Life in Guatemala: home

I thought I'd write a few blog posts about life in Guatemala. The posts are meant to share our lives with you. But also I'm afraid that as the months and years go by I'll forget some of the details of our life here. So this is also so that I don't forget the little things about living here.

I realized that we never posted pictures of our new home, where we've been living since December. We definitely sacrificed space, but it's a cleaner more mold-free home with hot water showers. We are breathing better and showering more frequently (you don't even want to know how much we avoided showering at our old house!). 

So, here's our home. It's basically a 10x18 room, a bathroom, and a storage closet turned into a kitchen. It's tiny, but it fits us and all we need.

This is the view upon entering our home. Bathroom door is at the top of the picture and kitchen doorway is to the right of that.

dresser and closet

office and big screen TV

living room

bedroom (that's the front door at the top right, view from the office)

bathroom

kitchen as you enter (the two towering buckets is our water filter, four burner stove-top on the far right)

dining room (yes, that is our Christmas tree in the corner)

kitchen view from dining room

a HUGE thanks to everyone who has sent us cards, we hang them on our wall and fondly remember you all!

We've enjoyed the challenge of living with less than we're comfortable with. I miss our oven, coffee maker, and microwave, but we're finding contentment with less. 

We're also getting creative, which I thoroughly enjoy. I really, really love the challenge of creatively finding a simpler answer to some of our daily needs. Sure, anyone can go out and buy the next storage gadget or plastic organizer, but when you creatively make it, now that's impressive. ( : For example, I use an egg carton as a jewelry box. We cut out silverware dividers from cereal boxes. We use old milk jugs for storing things. We always re-wash and re-use our plastic bags (but we did that back home too). I never knew it, but I can hang 2 shirts on 1 hanger and it works just fine. And our shoe rack and bedside table are simple, but work just fine.

bedside table made of cinder blocks

egg carton to store jewelry

cut out cereal boxes to divide silverware

old milk jugs cut in half

shoe rack made of cinder blocks and plywood

So, that's the full tour. It's been a happy home for us. The owner has 3 huge German Shepherd dogs, which we call horses (they're seriously the biggest I've seen). We have a nice garden area and locked gate. And besides bed bugs, normal ant invasions, and these weird flying insects that swarm every once in a while, we've been relatively bug free. Our kitchen sprung several leaks during the first rain, but I think it's all resolved now.

Well, thanks for stopping by!