EVER SO COLORFUL, THE FRUITS! THE FRUITS!

There are many small open markets all around the historic center, all within walking distance and, of course, the huge 3-story Central Market (Mercado Central) with its own police force, radio station and bank agency. Pretty safe. But the fruits in Guatemala give a whole new meaning to the whole concept and understanding of fruit. The colors, flavors and textures are so sensual and varied and plentiful one can truly go fruit-crazy. It presents opportunities galore for photographers, artists and for people like me, who are food adventurers. I'll try anything once! I have eaten giant ants (Guatemala), snails (Florida), frog legs (New Orleans), iguana (Honduras), alligator (Louisiana) and even grubs/worms and ant eggs (the latter two in Mexico). The only one I didn't like were the frog legs, but at least I know why I don't like them and what they taste like.

I do believe I would pass at eating anything that resembled a pet, as well as rats, roaches or creatures too similar to humans, such as monkeys. But far it be from me to criticize what other peoples eat. However, I do sometimes feel guilty about eating my fellow living beings so who knows, I might become vegetarian yet. Yet, as St Augustine used to pray, "Lord make me celibate ... but just not yet."

Okay he was talking sex, I am talking flesh, but somehow they do come together, don't they?

Anyhow. So the fruits in my amateurish pictures (taken in my kitchen) are, on the right, caimito (purple), a lovely fruit with a custard-like interior and flavor, which is the part that you eat, and the oval ones are granadilla. As you can see in the opened granadilla, it is a fruit you open at the top and you drink its jello-like interior, which has a very refreshing, tangy taste. These bananas are known as "guineos rojos" and are thick, red, and hardier than the typical bananas one finds in the USA. There are many types of bananas here, all having their own flavor and culinary properties, including plátano (plantains), very popular in Miami's Cuban restaurants and known there as maduros. Love them!

Other than that, I have been able to witness that there are constant contingents of worker and peasant groups coming to peacefully protest at the government seats here in the center of Guatemala City. Some of our inn guests are people from international NGOs and journalists--most recently from France, Spain, and Japan--and they also tend to go to these protests, I am not sure in what capacity, but seems to me as international observers to make sure no human rights get violated. And none are being violated, from what I can see, which I think is, up to now, a good sign from this present government. That is, that people can protest peacefully. It is good to see. After all, it is what I see happening all around the world, according to televised BBC News. Big protests by workers in England and France. Hence, Guatemala is just part of the larger global trend. Not that you'd see any of this in CNN, which is why I have switched to BBC news. They are defintely more internationally-inclined than USA newscasts.

So, this weekend will be big on cultural events all around here and I plan to attend them, so check back later on to see what is up in the local cultural scene and if you want to check out our inn, go to www.qualityguate.com and check it out as well.

DESSERT AND MARIHUANA. (... are good for back pain!)

I learned, this weekend, that dessert and marihuana are great for back pain. I admit this is not 100% proven true according to any scientific standards, but I will go by with what I know.

I came to this knowledge somewhat circuitously, as I have been laid low for a whole week with an excruciatingly painful back problem, which kept me prone, unable even to check my email and my Facebook (the horror, the horror!). My back's now almost about 80% better. So, in a fit of claustrophobia, I decided to walk Sunday afternoon to the restaurant at the Panamerican, which was founded in 1940 in a building that dates to many decades before that year. If you ever want to see a wonderful collection of antique "guipiles" (the beautiful tops that Mayan women wear, see them hanging from 2nd floor in the first picture), you need to stop by their restaurant some day; they have an amazing collection hanging from the second floor onto the restaurant, as well as beautiful exotic flower arrangements and very antique furniture.

I am more prosaic, so I go there for their pies. They still make pies according traditional recipes brought from the USA by Doña Thelma, a USA lady who was one of the owners way back when, and who passed away a long time ago, but the staff---such as the woman in the picture---have been there for a very long time and still carry on the old recipes and way of doing things. My hairier half (you know who you are) had the famous toasted coconut pie (I prefer their banana pie, but both are to die for) and it's a great thing that they are only a block away from our hotel (www.qualityguate.com ) because I couldn't yet really walk much farther than that.

So you're wondering about the marihuana? Well. Thank you to the generous friend (you, too, know who you are) who kindly came by and offered my husband some pot to help me with the backpain. But I am doing well, for now, with the precription meds. The pain was bad enough at first that I would've considered anything, but like I said, doing better now, so I shall remain with the (legal) meds and the desserts at El Panamerican. If I change your mind, never fear, my dear, I got your phone number and I know where you live! So just in case, do keep some handy.

Meanwhile, I remain innocent of any wrongdoing unless proven guilty in a court of law. AND one of my kids is (almost!) a lawyer, so that would help. One would hope, right?

CRAZY-BUSY WEEK, YET ... CAFÉ IMERI AND BOLANO'S "2666" ! (What's not to like?)

It was a crazy busy week for us at the inn, with the first half of the week a contingent of farm worker leaders occupying our hotel and the second half, a busload of pilgrims from Southern Mexico on their way back home from the shrine of the Christ of Esquipulas, better known as The Black Christ of Esquipulas, because centuries of candle smoke have darkened the statue to a beautiful ebony hue. The worship of this icon brings over tens of thousands of pilgrims from Mexico and Central America. A good week: they all left very happy and we remained exhausted but happy with their business. Not that I am a sucker for work... there is always a fly in the soup, as they say here, and work is NOT my reason for living, to say the least (sigh!) ... but both groups were a happy bunch and very pleasant and unproblematic guests overall.

After such a week, the best thing on a Saturday afternoon is to have a late lunch/coffee at the famous bakery, Café Imeri, a couple blocks from the inn. It is a bakery/café with a downstairs garden-patio and an upstairs balcony, all of it in a traditional Historic Center house with its original woodwork and layout. I always have their "mediterraneo de lomito" sandwich, a toasted baguette with sirloin and stewed tomatoes. I never leave without buying the quesadilla (sort of very dry cheese cake) and champurradas (a traditional local cookie made to be dipped in coffee) at their bakery next door. Only problem, no parking anywhere nearby, but it is very walkable from where we are. For their quesadilla, I'd walk on burning coals! And it goes straight to my hips, so can't hurt to walk. After late lunch with a friend there, we decided to explore tomorrow a local "secret," a cevichería on 6ta Avenida, a few blocks away from here, reputed to have the best ceviches in town. I shall let you know how true this claim turns out to be.

So, what's not to like? Work! But okay, even that has its pleasures. Sometimes. Meanwhile, I continue on my quest, exploring the delightful Historic Center of Guatemala. For now, back to my huge, cozy bed and that book that has been so talked about, 2666 by Roberto Bolano. I wonder who else is reading it? It is being talked about everywhere, and I've yet to find another reader. If you (oh yes, you, you!) are reading it, let me know!

If you aren't reading it, what are you waiting for? Go get it and read it, so we can talk.

THE RED CHAIR, THE SHELF AND THE BLACK CHRIST OF ESQUIPULAS

Peter Schjeldahl recently wrote, "A funny thing about chairs: to use them is to lose sight of them." I saw the picture of these chairs in The New York Times and am really enamored of the stringy one. It seems very easy to make, as well, just buy lots of red, stringy yarn and loop it all over some old chair. I got to try it soon. When I finally clear all the boxes of books, CDs and paintings that are still lying around the unfinished apartment. Pretty chairs are best appreciated, obviously, when we're not sitting on them. Unlike clothes, though, they don't make us feel better-looking by wearing them or, in this case, by sitting on them. But I'm not going to get philosophical about chairs and fashion right now.

The other is of one of the shelves in the kitchen, a single shelf that took over a whole week to install, true to Guatemala's paradigm of timeliness. But now that it's there, I love how all my kitchen books look upon it. Not that I use them much! Which is why there are Balinese masks and baskets and all sorts of tchotchkes over and around them.

Well, yesterday, because there are peaceful protests closing up the main freeways in the rural areas, we didn't have many guests, as most of our weekday guests are rural merchants and government officials coming to the city for business. They could not get through. But today we had a sudden and unexpected influx of guests that filled out the whole inn! Most of them are Catholic pilgrims from Mexico on their way to the historic Black Christ of Esquipulas, an icon in Northeastern Guatemala which is revered thoughout Central America. I am endlessly curious about pilgrims, so will try to find time to chat with some of them before they leave tomorrow morning on their way to the shrine. Makes me think of Chaucer's tales and didn't Bocaccio also write some ribald stories on pilgrims? This group sounds plenty festive, that's for sure.

The Volcano and Razones de Cambio (Reasons for Change)

That is the volcano that can be viewed from my balcony when the sun sets. Actually one can see two volcanoes, Agua and Pacaya, one right behind the other. The weather has been sunny, windy and chilly. We had lunch at El Sol with an old friend. El Sol is a long-standing vegetarian restaurant we enjoy walking to. They also sell all sorts of healthy goodies, such as organic breads and honey and such. I often walk to the central market, el Mercado Central, where I get half pounds of huge and moisty macadamia and cashew nuts, which are delicious as is, but I use them to make granola. The inn had around 30 guests (again!) last night, the rural leaders were back, still negotiating with government representatives. Today, however, has been much calmer. I am looking forward to the concert of Razones de Cambio tomorrow, which I am told is an excellent Spanish rock band, and which I think we will attend. It will be at the old train station, which is about a 3 minute drive from here. If so, pictures will be posted! So keep posted.

Of protesters, Jews and "Tortitas de Carne"

Yesterday we had a group of 25 rural leaders come lodge at our inn. They had come to the city to meet with the government about a series of road block protests they will start this week but I guess there was no entente cordiale with the government, because later today, after they had all left for their respective towns, we received a travel advisory email from the government warning that some main roads in the countryside would be peacefully blocked by protesting small farmers and farm workers.

It was still good for us, as they occupied half the rooms in our inn and I heard them talking late into the night, drinking up tankards of the free coffee we offer our guests. It is good coffee too! We use the brand Café León, which I like, and brew it strong. Today went to lunch with some relatives and had "tortitas de carne" at the well-known and pretty Vero's Cafe on a quiet street of the outskirts of El Centro Historico, and they were pretty good. "Tortitas de carne" are basically fried beef patties, but I like the way they make them in Guatemala because they fry them with encrusted bits of tomato and seasoned with lots of yerba buena, which is a type of mint leaves. They don't make them like this anywhere else I've been in my travels.

Right outside of Vero's, under the shady porch, there was a French guy selling books. Books!!! Catnip to me. So I stopped to chat with him and turns out he is an Algerian Sephardic Jew whose father was of Celtic origins, and he was selling his books in English, Spanish and French for Q. 40 (approx. US$5). Very nicely printed too! We talked in French. I know I sound like an elementary school French grammar primer, but he was kind about it. He is a professional storyteller and performer, and what can I say, I am very much into Sephardi history and culture, as well as a sucker for travellers and storytellers, so bought his book: "Tales from the Telling Voice - Cuentos de la Voz que Cuenta." His name is Pierre Fernando Le Pichon so if you like the topic, you might try to find his book around somewhere. In any case, you can find it at our inn, among the books by the garden and café. Do come and visit if you're in the neighborhood!

THE NEW CAFÉ LA PERLA IN THE HISTORIC CENTER

This is a really cool café that just opened within walking distance to the hotel. It used to be a German-owned jewelry store way before the 1920s and what the new owners have done is preserve the original office as it was in the 1920s or 1930s, down to the register machine, which looks like something out of wild west movies, the ancient desks, original commerce patents, etc. It is truly a gorgeous mini-museum, but the café furniture in itself is very 50s, sort of like a cross between the Jetson's and what in the 1950s would have been considered ultra modern. It is cool but my husband, who has a good eye for these things, feels it is also like "something is missing" from the decor. Too wide, too cold.

The coffee is pretty decent, if somewhat weak, and cheap. Five quetzales (much less than a dollar) will buy you a good-sized café con leche (latte) made with weak-ish coffee (for MY taste anyhow) and after enjoying the really cool historic displays, you get to sit sipping your coffee and watching the street scene. Lots of people-watching there. If you want to check it out, it is right on 9 Calle between 6 and 7 avenues. I haven't tried the food but I have seen the place is full at lunch time, so I guess it's okay. Then again, it could all be because it is a new place, so if it is really good, time will tell and it will continue to get full at lunch time. Or not. We'll soon be opening our own café too, so keep posted. For sure we'll have better coffee than La Perla!

We ended up there after going to check out the March for Peace (Marcha de la Paz) called by the Archbishop of Guatemala. It was really huge, veritable seas of people all in white, from all around the city and suburbs, singing Catholic hymns and so on. It is good to see that people can march in such huge protests peacefully and without being attacked by tear gas as when I was a kid living here ... way back when ... so, some things have changed for the better.

The coffee, though, was just "meh!" Made me miss Starbuck's. Wish they had Starbuck's here ...

I USED TO LOVE HER WHEN SHE WAS BIG AND BLACK

And I love her now, now that she is slim and (last I heard) black. But at all points, fat or skinny, big or ... small? Okay, she is just never going to be small, she's an Amazon ... but at all points, she has always been beautiful. I just think she didn't really know how much. (This post today is about body, mind ... and beers).

This is my friend Cassandre (Miss Cass to you), and I am bowled over with admiration at the drive, sacrifices and discipline that has fueled her loss of over 100 pounds and still going. I am a big fan of discipline. In others, of course.

Anyhow, I don't think most people understand what it takes to lose that much. 100 pounds? A total re-conditioning of mind. Of self, really! Her efforts at slimming are also accomplished for all the right reasons: not to fit a norm so much, but for health. And when we met for coffee recently in Florida, she was radiating health and happiness. And yet, it does work on one's self-esteem, doesn't it? Her losing weight has paralleled more. She's bought her own condo, got a good job, got into law school, and is a fashion plate as well. As a friend she is priceless, not only because she is she a good human being, but also because I feel SO comfortable with her. We can talk openly about anything, race, self-esteem, hang-ups, politics, books, film, and she never fails to make me laugh out loud. The best thing about her, besides her intelligence, is her sense of humor. I'm shallow that way, you make me laugh, I'm gonna love ya! It's all about amusing ME.

Needless to say, what she has gone through has a lot to say about contemporary society, the way the advertising industry and the media shape not only how we become addicted to consuming ---food, drugs, toys, stuff---in ways that are detrimental to our physical and mental health, but also that same industry that shapes our worldview, also make us feel ashamed of what is often the results of our consumption and drives us to consume more. We aren't slim enough, hence we must spend on diet aids; we aren't young enough, we need Botox; get big tits so that you can land a better job--I am not kidding, students of mine have told me they got breast enhancement in order to land better jobs and of course, we need to have the perfect shoes. Okay, the latter is an exception, shoes are a very real need. I got a thing for shoes, hence, it is a worthy pursuit. On a par with the endless search for the perfect trenchoat, another eternal quest of mine.

Ah well, what can I say. None of this is news anymore. Want news?

The cafe in our little inn will open on Monday, so that should be interesting. There is a literary reading coming up in a nearby bar this weekend, Bad Attitude, in the historic center of Guatemala City, so if you're in the neighborhood give me a call, maybe we can hang together Saturday night and have a couple of perfectly chilled cervezas Gallo. The body calls for it! AND... it is also a cultural event. Ain't no losing there. See? I told you. Body, mind, beers. What's not to like?

A MUST: THE BEST--LOS MEJORES--RELLENITOS

Today I had THE BEST "rellenitos" I have had in the longest time, so I will make sure they are sold in the café that will soon be opening in the inn here. Rellenitos are among my favorite Guatemalan dishes and well-done, it's like eating a little piece of bliss. They are made of plantians cooked in sugared water, then mashed, made into a paste that is shaped into big dumplings filled with sweet black beans. Some people just use regular salted cooked black beans and add sugar. THAT IS THE WRONG WAY OF MAKING THEM. The best always have the black beans cooked from scratch with brown sugar as a filling. Then, you bake or fry the dumplings. I prefer them baked. With thick, slushy cream all over them.

We have several French and USA guests with us this week, and their comments have been very positive, as well as a contingent from Huehuetenango--7 hours away from here--spending the night because they have to take an early flight to the USA tomorrow. Not quite the full house, but can't complain either.

We just started in the hotel a free little library of used books, with signs that read "take one, leave one if you can", with two bookcases in different parts of the hotel. Already people have been taking some of the books, in Spanish and English, and leaving others, in English and French. Mostly paperbacks. But it does make me happy that guests are actually taking some of the books and leaving others. I see them sitting around the garden reading and drinking our coffee, too. Good. That is exactly the mood I want for our little inn here.

I was talking today with the French guest with whom we've become friendly, he reminds me of a film professor I used to have in the US, and I like his happy attitude and the way he enjoys everything. He walks the city for miles completely unafraid! Visiting all the museums, mostly. I think he's a history professor in France and has a gray ponytail right down to his waist. He says he found us on Lonely Planet. The comments were good he says. Little thrill of the day for me.

The people who are going to open a café in the hotel fell in love with our garden and asked me to leave the bookcases with the books. They think it is quite a novel idea. The hotel employees had told me "this is not going to work, the guests will just steal all the books!" Well, it IS working. Of course, some born-again Christian guests also left Bibles and panflets, but why not, it's all good.

REHAB

This area of the countryside of Guatemala is but 40 mins. away and is one of the most beautiful sceneries I've seen anywhere I've traveled in the world. All tall pines, blue mountains, pure air.

This is a picture taken from the car when we were driving to the rehab in the mountains, just this past October, where we had committed (sort of against her wishes) an alcoholic cousin who was raised with me as a sister when I was growing up in New Orleans and then in my adolescent years in Guatemala. She's older than me but it has always been as if she were my younger sister. Fragile, painfully shy, insecure, extremely sensitive, always trying to project a tougher exterior that didn't ever really convince anybody. I hadn't seen her for over 20 years but you know, time flies, and after some years she had become an addict; then she needed help and my mother, who still feels responsible for her, wanted to help. Here one can commit people into rehabs sort of against their will. Sort of, that is. So off to rehab with her, and we spent lots of money on all sorts of really nice clothes, food, and other goodies so that she'd be comfortable. It's lovely out there, all cold mountains, smell of burning wood, greenery everywhere. Me, I'd go nuts living there, but for a rehab, it is really nice.

Seemed she was recovering fine and then, seemed she got the itch again and all she wanted was to get out. Got really unreasonable about it actually. So she escaped on Christmas Eve and last we heard, somehow managed to get back to the town she has hidden herself in for the last decades, and has been drinking again. My mother is really heartbroken. She loves this girl. Well, woman, she's close to 50 now, not that she looks it. Moi, I guess I respect her right to do with her life as she will, even if this includes destroying herself. People with such a hellbent drive to destruction can only drag along those that insist on helping when they don't want to be helped. Isn't that what enablers do? Get dragged? I don't enable. I know so many alcoholics and junkies, recovered or not, that it's sort of bemusing. Is it me or is it just that the world is full of addicts?

Anyhow. Some people simply don't grow up, I guess, and can't face life without the help of some alternate reality. Then again, I can't face life without books and music to escape into when life gets too overwhelming.

As it gets when the dirty laundry piles up and the maid hasn't come ... or I have to write an article due in two days ... what's a girl to do but dive into books and music to escape it all?

Well. If no books nor music available, what the hell, one can always go out and buy more shoes ...

THE BOOKSHELVES !!!

*SIGH*

My worse half has taken it into his head to go out for constitutional 1-hour walks in the wee hours of the morning, 6:30 am, which I find positively disturbing. This might very well become grounds for divorce.

The city is lovely at such an hour. No traffic, no thick plumes of pollution (yet!), the air is clear, the weather bracing, the centuries-old buildings shrouded in mist and the mountains and volcanoes starkly clear-cut against the sky. Birds singing. It was HORRIBLE. I know now what it feels like to walk in a death march through the harshest plains of hell. Not a morning person, moi.

But if mornings are your thing--you sick person you--this is one of the best times to walk the historic center. Or jog it or bike it or whatever. The city streets are interesting though. I found a pair of worn high-heeled silk sandals, very dainty, abandoned on a sidewalk as if somebody had just stepped out of them and gone on walking. I can relate. I have been walking in high heels for long distances and one does get to the point of wanting to do just that! Hurts like hell.

So. I want to talk bookshelves. Because I'm a nerd. It took months to get the bookshelves going, because not only everybody lives for mañana and nothing gets done when it should, and though Guatemala produces fine woods for export, one cannot find locally good quality wood, well-treated, ready for sale. So we had to special-order it from a local lumber company, then have the handyman re-sand it all and following that, coat it with several coats of varnish, waiting days in between each coat to make sure it had dried properly, etc. Thank goodness for cheap labor, for in the US, this would've cost us a fortune. The lowest rung is a thick slab designed as a long, wide desk/workstation. The sirer of my progeny has always been so good at this kind of thing. He designed it. I had shipped over 1,000 of my 2,000 books, so we definitely need space for books.

But it got done and even though we're still working out stuff, it's mostly done. I still have plenty books in boxes, though, even though I gave away a great many of them. It was surprising how not-really-expensive it is to ship crates full of books from Florida all the way here and how cheap it is to get such bookcases built to one's specifications. With patience and serenity, one can get it all done eventually. A lesson in Zen I still have to digest. That, and learning how not to abhor early mornings.

I have a feeling neither is going to happen. Oh well, like my hero Scarlett O'Hara used to say, I will think about it tomorrow. Tomorrow will be another day.

DID CHE GUEVARA REALLY STAY HERE ONCE?

My husband is always joking that we should say, as a marketing hook, that Che Guevara stayed in our hotel when he was living in Guatemala. Well, today we went to the balcony to get some fresh air and watch the lovely sunset--sunsets here are breathtaking (see photo), but today's was spectacular, all in shades of scarlet and blue-black--and some of our hotel guests were also chilling, smoking a cigarette, admiring the sunset. Then one actually asked another if this is the hotel where Che Guevara had stayed!! That would be cool, if true.

The building sure is old enough for him to have stayed here, but at that point in time, it was the Guatemalan car dealership for Packard. Still known among old-timers as the Packard Building, it has that name embossed over the entrance and the historic preservation committee won't allow us to take it off. Not that we'd want to! It's really cool. I like the idea of such an old building and the creation of a green roof, something I have been planning for months and will soon implement. I have seen a very few green roofs in the city, but it hasn't taken off as a generalized concept yet. I'm quite taken with the idea myself.

Be it as it may, Che Guevara actually did stay close to here, at a very downtrodden guest house that remains in business, although greatly decayed. A great little place to walk to for a look-see, though, for fans of El Che.

Today we ordered pizza in and I must confess that the best pizza I have tried here in Guatemala is Domino's thin-crust double cheese pizza. I'm a huge fan. It's simply perfect. Just ask my friend Silvia, who is actually from Italy, and who stayed here last year and ordered it twice! So, the perfect pizza and an amazing sunset with an admiring public, it was, all in all, a good day. Unfortunately, I haven't finished an article I have to turn in for publication later this week, but as they love to say here ... mañana!

Buying an Inn in Central America

INTRO.

I have made no noble New Year resolutions, no new diet or exercise regimes for me, no earlier mornings, less nights out, more careful spending, less procrastination, drinking more water, less coffee. No being kinder to others, less bitchy. Nope. Nothing of the sort. But thought that writing about my experiences as an expat making a living abroad might be helpful to others in the same boat or considering a similar path.

So, the highlight of today was my morning meeting with the 3 graffiti artists--Royal5, Soar and José--who are going to paint murals throughout the walls of the wide, tall 4-story staircase in the historic Art Deco building we bought in the historic center of Guatemala City (see photo). This is going to be considered a desecration by the architectonic purists, I know. The Historic Center Committee is extremely strict in what it will and won't allow us to do renovations-wise ... government here has raised bureaucratic slog to an art form ... but they cannot proscribe what I paint in the walls inside the building. Sorry, that ain't structural. So, back to the artists, who were supposed to arrive at 10 am and of course, arrived at 11:30 am ... but we had a very productive meeting, and they shall start working next Saturday on the murals. They all have day jobs of some sort, so that limits time availability.

Pictures of their work will be posted. It is their vision of what should be, we're not telling them what to do. This is both exciting and scary, as a great deal of our steady, repeat inn guests are very conservative local businesspeople.

Helping run a 22-bedroom inn in the historic district was definitely NOT what I visualized when I entered a doctoral program after 2 masters and 7 years of teaching college and university, but I can work on my dissertation anywhere, really, and The Goose of the Golden Eggs, he-who-supports-me in my sloth, my dearly beloved, travels from our US lair to Central America constantly, so we bought the building sort of on an impulse. We had kids very young, the kids are all gone now, we like the historic district of Guatemala City, which is undergoing a slow yet very vital renewal; and so, we bought the original Art Deco building with a view to retiring in Central America in a couple decades or so, as so many US expats are already doing. And then we just started spending more time here till now the house in Florida is more like our vacation house and this our semi-permantent home.

Besides the inn occupying the two first stories, I have renovated apartments on the 3rd story---they were abandoned warehouses full of trash---and now I have all of them rented out and a waiting list of people wanting to rent them. They are really wide and well-lighted, have wi-fi internet, international cable TV, and the view of the mountains, volcanoes, and ancient church domes around, the weather is usually in the 70s, so life is good. We have taken one of the apartments for us and are in the process of fixing it up with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a huge walk-in closet, two of my dreams come true. One can go nuts, however, dealing with the laid-back work ethic of local laborers who, to make things worse, have a problem being "bossed" by a woman ... a US woman to boot ... but after months amazingly Kafkaesque situations, one can get a roster of sort-of-reliable tradesmen to work with ... as long as you understand that punctuality is but a very abstract concept here and the ethos is mañana, mañana, always mañana ...