Chickens and cheese

Another chicken was dead this morning when Abuelita opened the coop. Later I saw yet another chicken laying on the ground, looking miserable. “That one is sick too,” Leifer said. When I walked by later, she was no longer there. Maybe she had been removed so that the rest of the hens weren’t in proximity. The life cycle can be short around here. I feel much closer to both the living and the dying.

I saw an American at the highschool. Leifer says he sees him running on the road. Abuelita sees him in town, she thinks his name is Tim. I want to be-friend him. I need a Spanish tutor for the boys and myself. Perhaps he can help. I wonder what his story is and how long he has been here? I want to widen our circle here. Thankfully Leif and Enzo have each other to play with and explore.

Leifer is pruning the garden in the atrium of the casita today. We float ideas to one another about how we will spend our time here. He wants to start a business, a hardware store. I want to bring more books to Peru, and especially this little town. It’s unconscionable to me that the kids don’t have a library. There are books in the classroom, a handful. But what about the experience of going to the library and running your fingers along the stacks, knowing that there are endless possibilities? What about borrowing a book and being able to take it home? Technology is here just as much as it is anywhere else. People aren’t glued to their phones, but the kids can watch shows. Without a library, the kids don’t have free access to ebooks even. I want to start a story time or a free library for the toddlers. The parents may be in no position to prioritize it, there is so much work to do as it is. University is competitive here. It is accessible for those who meet the high standards, but not a given for everyone. I am inspired that public school is available starting at the age of 3. There is some investment in early childhood education. The children are fed a hot lunch at school for the small fee of .50 cents per day.

We have surpassed the two week mark. Much has happened in that time as we start to re-build our lives. Each afternoon, we lose water for a few hours. The rain taxes the pipes. Leifer wants to put in a tank so we always have a water supply. For now, we catch water in buckets so we have an extra supply for flushing toilets, washing hands, and cooking. “Where would we get a tank?” I ask. All our ideas start with this question.

Flies and mosquitoes are as much a part of our day as anything else. Abuelita was worried I wouldn’t like it here because of the flies. The rain makes the problem much worse. I keep everything put away or covered. Leifer torches them with a flame every few days. Do we get a net for our door? I thought we should put a net around our bed. I don’t want my kids getting bites at night. The mosquitoes are a bit harmless since we are not near the jungle, but I hear them buzzing around my head as I try to get to sleep at night.

My body aches from sleeping on the beds. The beds are a small step up from sleeping on concrete. It’s uncomfortable, and by the end of the day, my body is tense. I suspect we will adjust to that too if we persist. While I miss home, I worry if we go back we will have to do the hard work of adjusting all over again. I feel safe here in the casita with Leifer and his parents, despite our hardships. Abuelita will always have a hot meal for us, and the warmth of her presence. She laughs and plays with the boys, as if not a day had ever passed where we weren’t together.

Abuelita came home from selling apples at the market. With the few remaining apples we had, she made fresh apple juice. Apples, water, a bit of lime, sugar, and cinnamon . It was refreshing in the warm afternoon sun.

Abuelita always brings home little surprises from the market. She brought out a plate, and on it looked like something in the shape of bread, but much lighter in color. Cheese! Gordo gobbled it up. The texture was soft, the taste buttery and fatty. I was in heaven! Fresh cheese. We ate it on bread, the cheese spreadable almost like butter. This gave me the butter fix I needed. Bread here is dry, and I have yearned for a stick of butter to slather all over it. Bread is bought fresh each morning before breakfast. When Leifer was a kid, he would go to town and get bread for his family. He still eats bread and drinks coffee most mornings even in the US. Abuelita has a clay oven and occasionally makes her own bread. I look forward to that experience soon. At some point, I will attempt to bake. The boys miss my banana bread. We have a gas oven, the settings are Min and Max so there will be trial and error. I don’t know how much time I have here, but I don’t feel urgency. I help out a bit around the casita, take care of my kids, write, and then it’s time for bed.

*My jugo de manzana