Cemetery & Weather

A few days ago our friend, Axel, took Christina and me to Tela's cemetery. We were surprised that it was only a block from the beach. You would think with all the rain and flooding they would want it in higher ground. For the same reason, I was also surprised at how many of the graves were not above ground. Leaving the cemetery, we passed one of Tela's numerous futbol (soccer) fields with a few grazing horses, a typical newer-style concrete house with the ubiquitous laundry hung up to dry, and a typical older-style wooden house. Then we headed off to enjoy the beach and swim for a few hours. Once again saying "no gracias" to the Garifuna people selling agua de coco (coconut milk), pan de coco (sweet bread), and trenzitas (hair braids). On the way home we stopped off to get a refreshment at our favorite hangout. Most of the establishments here are open air. You should see the bathroom in the back. In an unattached tin shed there is a toilet without a flush handle (I don't think it actually has running water. I think you have to bucket flush it... except there was no bucket to be found). (A merendero is a small restaurant that serves drinks and only one or two typical dishes.) The weather here really is so strange. Saturday was a lovely 85 degree F day at the beach. Blues skies and no clouds. Then Sunday was stormy. Dark skies and pouring rain all day. The electricity went out for awhile so I took a very enchanting candlelit bucket shower. With no shelves in the shower, the candle had to go on the ground. Try pouring water on yourself without letting the water splash the candle out while also making sure the candle does not catch the shower curtain on fire.

The gloomy gray weather continued on Monday. By then the electricity had come back on but the water turned very brown and then was shut off for the entire day and night. No washing dishes, flushing the toilet (except in an emergency we can use our precious bucket water to fill the tank and flush it), or washing hands. I took a 'shower' in the brown murky water we had saved in the bucket from Sunday night. There was even debris floating in it. I like to assume the water is just brown from mud and dirt and not from a sewage leak but who knows. Before we left in December Christina was developing a slight rash which may or may not have been from the shower.

By Tuesday morning, the water was still off but the skies were blue, cloudless, and sunny once more. We are going to get another larger container for storing water. Luckily when we got home from work the water was back on.

Wednesday morning I awoke to sunny blue skies and headed off to the beach to swim for a few hours before work. Can you find the crab? Good camouflaging. (Just for best friend Garrett, I made sure to include a cigarette butt (not mine) for scale.) Later at work, maybe about 3:00pm, the sky turned black and it started pouring again. After work we walked behind the school to see Mauricio's newly completed house (he is the founder's son and he teaches high school). He is 24 and him, his wife, Paola, and his 4 year old daughter, Paolita, just moved into the 3 bedroom house last weekend. They built the house in 4 months and Mauricio said the land and building costs came to about 700,00 lemps ($36,850). Try to do that in the states. It is just a concrete house but the inside has immaculate white marble floors. Most of the newer houses here build in stairs inside so they can add a second story when they save more money. Right now Mauricio's stairs lead to a tin roof. Eventually it will be painted, by and by. Only the main roads in Tela are paved so when leaving Mauricio's house we had to walk down a dirt road which was now muddy from the rain. You really have to plan out your path when the roads are muddy to avoid getting yourself muddy. Well, Christina somehow got trapped in a squishy patch and her foot was completely submerged in the muck. It was so thick she had to really pull to get her flip flop out.

On Thursday I woke up early to go to the beach but it was gloomy and rainy so instead I hand washed some dirty laundry in the sink and hung them to dry out back. Come on in and take a tour of my house. Click on the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac1tAyzBMN4 Click on this link to see my brief walk to work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhEEAfwqh-I
When I got to work my classroom was still locked. Apparently the key had broken so they tried to slide a plastic card through it, they tried some pliers and a wire, and finally they took part of the screen off the window and a high school students reached his arm through and turned the knob. While waiting, the kids and I played. Friday was sunny and a bit more humid but even with almost no clouds and blue skies it still managed to rain. On the way to dinner we passed some animals (of course). Apparently, the chickens sleep in the trees. Almost every Friday we go out to dinner at the same restaurant, Paseo Junior 's, and order the same thing. I get two cheese pupusas which come with pickled onions and cabbage (it is heavenly) and it is only 30 lemps ($1.60). We also stopped by the Gran Central hotel to visit our 84 year old friend, Manuel (the one with a 15 year old daughter. Refer to Dec. blog about Jimmy Durante). He was telling us about his wife (his 2nd wife, his 1st wife passed away 13 years ago today). They have been married 23 years and she is 50. So... when they got married, she was 27 and he was 61. I told you, he's got the magic charisma.

Work related comments:
* Most of the classrooms have a bulletin board that is titled at the top "Bulletin Board" (in case you weren't sure what it was? So what are all their other bulletin boards called?).
* Our Mon. - Wed. uniform has changed. We no longer wear the white button up shirts. Now we wear red polo shirts (still with navy blue pants or skirts). So everyday I now feel like I am going to work at Target. We still wear the P.E. shirt and jeans on Thursdays and have free dress on Fridays.
* Since there are no Ellison die cuts here, the students and teachers are all experts at hand-cutting letters. They make them for all the bulletin boards and posters. In the high school science room there is even a handmade periodic table of elements. They also make their own intricately decorated borders.