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!