May 23, 2017

yesterday was a normal work day, today is still one. when I left for the village of Tawasap at eight o'clock, a small reptile clung to my palm stem. unfortunately, all attempts to take a photo failed, only when it jumped onto the roof of the hut, there was a more or less decent picture.
by the way, I need the palm stem for climbing up and down to my hut, which is called La Mura here. since I have to pay close attention to the path, I can't also watch out for cobwebs, of which there are a few here.
when it becomes flat, I can do without the palm frond.
dealing with critters is a thing I've gotten used to. they're crawling and flying everywhere. it's actually true that there's something living in every corner. but most of the time, we don't bother each other. yesterday, I got two juicy ant bites when I reached into a small stream for a discarded plate. man, they hurt. but I think ant bites are actually beneficial and so... and when I arrived at the hut, five minutes later, I couldn't feel anything anymore. I haven't seen any tarantulas yet, but I have seen big grasshoppers and night butterflies like bats.
back to work: I've taken care of the annoying task of cleaning the plastic bags. phew! what a joy. two very intense days in a row now, and all of last week, I've taken planting bags in my hands, brushed off the top layer with possible green stuff, maybe dug out old roots, and filled them with new soil. it wouldn't be a problem if...
... the bags weren't partially brittle, so there's the step of removing the brittle areas of the plastic
... it didn't have to be done sitting on the ground with a bent back
... there was a roof against sun and rain
... there weren't so many
but now I've done it, and afterwards I even extracted the seeds from rotten fruits, surrounded by armies of drosophila, those are the little fruit flies that we also know.
so at half past three I was properly happy when I took a bath in the pool, and afterwards I said goodbye to La Mura. I don't need dinner, I had Maria let them know, and on the way home I even got three bananas from Fidel's wife. For cooking? no, no, she said with a smile, to eat, and the boys playing there were also amazed at so much ignorance.