Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Fauna

My mom asked me if we have any animals at the house, like cats or dogs. I said we have chickens. Not that we have chickens in a coop or out in the yard, but that we have chickens frequently wandering through the house and getting up on the tables and counters. At first this seemed strange to me, but the cats at my parents’ house are always up on the table, so really what’s so different about chickens? Mom asked where the chickens actually live and I didn’t know but have since realized that there’s a hole in the wall that goes to a covered space off the kitchen where the chickens spend the night. They come in the back door when it’s getting dark and into their room and my host mom shuts them in with a board. Earlier this week I noticed one of the chickens nesting in a box in the kitchen and she hatched 8 brown and yellow chicks, which are super cute. In a related story, we’ve lately had a couple of bats that fly around the kitchen and bathroom at night, which doesn’t seem to faze anyone. It’s a good thing I’m not afraid of bats. And they aren’t very big- not much bigger than the butterflies and moths that also fly around the house.

I went to visit Katie the other day, another NRC volunteer who just finished her service in a town near mine. It was her last day at her site and I went to meet the family she’s been living with and a girl in high school who Katie helped to get a scholarship that I’ll be taking over for her next school year. We were sitting outside her house watching a donkey get loose from its post and a man chase it down the road. Katie observed that there are a lot of donkeys in her town and asked if there are so many in my site. I said no, I’ve only seen one or two, and she said yeah I guess your town is more urban. “Yeah we only have one donkey, it’s quite the metropolis.” We both burst out laughing, and then Katie sighed and said that’s the kind of thing people aren’t going to understand back home. She’s probably right.

There are many fruits and other crops that grow in this region, and they also produce cacao. There is a lot of agriculture in Katie’s town, my town concentrates more on fishing. When I went to visit, the girl’s family gave Katie and I a bunch of fruit and avocados. And then Katie’s mom gave me some bananas and a ball of chocolate from the cacao stand by the house. I brought it home and my mom made hot chocolate with fresh milk and sugar. Some of you (mainly Mollie) know that I’m on a continuous quest for great hot chocolate, and this was definitely up there among the best.

No comments:

Post a Comment