Getting Close to Adios

What I won't miss:
- Boiled green bananas
- Watching every bite and sip enter my mouth to make sure I don't eat somebody
- Wondering if that slow, drippy feeling going down my neck/back/leg is either sweat or a bug that's going to bite me
- Conga Ants. Ants that make grown men - from here - cry when bitten. They like the living room floor.
- Inhaling the occasional UFO up my nose
- Psyching myself up to go to the bathroom, get dressed, get undressed, get clean, go to sleep, get out of bed, lift something up, turn something over, etc.
- Scab management

What I will miss:
- Hearing "Hello" from the little kids
- Shaking everyone's hand I pass (they greet everyone in a group)
- Being tall
- Having the canoe sound the horn when it passes (I wonder what the lodge visitors think when they see me doing my laundry)
- Living in a mirror-free world
- Special gifts for "La Maggie" - bread, lollipops, papaya, cake

Hey, Now That's a Fun-Guy!

While I am personally fungus free, there are a lot of cool, fun-gi's around here. They usually last just a day or so but long enough to make an impression. Some are straight out of Dr. Suess - but here are what I call "Proscuitto" fungus and the other..."White asparagas in a cage"...or something.

Even More Random Thoughts

Is the proper five layer dip sequence:

anti-septic anti-biotic anti-itch anti-bite anti-sun

Or have I just created a toxic skin cocktail? Does the subsequent product negate the impact of the previously applied? How fast is it all sweated off anyway? Is it better to put Deet on an open wound to avoid a double bite? Or a medicinal product - risk the double bite, but put less poison in your system? That is the question.

Sometimes I rub a little lemon juice and salt in my wounds - don't ask me why but it seems to help the healing process and must be better than Deet. Rubbing alcohol is a real treat.

Take an eco-green star away from me if you must, but I use plastic, I need plastic, I crave plastic here in the jungle. Only with plastic do you have a fighting chance against critters, moisture and mold.

I'm on the cusp of cracking the mold situation - not only do clothes need to be dried before being rolled up and put away (ideally in plastic) - but they need to be cooled. They get so hot from the sun that without an extended cooling process in the shade condensation forms in the bag and voila - mold again.

Photo note: This self-portrait was taken in Coca, after using 100% deet (I caved after a month), taking antibiotics, and was out of the jungle at this point so healing was well underway. Extrapolate to the rest of me.

2 Good 2 Be 4 Gotten (aka more school memories)

Thursdays I get the school canoe (when there is gas) over to the other side of the river to teach at the school on that side of the community. They have 1 teacher there for all grades. Here is a shot of the chalkboard - notice the birds nest on the right edge (btw, much less distracting than the active wood wasps I have in another class).

Open action item: I need to find out where they get their names from. There are a lot of Jeffersons, Jacksons, Washingtons, Franklins and Wilsons running around. This is my first Nixon (see right side of board).

Here's a shot of the teachers mailboxes - one message so far - asking if I want a kichwa boyfriend.

Found some math homework on the way to school one morning - on a leaf - now That's Sustainable!

A day in life - Friday, September 24th

So on my way to work today, got some scoop. I talked for a bit with Lola on the walk (to school for me, minga for her) - and Juan (her husband) was bitten yesterday afternoon at 3pm by a fat (her word) ocelot! It was going after a chicken, one of the dogs got involved and then Juan went in to try to save his animals. The chicken lost the battle (not Maggie el Pollo), the dog made it, and Juan ended up with a bite on his leg - so he needed to stay home. She did say that the cat was beautiful. I gave her some antibiotic ointment on a leaf to take home for him. Keep in mind that Spanish is a weak second language for us both and there was something about Wilson's dog and the ocelot too, but I missed that part.
Did I mention that we are neighbors? Most parcels are 250 meters of riverfront and then 2.5 km back. Long, skinny strips of primary rainforest which has never been cut, cleared or cultivated. The locals boast that 50% of insects here haven't been documented (Mari and I are convinced that the spider with hands is amongst the unrecorded) - and even if they are off by a lot, there is still a lot here waiting to be studied and named.
Privacy and being ok with being alone is a foreign concept here. People are rarely alone. Entire families sleep in the same space. When people find out I'm alone in the house the kids immediately invite themselves over because being alone is just not done. I felt better once I learned this because I thought it was because I was a silly gringa who was incapable of taking care of herself. Every time I write in my notebook and especially when I use my laptop I have an audience looking at me and what I'm writing. It's awkward for me when I'm writing about them, even if they don't know it.
It's a new day, so a new random kid toddles into class, hands me a football sized papaya and toddles out. Too young for school. Seriously the cutest thing ever.
Post grass-clearing minga with machetes (what a manal push mower could accomplish here) - time for a serious football (soccer) game. Socks vs. Wellies. Ok, it's actually shirts vs skins, but that's only because it's 80% socks, 15% wellies, a few tennis shoes and one pair of cleats. Socks never slipped on the grass, tennies did. 26 players. Self-ref'd, but official timekeeper gave minute and second updates.
I get to go to the lodge for the weekend - yippee - cold shower and toilet - and now lodge lessons begin. As soon as I get in the canoe until I can escape to my room I'm teaching English to the guys who work in the lodge - cooks, motoristas, guides, cleaners, barman - anyone who is interested. It's exhausting, exhilarating, and fun helping them learn and pronouce words. "V's" are my nemisis.
Good day.

Really the only thing that matters

Is whether it bites or not. I have a habit of asking "What kind of spider is this?" And if anyone has an answer, it's in Kichwa and I can't understand it anyway. Had one above my bed the other day, took a poll on peligroso or no (dangerous), decided to let it be and actually slept in my own bed. I was alone in -- or under-- the house, and I'm proud of myself for being able to sleep.

Picture this Amazonian Norman Rockwell scene - family gathered around the candle (me, 8 year old Nellie and 5 year old Robinson) playing Mexican bingo while dinner is cooking on the stove. Rice, of course. We have three square meals a day of rice. I'm packing my backpack for the weekend in case I get lucky and get to go to the lodge for the weekend. So I have my little backpack on my lap, we're laughing, since we really can't communicate with words, and lo and behold there is a mongo spider on my backpack...while it's on my lap. Quietly, but oh so quickly, I place the pack on the floor a few feet away and then my questioning begins. What kind of spider is it? Oh pleeeese. The real question, which the kids get immediately, is "pincha" - which means it bites. They don't care what kind of spider it is and I don't either. They go downstairs, get a board, beat it to death, push it over the edge of the house (look ma, no walls) and then it's back to bingo.

We saw a spider with hands the other night. Mari was closest but the camera is never around for the good stuff.

Mira Maggie Mira! (Look Maggie Look!)

Never have such simple words simultaneously filled me with conflicting emotions – trepidation and excitement. I don’t know what’s coming, but it’s going to be cool. I also am “it” when the boys race – so when I hear the approaching sprinters I brace myself (especially on a muddy hill) – wait for impact and then declare the winner. That’s what my walk to and sometimes from school is like with my “estudiantes”. Usually with 4 boys and 2 girls ages 6-12 – running all over, digging up special treats and laughing. I was happy to be able to say “I had a big, hairy ant at breakfast today, but thank you nonetheless for the offer” (not my exact translation). Flowers are given to me with almost every color of the rainbow (always teaching), creepy bugs, and cinnamon leaf to crunch up and chew on – amazingly yummy – especially since I carried my lunch to and from school that day without taking a bite. If the kids don’t eat, I can’t bring myself to.
My typical school day schedule is up 6 and out the “door” (there are no doors) at 6:45. Walk 30 min + to school. Teach different classes from 7:30-3:30ish. This includes a non-food lunch break (although I hear that food will be provided soon for the kids) when I’m usually playing card games with the kids – Sesame Street alphabet cards. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I have beginning adult classes and Wednesday I have an adult advanced conversation group (or person). We usually read out of National Geographic, F1 or Sports Illustrated. Then it’s to the river for bathing and laundry, and back home for dinner and planning to do it all over again the next day.
Best part of my day is when people ask for class to go longer or when the kids show up for the professors class to learn more.