la Luna esta llena

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the almost full moon of Wednesday night:

the day started off beautifully, as it has been for the past nine days in a row.

I went to get mas agua, I was aiming for the Mini-Super Karen Pool, when the Abuelo of the Family that I stay with here, called out to me, “Fil! Fil!” (short for Felipe, although I once did spell my name this way), He told me to just get the water from the big stack of the bottles that the Family has, everyone here lives on the bottled water… “¡Es muy importante, el agua!” I say and they all agree and laugh… Henry, the second eldest son, carries the water up for me, 32 steps to the top, although I have done it, at least twice now… 3 more days I have here, so it won’t be empty when I go, this next 5 gallons. Also, I went to the Lavanderia but the Lavanderia was closed… it was after 9:00am (by a hair), so I thought I’d get that out of the way but they were closed. I rehearsed my line all the way there, though, “por favor lava mi ropa.” it’s only half a block away, so it’s no sweat. While I was out, I saw two of the Dogs of this compound, making their morning rounds… they looked at me as though they recognised me and wagged their tails. I told them to go home! I think I’ll do a lap or two around the Salina Grande and then try the Lavanderia, again…

the bright colours and all these wires conspire to keep me enthralled with it all…

I rode my bike around the Salina, twice. In the middle of the water, a large swirl of Frigate Birds were taking turns splashing into the water… I reckon there was a fish school there and the birds were having their breakfast. As I finished my ride, I decided to glide down by the Lavanderia and Si! it was open, at last. I ran back up, 32 steps and down again with my bundle… a tiny Niño of the compound, who is always so friendly to me and nods when I tell him something, as if He was wiser than the Abuelo. I said “a la Lavanderia!“, he nodded at me and waved. So I got to the Lavanderia and the Lady there takes a look at me, before I can even ask my question in spanish and says, “Felipe?” “Si!” says I. She weighs mi ropa, I pay her 100 pesos and She says some words that I no comprende and then she holds up 6 fingers, 6:00pm this night, “Today.” says a man in the back. Ok!

the Salina Grande.

the Man from the Paleteria pushes his freezer cart all up and down the Beach… I always get the Paleta de Oreo but the locals all seem to get the neon green and blue or hot pink icicle-pops.

Paleta de Oreo, por favoreo! This frozen pop is the color of a chocolate milk, not lavendar, as it appears here:

Tucked-in beneath the palm fronds’ cast shadow, on the beach with jugo de naranja (NJ Jugo de Naranja!) and some extremely ripe bananas. I had many thoughts on the way here, many were lost but one was that I took the Ocean route out of habit (which had been closed for paving, since Sunday) and so I just kept going and the road was freshly, stickily black-topped but it was open, ¡abierto! It’s another sunny blue sky day… quite a string of them have come my way and I am so grateful. by the afternoon we were in the shit, if You’ll pardon it… A squall had blown up from somewhere… after my second swim, I went again to the Taqueria that I also went to on Tuesday, this time I order Tacos, 2 al Pastor and 2 Arrachera, I got extra hot paste, too and boy were those good, so I ordered one more of each, they were 15 and 25 pesos each, respectively, plus another gobblet of the hibicus tea.

Tacos and Tea on a Thursday afternoon.

right now a gentle rain is falling, after the squall that passed overhead while I was having tacos… You shoulda seen ’em all scurry, Folks from every direction, on foot and on every known type of wheeled transportation. I rode like the wind and thankfully with the wind at my back… good old el Viento, You never know which way it’s gonna blow. I gotta go to the Lavanderia and pick up my clean and folded laundry, a lot of it will just go right in the suit-bag.

A big storm coming across the bay from the Northwest.

the Al Pastor meat is piled onto a skewer and slowy roasted before a candle until none remains.. every morning one someone goes out and puts a whole next pile of meat on there.

the rain-squall came up quickly and it’s sitting on top of us now but I figure it could be gone just as quickly… I had high hopes of seeing the Full Moon this night, it’s out right now. The rain has stopped but the wind is crazy… wind I can handle. All across the Meteorological Colony, folks are looking out their windows and doors, seeing what the weather is doing now, it’s much more interesting that TV. I feel like this maybe turns into more of a journal entry than anything else… what are the parameters of a “blog”, anyway? Web Log… We bLog. Also, it sure is fun being away from all the other responsibilities of life that allows me the time to work on this but I can’t promise I’ll keep going with it once I’m Stateside, again, and that’s just fine. All of this whole experience feels so much like a dream, I’m glad that I have taken the time to post some new entries here, just to be sure it did really happen… also I have filled up more than half of my 53rd Volume of my journal series, with drawings and writing.

they have demolished this building over the past three days, men and sledge hammers and one guy with a little wheel barrow…

all of this rubble will be shoveled up and hauled off to somewhere… it will be hammered back into sand-grain sized pieces to make new concrete.

the Southern end of the Malecon.

another yummy pasta dinner by the Seaside. Just linguini in oil and garlic with salt, pepper and the green sprinkles.

one more from the Malecon… it is one of my favorite places.

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