I Lost My Jeans in Guatemala

Ba-bye jeans!

It was day seven of a 16 day Panama Canal cruise and my laundry was piling up.

Doing laundry on a cruise ship costs something akin to a kidney transplant, so that wasn’t going to happen to this Frugal Freddy!

As I was reading a guidebook on Antigua, Guatemala - the town to which I was doing a shore excursion - it mentioned the wealth of inexpensive laundries. As we were to have three and a half hours in town, I thought I’d take my washing with me on the bus ride so that I could get clean laundry and sightseeing done simultaneously. Well, best laid plans and all that.

By the time we arrived in Antigua, we were down one hour on the ground, seriously shortening my laundry window. Also, the place they dropped us off at was a considerable way from the Parque Central at the heart of town. Other, brighter and more fore-sighted souls would have given it up as a bad bet and just wandered the streets with a bag of dirty laundry over their shoulder. Sadly, stepping back and seeing the big-picture has never been one of my strong suits, so I thought I’d still give it a go.

After initially being misdirected and having to ask a young local for help - he walked me to the park and then tried to foist religious reading matter on me, which explains why he did seem a little too eager to help. I hotfooted it to the Rainbow Laundry - a handy place where you can get your teeth cleaned at the same time as your laundry - and met Rosemaria who agreed to do a two-hour rush job for me. My bag weighed 4.5kg (10 lbs) (including the bag which wasn’t being washed) for the grand total of US$10 and I left her to it.

Feeling that things were well in hand, I got down to the business of sightseeing. Somehow along the way I got talked into buying a Panama Hat - which are actually made in Ecuador not Panama - from a street vendor for US$20. It was a hot sunny day and at first I was grateful for the protection but then the realisation that I now had to find space in my luggage for it hit. No matter how many times the slick salesman squished it down to show its packability, I just know it’s going to take up valuable space in the Packed Bag!^ Ah well… that’s the joy of souvenirs, especially unexpected ones.

After taking time for a quick lunch in a restaurant, I had a look at the map on my phone and saw that the bus pickup point was a lot further away than I had thought. I made my way back to the laundry, ten minutes early, to find my clothing still quite damp. After a quick discussion, Rosemaria put it back in the dryer and that's when my jeans, which I saw in the first instance, disappeared.

When I had had enough of waiting, I got the laundry basket and was in the process of packing my bag myself so that I could recognise my clothes. Clearly, I wasn’t moving fast enough for Rosemaria who started to help me and that’s when it all went pear-shaped.

I had no idea what she was putting in and I didn’t have time to think about it as I had to run - through heat, humidity and high altitude (remember I’ve been at literal sea level for a week) - the ten cobble-stoned blocks to the pickup point.

It was only when I got back to my cabin on the ship and was hanging up the partially dry clothing that I found ‘the jeans:’ a size 50 waist with shortened and hemmed legs instead of my considerably smaller and longer ones - I can nearly get both of my legs inside one leg of ‘the jeans.’

Normally, I freak out when things like this happen, but maybe I’m evolving for the better because I had a quick laugh and reminded myself that I was thinking of getting a new pair anyway. On the plus side, everything else was mine and matched the list I’d made before leaving.

However, I can only imagine what that short, round lady who’d had her jeans specially tailored thought when she saw mine - that is if she even got any back! What started out as a cute idea turned into a real hassle, not nearly worth the effort with a disappointing ending but at least I had a unique experience that my fellow cruise goers didn’t and I have a new story to tell.

Morals of the story:

Things always take longer than you plan and pack your own clothes!

Fun Fact: If you are ever in Guatemala and taking $US with you - which are readily accepted, although you will get change in Quetzals - make sure that all of your notes are pristine. The banks in the country will not accept any that are overly creased, torn or written one, so the locals won’t accept them either. I had quite a few of mine rejected.

^It now lives as a gardeners hat in Freeport, Maine!