I wish I had more time to work on this blog and make it presentable, come up with creative titles and make you sit on the edge of your seat as you read this. Alas, I am in an internet cafe slower than an old lady in a hover-round with about six people in line behind me. Its time for an update, though.
We are currently in a small town on the coast of ecuador called Puerto Lopez. Its a wonderful town, more like a village really, filled with curious little kids, dirt roads, and shabby huts. After being stranded in Quito for an extra day, we started our journey here on a private bus. The trip was originally supposed to take only about 8 hours and in the end took about 17 because of a series of landslides that occurred on almost every road leading out of Quito. About seven hours into our trip we hit another road crippled by a landslide and somehow ended up on a single land dirt road, driving through a series of banana farms. I can´t tell you how terrifying this journey was, but I will say that at one point everyone had to get off the bus and push it up a particlarly steep and muddy hill.
Arriving in Puerto lopez, it turns out that not only are we staying in a house built by previous members of Venture Co, but we´re sleeping five to a room the size of a closet on a concrete floor in heat I can´t even describe. I woke up last night with a friendly little cockroach sitting on my shoulder which I quickly flung against the wall and crushed. I was awake ever after.
Richard and I have been running in the mornings, which is good for me as I have already gained about 7 lbs with my excellent diet of meat, potatoes, rice and ice cream.
We started our first project yesterday, which has been really wonderful so far. We´re building a small kitchen for a local school and inbetween we´ve been playing soccer with the local kids and heading to the beach every day for swims. The work is hard, though and I am getting more tired by the day. The combination of cockroad guard at night and trench digger during the day is exhausting.
All for now.
Love and bugs bugs bugs
Betty
PS Dad, that last comment was AMAZING.
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ya'll should post guard by shifts through out the night for la cucaracha. I bet soccer with the kids is really fun. really really fun.
ReplyDeleteI will have nightmares this evening. They will involve cockroaches and landslides.
ReplyDeletewe are your biggest fans and can't WAIT till you come back to us, sunburned knees and all.
Bea, Bea, Bea ... you need to work WITH nature - not against it. If you work in harmony with the roaches, they might gather together, forming a nice little mattress of bugs to soften your slumber. But alas, i fear that may never happen now ... oh well. I love you an absurd amount.
ReplyDeleteAh, to be in Ecuador pushing buses up muddy mountains, burning one's knees (you're in BIG trouble) and flicking cockroaches off one's shoulder in the wee hours of the morning. Sounds like heaven. I wouldn't be your mother if I didn't say, "Be careful" and "Put on your sunscreen!" Your blog is highly entertaining. Please keep it coming. I miss you something awful.
ReplyDeletewait, wait, wait !!! That last message was from Mom and it accidentally posted under my name. xoxox
ReplyDeleteNot so funny now, but this will be a great story when you're 105.
ReplyDeletehaha...I am still laughing about your friendly little visitor in the night. I am in awe of every entry you write catching myself thinking,"wow, is this really happening to her?" But of course I know you not as a liar so I guess I believe you :) -Lyndsey
ReplyDeleteHoney, roaches are an excellent source of protein and fiber, and have a delectable crunch without the transfat of chips. And like a small mouth bass, they put up a pretty good fight.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was inducted into the Order of the Arrow, my inductor was to take me into the woods, blindfolded, and leave me for a night of isolation and meditation. I was to find my way home the next morning. Instead, he left me in a drainage ditch at the edge of a dark winding road. Everytime a car passed, I waited to be crushed. Finally I fell asleep, only to be awakened by soft feathery touches on my face. Grand daddy long legs. Several. ooohhoohh.
Have I told you about the time I broke a futon because I saw a cockroach?
ReplyDelete-Katie Crowe