Super hombre

Same routine this morning with a new twist. Today we are making another new bed, this time for the chile seedlings. However this involves literally making a entirely new bed rather than just changing over the dirt as before. Pablo had already started on it, but we were able to help out with somethings. The greatest part is that Pablo rarely really explains what’s happening. He sort of just walks over and says “vamos” and then wanders off toward the back of the property with a chainsaw in hand. Now although this may sound terrifying, mostly it is just how Pablo is. The sweet, funny, hard-working guy who cares about this farm.

As we walked to the back of the property Pablo cuts these two massive trees into sections and asks us to carry them down to create a temporary retainer for the dirt that needs to vacate the new bed we’re making. However it is rather difficult to walk down a hill with no path and you cannot see the floor. So Pablo decided to upstage us entirely by essentially hauling down four of the five logs on his shoulders while we looked on in awe. Some of these had to have weighed over 70 pounds and he makes it look as if it’s nothing as he walks back down the rough path toward the new bed. So his new nickname is Superman.

That afternoon we just sort of chilled out in our kitchen while Pablo continued working. I ended up sitting in the hammock and Donald, the resident cat, opted to join in on the fun. He sat on me for about 30 minutes. One thing I probably failed to mention about Donald is his tendency to drool instead of purr. Purring is adorable, drooling is not. I can assure you being covered in cat hair and gecko drool is not my favourite thing. You see earlier that day Donald caught a gecko and I probably don’t even want to contemplate what else he had eaten today that is now residing on my t-shirt.

However close to the time he should be done work he was still peeling green plantains for the pigs. I offered to help. While I continued peeling he got the kitchen scraps cooking by lighting the fire. This time he didn’t use gasoline, instead he used some random unknown liquid from our kitchen. I suspect it was oil of some kind. Somehow we got talking about our plans for the weekend and Pablo invited Sara and I to join him for Saturday evening at his house. It’ll be nice to have a proper conversation with his wife.

Pablo also opted to teach us some seemingly innocent words that were considered inappropriate here in Nicaragua. Two examples were bicho, which can mean insect or a very nasty word for women, and chucho which apparently refers to people having sex. However in Guatemala the significance is a slang for a dog. Glad to have all that cleared up though.

This afternoon once Pablo left, Sara headed into town. I had the farm to myself which was rather nice. I was able to have a cold shower which somehow managed to make me feel human again. I was just feeling like a dirt, drool, and hair collector and I was delighted to have a shower to wash off the day. Plus there is just something so magical about this farm and the view from the shower. Being able to see Lago Nicaragua and the banana trees while you shower is just such an exquisite thing. I was completely happy for this time to appreciate this farm by myself.

I then made my way up to the Lodge to enjoy the use of the Internet when the rain started falling. Martijn said this morning that the rain was likely over and I suppose Mother Nature wanted to show him how wrong he could be. I decided that I could use some more fresh squeezed juice and I just sat and enjoyed it. I also talked to the Canadian family I met yesterday about the type of work they did (turned out to be shoe distribution) as well as the man’s new project regarding new technologies in wind power. It was good to see someone so inspired by this new technology. I hope for him and our sakes that it is as awesome as it sounds like it could be.

Hunger finally overtook me and I decided to head back to the volunteer area. Sara had already started cooking rice and we ended up having curried rice with lentils for dinner while we listened to Nina Simone. I had a pang of missing my Dad, for he is the one who introduced me to Nina Simone, but all in all it was an entirely blissful evening. That was until Donald decided to play with my leg and bit me.

A few days ago he treated Sara in the same way and now it was my turn. I felt particularly stung after I had endured the cat drool and hair all over my person earlier that afternoon. Additionally Donald had decided to leave us a further gift, cat poop with a partially digested gecko. As you can probably imagine, we really were less than impressed with his attitudes toward our house and our bodies. Now there is a significant love-hate relationship developing.

On the other hand, I am pretty much madly in love with the dog here--Dukie. I perhaps cannot properly explain it in so many words, but he is quickly becoming my favourite thing here. Every time you say his name he wags his tail and is plainly excited that you are acknowledging his existence. Additionally I love walking with him into town and up to the lodge, he loyally follows and joyfully walks with you. Pretty much melts my heart.

Pablo’s wife worked this evening and he surprised both of us when he seemed to magically appear out of the darkness. In fairness we were also blasting some of my rock music at a loud decibel. Wearing a jacket (which I felt was totally unnecessary in the heat) he joined us for a moment in our kitchen, this time sharing with us some good words in Spanish. He said in particular that it was common in the countryside it is rare for people to greet each other with “hola”. Apparently “hola, hola” is fine, as is “buenos dias”. Apparently we have been doing it all wrong this time, greeting people with holas and regular buenas dias. Useful information when we walk through town.

I capped off the night by listening to my music while writing down some Spanish vocabulary.