My House

My House

So here’s my house. It was initially built as a tourist house, but this place is so isolated and small that no tourists ever came. (Which is a shame, because it’s a hidden paradise.) It’s definitely a palace as far as Cape Verde is concerned, and it’s hard to believe that Peace Corps would ranja (arrange) a place like this. It is right across from a “mini-mercado,” and a stone’s throw from the church…although that’s not saying much since the entire town is a stone’s throw from the church. Anyway, it’s sort of like townhouse, with three floors. You enter through a single (locked) door on the ground floor, and then each floor has a separate door. I’m on the top floor, and have a patio on my floor, plus the rooftop, all to myself. As you enter my door on the third floor, the window-lined hallway to my bedroom and bathroom is in front of you, and the kitchen is on the left.

I have a mini-fridge, a plastic garden table and four plastic chairs, a stove and a sink with running water. So far the fridge has milk, a coke, a beer and 3 huge things of water in it. Also, so far I haven’t cooked anything, as there are neighbors galore that are wanting to cook for me. I was all excited to make some home made tortillas (Peace Corps gave us a recipe book) and my first breakfast tacos in over two months. I guess it can wait. I’m also craving real coffee, but someone gave me some crappy instant coffee, and seeing as how I’m nearly broke already, I guess I’ll finish that off first.

Down the hall from the kitchen there are two empty rooms along the all. Since I have no money and no furniture, I imagine they’ll stay empty for the next two years. My bathroom has a cracked mirror, a toilet and bathtub/shower with running (cold) water, and a sink. It’s the nicest bathroom I’ve seen since I’ve been here, and I’m thrilled about that. I’m already contemplating boiling several gallons of water on the stove to prepare a hot bath, as I’ve only had cold showers for the past two months.

Across from the bathroom is my bedroom. When I arrived here there was nothing, but now I have a mattress on the floor, and I bought a rack to put all my clothes on. I’m also using the box my fridge came in as a shelf-type thing on which I’ve put my computer and mini-speakers. Last night I had my very first movie night all to myself. (Those of you that know me well will understand how much that meant to me.) I watched Open Range with the sound cranked up and the windows open, with popcorn and everything. It was heavenly. (That was good fuckin’ movie by the way.) It’s hot here, but with the windows open in my room, it’s bearable…barely.

There were a few roaches when I got here the first night, but I made some Boric Acid Roach Balls (out of the Peace Corps Cook Book) and haven’t seen a one since. There are also no mosquitoes, as far as I can tell. I guess they might come if it ever rains here, but so far I loving life without them. There are flies, but they’re everywhere in Africa, and I’m pretty much already used to them. Tomorrow I’m going to hang bags of water in all the windows (like they do at Rudy’s) to see if it really works. I’ll let you know the results of this experiment as soon as they become available. Yesterday a neighbor also came over to tell me I needed to heat up a nail and burn holes in the legs of all my plastic chairs, and then tie a cord diagonally between all the legs, to keep them from breaking. I tried to do that today and nearly set myself on fire. As it was, I only lost some arm and hand hair, which I didn’t need anyway, but it’s shocking how inept I am.

So that’s it for now. I’m king of my castle in Cha de Igresia, and couldn’t be happier about it.

One more cultural note. It’s custom here to leave all your doors open while you’re home (except when you go to sleep). Wanting to blend in as fast as possible, I have been following that custom, and as I began to write this at my kitchen table, in walked two 16 year old (approximately) girls, one of them carrying a newborn. I’m pretty sure the baby belongs to one of them. Anyway, I tried talking to them, a lot, and they just kept staring at me. So I finally gave up and just kept typing. Well they’re still sitting at my table with me, (almost 45 minutes later) and have still not said a word. Just sitting. And staring. It was freaking me out at first, but now it’s kinda funny. I’m just not sure what I’m going to do now that I’m done writing. Anyway, I’ll let you know how that turns out as well.

Hope all are well. Someone send me some goddamn e-mails and a care package.