The police officer that pulled us over was wearing a pin “I’m not corrupt, are you?” Interesting, and often irrelevant to the actual corruptness of said officer. Now I know, some of you are still stuck on the we got pulled over part, but don’t worry we were just passengers. It was while we were out searching for a car with a Guatemalan staffer from the school. I had overheard him say something on the phone about police, but was not really listening (cause that would be eavesdropping - even though he was talking right in front of us in a very small truck that my hips could barely fit into...) I later figured out what he must have been talking about when we got randomly selected to pull over at a police check point. His license had expired.
He should have gotten a huge fine, and had his license taken away - and we could have been stuck on the streets of Guatemala City (not on my bucket list!) However, since our police officer was not corrupt (yeah, sure) they worked out a deal. He got a 100Q (about $15) ticket for driving while talking on his cell phone and we were allowed to drive away. Thing is, he wasn’t talking on his phone. So apparently being corrupt means that you will accept a bribe to be able to drive away, and has very little to do with actually following the law.
We also find it quite amusing that people can get randomly pulled over for not wearing their seat belts, because the law is that if your vehicle HAS seat belts you have to wear them. So, you can cram 15 people into the back of a pick up (and that number is on the low side I think) and drive around with no problem, but if you are trying to be safer and ride inside the car - then you can get a ticket. Go figure!
We have been very busy for the last few days. We knew that we were going to have a lot of work to do, but we hadn’t planned on all the extras. Friday we spent 3 hours looking for 2 things, a keyboard and a car. Most of that time we waited, or sat in traffic, or twiddled our thumbs at the police checkpoint. It really does take a lot longer to get anything done here. We did find some cars, well actually a van, which we think can work for our family. Vehix (that car check thing on line) is going to become a quick client of ours though as most of the cars sold here were previously totaled in the states. Hey, at least they are safer and better than the chicken busses with no brakes and holes in the floor.
Today we went to church at an International Church in the city, and then had lunch in a huge mall (at Chili’s.) I mean huge, this mall had 3 stories and a carousel, and most importantly a Cinnabon. We also found a store similar to BJ’s that sells Cranberry Juice - something we thought we were going to have to give up in order to move here. Still haven’t found any Moxie - big shocker.
This afternoon we are going to look at a property that will be available this summer and is fully furnished. We will see similar properties tomorrow as well. This evening we are going to a contemporary English service and then having dinner at Pizza Hut with the principal and his family. It really is so different here than in the rest of Guatemala - it must be something to do with that 2 million person city right around the corner.
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