Weeks have started to go by much slower now. I'm not sure what exactly it is. Well ya I do. It's the fact that right now I pretty much have the work habit of a slug. I had the ol Ascaris Worm about two weeks ago and took the first set of pills to kill them. I also had a cold at the time. And yesterday I took the second set of pill to kill the eggs that hatch later. I can now see why many people here just don't have the energy to do anything. It seems to just suck a ton of energy from ones body leaving me feeling like getting up and going to the latrine is a big deal. I'm hoping that after today I will start to get back some of my energy but it seems that these things take about a week to flush out. In the meantime I've having to suck down coffee to stay away and getting up in the morning is a chore.
The weather has been off and on lately between nice cool breezes and scorching hot sun. Last night it rained like hell and didn't let up until mid morning. It's a nice change and gives the illusion at least of some type of season down here. For the most part, there is the rainy season and the not as rainy season. We seem to be in between both.
The Artisan group is even more busier now with a new grant project funded by the World Bank. The money is going to help farms be more productive which has been proven to save rainforest. The thinking is that if your able to squeeze more out of your farm, you won't have to cut down the forest to grow more stuff. I still think we need to outlaw beef. I know it sounds crazy but I see first hand what just 400 hamburgers does to a forest. Damn those Germans for creating something delicious and damn Americans for over producing and subsidizing something to death. On another note, I haven't eaten beef in about 9 months now. I can't go completely off meat down here just because I'm pretty sure my immune system will revolt and start dismantling my body while I sleep, but its a step.
Back to the Artisan group. They are working hard. Tons of time is being devoted to this new project and rightly so. I've been working on getting this whole giant solar panel and cacao machine grant together and it looks like I'm actually getting somewhere. There happens to be a fund available for such projects and I've already done most of the leg work. The last thing to do pretty much is this huge excel sheet that plans for profit and savings so when it comes time to replace things with the machine they will have the money. I know they will save the money and I know it will be fine without this thing but my boss wants it done and I guess it is about time I at least looked an excel sheet down here. I usually just start writing numbers down on a piece of paper and put them in magical squares of which I erase and write new numbers every ten seconds. I guess I could save some trees.
So I already told you I feel like crap which is a given but having less than a year left has given me hope that everything is going to be alright. I swear to god that this country is trying to kill me slowly and I hope by the end of it I still have the gift of sight and smell. I have gained weight and tons of people have noticed. There are a couple reasons for this. When I first got here I was looking pretty healthy and a little jolly around the mid-section for a skinny dude at least, but when I got my first round of soul stripping diseases I lost a ton of weight. Almost fifteen pounds. Yes, I had six pack abs from not eating for a week and constantly clenching my stomach from puking, but I looked more closely like Guy Pierce in every movie he has been in. In the past couple months since I have had more time I have been hitting the home made weights pretty hard along with the Johnny Cakes (home made coconut bread) and it is starting to show. People in my community comment on it. Volunteers. Even my boss told me I'm looking better. This is at least a lot better to hear than the usual “holy crap you look terrible. Have you been eating”?
The usual rashes and bug bites and weird skin crap is still haunting me, but I've at least started to live with it. When I get a chigger bite on my genital region now I just poor rubbing alcohol on it and hope I'm not killing any chances of kids later on in life, or at least normal ones. I cut my hair short again. Just about as short as last year. Almost the exact same thing happened too. I told the person cutting my hair that I just wanted a little cut off the edges but to leave the top long. Buzzed the whole thing. This time I didn't look into the mirror with horror. Instead I was relieved and it felt good not to have to worry about it. I can see why every guy here shaves their hair. The world is harsh here. You don't need another problem like lice or sweating yourself to sleep as your hair raps around you.
The holidays are coming. Yeppy. It pretty much means nothing to me down here as people don't really get into the holiday spirit. I did see one Christmas decoration last year, but people don't give presents. That would take money. The hat I bought for Solomon last year he still wears so I guess that was a good gift. He still owes me money so I'm going to be as generous this year. I would like to do something else than eating by myself for Christmas. I guess I did have dinner with some travelers last year but it was lame and I felt like I was by myself. It was funny when the Asian girl tried alcohol for the first time and after the first drink puked it up.
Anywho, Solomon and I begin our trip to Boquete this weekend to raise money to buy a solar panel and to talk to stores about our products. We shall see. I think it will be fruitful. Just going to have to deal with the crazy gringos out there is all.
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