Happy Halloween! Not a holiday here but I know that everyone at home is celebrating. I cant remember the last time I was actually in the US for Halloween...I remember many more outside of the US than in.
Life here is so nice, no time frames, no dead lines, no reason to set an alarm...just the way that I think life should be! Except when it comes to the house, these guys are taking their time...or so it seems. I will head down tomorrow or Wednesday to see the progress that has been made, Im expecting a roof on the second floor bathroom. The next big thing to get done is going to be the windows and doors, we talked to a guy today and he said he will go down and do some measurements on Monday. So hopefully in the next two weeks we will have windows. Then we just have to figure out doors. Then the floor on the second story. Once these things are done then we get to start the fun stuff! The fun stuff that will take some time to complete since things will get done as money allows. But, the most exciting part is that once we get windows, doors, bathrooms, and floors we can start getting programs and classes together! This is what I am inpatient for!
Paraglyding, hurling yourself off of a 9000 foot high mountain landing on your butt in a field very far from where you started. Yes, this is what I did on Saturday...and now I am very sore. I believe that the soreness comes from the first attempt at ‘taking off’. We had a small mishap...I of course have an instructor flying with me...and when we tried to take off a gust of wind pushed us towards a tree. Mind you, we are a few feet in the air but heading towards a tree is no bueno so the instructor attempted to steer us out of the tree instead we landed on the hard ground. Him on top of me in a pile of kite and strings and appendages. After recovering and hiking back up the 40 feet that we had lost we attempted again. This time was a success, we flew for almost an hour! Not without insult to my body though, I am not sure if my ribs are so sore form the fall or from flying. Regardless my ribs are so sore that my stomach is upset and all night last night all I wanted to do was vomit. With the giant bruise that I have on the inside of my left leg, the pain in my ribs and back...it was all worth it!
I just finished reading the Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman, amazing book about his travels around the world on the worst transportation he could find. He travelled many of the same places in the same buses and trains that I have being in South America! But, he said some interesting things...”When you travel you imagine leaving your old self behind. But hunger, fatigue, and the aches and pains of life in a bus seat, only show you the real you-there’s no escape from yourself. Out here I could just be myself, happy, self-reliant, content, exactly where I belonged. ...a reminder that happiness wasn’t all the external comforts but just there, within myself.” He concludes that the reality about travel is that it , “shows you things in a starker way than you could ever see them at home.”
This week everyone has vacation...apparently everyone goes to the beach and its a time to relax. All my friends that live and work outside of Pimampiro will be home, and no one will work...I assume things will be closed and there will be lots of people out and about. We will see...
