Aqui, en la lucha.

I was telling a neighbor how I thought it was weird when I first came here and I'd ask people "How are you?" and they would respond "Here, in the fight" (Aqui, en la lucha).  I'd think, "Well that doesn't seem overly optimistic..."  I've figured out how to reduce mold growth on my clothes, I've killed termites that brought down my bathing structure, a families of ants that infiltrated my house through a crack in the concrete.  I have become comfortable with the cockroaches and mud and rain.  I look out for snakes, remove scorpions from my house, and shoo tarantulas out of the latrine.  I'm comfortable living in the community building in the middle of town, center stage.  Once I think I've got everything under control, it just figures that something else would pop up... Something like a worm that produces a liquid that burns my delicate skin leaving a line of really quite large blisters in it's wake... on my neck and side of my head.  Who even knew that existed?!  I get it now, what it means to just be here, in the fight.

I should have taken pictures of the blisters.  The "worm" (if that's even what it was) got me while I was sleeping, so instead I will leave you with a picture of another little friend we found on the door the next morning.  Maybe the worm wasn't so bad?!