Life goes on in the campo

Where to start? It's been cooler than usual in the mornings around here. I had to wear a jacket to school three days in a row. I checked my thermometer to find that it was 70 degrees. And I was downright cold! Strange how our perceptions can change so quickly.

Host family life as been going well. Greivin (boyfriend of host sister, pronounced Gray Bean) has been clearing the yard to make way for an addition to the house. He and Liliana and the baby are moving into a room on the back of the house, but they need a kitchen.

The first step in the project was to cut down a palm tree. Here’s how that works here: A guy (in this case Gray Bean) shimmies up the trunk of the tree. He has a machete tied around his waste with a piece of string. He holds on tight to the trunk with one hand and swings the machete with the other. He chops and chops until all the palm leaves, stems, stalks and coconuts are in a big pile on the ground and nothing is left of the tree but a long, skinny trunk. Then he ties one end of a long rope around the top of the trunk and loops the other end around a couple of trees nearer to the ground. Then he scoots down the tree a bit and begins chopping away at the trunk until he is just too tired to chop anymore or until a swarm of bees begins to sting him. Then he comes down to help a few guys on the ground pull the rope until the top part of the trunk falls. As it falls, they all scream and make the sign of the cross. Then the guy cuts away the palm stalks lying on the ground and takes them inside to the woman of the house so she can cook them for supper. Then everyone else in the house (including myself) yells to the guy to cut open some coconuts for drinking, and he does so with just a few quick swings of the machete. Then he comes back the next day and repeats the last few steps of the routine until the entire tree is down and the bellies of the household are happily full of hearts of palm and coconut juice.

I was thinking of moving into a little apartment myself, but I think I’ll just stick it out in the house for now. I am afraid I might miss something if I move away. As long as they keep cutting down palm trees and passing out coconuts, I’m fine right where I am. Besides, I have decided to for sure come back home in July, look for a job (god help me) or maybe go to graduate school. I am not really ready to come back just yet, but that’s what the next four months are for – to prepare.

Let me know if you see any job openings for people with my unique set of skills: I can make pizza, write newspaper stories, teach English to people who don’t speak English, build a house with nothing more than a bit of wood, a hammer, nails, and a length of plastic tubing, and if really put the test, I could cut down a palm tree with nothing more than a big knife and piece of rope.