Mary Maier

This week I found mold in my laundry bag, near my suitcase, and consequently on some of my clothes. Now everything is hanging up in my room to try to avoid any new little black spots. The main problem is the humidity. It rained nonstop for the last two days but we are beginning to get a few patches of sun again.

The other day I was walking to Bunche with Alvaro and his brothers and we saw a 6ft-long snake, curled up and missing a head. It had a black and white pattern and was as thick as my fist in the middle. After everyone argued about how long it was, Alvaro picked it up with a stick and threw it in the bushes.

Each time I walk on the path to the volunteer house, about 3 toads jump away. They are mostly about 2 inches long along their backs but some are as big as 4 inches. Once, when walking to Freddy?s, I saw one that was as least 6 inches long. It sat in the road without moving as I shined my flashlight on it and then walked away.

There are always pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, or horses running around here. Some mornings there is a white crane which flies and lands gracefully near the shrimp ponds, across from the volunteer house. I always try to get a picture but am never close enough.

Each time I take a carro (a pickup truck) to and from Muisne it is a different experience. Yesterday, the truck was almost full (18 people) so I stood in the middle among a sack of something and some backpacks. There was a group of women who exploded in laughter every few seconds the entire way to Muisne. On the way back, about 20 people stood up in a carro that didn?t have any benches in the back. We were ?full,? as they say here, and still kept picking up more people. Alvaro and his brothers jumped on as well, riding outside the truck on the side (there is a rack for people to hold on). When we got close to the station, I banged on the roof to get the car to stop, and climbed up the side of the truck and jumped off because there was no other way to get off with all the people. A few days ago, Alvaro and I got on a carro that was filled with yellow containers of water for washing clothes. I stood up while he hung on the tailgate and at every bump in the road a little bit of water splashed on us.

Flea?s puppies get cuter and cuter each day. She has two that are at the station and they are old enough to really resemble their parents (the brown one looks like Flea and the black one looks like Alvaro?s dog, Otilino). Sometimes she will run in circles or play with plastic bottles and they will chase and bark at her. They sleep below the volunteer house and make little barking noises when they yawn. Each time I come downstairs they are lying in similar positions or next to each other, and when they wake up they wag their tails and roll over to have me rub their bellies.

Since using almost every method of ridding my mattress of insects I haven?t had any problems sleeping. I think I have about 10 bites right now, the lowest number I?ve had since arriving.

After the community meeting in Bunche, I worked on cutting the bamboo for platforms for trash (to keep it away from the dogs and allow the trash man to collect it anytime). We constructed 5 in Bunche and I monitor them along with the trash in two locations to see if anything changes in the next few weeks.

We need a lot more bamboo for a large trash platform, which will allow the trash to be pushed into a dump truck and taken to the dump. Currently, the trash is collected and then dumped in the mangroves and the trash truck doesn?t come to Bunche. On Thursday we went into the forest to start cutting bamboo. I?m not sure how much we need, but I think about 50 ca?a, or full trees, should be enough. Each ca?a is at least 30 feet long and much heavier than it looks, but with the rain it is even heavier. With 2 boys and 2 girls working in the rain, we managed to cut 27. We got 20 of them over the hill and threw them off a cliff (the fastest way to get them to the station) before lunch. After that we basically slid down the cliff because of all the mud. Only 1 ca?a made it all the way to the station, so there is still another half-day of work to get the rest here. After lunch I stayed in my bed until dinner.

That evening there was another festival in Bunche with more drumming, singing, and dancing. Alvaro?s brothers came to visit from Quito so we got a table at the discoteca and danced until about 2:30. The discoteca is essentially a room with a sound system and some wooden tables and benches. Some people sit inside with bottles of Pilsener beer or soda but most of the town stands at the windows and watches us dance. All the children, who aren?t allowed to come in, stand at the door and watch until the owner of the discoteca walks by. Everyone dances in pairs and all the lights are on for bachata, salsa, etc. When they play reggaeton and turn off the lights, the younger people dance and even more people watch from the windows.