The Truth Behind Roosters

I can’t believe it has taken me this long to write about a topic as prominent in my everyday life as roosters are.  These animals are depicted as cute and even helpful in many children’s books and hollywood films.  You know the deal, they are a farmers best friend.  However, living in La Boquilla where the number of roosters to households has to be close to 1:2, I have a totally different view on these “helpful”  animals.  My neighbor has a rooster that lives right outside my window and from this experience I have really come to know the truth behind roosters.

My neighbors rooster is hardly natures alarm clock.  Not only does this rooster make noise to alert the rising of the sun and the starting of a new day, but he makes noise when I am trying to take a siesta, when I am eating dinner, when I am talking on skype, when I am listening to music, and when I am trying to go to sleep.  So the only possible way this rooster can be considered an alarm clock is if the owner of the clock has been perpetually been hitting the snooze button for the past year. 

Now I don’t care if this passage makes me seem like a rooster hatter, but if that nuisance doesn’t learn to be quite from the hours of at least 10:00pm-7:00am I am going to cross over into my neighbor’s ‘lawn’ and capture that cock-a-dooble-dooing little shit.  I will additionally threaten to boycott all chicken products (some how related to this argument) and then at a later date realize I am powerless against this rooster and put in my ear plugs continue listening to my flowing river sleep mix.  But rest assured, for these next few days I will appear pissed at all roosters and make outlandish claims that I have absolutely no intention of backing up.  Consider this blog post my word!  

“No Classes Tomorrow?”

Every once in a while the city of Cartagena and all of the surrounding towns--La Boquilla included-- will lose water for a few days.  Luckily, it is no surprise when this happens because both the news anchors on T.V. and the gossip newspapers inform the cities residents of the sweaty-sticky gloom that awaits.  So last week I read in the newspaper that we would be without water from the 19-21st.  I thought it would be wise to store up water in all of the containers and bottels I have on the 18th so I would have plenty of water to take bucket baths and wash up for the next few days.  So go figure the water cuts off on the night of the 17th and my master plan is foiled and I am left with only one bucket and a 2.5 liter bottle of water (I will make it work).    

Yesterday I woke up and while chatting with my host family, noticed that my host sister wasn’t at school.  Curiously, I asked, “Why is Valeria not at school?”  The simple answer was...."There is no water.”  I hadn’t heard anything about school being canceled so I went ahead and took the 10 minute walk.  Upon entering the gated school the students were on break yelling, running around and I didn’t notice anything different.  So I continued to the 5th grade classroom.  However, this walk would take me past the bathrooms.  And what I experienced when passing can only be described as an olfactory assault.  Without running water the bathrooms were just filling with...well you know.  I actually got nauseous on my way up the stairs and I even started to feel a bit dizzy.  To make matters worse as the day went on the smell became more and more prominent and even began seeping into the classrooms.  Finally, the day ended and after a quick planning session, I walked back home.  Unfortunately, all I could think of was that this was only day one of three and that smell ain’t going to get any better.             

“No classes tomorrow!”  My cousin/student yelled when I entered my host families house.  As I asked him why, he just plugged his nose with one hand, fanned it with the other and shook his head in disgust.  The only word from his mouth was baño.  Using my costeño reasoning skills and previous bathroom experience earlier that day, I concluded that there was clearly a problem with the bathrooms at the school.  So today I sit in my house writing this blog feeling quite lucky I don't have to choke down the rancid smell of poop for the day.  Only time will tell what sort of smell tomorrow will bring.

Strange Behavior

Weather:  Like I have previously mentioned the temperature in La Boquilla has been I can’t believe I am saying this..... enjoyable.  The afternoons are around the mid 80s and at night it can even dip into the high 70s.  Not to mention there is a BREEZE, that if I had to guess might be 15 MPH (granted I have never estimated wind speed before).  I just know that it is strong enough where sweat is no longer bursting out of ever last one of my pours.   

House:  I live in one of the nicer houses in La Boquilla.  It is a two floor house that boasts a nice front patio where the neighborhood kids come to play.  Also, the living room/T.V. area make for a great breezeway when both doors are open.  However, when cooking the backdoor has to be closed.  If not closed, the wind will extinguish the flame on the stove.  But, just by closing this single door the breeze becomes almost stagnant.

The Behavior:  At prime breeze time, between 6:00 and 10:00pm, someone in my family is usually cooking.  So this means that the back door will be closed.  However, it is now winter so my family gets “muy frio” at night.  Before when they would eat dinner, while watching one of the many novelas they devour on a nightly bases, they would at least leave the front door open so there would be at least feel a bit of the breeze.  But with the changing season, they now close both doors while cooking and watching T.V.. Not only this, but they bundle up in layers too.  I am talking jackets, sweaters, and pants.  My host mom even boasts a trench coat on occasion.  Now don’t ask me where she got this, but I never thought I would see a trench coat in my two years on the coast of Colombia.  So in conclusion, although I still wear shorts and a t-shirt, I guess I am just happy i’m not sweating like I was a few months ago.