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My New Best Friend, Jill!
In February, Jill could still pick me up and cuddle me. After 6 weeks it was no longer possible!!Hello everybody. My name is Carbon (pronounced KAR-BONE-means Charcoal in Spanish). I'm a lively, lovely Great Dane puppy. I was still a newcomer here at Mandala when Jill arrived in late February. She's become my best buddy over the past two months, and she asked me to tell you all about her adventures managing the hotel. In the time that she's been here I've more than doubled in size. I eat three times a day and gain about a kilo a week. Sometimes I trip over my huge paws because my gangly, long legs can't always follow as fast as my playful mind wants to go. My needle-sharp teeth are starting to dull a bit since I put everything I find in my mouth. When I get too crazy, they give me an empty plastic bottle to chew on. I do have fits of puppy craziness from time to time, but most of the time I try to be a good boy.
The first few weeks after my Mandala Mommy & Daddy left on an airplane, my dog sisters Julieta & Bruna had to stay locked in different rooms because they were in
Won't Anybody Play With Me?
Lalo doesn't like it if I pester him while he's sleeping. heat...I'm not sure what that means but I do know that my brother Lalo was howling all night long almost every night! There were also lots of dogs from the neighborhood hanging around and barking a lot. Some of the hotel guests complained about the noise, so Jill had to keep moving the girls to different rooms and garages. They couldn't stay together in the same room because Juli would growl and snap at Bruna. Whenever she took them for a peepee poopoo walk someone had to hold onto Lalo because he would try to jump on top of them. Once when Lalo's leash was tied to a chair leg he pulled the whole chair across the terrace trying to get to his sisters!!!
Jill hardly has any time to play with me because she's always working, usually from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm. Most days she'll disappear for 2 or 3 hours to read a book or take a nap. This time it seems like things were easier for Jill - since it's already her 5th time working here she's learned a lot and is not as nervous about doing something
Oh, Look! A Bug to Play With!
Hey, why isn't it moving anymore? Aw gee, I never get to have any fun. wrong. Jill's usually pretty calm, but sometimes she gets stressed out -- like when a bottle of insect repellent exploded in a hotel guest's eyes and Jill had to rush her to the doctor...or when the extension cord started smoking and the reception desk almost caught on fire...or when another hotel guest disappeared without paying his bill...and took the room key with him. And then there was the week that the computer crashed AND the printer stopped working. Oy vey.
One morning everybody was at the restaurant before 6 am! There had been a big earthquake in Chile the day before, and the next morning the ground was shaking right here. Jill said that at first she thought she was having a nightmare, but then she heard the wood shutters banging against the window and she flew out of bed and got dressed and went right down the the restaurant. Some tourists, fearing a Tsunami, wanted to head inland right away. So Jill got busy figuring up bills and making microwave instant coffee for the departing guests. She doesn't know how to use the huge monster of a coffee machine, and
Get Back Inside, You Rascal!!
I like to wander off toward town or follow families out to the beach....but I usually get in trouble if I leave all by myself. she doesn't want to learn!
Jill says her head is full enough with all of the many details she needs to keep track of -- that the brooms she buys need to be soft bristle and wooden handles are better than plastic ones; that it's crucial to check the expiration dates on the yogurt and cheeses when they're delivered; that the nursing mothers who work in the kitchen have a legal right to leave for an hour during their shift to go home and breastfeed (and new mother said she couldn't clean out the freezer because her baby has a cold and she could pass on the "cold" from the freezer thru her breastmilk...old wives' tale!) Jill must remember to order the toilet paper rolls that are individually wrapped, that Marlin, Wahoo & Swordfish are almost but not quite the same thing and she has to remember which one is cheapest. She's learned the names of the toilet tank innards in Spanish (she doesn't even know what they're called in English!); which brand of bacon is too salty; that the disinfectant she orders must be lavender scented and the softener is
Will I Ever Grow into my Shadow?
Sooner than you might imagine, little guy! Eating 3x/day and gaining an average of 3-4 lbs a week! bouquet scent; that the new computer printer uses a different number ink cartridge than the last one; that if the waiter's wife goes into labor he's permitted 2 weeks paternity leave (3 weeks if it's caesarean); that one brand of salami slices better than another; that she can only deposit checks in the bank until 1 pm, and a million other details!!!
Every once in a while Jill gets into her truck and drives into town. When she has to go to the bank she'd always takes along Don Flavio, the 70+ year old gardener...since he only has to wait in the senior citizen (tercera edad - "third age") line, it saves at least an hour or so! After a few days of rain Jill knows the streets in town will be filled with mud so she chooses her footwear accordingly (crocs are washable!). It's always an adventure to pay the electric bill....sometimes crowds of people are pressed against the cashier's window.
One of the things Jill likes best is speaking many languages with all of the hotel guests. In the space of 5 minutes
Aerobic Sleeping
Look at my adorable puppy tummy. This is my favorite sleeping pose...so relaxing!! I've heard her speak Spanish, English, French & German. She likes to practice her 5 phrases in Russian, and a Polish guest was teaching her greetings. She's still not too proficient in speaking Canine, however. Her German has improved greatly since starting work at Mandala. Even if the Swiss, German and Austrian Tourists speak perfect English, they're very patient with her bumbling German, helping her along. Maybe they're just amused by how silly she sounds. How well a language is spoken can be judged by what you can accomplish. Jill's knowledge of German was put to the test when she was called upon to help a Swiss tourist make a police report after his camera was stolen. Translating between German and Spanish was challenge, but she succeeded!
As always, there were so many interesting people passing thru Mandala. For a few weeks, there were a lot of Canadian tourists - not only was it a harsh winter up north, but during the Olympics people could rent out their homes for a few weeks and travel on what they earned! There was a highway patrolwoman, an archaeology doctoral candidate digging up skeletons beneath
Reunion of Former Colleagues
Chris & Jeff now live in Venezuela with their adopted kids and Lee & Doug are retired teachers who travel the world. We all taught together in Malaysia 15+ yrs ago! the main square in Cuenca, a stone artisan from Michigan, and two jazz musicians from New York who gave private concerts on several evenings. People of every nationality, every age, different socioeconomic levels. The Hosteria is priced so that backpackers can splurge for a few nights, but the quality and reputation attract the Hilton/Hyatt/Sheraton set as well. There were even a few eligible single men about the right age. Hmm...Jill seemed to perk up around them.
Easter Week was the week of International Teachers at Mandala! There were teachers from American and International Schools in Quito, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Lima, Caracas...some of them were friends of Jill's from over 15 years ago when she worked in Malaysia. Five former teachers from the International School of Kuala Lumpur held a mini-reunion at Mandala. Lee & Doug are now retired, but travel all over. Jill is "semi-retired" (as her dad likes to tell his friends) but she's working harder than she ever has! Kris & Jeff have been working in Venezuela for several years now. While her friends were at the hotel, Jill tried to take a break to have a meal with them but
Side View of the Treehouse
My bedroom is the top floor that juts out. "Semana Santa" was a very busy time -- in fact the hotel was completely full for almost three weeks! Nonetheless, Jill managed to sneak out to the ocean for a swim once or twice, and to catch the sunset from the cabanitas on the beach.
A few weeks after arriving at Mandala, Jill got to move into her new house. Maja & Aurelio were just finishing the construction of The Treehouse (La Casa del Arbol) as they left on their travels. It is an amazing liveable work of art. At the end of this blog you can see a series of photos, but it's hard to capture the beauty in a picture. The bedroom is up on the top floor, with screens and windows on all sides. To the back are views of the hills. To the front, views of the Hosteria with glimpses of the sea beyond. All is high-polished wood with natural Naranjillo trunks as the pillars. The bathroom is a showplace (but alas, it is downstairs from the bedroom so if Jill has to make peepee at night she has to wake up fully to navigate the steep staircase).
Base of the Casa del Arbol
Instead of taking down this mature tree, they just built the house around it. There wasn't time to get all the curtains finished before she moved in, so she tacked up a dark sheet so she could nap when the sun was streaming in.
In the morning, Jill awakens to the sound of the gardener wheeling out the compost barrel. Looking out towards the back she can see the turkey vultures perched and waiting for their breakfast buffet as melon rinds and orange peels get tipped onto the heap. Since there are still no curtains in the bathroom she has to duck down so that the gardener doesn't actually get a glimpse of her nekkid (now that would be scary for him!)
So. tomorrow night my Mandala parents return and in a few days I'll say good-bye to Jill. She'll still be in Puerto Lopez for two more weeks while she house-sits for some friends. I'm sure she'll come around to visit me, but when she leaves to go travelling again at the beginning of May I won't see her for a long time. I'll be huge by the time she comes back to the coast in the fall!
Looking Down From Upstairs
The tree well is in the middle; the house wraps around it like a C. When she comes back, I hope she'll still cuddle me the way does now. I bet she will!!
PS Don't forget to scroll all the way down to see all the photos, and click NEXT for the last few pictures too!
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kathy & Bernie
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Great Stuff
Jill, Sounds like your German is better than mine, which now that I think about it, isn't a surprise since I've not been in any language classes since moving to Berlin 8 months ago. Bad Kathy, bad Kathy. The tree house is FAB! Keep on having adventures and sharing them with us.