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I have been really busy since my last update finding a house and moving in. I found a roomy, sunny place about 10 minutes from work. It's inside a little compound with 5 other houses. The landscaping is lovely and the neighbors are awesome. Everyone is looking out for me and doing what they can to make me feel welcome. We were told during Peace Corps training that we would be in a fish bowl 24 hours a day. Normally I would run in the opposite direction at the thought of a small-town mentality, with everyone knowing my business. But in this case it’s very comforting. For example, I was having trouble with the water heater pilot light. A neighbor called the gas company for me, then wrote a note in Spanish explaining the problem in case I was unable to communicate with the crew.
There is much to see and do nearby, and the bus transportation is excellent, so there is really no need to own or drive a car (prohibited by the Peace Corps anyway). Taxis are relatively cheap and plentiful for the occasional shopping trips or getting caught in a downpour. I enjoy the walk home from the bus stop, and pass flower fields and a pretty blue and white church.
There is a mercado about three blocks from my house on Wednesdays and Sundays, with a huge variety of fruits and vegetables, clothes, household items, plants and flowers grown in the nearby fields, and some things I have not yet identified. People spread out their goods on cloths on the ground and talk to you as you pass to entice you to buy their things. I’ve been called “bonita” more than once while shopping there, and pretend it’s because they’re awed by my exotic beauty (I heard that) and not that they’re trying to flatter me into stopping to buy their wares.
The food that’s prepared there looks very tempting, but I pass it up in favor of fresh produce that I buy and take home to wash carefully, then eat with gusto. I think that’s the single best thing about living on my own again – I have control over how my food is prepared. There are large, shallow copper pans filled with frothy chocolate de agua (cacao with water and cinnamon). The cold liquid is stirred continuously with a special paddle to create a foam, which is scooped into plastic glasses and served with a straw. One woman had a cell phone hanging from the ceiling at ear level so she could talk while stirring her chocolate.
There are piles of charcoal and what is possibly compost (I’m afraid to ask), pails and mops, hardware, small avocados with smooth, thin purple skins that look like plums, huge baskets of bread, and the ubiquitous chicharron (rendered pig fat). I bought some ears of corn and boiled it, eager for a little taste of home. I slathered it with butter, sprinkled it with a little salt and dug in. It was the worst corn I ever tasted – tough and bland. Maybe it was intended as maize for tortillas and this stupid Gringo ate it right off the cob. Speaking of tortillas, there are several little tortilla factories, or molinos, in my neighborhood. These are co-ops where the people bring their corn, which is grown in nearby fields, to be ground and made into tortillas while they wait.
I had a going-away party last weekend for four MBA students who were working at the institute for the past few months. It was also a surprise birthday party for another volunteer whose girlfriend asked if we could use my house for the party. I knew things were out of control when I received an e-mail invitation to my own party a few days later from some other volunteers who were “passing the word.” I was expecting 15 people and 32 showed up. The girlfriend came over during the day and blew up a couple dozen globos (balloons), which she filled with confetti. Between the occasional spills, busted balloons and confetti, the floors looked like clowns had partied there the night before and got sick. But it was worth it. Everyone brought something to eat or drink, and there was music, dancing and laughter – a perfect way to break in a new house.
A fellow Peace Corps Volunteer is coming to visit me next weekend. She’ll be here for my birthday, and the other volunteers in the area are also coming over for dinner.
The center is on vacation for the next three weeks and I’m looking forward to fixing up my house and just relaxing – something I haven’t done in quite a while. My landlord gave me permission to paint a mural on my utility room wall that faces the glassed-in kitchen. And I want to fill the sunroom with plants and flowers from the mercado.
The rainy season here extends from May thru September. It usually rains in the late afternoon or evening, but is mostly sunny and pleasant during the day. In the winter it can get chilly at night -- down to the mid-40s! (These people don't know what "cold" is.) My home town is suffering through a heat wave. That’s one thing I don’t miss: the swampy Wisconsin summers. Throw in the miserable Wisconsin winters while you’re at it.
I’ll write another update in August, when the institute is back in session and my work gets under way in earnest. Until then, enjoy summer, heat and all. I bet shoveling doesn't sound so bad right now.