Chapinismo: Chilero

Cool.

Hence re-chilero: well cool, rad, awesome, book, killer, off the 'ook, the cat's pijamas etc.

Chapinismo: Pistear

To grease someone's palm; literally to dosh them up. From pisto, chapin slang for dosh.

The most recent accounts I have heard about the death of our friend in Guatemala last weekend are taking the regretably rather everyday story of the accidental death of a motorcyclist and turning it into a proper chapin folk-tale.

The woman that got down from the car to kick him (having just run him over) turns out to have been a judge. There were other people in the car and they promptly joined in. The judge has no doubt since had to pistear the local cops, as our friend was one of many hundreds of bikers on the road that morning in Chiquimula, and several of his comrades on the Caravana del Zorro took photos of the incident.

Chapinismo: Al chilazo

...double-quick.

Chapinismo: Chiriz (Small kid)

See also Patojo and Güiro.

We spotted this young and growing Guatemalan family on New Year's Eve in Antigua: six chirices and one more on the way.

V still regrets not having asked how far they had come to see all the acts in the Calle del Arco that night. But they'd made the effort, and they seemed very happy.

It occurred to me later on during my stay that I can think of very few examples of lastingly happy (or at least stable) marriages amongst the people I know out there.