House Hunting Post #2

We spent most all of this past week back in the Sayaxche' area looking for a rental house.  We spent our nights at the Hotel Del Rio.  We used to use the Guayacan Hotel and loved that it has an open terrace that overlooks the Passion River.  Many of our teams have stayed there as well.  We liked to sit out there and watch the ferry go back and forth.  The rooms though are pretty rustic.  Just this month we've started using this new place and really like it.  The rooms are nice and clean, it offers hot water, a/c, and television.  Now, we realize that most of you in the States might not think this place is "all that" but we've learned to lower our standards on where we sleep.  ha  Believe me, we've slept in a lot worse.  The cost here for two people- around $30.00 per night.

They gave us a triple room- I guess because we are a family of three.  :-)

 Our towels, soap, and shampoo were used to decorate the beds. 

The bathroom

I am sure we'll be using this place more in the future and will be where we put our guests up when they come for a visit.

Cruz stretching out on the bed after the long ride in the car.

I love his outfit!  It was made by a sweet lady from home.

Once we checked in and unloaded our things we walked around town looking around.  We even visited the neighboring town of La Libertad asking about houses.   That evening for dinner we went to the Oasis.  It is a really cute place that has a coffee shop, a nice bookstore/ gift store, and hardware store. 

The serve a lot of hot and cold drinks as well as hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, and a few more items.  They were out of hamburgers that night so we got hotdogs and nachos.  I felt like we were at a ballgame.  ha  It was good.  We also enjoyed coffee and a cappuchino. 

The store is really clean and has a/c.  It's probably the only place in town to get a "cool" meal.   I think we went there three times this week to hang out and drink coffee.  Definitely will be one of our favorite places in town!

The next morning we had breakfast at the Yaxkin Restaurant.  We've eaten there on almost every trip to Sayaxche' since our first trip in 2007.  It's not that it's a nice place to eat but the owner's are really nice and the food is not too bad.

The current location is right on the river.  When we were up that way two weeks ago we could not eat there because the river was up and they had water inside.  It is rainy season and this year Guatemala has received record amounts of rain.  It doesn't help either that Tropical Storm Matthew is moving through today! 

river view from the restaruant 

After eating the owner took us around town and showed us a few more houses that she knew was for rent.  We saw two that we could work with if need be.  There is a house in town that we'd like to rent- it has more potential and is nicer than any other place we've seen.  It is currently occupied and we are waiting to hear when the people plan to move out.  We hope it will be soon.  We have not seen the house empty but still think it might be the best option for us. 

We returned to our room and fixed peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  We almost always travel with a loaf of bread and some type of sandwich fixture.  And, a snack box is a staple in my car!  You never know what you might encounter on these roads and I would hate to be without something to eat.

Poor Cruz, this was him that night while we ate dinner at a local place.  He was pooped!!  He did soo well on the trip though.  He doesn't seem to mind being pulled in and out of the car, walking around town in the heat, and letting everyone make a fuss over him.  PTL!

The next morning we crossed the ferry and headed another hour north to the towns of San Benito, Santa Elena, and Flores.  We didn't go there to look for housing but to see what types of things they offered.  We will need to purchase appliances once we move and wanted to visit a few other stores there as well.  Since this post is way longer than I intended for it to be, I'll post a few of those pics another day.