August 14

August 14, 2008

I’m traveling to other sites to get a bigger picture of the country and where I might fit in if I should decide to return for a longer period.

I stayed in a village about a half hour drive from the bigger city with a family that was one of the wealthiest in the village. The wife was probably the only woman in the village wearing make-up. It was amazing that there was such a range of house sizes and economic levels in one small area. They got electricity about 15 years ago but not everyone can afford it. A woman we met has an extension cord from another house so she can use one light bulb. She pays about $1/month for this.

I made a list of ways people make money there:

- collecting fire wood

- bake pastries to be sold in town

- freeze bags of ice (river water) to sell to fishermen

- gather vines used for rattan furniture

- weaving (a group bought a loom and are waiting for someone to come teach them how to use it. They plan to use a boat motif to represent their village)

- capture fish from the local lakes to sell in town

- get a job in town

- collect rubber from trees around village (a woman who took us to see the fishermen has a territory within which she taps the rubber trees)

- Nintendo. (really). The family we stayed with has 3 Nintendo type set-ups and the local children pay about 50 cents/hour to use them.

- Boat building. I mean big boats. About 40 ft long. They can make 4 a month which sell for around $1400; the boards are about $10 each. (dollar amounts are based on exchange rate, which doesn’t really apply from an in-country practical perspective)

- Ice cream ‘truck’, actually pedal powered

- Ferry across the river. The village is on both sides of a river and the only way across is by ferry

- I don’t think they were made in the village, but there were a chairs and table set made from used tires. They were quite ornate with sculpted backs and woven seats. You wouldn’t know it was from tires unless you looked closely.

 

In contrast, I’m now staying in what would look like typical condo’s. It is a little hard for the brain to go back and forth between semi-primitive and modern.