More Photos

Hola. I was able to post some new photos today when I was in Valera....check them out through the link on the right.

This week Adones and his wife Patricia returned to the house with their 4 year old Santiago and their newborn Isabela. There are now 12 people living in the house, and Auxi is pregnant with number 13. I love having the new folks around, especially Santiago. It just doesn´t get old watching him slug Stewart.

There was a request for more details concerning the food, women, and pets. Well the food is pretty good. I´d say at least 70% of what goes into my mouth is an arepa (The law of diminishing returns does apply here....but when in Rome....). Besides that there is lots of rice, plaintains, chicken, potatoes and other hardy stuffs. Not a lot of salads. (a bit surprising given most people make their living farming lettuce, spinach, and cabbage) My favorite thing is a bowl of corn flakes with powdered milk and previously boiled water. Also, the hamburgers are good, but it always throws me off when they ask if I want a meat or a chicken hamburger.....why would I order a hamburger if I wanted a chicken sandwich?

There are tons of dogs around. At our house we have a german shepard and a rottweiler who like to fight each other, so they have to stay penned up separately....definitely not part of the family. But other people treat their dogs like we do in the states, only they tend to keep the dogs outside. My favorite dog is called Beethoven....i think he got into a fight last year so now one of his ears is always flopped over like a lab´s and the other sticks up like a boxer´s.

In other news:

• It seems to be pretty funny for the locals every morning when I go jogging. I don´t think they do much of this here, plus the road is really steep and I´m always wheezing, so I get lots of ¨that gringo is strange¨looks. (For those that aren´t aware, I´m running at least a mile a day for 2007 to raise money for my friends at Orphanage on the Rock in Haiti....if you want to contribute, let me know!) But yesterday, about halfway up the hill, I came upon a couple of local guys. One of them (we didn´t exchange pleasantries) was still passed out in the muddy dirt road at about 10. The other guy, Nelson, had removed his friend´s watch and seemed to be under the impression that it was a cell-phone. I´m not sure who he was speaking to on the watch, but I ended up having a nice conversation with him/her as well.
• I will always laugh when somebody meets Stewart and says, ¨¡oh, Estuart Little.....el ratón!¨
• There´s probably not a better value out there than a dvd including 5 Chuck Norris movies for the equivalent of $2.30.
  
• One advantage of having a really old car is that if you are turning around, and there is a wall of earth behind you, you can just back up until you bump it....no problems.
  

Ok, hope everyone is well. Until later....

-Coop