Sunday October 18

The head payaso (clown) of the circus, his wife, and three children are in my pool, along w/ Daniel and his son Enrique. I’m the YMCA of the parade route. I’m embarrassed that I can’t offer them anything, other than a sparkling pool, because I pretty much decimated the kitchen of food before I left for LA. And what I didn’t eat, the ants got. This morning there were ants in my vitamins! I just sent a fumigation plea to the rental agency. It’s strange to be back in Granada after my brief Los Angeles trip. Culture shock on both ends. The flight from LA to Houston was on a new United plane. So clean and fresh and new and big. With free seat back entertainment of about 50 feature films and much more TV. Free! No DirecTv gouging. And pillows and blankets. And nice seats that seemed comfortable. The flight’s only 3 hours but I didn’t even bother reclining the seat. I returned to Daniel and the driver waiting for me in a huge welcome home rainstorm. We’ll go to the market later today. I’ve been making meals of crumbs since my return. Daniel worked in Managua last night so I had cheese and crackers while lamenting USC’s loss to Notre Dame. Last week during the heat wave my Los Angeles renter emailed me, “We’re having trouble turning on the air condition. It’s so hot in the house.” I replied, “It’s no surprise that you’re having difficulty, because I don’t have air conditioning. You’re turning on the heat.” I hope Fall has fallen, and the heat waves were only a summer thing. Going to juggle up some conversation with the circus folk.