A Day in the Life of...

Today I got up at 5:30 am (woke at my usual 4:30) and had a little bowl of corn flakes with raisins and milk! Most people in the village can't have milk as they don't have refrigeration but I do and it makes me soooo appreciate cold items.

I headed over to my garden across the path from my home. I made the decision to abort the garden for now as the seedlings can't quite handle the torrential downpours in this rainforest. Some nights the rain on my zinc roof is deafening and although I love the sound of the downpours, I cringe knowing that across the path, my seedlings are probably washing away...so with a few exceptions, I will stop gardening until rainy season ends. I did have a bumper crop of a few vegetables, especially cucumbers. And I had planted an area for flowers and the Mexican sunflowers are doing a hat dance! But the average rainfall in the Toledo District is 160 inches/year... a little too much for most vegetables, I guess. The good news about the garden is that it has stimulated lots of interest here in the village and I've had several people ask me to help them start their own garden. Of course, I'll love that but I told them to wait until October. So those of you that sent seeds should know that they are being put to great use!! Nutrition in the village is severely lacking in fruits and vegetables. They live on chicken, rice and beans and tortillas for the most part. Could be the start of something good?

Next I went to a neighbor's house where I had been asked to help build a latrine. This morning from 8 am to noon we dug a hole about 3 ft square and 8 ft deep. None of the women participate in the digging as they are much too busy tending to the children and bathing, dishes, and laundry down at the river. The two men laughed and joked with me which was fun because the men pretty much keep to themselves here in the village other than at meetings. I felt like I kept up with my end of the digging—you know me, not a slacker. It's a tough job after about one foot down as the soil is hard clay and shale stone. And of course, the sun was blazing...my guess the heat index was well over 110. Ugh!

Came home at noon and took a cold shower! Remember I built my own shower in the kitchen? I'm so glad I did because I cool off in it at least 4x/day—some days much more!! Made myself an open faced chicken salad sandwich...homemade bread I made several days ago and chicken salad I made yesterday with celery, onions, green pepper, carrots and walnuts!! The vegetables in it were a real treat from the market last week and Sue Brown sent the walnuts a while ago. I've been rationing those for quite a while now. You savor every bite when you can't have this type of thing often. Every little piece of celery that fell onto my plate found its way to my stomach.

Read for a little while and drank lots of water. Then at 2 pm I headed up to the school where some children and I are working on making a map of the world on the school wall. Seems like a great learning experience for them. I quickly became aware of how little geography I know outside North America so it's a great learning experience for me, too!! I have a couple of pictures of the group and one picture of our feet because we are literally working in the mud...mas sule le beh! (the road is muddy—K'ekchi) This is a Peace Corps project that is done all over the world to give children a chance to see where they fit in the big picture...working together gives them a sense of community. All I know is that we are having fun. Most of the children left at around 4:30 as they have to go home and help with dinner preparations and with younger siblings. I stayed until I couldn't see anymore...nearly dark at 6:30 (no daylight savings here).

Came home and took another shower to wash away the sweat, paint, but mostly the mud. Had some leftover spaghetti sauce and made spaghetti and another slice of homemade bread. Plan to read a little bit more and hit the sack by 10. It's 9:15 now and the village has been asleep or at least very quiet since 7:30.

So that's my day today...not very exciting but certainly full. Maybe more gaps were bridged between the white lady and the villagers. I want to leave here and have them think that white people aren't so bad afterall...maybe even nice?!?

I almost forgot to tell you!! The reason why I started writing today was because I was finally stung by a scorpion! I have seen many here but have managed to remain intact until today. It was while I was with the men this morning so I had to 'act' brave like it was no big deal. But it's a pretty sharp sting...quite a bit worse than a bee sting and it makes your lips and tongue swell up and you feel like your whole mouth has been to the dentist!! Things are pretty normalized now other than my thumb which is still quite swollen. The mosquito and chigger bites are bothering me more now than the scorpion sting as I'm writing this... And while we're on the 'critters' subject, I have a nest of bats inside my house where I sleep. Thought I got rid of them last week but ...'They're Back!!' ...village life...

Today is my beautiful daughter's birthday. Please join me in wishing Ashley a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! She is 30!! Seems like yesterday when I brought her home just 4 hours after delivery...(what in the world was I thinking?) Thank God, we all have grown up. I love you ASHLEY!!! p.s. the rainbow is for you honey!

God bless us all...tracy