Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Catching up
My house in Esteli
I like my house. Its pricey for here, but its right in the center of town, so banks, internet, post office, markets, and restaurants are right here. It can be noisy sometimes because on the corner is Gallo Mas Gallo, and appliance store that uses loud music emanating from enormous speakers on the weekends to attract customers. I assume the goal is to overwhelm the sensory capacities of passerbys, so that they become disoriented and inadvertently veer into the shop, where shop employees congregate en mass "Como le sirve?" until finally, exhausted, the victim buys a new stove, exercise bike, and blender on a pay as you go plan which will have them making payments until 2010.
Anyway, my house is a small house, with three rooms right in a row: living room kitchen/bedroom/bathroom. The best thing is that the roof is covered, so it doesn't get as dusty as my old room, and that the floors are all tile. I have ac actual closet in my bedroom, and the bathroom has theoretical hot water, but the electric hot water heater keeps breaking. I think my landlord after the second time thinks it is my fault and has not sent someone around to fix it. I think it just needs to be replaced. Better than my old room with squealing pigs next door. Seriously, always check the nieghbors houses for signs that say Se Vende Cerdo...... before renting to avoid problems
In the yard are two fierce dogs named Princesa and Muneca. They are very barky but they have grown used to me. They seem to hate all dark-skinned men though, and so they are tied up during the day, and let loose at night to dissuade burglars. Of course, if Otoniel comes over and wants to put his bike in the yard, he has to be careful.
I like my not so landlady, Antonia. She is not the landlady, but the woman who cares for the house next door where my landlord is. He is old, and nice and friendly, but a bit of a drunk, and so she insists I give the rent money to her. She is in many ways typical of a certain kind of older Nica woman. Straight forward, doesn't mince words, a harsh sounding voice, well versed in the polite niceties of nica culture (saying hello on the street, greeting good morning), but just as easily yells to the workers in the yard, or just as easily scolds her boss. When I first moved her, ooh, the look she gave when I asked if she was his wife. But when I said I just thought that to be the case because of the way she scolded him, she laughed. So she has a sense of humor. A somewhat caustic one. And she loves her animals. When the dogs bark, she will shout "jodida, callate, que perra mas necia!", but then at lunch she will bring them food, and chide them if they do not eat. She has a sweet orange tabby who is bien jugatona, who plays with the dogs, and they pounce on her. She is fearless, like her owner, and will come in my house if I leave the door open. She tells me of how she raised all of them from being small., and tells stories about them; she obviously loves them very much. I suspect she may have no children, but I don't want to ask. She never mentions them. She was sad when two of the doves outside dies because she normally feeds them bits of tortillas in the morning. So for all her rough edges, she is soft inside. She in a way, reminds me of my grandmother. She is very considerate. The yard between the houses is used as a garage for cars, so if I have laundry hanging out, she will move it so it doesn't get dirty. Likewise, when the cars move out again, she will move my laundry so it gets the most sun. We have water shortages in Esteli, so she will fill up the pila in the lavendero to make sure I will have water for washing or cleaning if I need it (a lavendero is a big cement tables with raised edges divided into two sides. One side is a large sink, pila, to hold water, and the other is used for washing and so is inclined, has ridges for scrubbing, and a drainage hole).
MEMORIES OF HONDURAS
As I have not taken any trips lately, I was thinking about the dive trip I tookj to Honduras with Sadie...so here is one story
I have arrived with Sadie on a desert island. Our only companion, Renegade Ron, an unlikely adventurist, who seems solely driven to do things precisely because someone told him not to. A man who never sleeps, preferring to down tropical alcoholic drinks. Who chain smokes cigarettes until he straps on his scuba tanks and dives into the water. A man who arrives to scuba class in the morning hung over, eats cheesy chocolaty pastry while the boat slams across the water at 40 MPH, a man who vomits TWICE over the side of the boat, and STILL goes on to dive. Hes a trooper, Ron. We have decided to take a break form aforementioned scuba class to visit a cay island that is supposed to be the bounty island form the TV commercial. Which, it is, but after the production crew left ad before the cleanup crew got there. So if you ignore piles of trash, yes, it was beautiful. We managed to find a shady spot free of debris, when a small girl appeared out of nowhere. She was soaking wet, in a shirt and shorts clinging to her thin angular adolescent body. Big blue eyes, some freckles and straggly blond hair. Considering we could see no boat of any kind, we concluded that she must be a mermaid. When she asked us to pay the fee for using the island, well, that seemed fair enough. I must assume that overfishing has affected local mermaid economies, by reducing the workforce. She introduced herself as Ariel. To be honest, I cant remember what her name was, but Ariel seems fitting enough. She claims to have boated herself over form the very nearby cay with the house on it. A ruse to prevent mermaid enthusiast from swamping the island and creating a more dire litter problem.
After taking our money, she disappears. Sadie then decided she wants to eat coconut, despite signs warning that this is forbidden. But Sadie will not be stopped. She has coconut lust. So the coconuts on our island are too high to reach. Luckily, there is another island closeby, that we can swim, walk to. It has a boarded up house with a lovely pink shell on the porch, which I almost steal, but decide its bad karma. And it might be some sort of trap……
We find good brown coconuts, with water swiching around, like in the movies, and cart them back to our island. Lacking machetes, Sadie attempts to bash it open on the rocks. I remember the Discovery Channel videos of chimps opening hard shelled seeds, and tell her she should find a sharp rock and a flat rock and chisel a hole. She sits, crouched on her haunches, a face a serious concentration, not too unlike the chimps from the television. She beats and beats and is making little progress when the mermaid reappears. Speaking in her pigeon English (some claim it is a Creole developed form the early residents of these islands, being French, Dutch, English, Irish, and other sailor pirate type-but I know its because it is her second language, MER being her first)
¨"Tats forbidden, ya know. ´sides, dat coconuts too old. I ken get ya some green ones if ya want"
And she then grabs hold of a leaning coconut tree, and climbs up, walking up the trucnk on her feet while her skinny arms propel her up. She brings us two coconuts, which Sadie (who has by now perfected her rock awl and chisel technique) deftly opens, Sadie screams for joy, and we drink coconut water and eat fresh coconut meat. Just like in the bounty commercial. And the mermaid stays with us for a good part of the day, telling us stories of her mother, her mothers boyfriend, life on the populated island, her drunk father who one time gave her money for school clothes. Her little brother who has got a different dad…..
I like my house. Its pricey for here, but its right in the center of town, so banks, internet, post office, markets, and restaurants are right here. It can be noisy sometimes because on the corner is Gallo Mas Gallo, and appliance store that uses loud music emanating from enormous speakers on the weekends to attract customers. I assume the goal is to overwhelm the sensory capacities of passerbys, so that they become disoriented and inadvertently veer into the shop, where shop employees congregate en mass "Como le sirve?" until finally, exhausted, the victim buys a new stove, exercise bike, and blender on a pay as you go plan which will have them making payments until 2010.
Anyway, my house is a small house, with three rooms right in a row: living room kitchen/bedroom/bathroom. The best thing is that the roof is covered, so it doesn't get as dusty as my old room, and that the floors are all tile. I have ac actual closet in my bedroom, and the bathroom has theoretical hot water, but the electric hot water heater keeps breaking. I think my landlord after the second time thinks it is my fault and has not sent someone around to fix it. I think it just needs to be replaced. Better than my old room with squealing pigs next door. Seriously, always check the nieghbors houses for signs that say Se Vende Cerdo...... before renting to avoid problems
In the yard are two fierce dogs named Princesa and Muneca. They are very barky but they have grown used to me. They seem to hate all dark-skinned men though, and so they are tied up during the day, and let loose at night to dissuade burglars. Of course, if Otoniel comes over and wants to put his bike in the yard, he has to be careful.
I like my not so landlady, Antonia. She is not the landlady, but the woman who cares for the house next door where my landlord is. He is old, and nice and friendly, but a bit of a drunk, and so she insists I give the rent money to her. She is in many ways typical of a certain kind of older Nica woman. Straight forward, doesn't mince words, a harsh sounding voice, well versed in the polite niceties of nica culture (saying hello on the street, greeting good morning), but just as easily yells to the workers in the yard, or just as easily scolds her boss. When I first moved her, ooh, the look she gave when I asked if she was his wife. But when I said I just thought that to be the case because of the way she scolded him, she laughed. So she has a sense of humor. A somewhat caustic one. And she loves her animals. When the dogs bark, she will shout "jodida, callate, que perra mas necia!", but then at lunch she will bring them food, and chide them if they do not eat. She has a sweet orange tabby who is bien jugatona, who plays with the dogs, and they pounce on her. She is fearless, like her owner, and will come in my house if I leave the door open. She tells me of how she raised all of them from being small., and tells stories about them; she obviously loves them very much. I suspect she may have no children, but I don't want to ask. She never mentions them. She was sad when two of the doves outside dies because she normally feeds them bits of tortillas in the morning. So for all her rough edges, she is soft inside. She in a way, reminds me of my grandmother. She is very considerate. The yard between the houses is used as a garage for cars, so if I have laundry hanging out, she will move it so it doesn't get dirty. Likewise, when the cars move out again, she will move my laundry so it gets the most sun. We have water shortages in Esteli, so she will fill up the pila in the lavendero to make sure I will have water for washing or cleaning if I need it (a lavendero is a big cement tables with raised edges divided into two sides. One side is a large sink, pila, to hold water, and the other is used for washing and so is inclined, has ridges for scrubbing, and a drainage hole).
MEMORIES OF HONDURAS
As I have not taken any trips lately, I was thinking about the dive trip I tookj to Honduras with Sadie...so here is one story
I have arrived with Sadie on a desert island. Our only companion, Renegade Ron, an unlikely adventurist, who seems solely driven to do things precisely because someone told him not to. A man who never sleeps, preferring to down tropical alcoholic drinks. Who chain smokes cigarettes until he straps on his scuba tanks and dives into the water. A man who arrives to scuba class in the morning hung over, eats cheesy chocolaty pastry while the boat slams across the water at 40 MPH, a man who vomits TWICE over the side of the boat, and STILL goes on to dive. Hes a trooper, Ron. We have decided to take a break form aforementioned scuba class to visit a cay island that is supposed to be the bounty island form the TV commercial. Which, it is, but after the production crew left ad before the cleanup crew got there. So if you ignore piles of trash, yes, it was beautiful. We managed to find a shady spot free of debris, when a small girl appeared out of nowhere. She was soaking wet, in a shirt and shorts clinging to her thin angular adolescent body. Big blue eyes, some freckles and straggly blond hair. Considering we could see no boat of any kind, we concluded that she must be a mermaid. When she asked us to pay the fee for using the island, well, that seemed fair enough. I must assume that overfishing has affected local mermaid economies, by reducing the workforce. She introduced herself as Ariel. To be honest, I cant remember what her name was, but Ariel seems fitting enough. She claims to have boated herself over form the very nearby cay with the house on it. A ruse to prevent mermaid enthusiast from swamping the island and creating a more dire litter problem.
After taking our money, she disappears. Sadie then decided she wants to eat coconut, despite signs warning that this is forbidden. But Sadie will not be stopped. She has coconut lust. So the coconuts on our island are too high to reach. Luckily, there is another island closeby, that we can swim, walk to. It has a boarded up house with a lovely pink shell on the porch, which I almost steal, but decide its bad karma. And it might be some sort of trap……
We find good brown coconuts, with water swiching around, like in the movies, and cart them back to our island. Lacking machetes, Sadie attempts to bash it open on the rocks. I remember the Discovery Channel videos of chimps opening hard shelled seeds, and tell her she should find a sharp rock and a flat rock and chisel a hole. She sits, crouched on her haunches, a face a serious concentration, not too unlike the chimps from the television. She beats and beats and is making little progress when the mermaid reappears. Speaking in her pigeon English (some claim it is a Creole developed form the early residents of these islands, being French, Dutch, English, Irish, and other sailor pirate type-but I know its because it is her second language, MER being her first)
¨"Tats forbidden, ya know. ´sides, dat coconuts too old. I ken get ya some green ones if ya want"
And she then grabs hold of a leaning coconut tree, and climbs up, walking up the trucnk on her feet while her skinny arms propel her up. She brings us two coconuts, which Sadie (who has by now perfected her rock awl and chisel technique) deftly opens, Sadie screams for joy, and we drink coconut water and eat fresh coconut meat. Just like in the bounty commercial. And the mermaid stays with us for a good part of the day, telling us stories of her mother, her mothers boyfriend, life on the populated island, her drunk father who one time gave her money for school clothes. Her little brother who has got a different dad…..
