while letting it slip that it will cost me $40 to send the transfer. What?!! The last time I sent money at Walmart, it was $9.

So the banker agrees that $40 is a lot and thinks maybe they can offer it cheaper. He researches some more and finds me a way to send for $4....however, they don't send to our landlord's bank. We can send to another bank in the area and he can pick up there even if he doesn't account.

Hmmm, intriguing, but I think I better do it the way I was instructed. So I go down to Walmart and full out the wire form and wait in what seems like it will be a forever line. I finally get to the front and turns out they don't allow you to send to a particular account anymore, just to the closest Moneygram location. I don't remember ever seeing one there, so better not.

So if something good is a omen, is this hassle an omen too? I dunno, I'm just paying attention to the positive ones.

Good-bye to the Juke?

So, we're gonna drive to Guatemala this spring to live there for a while. When I say that to people, I have to admit that I get a little rush watching their look of surprise. We are headed to Lake Atitlan, just a couple hours south of Mexico, but saying we're driving through Mexico doesn't haven't the same impact...oh those important last hours!

Today I learned that in order to take your vehicle to Mexico/Central America, you need to own it outright. Some of the forums say you can get a letter from your lender, but on occasion that's not good enough. That changes everything for us. We bought a Nissan Juke about a year ago and I LOVE it, but it's not paid off yet. So, we either need to pay it completely off or look at buying something else.

Let's be honest, my husband is not a fan of my Juke. When we bought it in fact, it was supposed to be his new car but within a week he decided he would rather drive our Civic Hybrid. I sacrificed and took the new car. ;-)

However, until we learned about the certificate of title rule, I think I had him mostly talked into taking the Juke. We researched some rooftop cargo boxes and trailer hitch boxes to expand the amount of space for our stuff. I was excited about taking the Juke, with it's all-wheel drive and zippiness, I think it would have handled the trip well.

But, if we are going to have to pay it off, we might as well investigate all our options. Back to those online forums, and I find "Pan Am Notes" about a couple taking the Pan Am Highway from Canada through South America. They have a Toyota Tundra with a pop-up and had good things to say about the availability of parts and services everywhere because Toyota is popular.

Looking at used Toyotas, Ken confesses he has always wanted an FJ Cruiser and could we take a look to see what they sell for and what the gas mileage is?

That was all it took - lots of space, sturdy, great clearance and off-road capabilities, an electric plug in the car, decent mileage, and honestly, it just looks fun. Guess I need to add selling both our cars and finding a Cruiser to our list of trip "to-do's!"

In Defense of San Pedro

I started this post from Guatemala and just got around to finishing it....

Here's the deal with San Pedro. It's kinda like that girl that went a little wild in college but is trying to pull it together to become more grounded and sophisticated and she can't quite shake the reputation.

But there are some really wonderful things in San Pedro - yummy mochas and hot spring pools to start. If you want to find the pools though, you better have a sense of adventure - they are halfway between the two ports, down a winding, rural path that doesn't seem like it will lead anywhere.

And then of course there's the cool way that you get there, by boat!

While it's not pretty, the area near the eastern port is fascinating, providing up close views of the devastation the rising lake has caused.

Near the center of town, the church grounds are beautiful...gardens, manicured greenery, statues, and of the course the beauty of the church itself.

And because much of my business is with schools and education, I couldn't help but snap a shot of the equivalent of their district office.

There are carefully constructed paver roads as well as single person paths that start in cornfields (like the one below that we took to the hot pools.)

There is also a very European-feeling part of town that boasts fantastic restaurants like La Puerta with it's yummy food and beautiful spaces.

As well as a lovely bakery with the most delicious macaroon cookies and chocolate croissants. The price you see, 10Q, is the equivalent of $1.25.

You have to suspend your western sensibilities to truly enjoy San Pedro. The roads won't necessarily look like roads, and the signs won't exactly use correct grammar,  but at least they attempted.

San Pedro isn't perfect. There is an incredibly steep climb to get to the center of town (much like half the towns around the lake.) It has a reputation for attracting the party people and staying loud into the early morning hours. We wouldn't know, we visited during the public boat hours (with the exception of the night we didn't make it to the port on time and had to hire a private boat - not recommended.)

It's not the cleanest town, not the biggest either. But it has a great daytime vibe - many different cultures that mingle more here than other lake towns, art galleries, tasty restaurants, a great farmers market that is open every day, and a pretty extensive health food market. WHEN we go back, we won't be staying there, but it will definitely be a regular visit.

Deciding to Leap

Since we've been back, I've felt a vague dissatisfaction that Ken has told me he shares. Rather than feeling excited about returning to my home and things that are luxurious compared to Guatemala, I feel trapped. Everywhere I look, sooo much stuff. And all these extra rooms filled with more stuff.

Don't get me wrong. I love Sacramento, and I love my family and friends here. But I've lived here all my adult life with the exception of my time at UOP, an hour down the road.

While talking about our restlessness, we discussed moving somewhere else in Sacramento, maybe more urban, maybe up the hill? With our business, we don't have to live in the suburbs anymore, we can work from anywhere.

And then the thought came. What if we rented out our home...and didn't move our stuff to another home? What if we got rid of everything that would hold us down and took our show on the road?

A month in Guatemala sounded like such a long time yet on the last day, it didn't feel nearly enough. So here we go...starting this spring, six months to drive through Mexico to live at Pasaj-Cap and drive back. Then...not sure - a couple months in Tahoe, San Francisco, San Diego, or ???

Is this crazy? Maybe, but life is short, why not try it for a couple years?