How Not To Grow Pumpkins

So I had a great idea to build my house a little faster. A couple years ago we saw pumpkins for sale at our grocery store. They were imported from the States and were only $3. Until we got to the register. There we found out that they were $3/pound. No matter how nice it would have been to have had a pumpkin pie for that Christmas, it wasn't worth $30.

I then began noticing how much empty space there is here in Petén. There are many spaces here that people buy instead of putting money in the bank, but since they don't have time to work the land it just grows up with weeds. There are also lots of people who have a very good knowledge of the land and of farming here.

So I decided to import my own Pumpkin seeds, have somebody else plant them on their land, truck them to the mountains, sell them to gringos for $10 instead of $30 and split the profits with my Petenero farmer. I bought 2500 seeds for around $60 (I wanted high quality, heirloom seeds), half Jack-O-Lantern and half Sugar Pie Sweet, and turned them over to an Agronomist here who has a big piece of property. I also gave him a lot of information (that I got online) about what pumpkins need to grow well. He told me not to worry and he was very excited about it. We also planned out what day to plant so that everything would be ready by the end of October. So far so good.

Everything was going great. We had 1400 mounds that had been planted and fertilized. Almost all of the plants had sprouted and we were looking good. Mynor was already spending his money...

Then in October we had several disasters. Mynor hadn't sprayed for bugs, instead talking about some new way where the poison is in the fertilizer so the bugs die when they eat the plant. All that gave us was a bunch of half-eaten plants with dead bugs everywhere that the ants came in to clean up for us. But that's ok because I'm pretty sure most of those drowned when we had two straight weeks of rain that turned most pastures here into temporary lakes, including my pumpkin patch. After that we were down to maybe 200 pumpkins still alive and well. Until somebody started stealing them. It was only 3-4 that were stolen and it could have been an animal, but it got Mynor scared of thieves. So instead of leaving the pumpkins to ripen on the vine and grow to the size of a basketball or better, he started cutting them as soon as he thought they were changing colors. The result was 150 tiny little pumpkins that after a week turned orange but didn't have any flavor. In his mind it is better to have 100% of your worthless pumpkins than have just 97% of quality pumpkins that you can do something with.

By the time I could convince him to just leave everything alone I was left with around 60 pumpkins to my name. It's a good deal, I think, to get 60 pumpkins for $60, but who would buy 60 pumpkins in the first place? We were able to give away a lot to friends, had fresh pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, a lot of frozen pumpkin waiting for Christmas and too many roasted seeds to eat. Oh and Mynor and I are still friends.

I still think this is a good idea and will try again next year. I think my biggest mistake this year was a lack of diversification. Next year I'm going to split my seeds up between 3 different people in 3 different parts of Petén.

Car Insurance in Guatemala

Because of the situation with José, I began again to look for car insurance here. I looked around when we first arrived, but the payments were more than a car payment on a new vehicle. I found that a reputable agency here (G&T) has recently lowered their rates to match their unreliable competition. For full coverage they still want $4,000/year to cover both vehicles (2004 Tacoma and 2007 Toyota Hiace Microbus), but their liability coverage seemed more than fair to me. They cover all expenses to others' property and persons, as well as any medical expenses of my passengers. They also pay families in instances of accidental death such as José's problem. Oh, and any and all lawyer fees.

The agent road a bus 45 minutes to my house so that he could take pictures of my vehicles and have me sign the paperwork. He also took this time to explain the policies to me. (Note: his name has been changed.)

Official policy:

In the event of an accident, I must immediately call the number for the main office in Guatemala City. They will verify my coverage and then send a report to the Petén office who will then send an agent to the scene of the accident.

Or:

I can call Carlos' personal cell phone anytime day or night and he will come since he already knows that I have coverage. This will save me at least an hour he says.

Official policy:

You must remain at the scene of the accident until the agent arrives.

Or:

There are some parts of Petén where it is too dangerous to stay and you must run for your life (such as the areas we are ALWAYS traveling to- Libertad/Sayaxché area). Carlos said to call him after I get away. He understands and can fill out the paperwork later.

Official policy:

Nobody under 21 is allowed to drive the vehicles to be covered and all drivers must have valid driver's licenses.

Or:

Don't say anything to the home office and Carlos can change who the driver was once he arrives.

Official policy:

G&T only pays if it is your fault. If you are not at fault, it is the other party's responsibility.

Or:

Don't say anything to the home office and Carlos will make sure everybody gets paid when he arrives.

Now obviously I'm not going to engage in insurance fraud of any kind, but I want to show you what life is like here in the "Wild West" of Central America. I am glad to know that I don't have to stay in a dangerous situation and that there is some common sense in that area.