More photos of our arrival and homestay.

We awake nearly every morning (depending on if we remembered to put in earplugs) to the rooster's crow around 5 am. The sky is a gorgeous pink, the breeze is, for a couple of early morning hours, almost cool. Everyone, including the three year old rolls out of bed and tries to get the morning chores out of the way before the sun is scorching. The goats and donkeys are watered and relocated. Corn is picked, rooms swept, laundry and dishes done and breakfast (roasted corn, spaghetti or eggs with fresh bread) prepared before 8:00 am.

We've had a couple of tarantula encounters. Genevieve discovered by flashlight a beauty in the doorway of our bedroom, we've stepped over a couple on a path, as well as a tarantula war in the latrine, also late at night. Our host family laughs uproariously when we get the least bit upset about the spiders, bats or three-inch cockroaches. They shout, "But they don't bite!" This coming from the people who are terrified of frogs, lest they jump on your face, pee in your eyes, causing blindness!

The best story yet is of a friend of Chris' who called her gardener to 'take care' of the eight-inch tarantula in her shower. He came in, took off his shoe and STOMPED with his BARE foot on the creature, explaining, "These are new shoes."