Laundry Sunday
Today we learned how to use our washing machine. It is a multi-step process quite unlike the machines back home. You have to do all the laundry steps one by one...first, you fill a chamber with water and soap using a faucet and hose. Then, the chamber agitates the clothes for a bit. Then, you have to drain the soapy water and refill the chamber with fresh water to rinse. Agitate some more. Drain the water. Fill the chamber AGAIN and rinse, agitate, and drain. Then you have to take small piles of clothes from the water chamber to the spin chamber. In this section, there is a centrifuge that you fill with clothes, and then spin for five minutes (the machine spins the centrifuge for you...you don't have to spin it by hand!). Once the spinning is done, that pile of clothes is sort of damp/dry. Then, you spin the second half of your clothes for five minutes.
Then you hang it all on the laundry line and THEN it promptly starts to rain.
And then you laugh.
Yesterday Michael, Erica, and I went on a hike on the trails at Bajo de Tigre, part of the Children's Eternal Rain Forest (land protected because of funds raised by children all over the world). These trails are just a bit down the road from my school, near where Erica lives. It was a lovely and very private hike...we only encountered one other group walking. We saw some "coatis", raccoon like creatures that climb trees (also saw some coatis in the woods behind our house when I was running early in the morning). We saw some little baby coatis that were quite adorable. Also saw some agoutis, which resemble really large guinea pigs- around the size of a cat. There were some capuchin monkeys there as well...however we only heard them and did not see them.
While standing on the trail looking up at the coatis, some biting black ants climbed up Michael's pant legs and bit him a lot. I got bit by one on the side of my foot (somehow they got through my boots). Didn't hurt so bad, but did make you jump a bit. They march along the paths in incredible numbers-- you'd be hard pressed to think of a time you saw more ants. Apparently, however, the ants are a blessing if you get them in your house because they eat all the other insects and assorted insects carcasses lying about.
Last week Michael made the long, steep hike to the San Luis waterfall. He hiked down something called the "trucha" which is a ridiculously steep road near us. He also hiked to the top of Cerro Amigo, the tallest mountain near here.
We hope to go to a beach next weekend, but we'll see.
I start teaching on Wednesday!
Then you hang it all on the laundry line and THEN it promptly starts to rain.
And then you laugh.
Yesterday Michael, Erica, and I went on a hike on the trails at Bajo de Tigre, part of the Children's Eternal Rain Forest (land protected because of funds raised by children all over the world). These trails are just a bit down the road from my school, near where Erica lives. It was a lovely and very private hike...we only encountered one other group walking. We saw some "coatis", raccoon like creatures that climb trees (also saw some coatis in the woods behind our house when I was running early in the morning). We saw some little baby coatis that were quite adorable. Also saw some agoutis, which resemble really large guinea pigs- around the size of a cat. There were some capuchin monkeys there as well...however we only heard them and did not see them.
While standing on the trail looking up at the coatis, some biting black ants climbed up Michael's pant legs and bit him a lot. I got bit by one on the side of my foot (somehow they got through my boots). Didn't hurt so bad, but did make you jump a bit. They march along the paths in incredible numbers-- you'd be hard pressed to think of a time you saw more ants. Apparently, however, the ants are a blessing if you get them in your house because they eat all the other insects and assorted insects carcasses lying about.
Last week Michael made the long, steep hike to the San Luis waterfall. He hiked down something called the "trucha" which is a ridiculously steep road near us. He also hiked to the top of Cerro Amigo, the tallest mountain near here.
We hope to go to a beach next weekend, but we'll see.
I start teaching on Wednesday!
posted by Rebekah at 12:51 PM
1 Comments:
Rebekah! I love reading your descriptions. The last one about the laundry shows a perfect understanding of how I washed cloth diapers for Matt and David when we lived on the rotte in Rotterdam. It was a daily ritual that took a lot of my time. After breakfast, I left them in their little dodge'em-wheelie chairs to gleefully crash into each other, while I worked the washing apparatus in the basement. I did 3 rinse cycles because I didn't want to be responsible for diaper rash. Diapers dried on the line are crisp, but the kids didn't seems to mind. Thinking of you! Anne
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