Daily Life

After being in San Ignacio for about a week now I’ve developed a nice daily routine.  I set my alarm for 8, and then when it goes off I usually stay in bed until around 8:30 just because it’s comfortable, warm, and there’s nothing else I feel like I should be doing instead.  (Jealous??) Whenever I decide to get up, I eat a banana, stretch, go for a run, and then do some crunches and pushups and what not.  Nobody else in San Ignacio goes for runs, but at least they’re familiar with the concept, so they don’t look at me as incredulously as the Mozambicans did.  A lot of the roads here are made of cobblestones, which can be difficult to run on, or dirt, which turns to mud when it rains, limiting my possible routes.  But when the mud dries to dirt there are some nice roads that go away from the town that are surrounded by untouched nature and are really peaceful to run on.  There’s hot water for my shower, and a normal, modern stove to fry my eggs for breakfast. 

Usually around 10:30 I finish breakfast and Romina wakes up.  Sometimes I have some time to read or check my email before.  Romina is usually happy and fun, but sometime has cranky days too, especially when it’s rainy and she can’t go play in the yard.  We play with her toys, hide rocks under cups, walk around the yard, push her stroller, make drum beats, ring bells, tear leaves, make funny noises with our mouths, have snacks, and various other things that appeal to one-year-olds until lunch, at 3:00.   Lunch is the big meal of the day, and it’s pretty standard food – rice with meat, spaghetti, chicken, salad, steak, or other “normal” dishes.  No dried fish and cornmeal porridge like in Mozambique!

After lunch Romina takes her nap, and I usually read or go online for a little (if the internet works), and then go wander around and hang out with friends I’ve made, or make new ones.  There are two hostels in town, and I’ve become friends with the people that work at them, and also with a guy that works at the tourist agency (and he’s pretty sure I can bribe the border control to let me into Paraguay for the day even though I don’t have a visa).  Hanging out at the hostels is fun because I get to meet all the travelers coming through also.  The big social thing to do here is drink mate, so whenever I meet someone new they always invite me to come back for mate sometime.

I make sure to come home around 8 so I can watch Romina while Lili gets things ready for dinner, and I often watch her after dinner until she goes to bed around 10.  Then I have some free time to read or work on various things, such as this blog.  I’m also keeping a journal of this trip, and working on writing about my time in Mozambique, since I lost interest in keeping my journal there a few months in.  They also get some American TV stations, so sometimes after dinner I watch a movie – everything from Jurassic Park to He’s Just Not That in to You to Robin Hood has been on.  Sadly no football on Sundays though.  It’s a nice, relaxing life here!