A Hot Trickle is Better than a Cold Deluge

Our house in Antigua has one of those crazy looking electric shower head heaters that make it seem like you’re about one misplaced arm overhead from certain death by electrocution. Well, our first day we turned the water on and found ourselves gently awoken by an endless deluge of completely freezing water. It was relentless. I feel much ill will towards that water. Anyway, after a few days of these morning assaults we finally asked our host family why we couldn’t get hot water and found out those ridiculous shower heads can only heat a little water at a time. So we were taught to barely turn the water on to get a luxuriously hot shower. The downside…we now have to shower in a slow drizzle of water as turning up the pressure pushes the cold water past the heater too fast. Lesson learned. A hot trickle is better than a cold deluge though. There has got to be a Buddhist proverb in their somewhere.

The Parrot of the Baskervilles

Our place in Guatemala has a beautiful central courtyard that all the rooms face into. There are many green plants and flowers, a small grassy yard, a fountain and last but not least… a caged parrot. A beautiful green parrot who literally says ¨Hola¨ as you walk in the door and ¨Hasta Luego¨as you leave. Cute, right? That’s what we thought. We soon realized that as soon as you lie down for a mid day nap (seriously every time) we slowly begin hearing the parrot say ¨hola¨over and over again. But it keeps getting louder and louder and it begins to change… Hola… Hooolaaaa…. HOOOOOLAAAAA!!!!…. AAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!… AAAAAAGGHHHH!!! It sounds like someone is screaming outside our door every 5 seconds! So terrifying. If  you ever find yourself living with a parrot. Invest in some quality earplugs and spare yourself the nightmares.