Welcome to your new home! You're on your own!

The day before I left for my second round of training, which was Saturday, July 21, I officially moved in to my new house. However, I slept in it only one night. Now that I'm back from training, I am actually living here and am loving it! I have to make my own food and all that, but after six solid months of elephant ears, chewy meat, corn products, and sugar, I'm looking forward to eating healthy. Below is a picture tour of my humble abode. Welcome!

The view of my house from the street. If you've got good eyes, you might be thinking, "The entrance looks blocked off." It is, kind of. My host family installed this gate while I was gone. There are two parts. On the right side there's some barbed wire spread across some poles. The other part is kinda cool. It's called an entrada de caracol, or a snail entrance. It's just a few strategically placed sticks that keep large animals out and, hopefully, drunks.

A closer view of the house itself. There on the left you'll see my dryer, or the clothesline where I hang all my things up after washing. That chair, several other chairs, the desk, and the few tables in the house are from the school. They were kind enough to lend me a bunch of things. Without all that, I'd have no counter space or seats!

The front porch. Quiet (usually) and peaceful. As you can see, the front and back doors are parallel, which is so convenient. I just open up both and get some ventilation going, and avoid the heat as best as I can.

The bedroom. You can see the mosquito net, of course. I didn't have it up for a night or two, and when a bat came flying in I thought, "I need that stupid mosquito net!" I also broke down and bought a fan for the house. I had gone this whole time (including summer) without a fan, but thought it would be silly to suffer just to boast about not having a fan later.

The kitchen. A volunteer on her way out sold me the (small) fridge and toaster oven, which was super nice. The large fridge on the right doesn't work, but it's great for storing food and all my dishes and stuff. I have a blue tub that I use as a sink. No running water, but I get water from the school, which I bring home and pour into the tub for brushing my teeth, preparing food, washing dishes, etc.

The living room. The fancy couch came with the house, along with a matching chair you can just barely see on the left. You'll also notice the fancy netbook I got while in Panama City. It's because of that nifty new contraption that I'll be able to keep in touch so well!

The back porch. That table-looking structure there is the beginnings of a fogón, or wood-burning stove. I don't plan on using that. However, I'm thinking of hanging a hammock up back here and having a nice little covered hangout spot. The only problem is this. The house used to be uninhabited. So people got used to no one around and have taken to just walking through this area at their leisure. So over the past few days, I've had to greet people essentially walking through my porch/backyard just to get from A to B.

The water source. I have one faucet, and the water usually comes once every few days while I'm at school. So I have a hose that I feed into a big reserve tank, which I then distribute to those buckets to bathe and all that.

The backyard. The view isn't visible from here, but it's pretty nice. Down to the right is a path leading down to a pozo, or natural well. In bad times when there's no water, that's my other option for bathing. In the center of the frame is the latrine/shower.

In case you're curious about where I poo, here it is! On the far side you'll see that the cement floor is swept. That's where I shower, or bucket bathe. This is actually quite a nice setup. My landlord installed a light so I can use the latrine at night with less fear of insects.

So there you have it. Not much, but it's home.