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| We've been pretty busy lately with many wonderful adventures, so having
this sweet little house as our home base has been wonderful! |
From the kind friends who helped us find it to our joyful neighbors and
friends who visit us here, we've been really grateful for the many
people who've helped us make it our home!
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| We have a cute little park across the street... |
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| ...where some of the sisters have many friends. |
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| And we can see the Amazon River from our front porch! |
The people are are incredibly thrifty, which inspired us to make what we could to get our house set up. When our landlord, George, saw our creative contraptions, he asked if we're sure we aren't actually Brazilian because that's just what a Brazilian would have done! That was pretty awesome because one of the things we hope to glean from the people here is their creative spirit.
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| Taking apart banana crates . . . |
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| and making them into shelving . . . |
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| for food in the kitchen and clothes in the bedrooms. |
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| Making cardboard storage drawers |
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| Not all of us sleep in redes . . . |
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and the bed came with a trundle that doubles as a couch and
storage space. |
We were all very excited when George brought over his carpenter friend and they installed beautiful hardwood shutters to help with the mosquitoes, which have been awful. The record so far is over 55 found in one room before breakfast.
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| Even George was surprised to see how many bites we had. |
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| Apparently Adira's legs were extra tasty :) |
Chores here are a little different. Our first couple nights here, our kind next door neighbors lent us cleaning supplies to do battle with the dusty roads, terracotta tile, and "rede dinosaurs" (giant dust bunnies from lint off of our new hammocks) until we could get our own from some very helpful local shop owners.
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| Mopping the white tile . . . again |
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| Clean water, brought to us by our friend Antonio, has to be poured into manageable-sized bottles for drinking, rinsing food, or brushing teeth. |
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| While our friend Luzinete washes most of our clothes in her washer, when we miss the wash we have do them by hand and hang them on the line to dry. |
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| Bathing the babies in a tub out back |
We've made many happy memories here as a family and with our beloved friends, who we'll really miss when we have to leave!
Way to repurpose! I love it! Kent and I went to Miami a few weeks ago, and I was surprised that my dozens of mosquito bites only qualified as low mosquito numbers. Summers in Brazil and Florida must be so annoying with those telestial insects. (Kent's theory is that mosquitos don't move on into the resurrection. Here's hoping!) How big is your little house? From the outside, it doesn't look like it holds a lot of bedrooms. I guess if you can fit two people in a tiny washtub, then you all do okay with close quarters.
ReplyDeleteMay the last few weeks of your adventure be amazing!