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Friday, April 3, 2009

Lizard Poop and Jumping Trenches in the Rain

So, the other night, I was at my "mom's" house for dinner as usual. Dinner here is not usually served until around 9 at night and I had arrived by 6. Since it's warm in the house, we decided to sit outside. I was sitting in the doorway so I was a bit inside as well as a bit outside. Gekkos and lizards are common here. There's no way to keep them out of the house and most people don't want to since they eat mosquitoes.
Anyway, as I was sitting there enjoying the breeze and the conversation, I felt something drop on my head. It didn't stick too much because when I brushed at it, it landed on my arm. At first, I wasn't sure what it was. Then I brushed at it and noticed it had a not so nice smell. We looked up and there sitting above the door was a rather large lizard. Large lizard equals large, smelly poop.
So, I was given water and soap and I proceeded to wash my arm and hands while standing in front of the house as well as having everyone check my hair for evidence of poop. Thankfully, no evidence.
I probably could have waited just a few short minutes to wash my arm because the rainy season has begun and right after washing, it began to rain. We ran in the house where we finished cooking (in lots of heat) and laughing as we listened to the wind howl and the pellets of rain hitting the tin roof.
Around 10:30 we decided that I was going to either have to spend the night or run home in the rain. Since I had school the next day, I decided it wouldn't be a good time for me to spend the night. I would have to be up early, had nothing with me and would still have to have someone escort me home in the morning since the sun would not yet be up.
We decided that I would try to go when the rain lightened up a bit and my friends would go home with me.
Now to get to my house from their house, we have to walk through the slum as well as the muddy roads around my house. Through the slum, there are many trenches, which even without the rain, are sometimes a huge leap to cross. These trenches are supposed to remove the water from the area into larger bodies of water but as well serve as the local toilets. Most homes don't have a toilet so what better way to relieve yourself than to hover over a trench!
Needless to say, we didn't quite make it across all of these trenches on that night. By the time we reached my house, we were all filthy with only God knows what. Another shower quickly ensued.
Lesson learned: leave clothes at my "mom's" place so when rain comes again I can just spend the night. Another lesson is that anything can be laughed at because that night, although we were totally disgusting, we laughed a lot! It was sort of like being a kid again playing in the rain.

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