First of all, there are my lovely hosts, Israel and Sandra. See pic below. If I base my criteria for judging hosts on how comfortable I feel in their home, then they are, quite simply, perfect. Israel is from Cuba and one of 13 children! And Sandra is a gringa from Oklahoma. They met in the Peace Corps in Bolivia, lived in Jersey for a while and then moved here 14 years ago to live out his dream of having a coffee farm. He’s super passionate about coffee, pretty silly, and doesn’t take life or himself too seriously. So we get along brilliantly. He’s also quite tenacious in his struggle with the government to get coffee pickers from outside the island (I’ll go into more detail about that later, bit of a complicated situation), so it’s not uncommon to hear him ranting about his cause to any willing ear.
Sandra is also quite the talker. Between the two of them, you get very little silence. I’m not a very big talker (probably on the quieter side of the vocal spectrum ), so it’s a lot to handle. However, if it’s in Spanish, it just means more practice, so I’m all for it. They do bicker quite a bit, but it seems like nothing compared to my parents (sorry mom&dad, just telling it like it is). Regardless, Sandra is great. And very smart. She seems to have an acute awareness of what’s going on around her and a sensitivity to how other people are feeling that is so rare and wonderful. She also makes a wicked potato salad :) Unfortunately, she twisted her ankle about a month ago and hasn’t been very mobile since. She has mostly been sliding around in her office chair for the last 2 weeks, but recently has started to walk, though it’s more of a hobble :-/ Hope she recovers soon.
Let’s see…then there is Bert, Israel’s brother (the youngest of the 13), who is quite possibly my favorite person. I’m not sure what it is, but the way he speaks (in English) makes everything seem funny. I don’t think he even means to be funny most of the time, but I laugh at just about everything that comes out of his mouth. He must think I’m weird, laughing at him when he’s being perfectly serious. He spent his career in the fur industry and apparently is quite the master furrier. Below is a pic of Bert and Ilidia. I awkwardly call her his wife, though I’m not so sure that’s accurate cause apparently he hasn’t divorced from his first wife. I get the impression, from all the drama I am told, that marriages have a low success rate here.
They live about 2 miles down the road. I just found out though that they are actually here temporarily, which I’m pretty bummed about. I thought they lived here and were just going to Arizona this month on vacation, but apparently they live in Arizona and came here to possibly live in his house. But it turns out she doesn’t like it here all that much :( They got here just a couple days before I did and are leaving on the 29th. They asked me, jokingly I suppose, if I wanted to buy the house..I’m still hoping they will just give it to me :) I will miss them both. She laughs about stupid things with me, which is nice. And she is one of the few people that I’m forced to converse with in Spanish. I find it rather surprising that she gets by in Arizona without speaking English (I imagine that this will annoy you mom), but to each their own I guess.
Then there’s my new friend Ventura, who I met last Friday at a coffee event where he immediately started flirting with me and then helped me serve coffee (see pic). So glad to have met him! And not just cause he has a car. That would be so high school :) Or because he’s a chef…ok fine, I admit it, these are both factors, but he is actually nice and interesting and we have a lot in common, including our age. Come to think of it, he may be the only 29 year old friend I have! He showed me around town Saturday night and cooked me a pretty sweet meal. That was a pretty solid first night out.
Tracy, the other volunteer, arrived yesterday. She was already here on the island with her cousin in San Juan and had been looking for a teaching job. Apparently to no avail, so she looked for a volunteer opp instead and ended up here. She is 32, I think, and from Rhode Island! (I’ve never met anyone from Rhode Island and, honestly, I couldn’t tell you a single thing about it except for its capital.) So far so good. Sandra described her as shy, but I definitely don’t see that. She is friendly and nice and smiley and agreeable. Ooh, and she likes playing games, which is a huge huge plus. We played a couple silly games today, during which I had some really cheesy ‘I’m sure glad she’s here’ moments.
Ha. If only she spoke Spanish...
Well, that’s the main crew. There are a number of other characters, who I may at some point mention. One of the workers here is starting to give me the creeps…and so I ask god, why? Have I not had my share of old man farm pervs?! Dejame sola por favor!
En conjunto, todo va bien aqui en La Isla del Encanto.
1 comment:
:) nice to be following you on your journey again.
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