March 1, 2009

Here are the highlights of the past few days:

Wednesday: As I entered my bathroom Wednesday morning, about 10 large mosquitoes began to swarm around me, angry that I had dared to enter territory that they so clearly marked as their own. Fed up with my unwanted houseguests, I cleared my morning schedule to subject my bathroom to a rigorous cleaning and eviction. I mixed a good portion of Raid into my soapy water in the hopes of killing any remaining tenants. But unfortunately the mosquitoes weren’t the only ones affected by the fumes. By the time I finished, I was so light-headed that I had to lie down—far away from my bathroom. In the afternoon, however, my efforts were rewarded with a mosquito-free bathroom. My next concern: cancer…

Thursday: Mosquitoes returned. Damn!

In the afternoon, my counterpart and I resumed our meetings with the mothers in the community that with whom we want to form a microempresa (small business). The numbers had dwindled to only four. While my counterpart was disappointed with the turn out, it is always better to have a few participants that are committed, to many that are not. The charla went really well and the mothers left excited and optimistic.

Friday: In the morning I taught English. We learned parts of the body and then played a modified version of ‘Simon Says.’ I then baked muffins as a ‘thank you’ to my counterpart who had agreed to drive me to Machala to pick up some things that are to big and heavy for me to carry on the bus. My counterpart then got caught up at INFA and postponed our trip. I ended up giving the muffins to a neighbor who lets me use her washing machine whenever I want. To that lady I am forever grateful!


Saturday: Saturday was a regular work day to make up for the work missed during Carnival. The librarian and I took a group of kids to the puerto (port) for a boat trip around the Isla de Amor (Island of Love). There wasn’t much to see at all. The kids couldn’t even get off the boat. But it was relaxing and the kids did seem to enjoy it. When I finally got home, I was surprised to realize that I was sunburned for the first time in a long time.

While I was curled up reading in my bedroom yesterday afternoon, I head a large THUD followed by rattling sounds and a secondary THUD as something landed on my roof, rolled off it, and then landed on the ground. This has been happening a lot recently, but I never previously paid attention to what was landing on my roof, always preoccupied by the dirt from my aluminum ceiling that would land on my bed whenever this happened. This time I saw something clearly drop into my ‘garden’ and ran outside to see what it was. My neighbor/ land lady had appeared a few moments before me and was collecting a large green and reddish object. I suddenly realized that HUGE mangos (bigger than I have ever seen in my life) from the tree in my neighbor’s garden that were landing in my roof and causing the racquet. I inquired if I could please have the mango and she promised that I could have any mango that falls in my garden. I think she is now beginning to regret her promise as my refrigerator if rapidly filling with mangos.