Today Ryan and I came back to our village for the first time in about a month. Yes, I know we live in a hut in the jungle and I dislike using a pee pot and HATE all the dirt everywhere but I enjoy making and having a home. I have tried to make our little hut into a comforting, relaxing and organized environment. It was just good to come back to OUR space where we have OUR things that make us comfortable and OUR food to cook as we wish.
That said, let's talk about yet another difference between my life in the states and my life in the jungle. If I had left my apartment in the states for a month and then returned, perhaps I would have been annoyed that I left some things on the nice carpeted floor or I forgot to clean out the huge refrigerator and needed to throw some things away. Maybe the TV stand and side table would have been a little dusty.
Upon returning to our hut, we were actually happy that things were not as bad as we thought. Ryan only killed one tarantula that was living in the outhouse along with some wasps while I and one of my friends swept off every counter and the floors numerous times. Dirt and other wonderful jungle residue was EVERYWHERE. Ryan opens our little freezer thinking some things may be bad and finds everything covered in mold. My friend then tells me that our village ran out of oil to run the generator (at night) almost the entire time we were gone. “Yeah!” for missing not having power. “Boo!” for not being here to open the freezer while it defrosted from no electricity. On top of that, a really pretty tree that bloomed yellow flowers next to our house had fallen over right next to our door. After all that, a quick sweep of the wash house and the latrine and things are looking much better. Our “yard” is a mess, though. Tomorrow I will be raking up all the fallen leaves to make our dirt clean and “pretty” because that is what a good Saramaccan woman does. I also plan to get up on the early side and head to the river to wash dishes and some clothes.
On a different note, we are in the middle of the big dry season here in Suriname and that is much more evident in the interior than it was in the city. The bus ride out here was one big dust bowl with the foliage on both sides of the dirt road covered in a thick red-brown layer. We did not think it was possible but it is substantially hotter now than when we were here a month ago and no more air conditioning like we enjoyed in the city. The plants and trees are drying out so all the Saramaccans are able to clear and burn the brush for the year so they can plant when the rainy season starts again so the village just looks more bare. I already told one of my Saramaccan friends how Ryan and I learned a different way to farm without burning the land and we would be trying it out. We'll see how it goes.
We're shocked that the food was moldy and you had to kill a tarantula.
ReplyDelete-Mrs. Tracy's Class