Full House

What ever happend to predictability?

The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V

You miss your old familar friends,

but waiting just around the bend.

I hosted a Peace Corps trainee from the newly arrived EH group in my house for 4 nights to give her a first glimpse at what life is like for a volunteer out in the country. I enjoyed my visitor and showing her around the community, and it also made me realize how accustomed I have really become in the last year to my living situation – ie, bugs, bats, peeing wherever, eating and drinking whatever, and wooping instead of talking at times.

I invited my 3 nearest volunteer friends and their 2 trainee visitors to come swim in the nearby waterfalls on the last day. The plan was that the following morning I would head to Panama City with the 3 trainees, as my site as easier road access than that of my other volunteer friends.
My trainee visitor asked me, “where are 7 people going to sleep?”. I said, “We’ll figure it out.” Besides my twin sized bed, I have about 7’x6’ of sleeping space, and a resident bat. My friends and their visitors hiked 4 ½, 3 hours, and 2 hours to get to my house.

We all had a great time at the waterfall and cooking dinner. I brought some leftovers and a bag of dog food to my neighbor Araceli since I would be leaving in the morning for a week. She asked me how many people were staying at my house. I answered, “Bastante (A lot).” It turns out that that very night it was her turn to go to the school to guard the solar panel, and she asked if I could cuidar la casa (watch the house) – by sleeping there with some of my friends. Her house, like most around here, does not have complete walls, so it cannot be left unattended especially at night. At dusk, Araceli left with her 4 small children to go work security. I can just imagine a solar panel robber arriving at the school and being scared away by a sleepy women and her sleeping children.

I still like to think about what the probability is of me having 6 overnight guests, and one of my neighbors having an open house available for me to use as a guest house, on the same night. I slept well instead of squeezed between 4 others on the floor. Thank you solar panel for needing night guards.