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<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>[A short email from
2/10/07]<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Last
night I took a photo of a <i><span style='font-style:italic'>lagartija</span></i>,
a small lizard, on the ceiling. They live in and behind the walls, and the
males go CHIP CHIP CHIP every so often at the females. Last night I saw my
first spider as I was heading for the bathroom about 2am; it was an inch and a
half long, black with brown stripes. You [son Chris] would be in heaven here.
So would all animal lovers--pigs, chickens, dogs, horses, cows. But almost no
cats.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> I’m
going to see if I can send this successfully now. Much love, Dave<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>[Later that same
day] This is the story of a wedding reception, for one of Mario's many
cousins, Saturday night 10 febrero. But it requires extensive family
background.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> I live
with Ana and Mario, who are affectionate, talk to each other all the time, and
laugh a lot. Ana, who often looks tired (and has to be, with her 4:30am to 7pm
job in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Managua</st1:City></st1:place>),
lights up with her bright smile and happy laugh all the time. Mario is gently
boisterous and the soul of consideration. These days he is a house husband: he
does the weekday cooking, he washes the clothes, and does most of the daily
housework. (He shows no sign whatever of being uncomfortable in this role.
With all the dust here I´ve been brushing my shoes daily, but Friday he stole
them and polished them!)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Their
family extends out in all directions. Ana's nephew Roberto, who has just
finished his university course (and who loves to talk with me about English
sounds--BEEN vs BEAN, etc--and how English is harder to learn than Spanish),
will now be living regularly, I gather, with his mother Amanda. This is Äna´s
mother. Three other men live there, or very close by, all nephews or grand-nephews.
Amanda looks frail but is tough. She bears a jaded expression most of the
time, but her smile, like Ana's --like most Nicas in fact -- is luminous.
Mario´s mother is Aura; she has a sister who looks just like her. Mario has
three brothers, who all live in the area, and a sister who lives in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Costa Rica</st1:country-region></st1:place>
[the mother of the thirteen-year-old Aura, who lives in our house; the niece of
Mario]. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Mario
has a number of <i><span style='font-style:italic'>primos y primas</span></i>,
mostly male cousins, almost infinite. Yesterday, Sunday, we drove out to Aura-<i><span
style='font-style:italic'>abuela</span></i>'s house [Aura the grandmother]to
pick up Aura [the niece], who was staying with her <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>abuela</span></i> for the weekend. Mario turned off the <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>carretera</span></i> [road] and we traveled up a dirt
road, kind of like the dirt road up Moscow Mt except level and with bigger
ruts. He had to drive 10 mph, with many slow-downs to avoid ripping out the
car bottom (his ex-taxi with no shocks). For 3-4 miles we drove past fields of
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>caña-asucar</span></i> [sugar cane], the
land is owned by his family, and as we drove Mario pointed, as we passed every
house, “Alla vive un primo . . . Alla otro primo . . . Alla una prima .
. . Alla el hijo de un primo [a cousin lives there, another lives there, and
another there, and the son of a cousin . . .].” He has easily ten
cousins along with road. Finally -- except that beyond this house are two more
houses in which live his aunt and one more <i><span style='font-style:italic'>primo</span></i>
-- we reached the house of his mother, where live also a <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>prima</span></i> and her two-year-old girl, and his <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>hermano menor</span></i> [younger brother], who
raises fighting cocks, [<i><span style='font-style:italic'>gallos primos para
jugar</span></i>]. Very loud in the morning I expect.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> I learn
things about the family all the time. For instance, that Ana took care of
Roberto [the 20-year old nephew who has just graduated, mentioned above] for
the first four months of his life. They are very close. Aura now lives with
Ana and Mario; she is his niece, and she is very close to him: Ana is Ana, but
Mario is <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Tio</span></i> [uncle]. She is like
a happy daughter. She can pout, but there is always a twinkle in her eye.
She´s going to be beautiful in a couple of years. She talks to me but never
slows down so she´s a real challenge to understand.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Saturday
Mario and Ana and I took a sequences of buses to Jinotepe, where <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>they had an
appointment, leaving me off at CyberTech. That night we went to the wedding
reception of one of Mario´s <i><span style='font-style:italic'>primas</span></i>.
The wedding itself was a civil ceremony, which we didn´t attend. The reception
was characterized throughout by NOISE. They had a wall of loudspeakers, and
the system was on full-blast, making us move away from the dance-floor area.
There were no toasts, no tributes, no roastings, a nondescript cutting of the
cake but no garter-throwing, etc., though I did see the bride hand over her
bouquet to a friend. There was a dinner served, at intervals -- almost
entirely served by the bride and her older sister (who got married last month).
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> All
kind of ordinary, but it gradually became magical. This was in part because
Mario and I were slowly putting away a bottle of Nicaragua´s best <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>RON</span></i>. The music went on and on: Latin
rhythms of all kinds, popular songs, some, Mario said, in <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Mesquito</span></i> or <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>Meskito</span></i>, from the Atlantic coast, with a healthy sprinkling
of American pop. Mario´s side of the family, or much of it, was there,
including the two Auras. I met Meghan’s host-mother [Meghan Beard,
formerly of Moscow, went to Villa El Carmen three years ago for several months],
and, I think, though I may be wrong, that one of Meghan´s host-sisters was a
little girl, now 11, whom I had “taught”' last week. She played
shy for a while, but we were on good terms when we left. Nacaraguans smile with
amazing ease and grace.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> I sat
and scouted out the dancers, and there was nothing complex about how most of
them were moving their feet and bodies -- perhaps because at close range the
music sets up a strong rhythm in the breastbone which competes with the heart.
I thought to myself, “even I can do that!” !Bueno! The bride´s
sister came over to our table <i><span style='font-style:italic'>para charlar</span></i>
[to chat], and Mario convinced her that I really wanted to dance, and she
should be my partner. So she accepted, and we danced, a very happy dance if
stumbly and ear-splitting.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoPlainText style='line-height:150%'><font size=3 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Saturday
night was perfect. I could have sat there and listened to Spanish music,
sprinkled with American pop, all night. It was all magic, including life´s
basics. I asked Mario where the <i><span style='font-style:italic'>baño</span></i>
was, and he said -- something like -- it was busy, I should go out beyond the
cars. So I did, to the far edge of the dirt parking lot, and [found myself in
the company of] an old gray saddled and tethered horse. The horse stood stock
-- still while I stood contentedly, looking upward at brilliant Orion, slightly
angled </span></font><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>to the north, toward home.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>--<BR>
No virus found in this outgoing message.<BR>
Checked by AVG Free Edition.<BR>
Version: 7.5.441 / Virus Database: 268.18.2/692 - Release Date: 2/18/2007 4:35 PM<BR>
</FONT> </P>