Leading the Quiet Life

Life continues as usual for me in Silencio. It was another week of hard work at the chicken farm, but somehow I find it immensely satisfying. Who would´ve thought I would enjoy digging ditches? Tuesday and Wednesday were by far the hardest as I spent several hours digging trenches for water drainage. It´s a stark contrast to teaching in many ways, not the least of which is the immediate gratification that comes with this job. In teaching one must be content with believing that one is making a difference, that there is some kind of output, however unmeasurable it may be. I´ve learned that working with your hands produces a much more immediate reward--that of a measurable product in a short amount of time. At the end of both Tuesday and Wednesday, I could look at the ground and say, I did that, and know that what I did will make a difference. I´ve found that digging ditches is a nice alternative to lifting weights at the gym. Friday I helped to mix concrete to pour an entrance to the farm, and again it was nice to see an end outcome, and an end outcome that is lasting.

Late last week I made the smart and cheap investment of a pair of rubber work boots. My running shoes were quickly becoming trashed, and given that I´m now running quite frequently and for longer distances, I know I will need them in the coming months. Unfortunately, the boots I wanted (ones I can tuck my pants into) weren´t available at the store I was in, and not knowing another store where I could purchase them, I settled for a shorter pair with laces, which the saleslady referred to as ¨muy bonita.¨ If my Spanish had been better, I would´ve said, ¨Who you kiddin´lady? They´re not very beautiful, but it doesn´t matter cause they´re only for working anyway.¨ Instead, I settled for, Esta bien and plunked down $6 for them and a pair of socks. They served well enough this week and were particularly necessary given the mud, but when I found a store today that had the boots I wanted, I didn´t hesitate to hand over $10 for them. I´m sure I´ll find them to be a good investment for my remaining three weeks in Silencio.

The weather has changed slightly here, producing rain more often and in more abundance. There has been little sunshine this week, which was nice when I was digging ditches, but isn´t as nice for the afternoons where there´s little to do. I´ve taken to napping after lunch every day, I´m reading a bit more, and as always, my music serves as a good diversion. I´ve also increased my running. I awoke Thursday morning to the sound of heavy rain on the tin roof (though I´ve come to learn that sometimes it only sounds heavy because of the tin) and was content to stay in bed well past the start of the work day. I ended up missing work altogether and felt only a teensy bit guilty about that.

I wanted to run Monday but found my running clothes locked in a room where they were hanging on a line. As it turns out, we had heavy, heavy rain for several hours, and I wouldn´t have been able to run anyway. (Though I usually don´t hesitate to run in the rain.) So Tuesday I headed out at about 3:30 for an 84-minute run. I hadn´t run further than 15 minutes in that particular direction, so I wasn´t sure what would await me. What awaited me was delightful scenery. The road parallels the Rio Savegre on the left for part of the way, which because of the rain, was raging. And at times there were amazing waterfalls on my right. Add to that the cloud-topped mountains in the near distance, and I can´t imagine a more perfect track. I will set out for an even longer run on Monday, and I´m anxious to see what other scenery I will find.

Evenings continue the same. I find myself quite frequently at the ¨house of pool¨ where I usually find Diego playing. Saturday offered a different diversion as it was once again karaoke night. Not wanting to sing the same songs, I was going to opt out, but I made a pact with Coco, with whom I work at the chicken farm and who is quite the musician, that I would sing if he would. I chose song after song only to find that they all already had singers. I eventually settled for Down Under and was glad I didn´t dedicate it to my Aussie friends considering my rendition was less than stellar. It did, however, result in Coco singing, part of which I captured on video. More fun that night, however, was watching the locals dance. Salsa dancing is a huge part of the culture, and I´m shocked to find just how many of the men know how to dance. I asked Coco how they learn, and he simply said it´s the culture. In other words, they learn because they´ve been watching it since they were kids. I find it fascinating not only because they learn that way, but also because in such a machismo society, salsa dancing is not seen as a contrast to that. Certainly that´s a different attitude than one would find in the States.

I´m once again in town for the day, today focusing on taking care of business odds and ends, such as insurance matters and grad school applications. You´d think that six hours of Internet would be more than enough time in a day, but I´m sure that when 3:45 rolls around today, I´m going to be wishing I had more time. And I always worry that I will have forgotten something that will then have to wait another week.

Despite this minor annoyance, I´ve found that most things are just that--minor annoyances. I made a list this week of things that I miss and found it to be remarkably short, and they´re so minor that I doubt I´ll be able to recall them here. But here is what I remember:
1) the heat of clothes fresh out of the dryer
2) chocolate (the albergue is fresh out of Milky Ways and the M&Ms in the store are older than I care to imagine)
3) on rare occasions I miss a hot shower
4) clothes that feel really, really clean
5) going out to eat at a decent restaurant

The list of things I really enjoy about this place was much longer and again I can´t even begin to remember all of them.
1) looking up into the trees to find any number of wildlife: a 3-ft iguana, gorgeous macaws, parrots
2) the sound of the rain on the tin roof
3) walking into town where it seems everybody knows my name and says it aloud, even if I don´t know theirs
4) having a conversation in Spanish and actually understanding a good portion
5) finding new pleasures each week, like the delicious pizza place I found in Quepos last week, and the awesome, super cheap ice cream I found this week (less than 20 cents)

Most of the time I feel pretty far removed from civilization, and I´ve found that most of the time I don´t mind it at all. No street noise, few street lights, rarely a phone ringing. We should all be so lucky to experience this kind of peace and solitude for a while.