Hola

Hey y’all, if anyone still reads my blog….

Things are going well here in Isla de Mendez. The weeks go by so fast it hardly seems like anything has changed since the last time I posted. But I have been trying to keep busy….doing the census a vez en cuando (sometimes), helping with English in the school, working with the ADESCO and keeping at it with my women’s exercise group although participation is kinda low, so I need to figure out a way to keep the women interested. Other than work I’m always hanging out with my friends and having fun with the kids.

I had a sad streak last week for about two or three days – just missing home and my family. And on top of that I called home twice, no one answered or bothered to call me back…thanks guys. But I managed, thanks to the family I’ve created here and my awesome friends of course.

Last week, the ADESCO and a group of fishermen from the community worked on a project to install four fish preservation areas in the bay. The fishermen did the majority of the work, but basically what they installed was a large slab of cement with four poles stuck in a each corner and five tires on each pole. They submerged this, which is to act as a place where the fish can live, and then at the water surface we put buoys to warn off fishing in this area. It was great to see a group of community members working hard and enjoying themselves – something they can be proud of. The problem here is that a number of fishermen fish using bombs, which yes kills the fish, but instead of being able to throw back the small fish that you can’t sell/eat like you can when you use a net, the bomb kills all the fish, leaving no small fish to grow up and be caught later on. And besides that, it leaves men without hands, arms, eyes, etc. It’s really sad. I have no idea why they fish with bombs, oh wait never mind yes I do – they can catch more fish, which means they can sell more and thus make more money. Okay, anyways. I don’t have any pictures of the installation event, but I’ll try to get some and post them later. It was a fun day with a number of environmental organizations present. And the bouys light up at night which looks pretty on the bay at night. It’s funny, a number of people had no idea what the bouys were and one of my friends said, “Hey, it’s a duck!”. HAHA But it’s nice having something out in the middle of the bay to swim to now!

Me, Roberto and Andy


Hmmmm…other than that not much else exciting. Cuz a million people are in the family I live with, it’s always really busy and this month there are like four birthdays or something crazy like that, so we had a party the other day/night. The kids are so so cute, and when I ask Alison why she is so cute and pretty, she says, “Because I look like you.” It’s hilarious. And her mom is in the States so she jokes around calling me mom. I kinda feel bad for the kid cuz her mom isn’t here and so she just gets lost in the shuffle. But she is so adorable.

Okay, so the fucking dogs here are disgusting. It’s like mating season or something cuz all the dogs are going at it, and none of them are fixed. So one day these two dogs are going at it and they get stuck together and 3-year old Gabi says, “Mira los chuchos andan pegados.” (Look, those dogs are stuck together.) OMG it was so hilarious. No but it’s really annoying because every dog in town comes to fuck one of the dogs of the family I stay with so all day long the stupid beasts are fighting and I almost got attacked my a group of five brawling dogs.

Monica's B-day Lunch with all the kids!


Oh, total Natalie moment. There is this gate at the school where you have to step over this metal bar, but I decided to step ON the bar, forgetting that there’s another bar above it, and I smacked my head a good one, really hard, and in front of a group of people. Brilliant! It gave me a headache for 4 days.

The last two Sundays I’ve gone with one of my host brothers to take the milk to the cheese factory. Nothing to exciting and it kinda smells there, but interesting see where the milk goes and where the cheese comes from.

So yeah I guess that’s all. Saturday I’m going to a Fiesta Rosa, hopefully going to dance a little. And hopefully get to the beach this weekend since we didn’t go last weekend. Me, Monica, Alison, the Doctor (my counterpart), two nurses, and in the background if you can see them - Ramon and Tania