One week down, and one more week to go and then off comes this splint from my leg. Guess I have to go out and get a really good pair of hiking boots, probably ankle-high might prevent this from happening again.
I was moved into Suegras residence, as there are no stairs that I will have to use. In the evening, I can hear the music from my exercise class, and for the past two evenings I have heard church bells, followed by fireworks and a band playing. Tomorrow I will ask someone what that is all about.
I have also been watching truck after truck go by loaded with sugar cane. These trucks are so big that I can see the tops of them above the wall that surrounds the residence. Am also watching the various life forms around here. The ground was covered with the ash from the burning of the sugar cane fields, and next to one of the plants, I thought I saw a piece of ash – but then it scurried into the plant, and I realized it was a tiny gecko.
This morning, I also saw a hummingbird flitting around from one plant to the next, and in the fountain, the chichalacas were taking bird baths, and one even seemed to be washing off whatever it had in its mouth. These birds are pretty large, shiny solid black with eyes like white buttons. They have long tails and long, thin, sharp beaks, like something out of a scary Hitchcock movie. The sound they make is not melodious at all, but quite different from the crows that they resemble.
There are also tons of tiny, tiny light reddish ants. While still at the Hacienda, I saw a dead beetle on the floor of the downstairs common area, and watched its body being carried out by a whole army of little ants. I wondered what would happen when they got to the stairs, and surprisingly they carried it over and under the lip of the stair, without dropping it and without me noting any disturbance in their rhythm. It was absolutely amazing to see the coordination of these tiny beings carrying something that must have been at least 100 times the size and weight of each individual ant, and to have such a tight hold on it against gravity, too!
The spiders are interesting, too. Saw a large one (well, large compared to what I’m used to seeing here) at the base of my refrigerator in the Hacienda. Blew on it, and it scurried away. I had heard that the spiders that don’t create webs here are very quick and that is how they catch their meals of insects.
Also included in the following pictures are a grasshopper that I saw on a door jamb, and one of the typical butterflies here, with wings that remind me of inlaid wood.
Not much else here from this week. Tomorrow starts the Primer festival gastronómia Comala 2016. Tomorrow and Saturday will be lectures, classes and the only people selling food/produce will be Richard and Magda. Sunday will be the really big event, with vendors throughout the jardín. But tomorrow there is supposed to be classes, including, I heard, about insects. So – I just have to go to that one to check it out. Catching a ride with Richard and Magda, and Sunday night or Monday will post again.
mex-pat.org 