Hurricane # 2

Well ....summer is in full swing around here . Rained cats, dogs, and elephants Friday night.
Rolling thunder, and blinding lightening. There was definite turbulence on the sea, and wind gusts through the house, from time to time, that compels one to " batten down the hatches ",
which is slightly redundant living in this palm roofed house ! It mostly involves clothespins !

Luckily, the house is tucked into the side of the hill, just enough to give me some wind break, but if the "real" one ever came, I don't suppose it would make much difference !  I haven't had that experience so far.  The closest we came is when J.& C. tied down the tin roof of the casita, just in case !

So, now is the time to experience summer in Yelapa .... storms, rain, toads, crabs, bugs ....
This is when you learn a lot about the local herbal remedies and local medicines available for hives, stings, bites, mites, skin infections, mold, fungus, dengue, diarrhea, and more.
You can learn a lot about fungus this time of year .... if you're interested in that kind of thing.

Two persons cured of stomach problems with the plant growing in my yard, and everywhere else ...  Lime is a cure for everything, heat it up and put salt on it for drawing out poison, or go into the sea, or have a bucket brought to you, alcohol, and sulfate powder must be kept on hand. Then there's the miracle green jelly fish cure, I have to get my hands on ....

I remember my first real nasty spider bite, on my ankle, so swollen I could hardly walk, and
someone sent me to Gorgonia's little store, which is just a window, and she towers over you,
even though she's not 5 feet tall.  It was evening, and dark, and she took out her flashlight and checked me over, disappeared into the mysterious back room, and came back with 2 white pills for me to take.  We couldn't communicate and my friend, RM , was skeptical, but I was desperate for a cure. I swallowed them both, and went home to bed. I can't say how much they helped because when I returned to the house, other friends had arrived, one was a doctor who gave me a heavy antibiotic. Needles to say I woke up cured.
From now on, I take any minor casualties there, remembering to bring her gifts from Cananda in exchange.

I don't keep the scorpion venom on hand. I used to but if you don't know how to administer it, there's no point to keep replacing it, and now that we have the Clinic it isn't so important.
I never had the shot the times I was stung, but they can prove to be very important if you
have allergies or for babies and elders. 

Eating lots of fish.  Lily had her choice of Tuna, Sierra, or Chora for a few days.The water is so warm.  Murky and dirty at the shore line, so I haven't been in for a few days, but clear and calm below. A good time for snorkelers, and kayaks. I have a kayak date next week, but I really wish I had a canoe .....

Another thing about the summer here, is the smell .... the wet earth composting and renewing and rotting .... very organic ... wet wood, wet clothes, wet towels, wet garbage ...
you name it, if it's not wet, it's damp !  I got used to it, and have my system and routine worked out, only takes a few summers to figure it out, and you learn by your mistakes and
asking questions.

I haven't too much problem with flooding so far.  Water seeps into the banos, and some times there's a lot of mud, which is a drag, and only one place on the side deck where the water pools up.  It's the side of the hill I have to keep my eye on. Keep planting ...

The second thing I don't like in Yelapa, as in so many places, garbage is a big problem.
Imagine when we had no garbage pickup at the pier, it wasn't that long ago, so we have
come a long way in addressing the problem.  Doesn't seem to matter that pick up is at 7 am
the boats are full of garbage bags heading off to Boca. Some of them don't make it all the way, some fall in the bay when they're being loaded and float or are tossed away to the shore, where they may sit for a long time .... and collect with other garbage running down the
creeks into the river and into the sea. 

We really do need a proper Sanitary Engineer Department, (2 men/ 1 woman), to really
clean this place up.  All it takes is money ....

This has been a week of firsts for me .... first time I had to kill a scorpion with a knife, it was
tucked into the cushion and I couldn't get to it with a flip flop ! my long thin henkel is the
perfect tool for that I discovered, cut his tail and threw him into the fire pit ... so cruel.

First time I've had a cold shower.  A full length, wash my hair, (no shave) cold water shower.
I have jumped in and out of a cold shower before, of course, camping and the like, but I do
not shower without the hot turned on, (so much for my Pioneer Spirit) except for last Friday.
I worked in the yard for 7 hours. I was hot from the inside out. I turned the fan on so the bugs would leave me alone in there. It was great. 

I also got to experience a different kind of thorn bush that stabs you worse than a bougainvillea ! A vine that was cut down in the front, that I was raking down the hill, grabbed on to the mesh of my glove, and stuck into me, good. Every time I tried to grab it, carefully, to get it off, it would stick in more!  Brutal.  It was the scorpion sting kind of pain. I continued on, but soaked my knuckle in alcohol all night, and am almost pain free today, but it's been 4 days !

Another first .... I'll cook myself a Pancake for breakfast ! It will actually be my second attempt, but the first in 10 years, so almost a first, though I have picked up some tricks along the way.  Mango Pancakes ...with Mango Juice .  Missing the Mango Maple Syrup !

I got a call from a young woman in PV the other day. She was Jehovah Witness. She was so happy she got an english speaker, we talked for 5 minutes.

We are all connected ...

Happy Planting Everyone ...