My gosh. What to
say?
Got here safely, though the second bus ride was…. Exciting
at times. I am super glad I
don’t have to drive in this country, I must say. The twisty-turny dirt road that the bus took was very sketchy in
places, and it was a bit heart in throat at times. But, I arrived alive!
I live in a room with 5 beds in it. When I moved in there were 2 guys and one
other girl in it, but one guy and the girl are moving out (leaving the farm),
but another gal is moving in, so there will be three of us in here. I have a lower bed, tucked into a corner,
one edge along a wall. I have a
mosquito net, which is an adventure to get in and out of at night when I need
to go to the bathroom. None of the
buildings here are really enclosed.
There are open holes for windows, and most have an opening all along the
rim of the room just under the roof.
You can always hear the outside, and what’s going on in other
rooms. Most of the people here sleep in
different rooms in one building, though there are rooms in the main house
(where the kitchen is), and above/behind the yoga studio, etc.
Right now there are 18 people here, plus one toddler (almost
2) and a kid (9). But it will be down to 16 when my roommates leave. I’ll write a cast of characters before my
next post. They are very
interesting. Most from America, though
a few from Holland, and one from Britain.
I can report that the people here are as human as anybody, and there are
tensions, and disagreements, and bickering.
In a weird way, it is nice to know that you just don’t get community
living without stuff like that.
The chores here are essentially endless. Not that people don’t take breaks, but if
one wanted to be working all the time, it would be easy to accomplish. Take the simple seeming chore of feeding the
chickens and rabbits. Well, first off,
they are a goodly walk from the main house. Plus, you have to harvest the
greens for the rabbits as you go, which requires hiking up and down these very
steep hills to grab banana leaves, spinach, hibiscus, and other greens. Then you have to clean the cages, and
re-fill the water, etc… all in all, it probably takes about an hour, and you
have to repeat some of it in the afternoon. And that’s just one of the smaller
chores! I think in the kitchen alone one could probably work endlessly, between
prepping meals, cleaning up from meals, and food processing (making cheese,
making butter, etc). Most of the chores
are assigned. Each person is assigned a
letter of the alphabet, and the chores rotate through alphabetically, so it’s
nice and fair. Some chores you sign up
for, like cooking, though it is encouraged that you sign up for at least one
kitchen shift per day.
I’d tell more about more of the chores, except I haven’t
done most of them, due to the most “exciting” thing I have to report so
far. The bladder infection I was
fighting with before I left decided to turn into a kidney infection. I decided to use the antibiotics that my
doctor sent me with. They were incase I
got diarrhea with a fever and/or blood, but reckoned that a kidney infection
warranted the use of what I had to keep me out of a hospital. The pain got pretty damn intense for a
while, and I was laid out entirely for a day.
As I write this, it has gotten better, thought it is not yet “good”. Still in pain, etc. But, I’m hoping I’ve gotten over the “hump”
and will continue to get better from here.
If not, I’ll let people know.
(Update: Wrote the bulk of this two days ago. Yesterday I went to the doctor in town. Too provincial to take insurance, but all in all it wasn’t too
costly. About $84 for the visit and the
correct antibiotics)
I’ll try to take some pictures before the next time I
post, so that you guys can see where I am.
It is pretty beautiful.
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