Tuesday, December 18, 2012

More fun in Guatemala

[Note: I found this was unpublished, so I am publishing it now. It is irrelevant and old (sort of like me, but doesn't smell bad) but I really like to finish things up so here it is]:

 
Today it took an hour to get to the client, traffic was pretty bad. 


Once again I taught.


Lunch was nothing special ... Pizza Hut of all things. yay. At least they had a spicy pollo chipotle with corn on delgado (thin crust) which was pretty good ... Then the fun started. 


My customer (also my students) will only be reimbursed for the amount on the receipts they submit. However, the receipts do not tips, so that comes out of the student's pocket. Not a big deal, even though the cost of eat here is the same as the US. The bigger problem is that Pizza Hut put it all on a single tab and they couldn't split. Thus, we get to stand there for 20 !!!! minutes while the manager figures out how to a) hand-write receipts for us, and b) split our tab. Jeebus.


Then, on the way back to work we nearly ran over one of many stray dogs when we weren't stuck in traffic. At one point we shut off the car for 15 minutes. Did I tell you there were SIX of us in the Pontiac Sunfire? Luckily we don't smell bad. We spend the time showing each other photos we had on our phones. Oh .. if I hadn't mentioned it yet .. these Costa Rican's and Guatemalan's are very warm and friendly. They are a pleasure to work with!


Dinner was, once again, excellent. Sole stuffed with spinach in a caper relish with potatoes. Once again I asked the waiter to select a wine for me, his choice being a Chilean Carménère. I'm starting to dig this stuff ... not as dry or 'big' as a cabernet sauvignon (my favority style of wine) yet much more so than a merlot. Sort of a happy medium which did not overpower the food.


And in walks an old'ish American man (easy to tell since he's loud) with a knockout young Gautemalan girl in a tall dark dress showing a lot of leg (and she had a lot of leg to show!) following him. Hm, an escort, perhaps?


Post-dinner I 'enjoyed' a local beer, call "Gallo". Definitely a pilsner style, some DMS and sulphur notes. Much more balance and body than the macro-beers in the US but not really all that great. I opted against a second one. 


BTW .. did you know that Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser) is owned by Inbev, a Dutch company? And that Coors is owned by SABMiller (originally south-african, now based out of London) and Molson, out of Canada? Hmm...  I wonder if the "buy American" crowd guzzling these brews know they aren't 'merican?

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