Queso Fresco

Even though I have nearly 8 months of service left, I still find myself contemplating what I will miss when I leave (subjunctive) Guatemala. Here's one: people coming to my house to sell me things. I guess I realize we have door-to-door salesmen in the States, but not as much as we used to, and they're not selling products that you really want. What do they sell? Vaccuum cleaners? Knives? No thank you. I'm talking about really useful things, and things you didn't even realize you wanted/needed.

Yesterday I was relaxing in my hammock after a long day at work. Didn't expect to interact with anyone else for the rest of the day, except for maybe the neighbor kids. But here comes a woman selling cheese (fresh, homemade cheese from her own cows, probably made that morning) at Q12 ($1.50) per pound! Well shit, Q2 cheaper than every other place in town. How could I not buy it? Plus, I didn't even have to leave my house. And it's delicious.


So that is something I will miss: Guatemalan-style door-to-door salesmen. And Sija's queso fresco. I've almost finished the pound. Maybe I should've bought two?



Other things that I will miss:

- Saying "buenos dias" and "buenas tardes" to people I don't know and receiving a very warm reply back.

- The market, and haggling there... my sister tells me you don't haggle at farmer's markets in the States. Strange.

- Walking to work and coming home for lunch.

- The beauty.

- Spanish.

- The "ease" of transport on chicken buses.



Things that I perhaps won't miss:

- The "ease" of tranpsort on chicken buses.

- Bolos (drunks) wandering the streets at any time of day, or even showing up at meetings. For example, at my meeting with the city council and my Peace Corps program director today, the inspector from the health center showed up drunk. Seriously dude?

- Washing my spinach (and other veggies) with bleach then having to dry it completely.

- Not being respected because I'm a woman.

- Being alone.

- The running situation.



I still have 7 1/2 months left, though, plus all my post-PC traveling through the rest of Latin America. So really, no need to worry; I have plenty of time to soak up all of the good stuff and get really really tired of the bad stuff!