Late afternoon in Tumbes

It’s late afternoon here and a cool breeze from the ocean finally cools off this tropical heat. Midday, I can barely move and drip with sweat as the fierce sun heats up this part of the world. The usual gossip is under the big tree in the yard, my host father is planted in front of the TV and the rest of the family are at their daily game of volleyball, played with intensity and for money.
I really have no idea how to work here but keep stirring the pot to see what happens. I’ve been asked to go to meetings that don’t happen and had unplanned meetings that were really productive. Yesterday I got so tired of kids staring at me that I yelled at them. I was on the front porch, devouring Utne Reader that Helen sent (arrived in 1 week!) and looked up to see a gaggle of little girls staring at me. Now this happens all the time but today I lost it and told them to quit. This caused them to hide around the porch and make weird kid noises until they got bored and left. I realize that we gringos stand out like a beacon light and that of course the kids are curious but yesterday, my patience lapsed and I didn’t want to hide in my room.
My host family has swelled to 11 people with the arrival of the proverbial prodigal son and his pregnant girlfriend so the house is always full of noise and activity. After several days of no water, the water turned on and I had the pleasure of a sponge bath. I’ve learned that it’s always this way at this time of the year when the major portion of available water is diverted to flood the rice fields as they are planted. This will lead to more mosquitoes and an increase in dengue fever.
And just when I was whining to other volunteers on my cell phone (calls are free to other volunteers through a network), I returned home to an incredible lunch made by my host sister. She made a chupe de mariscos (delicious soup with shrimp and poached egg) and a kind of spicy creamed shrimp on rice. All this served with fresh pineapple juice. How much whining could anyone do after this? So I did the only sensible thing and took a nap.
I taught my first yoga class today experimenting with the midwife that I work with at the clinic. Not that I’m a yoga teacher, I just did what Iris has taught me (without being able to say much in Spanish!). But it’s a start and I’ve committed to teach a weekly class in yoga and nutrition for pregnant women in January. Not that I ever know what I’m doing but stumbling along one day at a time.