Back at the internet cafe with more exciting giant bug stories. So, last night I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen! Its body was like 6 inches long and it was IN MY BED. They laugh at my dislike of bugs, and they told me the spider wasn´t dangerous... but still! Millipedes in the latrine, toads hopping all over the place, and ants that always crawl in my pants and bite. Really. I don't understand the evolutionary advantage, but as soon as anyone'd foot gets within crawling distance of ants, they come a bite-in and burying into shoes, and ouch! They really bite hard!
We also went and taught at the local high school. They are doing a project with recycling, and I have never seen so many signs about not littering and reusing everything, but somehow I have also never seen a school with so much trash all over the place! The culture of trash cans just hasn´t caught on, and it is super confusing. It makes me wonder who thought of putting snacks in plastic that doesn´t decompose for 100,000 years. Seriously? What a bad idea in a place where the wrappers are spread all over the place.
We taught a lesson on making bracelets from recyling old magazines, but they were teen girl magazines and one of the last things we saw was the boys laughing and running away with pictures of girls in bikinis. Plus, teaching in a foreign language seems a bit weird. Imagine foreigners coming into your class, not speaking your language, and trying to teach you. Anyway, it was a bit disasterous but came with good stories. My teaching of water testing was interupted by the boys telling me how pretty my eyes were and gestures behind backs that, althjough flattering, didn´t help with my trying to talk about lead and pesticide levels, and water testing kits, none of which are super familiar words in spanish.
Oh, and also, they had human fetuses in bottles in their science class! Really! Like fetuses from like 2 months to the biggest at maybe 6 months, but they were old and not well maintained and so they were growing green stuff and it was just really strange to see.
Also, this is the cheapest place I have ever been. Unlike in Kenya, where they charge outsiders a higher price, bargaining is not really part of the culture here. I got a big scoop of icecream in a cone, which would cost $4-$5 in the USA and it cost me $.25. It is amazing. We buy bags of mango, pineapples, potatoes, melons, and bananas, and it is still less than $5, even though our hands are so full of produce we can hardly carry any more.
The first picture is of me doing my laundry on a wash board. It actually got my clothes really clean.
The second picture is of me and some of the group walking a little ways from the community. Green green green!
The last picture is of us dressed up to go to a Quinceañera in the community. I want to learn how to salsa! Perhaps I will take classes next year at Harvard. Dancing here is so fun!
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