Sideshow

I decided to finally mow my lawn again. The horse and goats haven’t been around lately to do the job, so I had a whack with it with my machete. This, of course, drew a crowd of neighbor women, who stood at a distance and smiled and pointed at me as I flailed at the overgrowth with a giant blade. You’d think they’d be used to it by now. Margo came over, holding her granddaughter, and in 5 broad sweeps with my machete, had cleared the area that I had been hacking away at.

One of the nice things about living on a tropical island is that STUFF GROWS. Sure, it sucks having to hack it down, but it also means that you can inadvertently grow big tomato bushes by throwing unused parts of tomatoes out your door (campo compost). Or, about a month ago, I threw out some rotten oranges, and now I have an orange tree. I also have what I think is basil, mint, and peppers. I sure hope the mint is actually mint, because Margo made some tea out of it.

Kids also grow really fast. Below are Joelvis and Javier, my host mom’s grandkids. When I got here, Joelvis was crawling around. Now, he can run and grow a pretty sweet afro.

That, of course, makes me kind of sad—my niece was born on December 3rd, and the next time I see her, she’ll probably be walking.