We rented a house!

---

OK..not really a lot of moving around since we last blogged. We did, however, decide that we liked Santa Fe so much we wanted to stay for a while (or forever?). We managed to find a house for rent. It is a fantastic little 3 bedroom house with no hot water, but...it has an indoor flush toilet! It is very quiet and nestled back from the road. The only bad thing we have discovered is the chitras (sand fleas). They come out about 4 pm and last until around 7 pm. We are beginning to wonder what it is like to not itch! We are surrounded by orange, lime, manderine and mango trees and several other plants that we can eat or make cocktails with. If only they would have left us some chickens, we would be set! We could tell you all that we actually rented a house with a swimming pool, but Julio (the owner) was going to fold it up and take it away. We also have to do our laundry by hand, but it is not too big of a deal.

It was very nice to actually be able to unpack our stuff and feel at home somewhere. We are anticipating a trip back to the beach sometime next week to a new area..Santa Catalina. It will be nice to leave everything else behind and just take a change of clothes and a swim suit.

We are also taking some Spanish lessons while we are here and have been studying from our hammocks in the afternoons (pre-chitra time) and, of course, enjoying our vodka drinks with fresh fresh fresh sqeezed juice.

We have also learned you need to be prepared for just about anything. The electricity is not always very reliable, but at least we have a gas stove. Also, they are doing some road construction on the main road near our house and busted our water line. We had just enough water saved in a water bottle to stumble our way through boiling potatoes and making some rice. Miraculously the water came back on just in time to do dishes. We are not quite sure how they repaired it because originally the construction worker came to the house and asked if we had any extra pipe. John walked with him and checked in our shed, but we found none. We told him to go to the hardware store to buy some and he said he had no money. We thought we were going to be without water for the night and were packing a sack to hike up to the hostal for a warm water shower. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed the cold water was again working, but at least a cold shower is better than none! Oh, had a small taste of how the Fear Factor contestants feel. We found what I am sure is World´s Largest Cockroach in our kitchen one night before bed..eww!

Santa Fe also had an agriculture fair last weekend. It wasn´t unusual to find the locals passed out on the side of the road from induldging in too much beer. We saw some kids doing some traditional dances and it was much much smaller than any fair we have ever been too.

So, here we are in Santiago once again to shop for groceries and check our e-mail. It is usually an entire day affair but it is nice to have a full refridgerator! We are also adding pictures here that should have been on the last blog (you know..we might become cowboys and then no pictures to back it up?). We miss all of you and love hearing from you! Thank you for all your comments and e-mails and sorry if our response time is slow. Everything around here is!

---

Photos

Our humble abode
Can't wait to tell you all the details!

3 massage therapists & un hombre
Left to right...Erin, JJ, Deb and Kate.
All resting their buttocks from the horses.

Cowgirl Deb
Gitty up there Colorado (yes that was her horses name)

JJ and Junior
Oh well, a rainy day on Junior is better than a sunny day at work!
Now if he could only run....

Study Hall
Always goes best with cocktails in hand.

Sunday night fights ringside
No cameras allowed, the flash really screws up the cocks.

Another day...another waterfall
Another dipping Deb.
4 hour hike but ahhhh so refreshing.

Comments

[Erin]

good work!
missing sante fe, the house looks great and I love the study hall, jealous. como es su espangnol? So great to see some photos, could you send me some more from that day at the river, pretty please. have fun and say hello to all for me. big chittra hugs