My daily life in Ometepe

My hostel is called El Bosque  and I appear to be the only guest at present.  My room has everything I need, a light, a fan, some shelves, and I did borrow a plastic chair from the reception area. There are some hooks in the bathroom but no wardrobe and actually I'd  rather not let the bugs and spiders get in my clothes.

The bathroom has a tiny basin and the tap is a bit precarious and the water stopped one morning. There seems to be a bit of water that comes out of the top of the loo tank when it flushes but I haven' investigated that as everything is functioning. The bathroom light doesn't always work so sometimes I have to tap it and it comes on. The cold shower works fine but the water does spray over a wide area so I have to prepare myself! There is a mesh window and I found something that looks like a soap dish that I washed. Have had to go native as my combined shower gel and shampoo with insect repellent leaked in my case and don't think it will last the trip, so am just using that for my hair. It is pretty breezy and there don't appear to be many mosquitoes.

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There is a little veranda at the front where I can sit and read and watch life go by, the horses, carts, cows, and the tourists on mopeds and quadbike. There are also lorries making deliveries and buses occasionally. The pulperia sells everything from underwear to beer, and is useful for the purchase of snacks and water. They can't do enough to help and yesterday ordered in some more rubbers and pencil sharpener and rulers which were delivered this morning? I can also order a taxi and am getting  to know the driver very well. My hostess is doing the laundry and I handed over the bag yesterday and if nothing reappears tomorrow I will ask. I did enquire about cleaning arrangements just to check and it appears it is my room and I have the key and if I give Arisel my key she will clean it and changed the sheets, so we have arranged that for Saturday.  My breakfast is served outside near the shop and usually includes bread, rice and eggs and fruit. Arisen said to ask if I want anything else so I don't get bored so today I had tomatoes as well.

I am tried to blend in and not make demands; I would hate to appear to expect anything more than they can offer. 

My days are still beginning early but I fall asleep mid evening. So i am over awake before 4am and doze til 5am, then I do messages, read and listen to the radio( there is no TV) and get ready, having a walk before breakfast.  I have no kettle and the water heater I purchased doesn't fit in my adaptor so a couple of times a day I ask for a cup of hot water to make tea. I have a good breakfast and then lunch has been out, at a local comedor or part of our activities. In the evening I may have a snack.

As far as my friends here are concerned, I made it clear that I wouldn't expect them in any way to be out of pocket; the difference between our relative incomes is enormous and the cost of things here is quite low. So a meal for 4 was equivalent to the price for one in the UK. On the day we went shopping for the uniforms I took the costs from the funds as I thought it was justified but not extravagant. And we had to make the trip to get the goods.  I have developed an absolute loathing of tourists who want to have a cheap holiday out of someone else's poverty. As I've said before, this experience has been life-changing.  

Today, Friday, I am going to meet the doctor who works for SIFT to find out about her work and maybe identify anything we can do to support. Then going to see José's family again and then he's treating me to one of his Kayak tours and we're cooking lunch at the business.