another day in the jungle: July 2007

Monday, July 23, 2007

Construction; Progress Report #10

The construction on the new Women's Center building is almost completed.

The bathroom fixtures, wall tiling and doors have been installed ...

as have the wooden doors to the kitchen.

The tiling has also been completed on the built-in pila and preparation area outside the kitchen.

The windows have all been installed, the floors painted, and all the lighting and electrical outlets installed.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Bryan Visiting

Bryan and his friend Tom arrived from Canada for a visit before plunging into the next phase of their lives. They are staying at Gringo Perdido, but came over today to join us for a late lunch.

There is a vine that grows here that loops and curls quietly and unobtrusively through the treetops throughout the year until, suddenly, just after the first rain, it reaches down like a reminder and bursts into blossom.

R2D2 Beats Stroke

This past week we had a bit of a scare when R2D2 had lots of trouble getting down from the lemon tree and we discovered that his bottom half was mostly paralyzed. His left claws wouldn't open and his left leg wouldn't support any weight, and the right side was functioning just enough for him to hold him on the branches while he used his beak to pull himself down to their dining area. We had seen Jade appear exactly like that, shortly before she died, so I wasn't optomistic about his chances. We brought him inside to a basket and nursed him for two days with baby aspirin (getting baby aspirin into a parrot, even a sick one, that didn't want it was a whole story in itself) and chichipin berries and flowers that are just coming into season (the only thing he would take willingly, since I'm sure he knows it is a natural antibacterial, antifungal agent), after which he has miraculously recovered!! By the third day he was back outside on the branches again, teaching himself how to once again use the paralyzed toes of his left foot ... you can see in the photo above how his left foot has a third toe pointing ahead instead of behind. Within half an hour of being back on the tree he had learned how to use his beak to slip that toe backwards where it belongs so it will grip the branch!!

Here below are all four, back together again ... eating their favorite food - fresh flowers and herbs. They are .... from left ... Gypsy, R2D2, Gandalf and Angel.

Construction; Progress Report #9

The cement floors of the building are now being painted and marked to resemble hardwood planks.

Here we see the workers preparing to draw the next line on a freshly painted section of the outside corridor.

Progress

You can always tell when an election is approaching! This week our village was humming with heavy machinery, and our "street", which is the backmost street in the village and the one with the most "ups" and "downs" that have become, over time, ravines for the rain runoff, was a major focus of the work. Being a driver, I can fully appreciate the necessity of passable roads, but I was also able to see how, within a few minutes, the loss of a few trees and some green edging raised the temperature ... so noticably that you can almost feel it from these photos of "before" and "after".

Construction; Progress Report #8

A few days ago the construction crew planned the entire day for pouring the concrete floor. Because they need to pour the entire floor without a break, the Women's Group offered to make lunch for the crew.

They began early in the day, and by the time the men stopped for lunch, they had created a "tipico" lunch of fried chicken pieces, rice, a potato vegetable salad and lots of tortillas, with cups of cold horchata (rice milk) to drink.