These 5 words sum up a lot of what has been going on in my life lately. I am happy to say that my outlook on life has been looking up lately and I have had a good couple of days. Firstly, I have to give a big shout out to Sara's family here in the community. Sara is our cook and basically unofficially in charge in teh eco tourism hotel. Slowly but surely I have become good friends with her. We eat breakfast together in the mornings and enjoy some coffee before starting the day. She is my first good friend here in the community and things really start getting better once you have some real friends, not just acquaintances. Her nieces come over at night and I bring up my radio and we rock out to reggaeton while Sara cooks for the guests. It is such a fun atmosphere! I found out that the town calls this family the "parranderos" - meaning 'party animals' because everyone in this family loves music, loves to dance, play futbol and have a good time. They have been so welcoming to me and I thank them so much for this.
Today I went down to Reu and did some shopping for food in the afternoon. In the morning, I was invited to go watch my students play a futbol championship. I am happy to say that they won the entire thing. We have the best futbol teams in this whole region - the little kids, youth, and adults! They all are increible players! The football game was held in another community and we walked over, carrying tubs of plastic bags filled with fresco for the other players. The field was pretty muddy and the players were slipping and sliding all over and I got pretty dirty as well trying to walk around and find a place to sit but it was all worth it. I hung out with Sara's nieces and had fun watching the game. The hottest fashion trend here are these clips of bright pink, blue, and purple fake hair pieces and I was given one by one of the girls, so of course I sported my new look at the game...and yes, I have regressed to basically a teenager here since everyone my age is married and really doesn't leave the house, so I hang out with the youth - it keeps me young :) I still can't believe how dressed up everyone gets for these games. I met all the kids in the school at 8 a.m. to find them all dressed to the nines with heels, ready to walk a mile on cobblestones to the other community. They are all putting on heavy makeup, lipstick, and doing their hair. I have my big black sunglasses with and immediately those are borrowed by the girls. They are all obsessed with the latest fashions.
After the game, I head down to catch the midday bus (Fridays there are 2 buses a day - YEAH) and head down to Reu to do some shopping. I get down at 2:30 p.m. and still haven't had lunch so I make a beeline for McDonald's (LOVE this here) and then head over to the supermarket. Then I make it back to the terminal and find our bus and ask the driver what time he is going to leave today (yes - no schedule - you have to ask) and realize I still have plenty of time to hit up the fresh produce section in the mercado. I buy my customary tomatoes, onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and bananas and head back. I have the luck to sit next to one of Sara's brothers for the ride home and enjoy talking with him on the ride back to the community. I bought some ham and cheese and bread and plan on sharing this luxury with Sara and her nieces for dinner. We don't have refrigeration here, so ham and cheese is one of those maybe once a week treats. I get back and bring up some eggs, ham, cheese, avocados, and tostadas to the kitchen and Sara whips up some amazing omelettes for us and we all enjoy these followed by some chocolates from the US. It is these evenings that I really enjoy here in the community. It is amazing how food and music can quickly form friendships. I think this will have to become a tradition.
Other notes:
1. Tarantulas - at this point I have found 3 in my new room and luckily every one of them have been killed. Oh I hope there aren't any more. They are big and hairy and give me nightmares. Thank God for mosquito nets.
2. Coffee - I recently got an in depth tour of the coffee beneficiary and it is so interesting. I LOVE coffee so much and Don Oswaldo, Elfido's dad, who is in charge of the entire deal here showed me around. He is so passionate about coffee and knows so much - it is great working with him. What a breath of fresh air after dealing with Javier. It is such an interesting and exhaustive process getting coffee from plant to cup - and I love it. I see a possible future in coffee :)
That's about it for now. It was a good day and little by little I feel like I am making some headway in this community and gaining the oh so elusive confianza - the real stuff - no just the common courtesies.
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