Life has a way of giving you what you ask for and mine was no different.  I fell asleep quickly after my swim and all of the scotch we had drunk during the afternoon and evening.  I was still battling a cold and waking during the night with fits of coughing and this night was no different.  Around midnight I woke coughing. I laid there in my cot, my body  heaving with coughing spells every two or three minutes.

The previous night, in Huehuetenango my room had been next to another room in the hotel separated only by a hallow cinderblock wall so I had been concerned about my coughing waking another man that was staying there at the hotel who I thought was probably in the room next door, so I had tried to keep my coughing as quiet as possible so as to not disturb his sleep.  But here I was camping.  I was outside all alone so I felt that I could really have at it.  I coughed as long and as hard as I could, determined to clear my lungs and rid my body of that cold as quickly as possible.

After about 20 minutes of hacking my guts out, I heard footsteps and a muttered voice approaching my tent.  I instinctively froze midway through a coughing spell, my mind racing to process this unexpected threat.  Who would be padding around my camping area there in the middle of the night?  The voice was a masculine with a Guatemalan accent and it seemed to be calling out to me.  I lay there frozen having no idea what was about to happen. Finally the man moved into my view through the screen window in my tent and I could see that it was Marko, the groundsman who had helped me to set up the tent earlier that day.  I could not understand what he was saying but it was clear that he was concerned.  It seemed as though he must have thought that I was dying from sounds he heard coming from my tent.  I stuck my head out and gestured to him that I was ok, that I just had a cold and was trying to clear my lungs.

I woke up again around 3 am and this time I decided to go ahead and get up, at least for a little while, as I knew I had probably gone to bed around 8:30 or 9 the previous night.  I got up and set up my computer and began working to capture all the details of this incredible day .  After about 20 minutes I saw a figure approaching.  Again I had no idea who would be wandering around the grounds at that time of night. As the figure approached closer I could see that they were holding something in their arms, it looked as though it might be a big stick however quickly I realized that it was not a stick. It was a black steel military style rifle.  The figure stepped into view and I realized that it was Marko again.  After a couple of panic ridden seconds I surmised that Marko must patrol the grounds at night.  I didn’t understand why Glacie would need to have an armed patrol to protect the property and the idea was both comforting and disturbing at the same time.

Marko came over to my camp site and I greeted him briefly and gestured to him that I was working.  He stood there just behind me and watched me typing away on the computer.  Of course his presence there, with his weapon clutched across his chest, was distracting enough to me that I could no longer think to write.  I piddled around with my words for a few minutes thinking that he would wander off soon but he made no move to leave.  After a few minutes I was more direct with him and gestured to him that everything was ok, that I was going to work and that he could leave.  He grunted at me suggesting that no, he would stay and watch me type.

Later I thought to myself that he had never seen a computer before and that he may have been fascinated at watching me stroke the keys making letters appear on the lighted screen.  Since I could no longer think to write I decided to give in to the situation so I set the computer down and stood up. I opened the car door, grabbed my cigarettes and offered him a smoke. It was the least I could do considering the way he had tried to come to my rescue earlier in the evening. 

 He seemed pleased and he took a cigarette and he and I sat there in the moonlight sharing a few moments of spiritual camaraderie. After finishing our cigarettes I gestured to him that I thought I would go back into my tent and try to sleep some more. He seemed satisfied with this and began to stroll away.  I went back into my tent and lay down reflecting on this improbability of all of the things that I was experiencing here in this unlikely little roadside oasis.

Life for me at this point had become visual, just me and the road, so I suppose it was some form of adaptative behavior that had me waking earlier and earlier each day.  I woke again around 5:30 or 6 and went over to the pool house and drew a pot of water from the sink and took it back over to my campsite and boiled it on my little stove so that I could make coffee.  Again I got out my computer and got back to work recording the details of this story.  My head was clearer now and I felt confident that I was getting it down correctly.

Around 7:30 I gathered my bathroom supplies and headed over to the pool house again to shower.  I wanted to be cleaned up and organized when Glacie arrived back so I could call my bank and go into town to get some cash.  The Guatemalan girls who work at the restaurant arrived early and began taking down the chairs and cleaning up everything around the veranda to make it ready for the days guests.  Marko was raking fallen leaves from the night before and two other men had shown up to finish the work of painting the fence. Everything was busy but not hurried.

I was fortunate that Glacie had internet service at the property so I was able to keep myself busy working on my route and staying in touch with a few people back home.

After my shower I felt the urge to explore the grounds and I thought to get my camera and take pictures of this wonderful haven where I felt so comfortable and at home.  Getting the correct lighting to show the relaxing shade under the thatched roof of the veranda and the detail of the polished and shellacked but otherwise unprocessed timber that made up the trusses for the thatched roof was difficult.  After some experimenting I felt that I got it right and moved on to get pictures of the building on the other side of the pool where the eight rooms of Glacie’s little hotel were located. Then I concentrated on getting photos of the pool and the little huts that surrounded the pool where the guests from the night before had taken their dinner.  Then I  ventured out to the road way so as to get photos of the long white fence with the clean well laid out lettering that had beaconed me in the day before.  

I remembered that Glacie had told me that the finca across the  street was for sale so I strolled across the roadway to explore and to take more pictures. Two boys rode up to me on a bicycle asking  me to buy mangoes from them but I said “no, gracias” and after repeating myself three or four times they began to move on but then paused to watch me as I poked around the fence surrounding the property for sale across the street from Glacie’s hotel. 

The property looked beautiful  with a nice but simple house and a pool out back.  The entrance to the property was closed off with a large black gate and the arch holding the gate and the fence to one side of it were covered with a Wisteria like flowering vine full of lavender blooms. I finished my photo tour and went back to my camp to put things away. 

Angel, the scotch supplier from the night before stopped his truck as he was driving out and wished me safe travels.  He gave me his card so that I would remember his name as I told him I wanted to write about my experience here and that I wanted to be sure to things right.  He then gave me an embrace and headed out the gate. 

The rest of the morning I just piddled around, finding things to do to pass the time until Glacie returned to help me make my phone call and to give me directions to town to get money.  She had said she would be back at 10 but 10 came and went but I was not surprised as she had said she was bringing her four children with her and I knew that gathering up four children to go to the country would be complicated and take time.

Finally, at about 12:30 she arrived with her children.  I stayed back so as not to interfere with them getting unloaded and situated.  After a bit a pickup truck pulled in and backed up to the veranda with a load of plastic patio furniture.  Glacie pointed and said that he was going back into town and could show me where the ATM machine was located. I didn’t recognize the truck or the man at first but then realized that it was Angel.  Glacie asked if I would help him to unload the furniture and of course I was very happy to help as just added to familial sense of belonging that I had about this place. 

We unloaded the furniture and then Glacie and Angel sat at the bar and had a Corona together. I came over and asked Glacie about her children and their names.  She had told me that her oldest had learned English in school and could speak it well.

Her oldest girl’s name is Kimberly.  She is beautiful. She is already 5’7″ at 17.  She has soft honey tanned skin and strong dark eyes and a sweet smile.

Kimberly is sitting at one of the tables on the veranda and so before I take off for town with Angel I go over and say hello and ask her if she knows where in town I might find internet service so that I can post my story from the night before.  She is pleasant and sociable and her English is excellent.  She names a place or two and then consults her mother.  Together they decide on the best place to send me and they convey the plan to Angel. Angel and I then each load up in our vehicles and head out the gate back into Escuintla.  We got into town and Angel pulled to the side of the road in front of the mall and got out of his truck. He explained to me that there were four ATM’s inside of the mall and that next door to the mall the chicken restaurant had free wi-fi internet service.  Perfect!

I get my cash and then take my car and head next door to get online to check my email and post my story to my blog.  In the restaurant I could not find any power outlets so I had just enough time on the batteries in my computer to check my mail and post my story before the computer shut itself off. While i was there I ordered a basket of fried shrimp for my lunch and having finished that and done what I could on the internet I loaded up to head back to Glacie’s hotel. 

I had already  decided that it was too late in the day to even consider driving on so I planned to spend another night there at my little haven in the lowland countryside of Guatemala.

I was looking forward to being with Glacie and getting know her English speaking daughter. I just didn’t want to be intrusive about their family time. 

When I got back I announced to Glacie that  the trip to town had been successful and that I now had money and would like to stay another night.  She said of course and that there was no charge to stay. I only needed to pay for my beers. We sat at the bar together and had a Corona and after a few minutes Kimberly came over and joined us. 

After a bit a couple came in to eat and Glacie got busy with them so Kimberly and I talked.  I had the pleasure repeat of the night before, socially bonding with Glacie’s very pretty young daughter. 

She told me about her school and her trip with her Mom to Boston. She told me that she wanted to go into medicine and to be an obstetrician or pediatrician.

She told me that she studied English in her private school and that she had teachers from the USA, Australia and England.  She told me how they were different and that they did not speak Spanish.  I told her that was encouraging to hear as I was going to have to find work in Costa Rica so perhaps I could teach English.

After a bit Glacie rejoined us and I was disconcerted when she reminded me that it was New Year’s Eve.  She told me that she and her family were not staying at the hotel but were going back to town to her mother’s house to have New Years Eve with her family. She said that Marko would be back later in the afternoon.  Oh no, I thought,  I was going to be left to spend the evening alone with the gun toting groundsman. 

Perhaps the disappoint showed on my face because, much to my surprise and delight, Glacie invited me to come along with them to her family’s New Years Eve celebration.

I was a little apprehensive about intruding on her family celebration but of course I was fascinated at the idea of venturing into her family’s inner circle and seeing what her life was like in the city away from the hotel.  A little later I told Kimberly that her mother had invited me to come along and asked her what she thought of the idea.  Kimberly was delighted.  I guessed for her, like for most teenagers, family affairs can be a bit boring so she was excited about having something different in the mix to make it more interesting. 

I had guessed that Glacie would be heavily occupied with her family and that I would not be able to count on her to keep me company so Kimberly’s excitement about having me come along sealed the deal.

After an hour or so had passed I asked Glacie what time she planned to leave and she said at 5 pm.  I looked at my watch and saw that it was ten minutes until 5.  I checked the plan again with Glacie and then told Kimberly that I had better run over to my campsite and change clothes so as to be ready to go.  I changed quickly and hurried back over but there was still no sign of preparations to leave.

Earlier in the day I had borrowed Glacie’s phone to call my bank in the USA and I had mentioned to her that I would like to make another call if that was ok.  I wanted to call my kids at 6 pm when I thought I could best catch  them. I had not talked with them since crossing the border into Mexico a week earlier.  We lingered there around the bar for some time and as 6 pm approached I asked Glacie if she would mind if I made another call.  She said she was sorry but that I had used up all of her phone card time on my call that afternoon to the bank.  I was disappointed at not being able to call my kids to wish them Happy New Year but  it just wasn’t going to be possible.

Glacie then told me that the reason we had not left yet was that Marko was not coming.  It was obvious that she did not feel like she could go and leave her property unattended.

I expressed my regrets and politely asked if there was anything I could do to help. I saw the spark in her eyes as she immediately said “yes! That would be great!” 

Little did I know what the door that I had just opened was going to lead to. 

Glacie quickly asked if I knew how to use a gun!  I impulsively said yes, not realizing what the question implied.  She pounced at my answer,  jumping up and directing me to follow.

She took me over to the other side of the veranda to her family quarters.  We went through the main room and into a closet where she raised her hand up to the shelf for something that she couldn’t quite reach.  I stepped up to help, reaching across the shelf where my fingers found the cold hard steel of the rifle Marko had been carrying the night before.  I slid the gun down from the shelf now realizing that I had just gotten myself into one hell of an assignment. 

We walked back through the room and across the veranda to the bar.  I set the gun down on the counter and explained to Kimberly that it looked like I would not be accompanying them to town after all.  I was now on guard duty. 

Glacie disappeared again for a few minutes and returned with a box which she handed to me.  Shells.  I was now fully armed.

There was still a couple at the bar so I asked Glacie what was the plan with them. I hoped that she would say they were leaving but she said they would leave after her.  I hoped that meant following her out of the gate.

Glacie hastily gathered up her children and loaded them into the car, motioning to to me to follow.  I trotted out to the gate and pushed it open for her to leave.  “Hasta luego – see you later,” she said as she smiled and handed me the keys. 

The implications of my offer to help were really starting to sink in.  If something were to happen, me, there with a gun but lacking the language skills to navigate a confrontation, was a sure fire recipe for disaster of a very serious type.

I trudged back to the bar where the couple were still sitting. The man was a large grizzly looking fellow wearing a wife beater t-shirt. Great.  He starts trying to talk to me but of course I understand virtually nothing. After a few minutes he and his wife both start making gestures and looking back over their shoulders.  I try to follow along and after a moment or two I realize they are trying to tell me that I should go and close the gate.  Oops. Yes I suppose that would be wise so I get up and trot out to the gate and pull it closed and lock it.  Now I am locked in with the grizzly guy in the wife-beater t-shirt and his wife. 

I return to the bar and he and his wife continue to try to talk to me.  I can’t make out what he is saying but I am pretty sure he asking me why I am so crazy as to travel across Central America without being able to speak Spanish. And I’m pretty sure he’s also rather amused about me being thrust into guard duty, armed with a shotgun and left alone to guard the property.

He eventually gets frustrated about not being able to communicate with me and just starts raising his glass to me with the universal drinking buddy proclamation, “salute” followed by a clink of our bottles.  After every “salute” he pauses and tries again to say something and then abandons the effort and offers another salute.  We do this with every swallow of two or three more beers.  Finally after nearly an hour of drink, salute, clinks his wife fetches the keys from him and goes and starts their truck. She then starts honking the horn for him to come and leave with her but he just sits there waving her off and offering me more salutes.  Finally after a few more minutes he gets up walks over to the side of the bar to pee and then turns to leave.  I walked out toward the parking area with him and then across the grounds to open the gate. Finally they depart.

Now I am alone with the keys to the hotel and armed with a cold dark steel military style shotgun and the responsibility of defending the place.

Life can certainly be surprising.  I wander around a bit exploring parts of the restaurant that I had not had access to previously. I checked out the kitchen and pantry, both very primitive but functional. I get out my computer to try to start to record the events of my second day here at Glacie’s hotel but I am too tired and have drunk too many beers to be able to concentrate.  After smoking a couple of more cigarettes I decide to lay down in of the inviting looking hammocks strung up along the side of the veranda.  The hammock is very comfortable and after a few minutes I start to doze off with the shotgun laying across my chest.

Suddenly, as if I were a a sleeping dog whose tail got stepped on, I leaped from the hammock to the sound of Pop, Pop, Pop!  Holy shit, here it comes I thought as I flew out of that hammock looking for a place to run as I tried to figure out where the shots are coming from.

Not spying any visible threats, I start to come to my senses and realize that, oh, yeah, its New Years Eve.  Fireworks.

I’m still jumpy though and have to keep reassuring myself that the blasts really are just celebrations going on outside of the compound.  But they are so fucking close that its not entirely clear.  The blasts just seem to keep getting louder, closer and more frequent. 

The assailants, I mean celebrants, seem to have me surrounded.  They’re in the street in front of the hotel and to both sides of the property.  In the front, just a little bit off to the side of the gate someone has some serious arsenal.  As we approached midnight the entire area turns into a soundtrack for the fiercest sort of battle imaginable. The sky is lit up, rockets were soaring and explosions shook the ground. 

There I lay in the hammock nervously trying to continually reassure myself that it was all just celebratory firepower and but thinking all the while that it was the perfect cover for an invasion and  there was absolutely no way for me to tell the difference.

Finally to my relief midnight passed and to my relief the noise of the battle zone quickly subsided.  By about 12:30 it became quiet and I dozed off into a deep sleep in the hammock there on the side of the veranda.  About 2 am, as promised, I heard a honking at the gate and jumped up to see that Glacie had returned.  She pulled in with a car load of women that I had not seen before. Her children weren’t with her. 

I was so tired that I fell back to sleep in the hammock  as they were standing around near me organizing the groceries that they had brought with them from town for their New Years Day celebration.

I woke early to work on my account of the past day’s events and now I am done and showered and ready to move on.