Food for thought 7.21.08

Tortugua.

The words bounced from house to house until finally reaching my hut. Once the word is whispered and passed my family says ¨bru, vamos Chamie a la playa¨ and dutifully I follow. It´s one of those instances where I feel like I should really be excited for someone- like when your best friend told you that she is marrying a moron- and you just fail to feel that same excitement. And so, caught up somewhere between excitement and sadness, you feel nothing. I´m excited that for a week my family will have food to eat, and that I won´t hear them complain about buchu simple. But on the other hand I know this is the 3rd turtle in 3 weeks and the species is slowly dying away. And so, I do what I normally do in akward situations- I joke. It´s either that or be angry at them for following ancient traditions handed down by their forefathers. In the end it boils down to food being food and for one night not hearing a cry of a child´s hunger.

On a more serious note, the teacher gave me the key to the latrine. Now I don´t have to worry aboiut it being open or not. One problem solved and relief definately follows. Now if I could only solve the turtle issue....