In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this financially independent lifestyle, they invite you to take advantage of their wisdom and experience.

Growing Café Kitsch

Panajachel, Guatemala

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli

What draws me to do these things?

It seems that once we get settled into a town I start seeing opportunities to get involved with the locals. It doesn’t matter if it’s importing an electronic basketball scoreboard for the school gymnasium, the resurfacing and building tennis courts in Chapala, Mexico or some project here in this eclectic town of Panajachel, Guatemala.

I find a need, then fill it.

Alejandro, Owner, Cafe Kitsch

Guatemala is known for its great coffee and there is no shortage of cafes in Pana. Coffee is everywhere, but you cannot drink coffee all day and at our age especially, into the evening. However, a glass of decent wine would be nice, especially served with a variety of cheeses.

All of us Expats have our favorite cafes for people-watching and chatting with locals. My fave is Café Kitsch, a specialty coffee house and German Bakery. It’s located on the main drag and the continuing flow of characters makes it appealing for me to cruise through a couple of hours.

Specialty coffee at Kitsch

I approached Alejandro, the young owner, about serving wine by the glass later in the day in order to boost his sales.

He was amenable to the idea.

The problem was, he knew nothing about wine and how it should be served. So I offer to teach him and his staff, Deborah, Dina and Maylyn. It was more like a crash course on how to open a bottle of wine and pour a glass. They had never done this before!

But first things first; we needed some wine and glasses.

On the back of his motorbike, we dodge through traffic on our way to the store to make some purchases. I chose nice globe wine glasses and moderate priced bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, and oh yeah… a wine opener!

The Adventurer's Guide to Guatemala

That afternoon we invited friends to join us for a little wine and fun. We give Deborah, the young Mayan lady server, our drink order. Helplessly, she looks to me. This lets me know that she has no clue what the wines are or how to open a bottle. She needs help.

Back to the basics

We get through that lesson easily enough and everyone seems to have enjoyed themselves. However, I noticed that the pours of wine were definitely not consistent, some people getting more wine or others getting less. So after things settle down in the café, I fill an empty bottle with water and instruct Deborah on the art of pouring a glass of wine. She picks this up quickly but just to be sure, she places a piece of tape on a glass to use as her guide and to teach the other Mayan servers.

Deborah with glasses of Chardonnay and Cabernet

The Kitsch Wine Bar is starting to gain traction in town. I suggest they add a variety cheese plate with a chocolate truffle to enhance the experience as well as a plate of bread and seasoned olive oil as a dip. The girls pick this up easily also and each creates their own design. This too adds to the owner’s profits.

A couple of months pass and Alejandro tells me he is expanding his business to the shop next door and has now doubled his streetside view. Then he asks for suggestions of what to serve. We agree a shrimp sauté would be spectacular. There is nothing like this in central street Pana.

I create a small five-item menu which I believe the girls can produce in their tiny kitchen. The first dish is Shrimp Sauté Provencal. Peeled, deveined shrimp are sautéed with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, garlic, white wine, butter, herbs and fresh parsley, served with toast points. This was yet another crash course complete from cleaning the shrimp to adding the correct amount of seasoning - and they got it!

I think!

Talking with a friend a while later, he decides he wants to try the shrimp and orders a plate. He enjoyed it so much he returned hours later and ordered another. Not knowing what to call it, the girls decide to name the dish Billy’s Shrimp or in Spanish, Camarones Bily. It quickly becomes a smash hit with the customers.

Camarones Bily or Shrimp Provencal

What is so refreshing about this sort of volunteer work is that it is free of regulation. Parameters are wide open. Everyone on all sides of the exchange benefits, it’s a creative challenge and we have eager students. We don’t pay rent or salaries, we have no taxes or repairs. Our profits come from knowing that we enhanced the neighborhood.

These enthusiastic locals appreciate what we know, and in turn, we get to create the perfect street side café to have quality coffee, German pastries, French food and glasses of wine.

Sweet.

To be continued…

For more stories, photos and information about Antigua, click here

For more stories and photos of Guatemala, click here

About the Authors

Billy and Akaisha Kaderli are recognized retirement experts and internationally published authors on topics of finance, medical tourism and world travel. With the wealth of information they share on their award winning website RetireEarlyLifestyle.com, they have been helping people achieve their own retirement dreams since 1991. They wrote the popular books, The Adventurer’s Guide to Early Retirement and Your Retirement Dream IS Possible available on their website bookstore or on Amazon.com.

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