Monday, October 12

Luz Marina, my manicurist, came to the house yesterday. Her manicure/pedicure takes TWO hours which makes me insane, but she’s so sweet and has invited me to her home and I guess it beats going to a salon. We chatter for the whole time in my limited Spanish, which I guess is more stressful for me than I thought because at one point, while my hands were immersed in soapy water, she grabbed a napkin from the napkin holder, and mopped the sweat from my face and my chest. After the manicure, I met my ex-roommate Hanne at her home before going for a drink w/ her and her 8-month baby. I didn’t want to drip all over the baby so I couldn’t pick him up. And the first thing her husband Rodrigo asked me was if I wanted water. I obviously looked like I was losing buckets. So embarrassing. Hanne speaks German to the baby and Rodrigo speaks Spanish to him. The baby’s starting to garble speak and they don’t know in which language is the garble. I bought circus tickets for my housekeeper and her family yesterday but Daniel has enough circus during the day and didn’t want to go. He said they’re not doing well because their prices are too high. It poured rain during the early performance and there were only about 30 people in the audience. The cheapest seats are C$100 which is about $4 American. For a Nica family, that’s really expensive because, for example, sometimes Daniel only earns C$100/day. A circus is a luxury. Dolores told me her family really enjoyed it. I’m so lucky to live in this wonderful house. I could never afford this in LA. Except for the terrible lighting in the kitchen at night, it’s like being at a beautiful resort. The homes of the natives are like trains, a front door and then room after room behind one another. No windows at all. Many of the houses don’t even have fans. That’s why so many Nicas drag their rocking chairs outside to gossip. My first volunteer house here, La Casita, had similar construction. I had a ceiling fan and floor fan going constantly. And there is more interaction w/ the animal kingdom than I like. I thought it was a bat on the bedroom ceiling but Daniel said it was a creature similar to a mariposa (butterfly). But, for me, it was ugly brown and about the size of 6 mariposas. It was there all morning and then a tiny lizard sidled up to it, and the creature split. You rock, lizard! I found a perfect twig in the pool. I put it on the pavement for the nest-building bird. Sure enough, the bird beaked it and added it to its home up in the tree. I feel like 10% of that treehouse is mine. Daniel’s asking his boss if he can use the circus car to take me to the airport at 5 tomorrow morning. No clowns. I have a 5-1/2 hour layover in Houston! But the only other option was a connection of an 1 hour and 18 minutes and, having to go through Customs there, I was too afraid of missing my next flight. I don’t have any more United Club passes so I’ll just have to amuse myself sans comfort. I’ll be in LA for Wednesday and Thursday, and then on my way back here on Friday.