The “New Normal” as the phrase goes. Well, it’s new for me. Everyday in Llama begins around 6 am. Not because I want to get up that early but if I want to take a shower without first heating the water and pouring it into a bucket to use in the shower then I have to be “ready” once the water starts flowing. And I have to finish before the city shuts the water off due to rationing. And the time they turn the water off is never really set so you hope that you are done before that happens. I understand that when it rains and the wells are filled, water is available all day. Hooray! Okay I have been there off and on now for almost 7 months and I have yet to experience a day “filled” with water. 

Laundry is also planned around water. No washing machine means I wash by hand in a large wash basin and then hang the clothes outside to dry. Some days it takes a couple of days or more for the clothes to dry because of the rain, fog or cold, damp weather.  At least Pucallpa is a step up from Llama in this regard! A friend of mine just got a washing machine and it’s not beneath me to beg to use it! No shame in asking! We’ll see what happens…….

The kitchen is in a separate small adobe brick lined “out building,” as are the toilet and shower! Yup, you got it……I go outside of the house to go to the bathroom, and that includes in the middle of the night. I just got a thermal shower unit to heat the water. Big news….. Woohooooooo. It is a huge blessing. Honestly.

It cracks me up every time I open my door. I never know what to expect. Plastic sacks of wheat lining the sidewalk outside the house, or tons of adobe bricks drying.

Sometimes there are donkeys tied up waiting for their owner to buy and trade supplies.

There are steel rings in the concrete outside some of the stores so the donkeys can be “parked” there! Makes me laugh every time I see them. Sometimes there is a group of kids waiting to talk or ask for candy. lt’s always something! Always an adventure.

Now, I cook with wood when I am learning to cook Peruvian food with my friend Maria. It is easier for her to cook with wood than gas! The only problem with this is that afterwards I smell like a campfire and meat! What a combination!

And the day includes feeding my chicken. Check out the earlier blog on how I came to have a chicken. It’s time to add to the adventure so I think I will buy one of these piglets!

Living the new “Normal” – In His Mighty Grip,

Stephanie

http://www.TrinitysAngels.org