RIP Chanchitos

WOOO WEEE! It´s FUNKY in Yantzaza! No, we aren´t jamming beats here in the jungle. We are now running on Day 3 of Life Sin Agua. No water. It has been raining like cats and dogs down here...

Friday night the Rain from Above started. I have never seen so much rain in my life. It continued until last night. Four. Days. Straight. The lack of rain has become an ¨event¨ in the sense that it´s a new reason to sit outside and watch people, gossip about what´s happening, tell people what the should do to catch water, etc.

As we learn in ECUA 101, heavy rains always lead to landslides. We got pegged and now there is no pass to Loja. Three people died yesterday trying to cross. They went by foot since the buses and cars couldn´t pass and got stuck. It´s pretty serious, but today the rain finally ceased and this is the first time in a while I´ve seen the sky. The only major casualties here are three piggies trying to cross a landslide. RIP Chanchitos.

There have been little derrumbos all around the area. Our water got knocked out the mountain above me, and we have been living in Funkytown for three days. Which means no shower, no food, no washing dishes, no flushing toilets. Ughhh. There is a lot I have accustomated to but, sorry, I hate not having water. Waa waa. (The school was rank today because they haven´t been able to clean the bathrooms...)

Anyway, people are walking all over the place today carrying buckets of water. And mud is EVERYWHERE.

I´m not sure if I´ve mentioned Adrian a lot and he´s definitely a character worthwhile mentioning. In the house I live in and across the street, there´s about 6-8 kids that always hang out and play. Delia and Estefany are the ringleaders (the oldest...) and the other kids just run around all the time. Adrian is the son of my landlady. He is a Shuar; his mom left him with her teenage sisters who didn´t take care of him. So Doña Anita took him in, adding to their comfortable family of 4. And what a task he is!

He used to be absolutely horrible. He would run into my apartment, take my stuff, torture Tortilla. Doña Anita started wacking him with a reed, so he got better. But he´s older and isn´t quite as troublesome now.

However these past few months he and I have come to understand each other and I no longer want to catapult him to the other side of Yantzaza. With no water, the kids came over to play and they were all ridiculous. I think cabin fever was really starting to get everybody.

And then Andrian decided to join the party. Woooo...that boy was flipping off of my stump chairs, running and sliding on the floor, rolling all over the ground. Kid was crazy. He´s like a little Mighty Mouse but not so much a doo-gooder.

I accidentally conditioned him to ask for a candy so he´ll leave. He now knows when I don´t want him in my house and asks me for a chocolate and leaves automatically. It´s awesome...but at the same time I have to give him candy now. Little devil.