Sunday, November 22

Isn’t that the prettiest little butterfly? It died. I came back from a 45-minute lunch and the office was stacked almost to the ceiling with cardboard cartons. My desk was behind all of that. I then had 3 more classes to teach. That grey lady with Daniel is my competition. He looks happy with her. I don’t have very many American friends here. Well, I don’t have very many friends of any stripe here. But, certainly no one with whom to share Thanksgiving. It being a Thursday, it’s a work day for me. And Daniel’s in Nandaime and never gets back to Granada before 7:30 p.m. My lunch hour is at noon and then my afternoon classes begin at 1 p.m. So I decided to share my Thanksgiving w/ Karine, my 1 p.m. student. We’ll go to Margarita’s at noon (a restaurant/bar not know for its food, but within fast walking distance). It’s on La Calzada, the main restaurant drag. They posted their holiday menu on the door and perhaps they can’t fuck it up. Karina makes me laugh and we’ll have a combination feast/lesson. Thousands of Cubans have made their way to Costa Rica, ostensibly on their way to the US, but they’re currently camping on the border of Costa Rica and Managua because Managua won’t let them through without papers. They’re trying to cross to Honduras. At the moment they’re at a stalemate, most of the people think Nicaragua’s being spiteful because the Nicas and the Ticos just don’t get along. When Somoza was in power, he gave away a chunk of and to Costa Rica in some kind of deal. Each country thinks Rio San Juan belongs to it, so there are boundary spats. The unfortunate Cubans are stuck in camp squalor. What a world we live in! The manager of the hotel next to me called to talk about their plan to construct some sort of fence or planting separating the condo property from mine. He says they need to use part of my walkway. I think they should have thought about that before constructing their monstrosity within an itch of my kitchen window. About using part of their own property rather than annexing mine. I told them to design something and I’ll look at it when I get home. I put a deposit down on Casa Pilar beginning March 16 for 3 months. I asked the management company what happens if the owner sells the house before June. She said they’ll refund my money and help me find somewhere else to live. I don’t want to live somewhere else. I had hoped this was settled. I knew this was too easy. I’m waiting now for my friend Hanne, baby Thiago and her lawyer husband Rodrigo to come swimming. I’ll ask him what my rights are. I never have any rights.