Our day starts with the washer and dryer. The laundry room is on the left side of this dryer vent, a semi-enclosed room. When we use the dryer,we drop the vent out of the window, three stories up. We put a lingerie bag over the end of the vent to collect 99% of the junk from the dryer.
We divide our efforts for weekly housecleaning. Mike does the floors to save my back, usually with the vacuum, then following up with the Guate mop. These cloths are available here in all the grocery stores. You can select cloths with two holes or three. They are threaded over the handle of a short, stiff bristled broom. I love these guys! We can clean the kitchen with them in less than 10 minutes and then just toss them into the laundry.
These cloths drape just enough to be mop-like and you can use both sides, then reverse the cloth for two more sides of cleaning. While Mike is taking care of the floors, I'm cleaning the bathrooms. Surprisingly, we have three of them.
Second step in sanitizing our weekly purchase of fruits and vegetables. First step is to rinse any visible dirt off with tap water. This pan is filled with a tap water/bleach mixture to sanitize. I start with the cleanest and end up with the potatoes and beans. The lettuce (not hybridized seed) does not like the bleach and it usually discolors in a very few days.
Vegetables don't keep as well here as in the U.S., but I like that. They aren't coated with waxes or preservatives to keep them stable in the grocery store. Marketing here is done almost daily, as in most European countries. We are the exception to the rule, as we like to shop once/week when we can hopefully use the mission truck. We often shop in three stores to get what we need. When those options aren't fruitful, we walk down to the street markets for the rest.
After the bleach bath, a clear, pure water rinse and time on the counter to dry.
Mike makes a yummy breakfast for us with the homemade hash brown potatoes Sr. Darrington prepared and froze for us. She buys the potatoes at the terminal, bakes them and then grates a freezer full. Yum! Mike added a European touch to breakfast this morning with a delicious fried tomato.
Next comes watering all the plants I purchased from the plant guy who comes in the office. We have eight or so that have to be moved into the window in our bedroom each day. Finally, a nice, relaxing shower followed by yet another trip to the grocery store to buy what is needed before Sunday.
Tonight we met the Darringtons and Granados at the new Don Carlos restaurant. It is too far now for us to walk, so we don't go as often as in the past. Br. Granados was hungry for a steak, so this was the perfect choice. They are originally from Guatemala, but returning as senior temple missionaries from California, where they have lived for over thirty years. Their photo turned out badly-sorry. The Darringtons are from Texas.
While we waited for our friends to arrive, we enjoyed the quiet beauty of the restaurant and ordered an appetizer of crimini mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce.
The Darringtons enjoy a chocolate shake for dessert. They have worked at the temple all day today and will have their P day on Monday while we prepare for missionary changes at the office. We have 19 new missionaries coming in on Tuesday including one from the Dominican Republic. We're excited for that!
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