Regarding duct tape....

I have long been a big fan of duct tape. I use it for all sorts of stuff. If you have something that needs to be stuck in place, I will recommend duct tape almost every time. My enthusiasm is strong enough that my father pokes fun at me every year by leaving a roll in my Christmas stocking.

Here in the Peace Corps I am discovering hundreds of new uses for the stuff. Here are some examples.

• Duct tape can be used to put anything up on a cement block wall. Posters, maps, newspaper clippings, photos of family, and even mirrors.
• It can be combined with old mosquito netting to make a window covering. This keeps visitors (mosquitoes, fire flies, rats) from entering in the night.
  
• When combined with a piece of sterile gauze, duct tape makes a very durable bandaid to help alleviate the many cuts and scrapes that are a part of life here.
• I used a few pieces of wood and some duct tape to make a roller on which to hang my toilet paper next to the toilet.
• My head phones were starting to come apart, so I used small strips of duct tape to keep them together.  They should last a while now.
• I use it to block off holes in the wall that ants like to crawl in through.  There are a lot of holes, so there is starting to be an awful lot of duct tape put up.

I will let you know if I come up with more creative uses.

In which Tim takes it down a notch...

I realize that some of my recent entries have been kind of exciting. Sitting through hurricanes, swimming in raging rivers, and cave diving are probably not things that most of you do on a daily basis. Some of you probably think that I lead a thrilling life of adventure. Others might just be terrified on my behalf.

The truth is that most days down here are pretty slow and uneventful. I get up around 7:30 and drink some coffee. I spend my mornings doing work in my own garden, or helping out neigbors who have expressed interest in making one. I have also started building some ceramic cook stoves in my neigborhood. By the time sun gets a little higher it is usually too warm to be working outside comfortably, so I read, write, or do work in the house. I often take an afternoon siesta.

When the sun starts to get a little lower I might do a little more work outside, or settle down for a few games of dominoes with the neigbors. In the evenings I sit and visit with people in their houses or at my house if they decide to come over. I am usually in bed by 9:30.

It is important to know that I am almost never alone in any of these activities. I have a good sized discipleship of small children, ranging in age from 2 to 10. As soon as I open the door in the morning I hear the pitter patter of small feet running to greet me. When I work, they try to help (the bigger ones being a little bit more helpful than the small ones). When I read, they page through the old copies of Newsweek that I have in the house. They have little exposure to mass media and they definitely don't have any kids books, so they are absolutely blown away by the bright photographs and the car ads. One family of kids has decided (based on Newsweek) that the dark skinned man running for President of the United States is actually their father (the resemblance is striking). There are times when the kids get a little wild for my taste and I have to lay down a little discipline. A flip-flop is a great object to swing at the back side of a misbehaving kid. They run like the wind. But all in all I am grateful for the constant companionship. Kids are not held back by the same rules of courtesy or inhibitions as their parents.

I usually go down to the town once a week to read email and try to get some news. It has been hard for a junkie like me to be disconnected from the news cycle during such a fun election. Have there been any explanations given as to why the Republicans have insisted on criticizing Obama for inexperience, but are very excited about putting a sports casting beauty queen from Alaska in a position where she might well be President soon? Let me know if that story is published.

As always, thanks for reading.

In which Tim explores a cave and a half...

I was visiting my good buddy Joel for the weekend in the North of the country. He lives in a village a bit bigger than mine, but similar in that it's located in the mountains with stellar views. It was exciting to see friends, and refreshing to spend a few days doing fun things that are completely unrelated to my work.

Yesterday afternoon we went on a hike to some pretty neat caves near his house. By "near" I mean about two miles straight down one mountain, across a river, and then up a second one through thick woods. We soon came to a cliff with a dark cleft that beckoned us toward adventure. We entered to find a cavernous network of darkness where we could hear bats fluttering around our heads. It was pretty awesome.

After playing around for about half an hour and coming back out, our Dominican guides led us to what they told us would be a much cooler cave. After hiking a little further into the woods we came upon a hole in the ground that we could not see the bottom of. We started to get a little bit nervous when they told us that was the way in. I mean, wouldn't you be nervous if you were being told to climb into a dark hole?

Our guides began looking for a branch that we could use to slide down into the abyss. One of them pulled on a vine right above my head, and I watched a massive branch swing down right toward my head. It was too fast for me to duck, and it left me looking like this:

We did all the normal tests for brain damage. I wasn't dizzy. My pupils were acting normally. I remembered my social security number. My head just felt like...well...like it had been whacked by a large and heavy piece of wood. Yet there were adventures to be had, so I got up and carried on. We scrambled into the hole, happy to find that it was only about ten or eleven feet deep, and pretty easy to descend.

This was when things started to get interesting. They told us that we would be following a series of tunnels and exit several hundred yards from where we entered. I looked around and couldn't really tell where the tunnel started. It looked like this cavern with a hole in the ceiling was all that there was. Then I saw the little hole in the corner. We had to get flat and worm our way in and down, and it was pretty steep. We kept going down, and down, and I began to feel like a character in Lord of the Rings wondering whether or not this trip into the mines was such a great idea. I mean, what if we woke up some giant flaming beast in the depths? That would be bad.

Pretty soon we came to this part of the tunnel:

The kid in the picture is looking straight UP at us, through the widest part of the tunnel. We might have fit, with a little twisting and turning. Our agile and skinny Dominican friends certainly had no problems. But we Americans realized that none of us were quite as agile or skinny as them. We debated for about fifteen minutes whether or not we should keep going. Our sense of adventure tempted us to believe our guides word that there was indeed a way out somewhere up ahead, and proceed. Yet our fear of being buried alive got the better of us. We didn't want to find ourselves quite literally between a rock and a hard place with no way out. So we went back the way we came, and climbed back out the eleven foot hole.

In retrospect, I am glad that this story didn't get any more exciting. I might not have lived to tell it... ;-)

Here is a portrait of the merry band of adventurers:

In which Tim tells you what he's been reading...

Here are the books I have finished since last I gave you a list...

"Lake Wobegon Days" by Garrison Keillor
I loved it. It is like a 300 page long version of the radio skit. Although I was a little confused to learn that the same characters I have been following in recent years appear to have been the exact same age when he wrote the book in 1983...

"All Creatures, Great and Small" by James Herriott
The tales (from life) of a young vet in rural Yorkshire in the 1930's. It is interesting to spot the parallels between my rural existence and his.

"Theodore Rex" by Edmund Morris
A biography of Teddy Roosevelt, covering his years in the White House. I recommend it for anyone who is into Presidential history.

Regarding Tim´s roommate(s)...

I have been here long enough that I have a pretty set routine when I go to bed at night. I take a cool bucket bath, I fill out the days events in my diary (by the light of a kerosene lamp), read my bible, brush my teeth, put up the mosquito net, read with the flashlight for a few minutes, and then sleep.

Normally my sleep goes undisturbed.

But sometimes I hear the noise of small claws skittering along the wall, or across the floor. The smacking of small lips. The nibbling of crumbs that I carelessly left out. RATS!!

No need to worry, I don't have an infestation. But I live in the middle of the countryside, in a house that has a few nooks and crannies through which a creature of the outside world can make its way in. And they haven't hurt me so far.

Still, it is awfully creepy when you can hear something moving in the next room. I always make sure to tuck my mosquito net in very very tight, so that nothing can crawl up onto the bed and visit me.

I also keep the machete close at hand, in case the sounds come to close. I have not yet killed a rat with a machete, but a friend of mine did at my house a few weeks ago. The rat was up on the wall, and the guy swung the machete like a baseball bat, almost cutting the thing in half. We threw it outside where it was promptly gobbled up by the local dogs.

I am currently in the market for a cat. If anyone has ideas for names, I am open for suggestions.

In which Tim goes swimming (by accident)...

My last entry or two may have given you the impression that hurricane season is mind numbingly boring. It definitely has times where I want to tear my hair out due to the frustration brought on by days and days of inactivity, but those are accented by episodes of excitement verging on terror that quickly get the adrenaline flowing again. I experienced one of these episodes last week.

There are two roads that go up to my site. Most people use the "old road" all the time. It is not terribly steep, and you have to wade through the river at the end. The "new road" is about twice as long, much steeper, but avoids water. So when the storms are here and the river is up, people revert to the new road. That was how I went home after having been sequestered at my friends house for a week.

One day, I noticed that people were crossing the river on foot again, so I decided to hike down to investigate. The water is full of sediment due to the flooding, so one cannot tell how deep it is just by looking. What I could tell is that it was a lot lower than it had been a few days earlier, so I decided to cross. I didn't have anywhere in particular to go. I just wanted to see if the river was crossable.

So I secured my rubber peasant sandals, and picked up a stick to use to test the depth, and in I went. It was fine. Well below my knees, though moving pretty fast. Then I found the hole. I guess when the river is moving faster than usual, it picks up the big rocks that normally just stay put in the river bed, and starts rolling them along. My stick somehow missed an eight inch drop, but my foot found it. I stumbled, but retained my footing, breathing a sigh of relief.

Then I looked up, and noticed something floating away on the current. My left sandal had come off, and was heading for the ocean. So I naturally did what anyone would do in the situation; I took off running after the thing. It's a good sandal, after all!

I didn't really pay attention to the fact that the water was getting deeper until I was in up to my chest, and the current was actually carrying me. I managed to swim over to the bank, and pull myself up on some conveniently placed vines. I never got the shoe back.

So I hiked back up the steep, rocky hill wearing only one sandal, and dripping wet. My neigbors thought it was the funniest thing they had ever seen. I had to agree that I looked pretty ridiculous.

So what did I learn from this exercise in stupidity? 1. Always cross the river either barefoot, or with sandals that are strapped on. 2. Know how deep water is before I go charging into it like a crazed hippo.

All's well that ends well! I have new sandals now.

In which Tim loses his mind...

It is still raining around here. A week ago (when last I wrote) I reported that there were more storms bearing down on us. I was at home when Hannah passed by and gave us three straight days of rain. Then the sun came out, but there were rumors that someone named Ike was following close behind, so I went to investigate my river. It was passable on foot, but muddy and deeper than usual. No vehicles were making it across. So I called up HQ and told them that I could get out, but if it rained for another day or two I would not be able to. So on Friday morning I shouldered my bag, and hiked down the mountain to my fellow volunteers apartment in the town. I expected to be there for maybe two days, then hike back up. So I thought.

Today is Wednesday, and I had expected to go back up today. Another call came in from Peace Corps telling me not to cross any rivers, so I am still here. Stuck. Bored. Watching television. I feel like my brain is turning to mush. There is nothing to do besides read, watch tv, cook, clean, watch a movie, listen to music, call a friend, watch more tv. It is still kind of rainy so all the people around here are staying in their houses, and this isn't my town so I don't have any friends besides the guy whose apartment this is, but he is in the capital due to illness.

There was another volunteer stuck here with me, but she got permission to go home yesterday. So here I sit, alone. I have nothing interesting to write because nothing interesting has happened. I feel useless. Forgive the tediousness of this blog entry

Hopefully I will be able to go home soon.