Little things mean a lot

Well, day by day I'm learning how to live here. Yesterday I was flat out with dysentery and a cold but was visited by the sweet health center doctor who gave me pills. I have no idea what they were but they helped and today I started antibiotics.

I also made my first solo trip to the capitol city 15 minutes away which felt like a good learning and independence. Going into the capitol entails standing by the side of the road until one of the many old almost wrecked cars with cracked windshield and dragging muffler stops. These are actually a public transport system and registered with someone official somewhere. So for about 70 cents in US money, I get a ride to the capitol.

After my illness, my host family now understands that the gringa has to have boiled water and I have my own pitcher in the kitchen. I also set up a handwashing station in the kitchen with a tub of water that has a spigot.

In the capitol, I bought an electricity stabilizer which keeps from frying my computer as the current surges and wanes regularly here. And thank you Todd for all the great computer help before I left the states. Everything works well and Skype is awesome.

Then at the end of the day, I walked on the beach with my host mom, sat and talked about many things. I told her about my mother's ashes being scattered in the same ocean and she told me she had loved futball (soccer) so much that when she dies she wants her ashes scattered in the stadium.

Bit by bit I'm learning how to live here. I had soft boiled eggs for dinner with the divine cracked pepper that Norma sent.

And any inconvenience is overridden by the warm hospitality of the people here. They have such high hopes for what I'll do for their community, I hope to meet a small portion of their expectations.

Cheers
Sarita