Josie Tribute

Anyone else missing her? Probably the only ones that can say no to that are my parents. Cherish her!

Cribs

It was a snap to find a place to stay. I looked for signs, asked for leads, and in the end chose a simple room in a 4 room "hotel". Gladys and her husband live below, then they have 4 rooms above and since I am going to be here a long while they arranged it to my liking. 1000Q/month, or $132. It is near the family I hang with, and it is pretty sweet. Just a simple room and a private bathroom, with the "widow maker" type of shower head.




Views from balcony















Pretty much every time I leave either the sheets
are changed or the trash is taken out, but rarely both.











Special guest

Bienvenida?

When I first got to Flores and was reunited with the family I stayed with last time, Memo (a gringo who's been living here for 4 years), his Guatemalan wife Angelica, her kids Reyna (10) and Wilso (8), their kid Paralee (1.5), and Angelica's sister Zaira (freshly 18), I was a little disappointed. I'd stayed here for 3 weeks 6 months ago, but the kids didn't really seem to remember me. Even Zaira, who I thought I'd had plenty of girl-time with, was like, "where are you from?" I guess it was partly because in the 6 months I was away they'd turned their place into a hostel, and so a parade of gringas has come through here. But everyone warmed up again pretty quickly and it is comfortable again. I've arranged to eat many of my meals with them when I'm in town, and I've hunkered down in their internet cafe with my own laptop. And last night I felt things really turned a corner with the little kids, when they remembered completely on the own that I had taught them the robot dance last time I was here.

Anyway, this is a nice arrangement because I can cook occasional things in their kitchen and I don't have to sit alone in a restaurant whenever I want a real meal, which gets old fast. I just have to be on guard against tickle attacks, but if I get my back into a corner I can usually hold the two of them off pretty well.

It's becoming routine

I actually shocked myself in the shower again last night, though this time it was not so much of a surprise, I knew I was running a risk. I was trying to adjust something on the shower head, when I felt the tingle. The part I was touching appeared all plastic, though, so I am not sure what parts are safely touchable and which are not. Perhaps I need a more advanced tutorial.

And it has been pointed out to me by Stacy that I mis-wrote the code for dialing out of the US when I posted my phone number. My number here is 011-502-5185-5624, not 001-etc. as I had originally posted.

Anyway, last Friday I went into the big bad city and had some meetings with folks involved in the park management. All turned out well, I kind of just crashed their gap analysis workshop, talked to the folks I needed to talk to, then skedaddled. On the way back to Antigua, the very full bus I was on suddenly and completely conked out. I've never witnessed a faster death of an automobile. It was like we coasted to a stop and then all the electricity failed. Maybe it's the new electro-magnetism I am carrying around with me since my shower incident. Batteries fail, hard drives erase... it's a mess. Anyway, it was dark, and they tried to clutch-start the bus by letting it roll backwards downhill. I put my head down on my arms, braced in crash position, but fortunately that did not happen, but nor did the engine start. In the end, all the passengers got off and we got into whichever buses stopped for us, little by little. A long trip!

Yesterday, Sunday, I left Antigua and came to Flores, the biggish urban area closest to where I am going to be doing my research. I'm starting out with the family that I stayed with last time, though since then they have converted the huge room I had all to myself into a dormitory style hostel. So I need to find something new, with more more privacy and room to spread out. I also want it to have cable TV. Let me know if you hear of anything.