Dianne flies solo

Monday’s blog

Best day ever! Charles spent the day working. I didn’t! I walked to work with him, but there wasn’t anything for me to do, so off I went.
I took the camera and started collecting pictures of things I want to paint. Did some studies on flowers and plants. It was lovely. I went to the internet café and was able to talk to Pam and Judy and Dan. Dan was trying to convince me that it was 3 AM his time. Sigh. Why are my children always trying to cause trouble?

Charles was still working so I went off to do the banking and a bit of shopping. I was hoping to find some cilantro so that I could make some fresh salsa. One of our new friends told me how to pronounce it in Spanish. Then it was getting close to lunch time, but Charles was still working, so I went to lunch without him. Man was it good but lots too much. I ordered him something and packed up the rest of mine and took it to him at work. He ate his lunch and had a bit of a break, and then off I went again.

I was about to go down to the beach to get our day’s fruit when the best thing ever happened. A truck pulled up in front of one of the restaurants full of fruits and veggies. Man I could hardly carry all of my treasures home. I spent the afternoon chopping, making 2 kinds of salsa.

I love it here. This place would be perfect if there was a comfortable place to sit. All of the chairs are hard. No couch in our little house, just one chair and a couple of stools and benches. Now I would have thought that there was sufficient padding on our butts to make them comfortable, but after a while it is very uncomfortable.

Things I learned about Food

1. It’s very hard not to load up our tiny little fridge. We buy what we need every day and everyday it is fresh. When I am tempted to get extra we end up eating stale, old things instead of wonderful, fresh off the vine things. Yet the temptation to horde food is great. Reminds me of the bible story about the manna in the desert.
2. Never, never put your tongue on a pepper to see if it is hot. Never! (seriously don’t do that)
3. Size can be deceiving. Let’s say you had something really tiny in your hand, like a tiny, tiny pepper, and you say to yourself, well they’re small so I might as well put all three in. Do not be deceived!
4. It’s fun to order something not knowing what will show up. Now this rule might change, see number 2 and 3, but so far it’s been fun.
5. You don’t have to eat fast, and if it doesn’t come in a hurry, that’s Ok too. You might be getting something very special and fresh. Time waiting is not time wasted.
6. Ice in beer is good.



Things that Bug me

The creepy crawly things here are fun. Today as we were walking along and a ladybug landed on my hand. She was an iridescent gold with shiny black dots. Very cool.

This morning I was in the bathroom when I heard a plop sound and a tree frog fell from the ceiling and landed next to my foot. Man he was so cute. Similar to ours but he had a funny look on his face.

I’ve seen 4 kinds of ants so far. The leaf cutters are so cool. It’s like watching National Geographic. 2 of the four kinds seem to live in this cabin. One kind comes up through the floor at night, but just a couple at a time so it’s not so bad.

The second day here I was amazed that there weren’t more bugs inside. Then I turned and walked over to the window and heard the most sickening crunch sound. I had crushed a June bug. Yuck! I was thankful that I had my sandals on.

There are crabs that carry their houses on their backs and skitter across your path. There was a dime sized, yellow spider with black dots on a huge web. Or maybe his was something else that was stuck in a web. Salamanders. Birds. A rooster that dearly needs a watch... and a muzzle. We have named him soup, cause if he doesn’t soon stop with the noise…. It’s amazing, really, any time of day or night he crows. We just smile and say soup’s up!