What I Want

Food I Miss (notice the lack of chocolate/candy on the list, that’s because my family and friends are amazing and have been sending me some!): 

pie, cake, ice cream, scallops, asparagus, lobster, crab, cereal, steak, mushrooms, bacon, Reese’s peanut butter cups, cinnamon rolls, goat cheese, muffins, sausage, creamy soups, cheese, toaster strudels, pizza, ranch dressing, nuts, donuts, milkshakes, beef jerky, sub-sandwich, chips & dip, root beer, cream soda, wine, fajitas, gyros, BW3’s boneless honey barbeque wings, Hostess cupcakes

 

Things I Miss (besides my family and friends!):

vending machines, hot showers, air conditioning/heaters, carpet, flushing toilets, running water, electricity (that works and is always there), restaurants, TV, private cars/taxis, English, pets, mini-golf, seatbelts, diapers on kids, windows, mufflers, microwaves, Wal-Mart, washing machines, refrigerators 

First Rats, Now Cockroaches

On Tuesday we went to the Secretary of Public Health to try and pick a date to fix and open the hospital.  We went with a bunch of people who are leaders in the community, but don’t really know anything about the project.  They, of course, didn’t call ahead like I suggested, so the person they wanted to see wasn’t there.  So, we met with this other person, who, being a politician, dodged most of our questions.  He did finally point out to these people that the hospital that was built it WAY too big for our area, and maybe they’ll stop thinking that we’ll have operating rooms and 15 beds.  When we got to the point that the white girl (me) got some equipment donated and it’s just sitting there, we then started to get some progress made.  Not much, but enough that I think we might actually get the engineer down here to fix the building.  It was damaged in Hurricane Noel and it’s still not been fixed. 

The big hurry in fixing the hospital is that May is the rainy month here and they don’t want it to get even more damaged.  I didn’t figure it could be THAT rainy, until last night, when it POURED all night.  Usually, I like the sound of the rain of my tin roof, but tonight it was so loud, even with ear plugs, it sounded like a thousand guns were shooting nonstop.  Apparently, cockroaches don’t like the rain and they all decided to invade my house last night.  Normally, I see about one a month, but last night, I woke to one crawling on my leg.  I jumped up and turned on the light (because of course, we have electricity at 1AM when everyone needs it) and saw the one inside my mosquito net and 4 other ones on the walls.  I killed the one in my mosquito net and tucked that sucker in a lot tighter.  Then, I killed 2 others before and the other two scurried off.

Yesterday was a good day in that we finally did our cost and price analysis of the ecotourism project.  It was difficult to explain what we needed to do and keep people on course, but after two hours we finally got the first section done and realized why they are losing money.  Then, I showed them a pricing scheme that would make them make money, while still pleasing their tour operator.  They didn’t understand it at first, so I went to the internet to show them that’s how other tour operators price things all the time and it really wasn’t complicated.  Then, they were telling me that it was too expensive, which, while it is expensive, is the price needed to cover their costs.  I think they’re starting to realize that this tour isn’t such a great idea after all.  I did confirm in this meeting that it is the two women in the office who actually know and understand everything that is going on, even though they would never be elected to a position to make decisions, this time they basically wrote out what the man needed to say when he called the tour operator because he still didn’t understand what was going on.

It is ONE WEEK until I leave!

Video Blog

This was gross...

Warning:  Not for those with a weak stomach or who are eating.  Consider yourself warned.

Oh. My. God.  An area of my house smelled for a day, the area I work at.  It smelled kind of like diapers and kitty litter.  It was near a window, so I thought maybe it was coming from outside.  That window doesn’t open, so I just figured it would go away.  Then, the next morning, it smelled like what it was, a dead animal.  I figured it was a dead rat in one of the holes in my concrete wall or on top of the wall in the space before the roof starts.  I looked where I could, but I couldn’t find it, so I figured it was outside.  I brought my Dona over to tell me if my gas tank was still full (I don’t know how much it weighs empty, so I can never tell if it’s close to being empty).  I tell her about the smell.  Then, we see it.  On the floor.  A dead rat.  A big one.  It was partly eaten by maggots, and since it wasn’t there before, I can only assume the maggots moved it out of the nearby hole onto the floor.  It was disgusting.  Thank GOD my Dona was there so she could clean it up for me, I probably would have puked.  Just as I was feeling like the dirtiest human being ever for having a dead, half-eaten, maggot filled rat on the floor, she starts telling me of all the times a dead rat in her house as stumped her as to where it was hidden.  One was in the stove part of her oven (she only uses the stove top), one was on the space between the wall and the roof.  She described the hunt, the find, and the removal and disinfecting.  Just a normal part of life, right?

La Semana Santa

This week was “la Semana Santa” which means, as you all know, Holy Week.  Here, they celebrate all week, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.  That means, no work, no school, no nothing.  It was rather boring for me, because I don’t have a bunch of friends here, but for everyone else it was a big party.  People swam in the river and drink and a bunch of people not from here come up here to swim in the river too.  With all these visitors I’ve realized how much more integrated into my community I am.  I don’t get so many cat-calls and people questioning who I am anymore, but since people have arrived for the week, I’ve been getting a lot of it.  It’s very annoying, but good to know that I am fitting into my community well enough that that stuff is going away some.

On Friday, my host mom called me and said, “I’m calling to tell you not to cook today, you’re going to come eat here.”  OK.  Eating there was nothing special, but then they made habichuelas con dulce.  Literally, sweet beans.  I tried them once, they were gross.  But, my host mom is a good cook and the ones she made weren’t that bad.  It’s liquefied red beans stewed in sugar, milk, and spices.  It’s definitely not for everyone.  She also made these fried yam balls which were then soaked in this juice of spices, and there were FANTASTIC, I’m definitely getting the recipe. 

I tried getting my “video diary” up on the internet, but the internet is too slow here to make it work before my blog times out.  I will do another one and post it for next week as I will be in the capital for a couple days and can use faster internet.  I hopefully will be getting a yoga mat (to work on my flab), a cooking dutch oven, and a bunch of other little things to make life better.  I am also hoping some packages that you guys have sent me are on their way and will be there when I get there!

I also realized I will have to do a lot of campaigning for this doctor and clinic and hospital to get people to use it.  A couple nights ago there was a car accident.  This is quite rare here.  The people found transportation and went to San Cristobal to the hospital because they knew the clinic here couldn’t do much for them.  But, here’s the rub, San Cristobal is an hour drive.  They waited an hour to be seen by any doctor just because this doctor couldn’t “do much.”  It took a lot to convince them that while he could not have “done much” he could have stopped the bleeding with clean bandages instead of shirts and checked for any signs of things that needed to be done immediately to prevent a lot of serious problems or death.  They really didn’t understand that taking them to this doctor for a 5 or 10 minute assessment could save the people’s life and wouldn’t exactly tack on too much to the hour drive they were going to make.  If it were that severe, I’m sure the doctor would have even gone with them to try and stabilize the patients in the car.  Getting people to see things that way will be a challenge.

new wall

As promised, pictures of my flower wall, covered in a map and your cards.  Every card I've received is up there, I want to fill it by November 2010, so keep them coming!