Garbage and other topics...

First of all, I apologize for leaving you all with that empty feeling last week.....I must say, this heat sometimes takes it out of me! That is NOT a complaint about the heat either...when i see day after day of 40 something degrees in portland, I'll take a small case of heat stroke....and this is only April. " May is the really hot month " we hear over and over. We've been here many times in june and it was never what I would call unbearably hot so i think we'll be fine. However, we did decide to put in a "dip" pool. The name tells you what its for- to get in, get wet, cool off. No laps, diving, pool toys...just a cooling dip. About 4 ft deep with a nice wide edge around it for sitting or laying ( i'll post a picture when it's done). The fellas started working. They never cease to amaze me. first of all, just going out to water overheats me. Standing in the sun with a hose in my hand for too long and my face is beet red and me eyes are stinging from the sweat rolling down my forhead into them. these guys are in full sun for hours. Lots of digging, measuring, carrying of heavy things.....After seeing some of the pyramids around here then watching them work..its the same construction! They use whatever is available. Anything is a tool. This time i saw them get out a tube of clear plastic maybe 20 feet long and about as big around as a straw. They stuck it in the cistern and got some siphon action going to fill it with water. Now, some of you guys might have seen this before but I was mesmerized. They used it as a sort of level. The ground out back slopes so they used it to adjust for that. One guy went to one point and held it in place while the other squatted on the other side at an opposite point. They somehow held them in place and marked a spot. They also incorporated several pieces of fishing line with rocks hanging from them and used a sharpie to mark spots where the fishing line intersected- voila! Theres a pool. Now, while all of these fascinating events were transpiring, a material delivery truck arrived. It was one of those trucks that ramble down the road sideways and are half rusted out with various stickers placed in strategic spots ( i think this is what really holds them together...). About 4 guys started unloading concrete blocks, gravel, cement. John went out to supervise and called to me "Jill! come check this out!" I round the back of the house to see them all standing around a cardboard box with a frayed, yellow rope tied around it. One young guy is carefully prying open a corner of the cardboard. A snout with a couple of beady, black eyes came peering out..."what is it? A puppy?" I ask? " (in spanish) "no, no no!" they all echo...a bit more head is exposed and i see fur and no, its definately not a puppy...but what the hell is it? "que es?" what is it....a flurry of words and gestures involving biting motions and vigorous displays of teeth gnashing ensue...the word peligosa is thrown out ( which means dangerous) but nobody can tell me what the viscous creature is called. The gist is that they found this creature on the road while on their way to our house and decided it was a good idea to catch it and put it in a box. " porque?" why? ( this did not seem a good idea to me at all in fact im wondering when they will be leaving and taking the box with them.....). i then heard a round of explanations involving a dog. A fight? like to bet on? No..for entertainment? no....im sorry readers, but the name of the creature and what they intended to do with it shall remain a mystery. I have looked on line to find animals of the yucatan....almost nothing...books on animals of the yucatan? almost nothing. I've been thinking i should contact Smithsonian or National Geographic and give them a heads up that there is a vast array of animals, reptiles and insects that are virtually uncatalogued down here.Even the natives don't know what these things are called! hey, if they haven't been named yet i can name them whatever i want right? isn't that the honor of the person discovering the thing? I could be naming all kinds of things! I was having this conversation with a guy who lives in Santa Clara. He and his wife moved down from Georgia with their two small children ( who are now bilingual). When i told him I wanted to find a book he said 'good luck'. he'd been trying to find one too. He and his wife have spearheaded our recent campaign to get a better garbage system.Currently, we are working with a designated dumping area where people bring their trash ( concrete rubble, household trash, piles of fish from the local restaraunt...)and they get it sometimes merely in the general vicinity of the designated area. Some feel the area OUTSIDE the dump is close enough. this is relatively new and hopefully not a trend. I will say there is a LOT less garbage in our area then some Ive seen in mexico, but there is no recycling and a lot of burning of plastics. So between this guy Jason and his wife, john and i , we have gotten a large portion of the residents of Santa Clara to attend a meeting with the municipal presidente at our house tomorrow night. We are hoping to establish a system where the trash will be seperated, plastics and metals sold, and the rest disposed of in a non toxic fashion. Some of the gringos think the locals don't care about the burning of plastics (stereotyping...)but thats not true. they know its not good and dont like it either. Its just very difficult to get things accomplished because there is a lot of corruption( politicians are politicians wherever you go!) and little follow through. I'm trying to remain hopeful and positive about the outcome. I'll let you know. Tonight is meeting night. After attending the business meeting a couple of weeks ago, there are some format changes (yes, i did have something to do with that.....)We will now have a different chair person once a month. Currently, the secretary has people do the readings then-the meeting is open! no sharing, no nothing. It has been really hard to get to know people because you never hear their story. I've never seen anything like it. So once a month it will be a ...normal format and tonights the night! And who might it be who's chairing? Yes! yours truly..... so there is my update...people ask "are you bored?' ha! just like the song says" if you're bored then you're boring". How can i be bored when there are crazy animals to deal with, fish garbage to categorize, corrupt presidentes to entertain and meeting formats to challenge?! All this in 100 plus degree heat too, I might add.....