At Home

I spend the last week at Carly’s house while she was on vacation in Brazil with Stephen. She wanted me to look after her things as well as Luna. For the first time since I arrived in Paraguay, I finally felt at home.

I was well-hydrated and well-fed. I could come and go as I pleased. It was amazing. I visited Marcia’s house a few times to get supplies and it was nice to see her again and be welcomed by the family though Nati was overwhelming sometimes after being alone in the house.

At Carly’s house I loved being able to:
• Going to the bathroom every 3 minutes for the 30 minutes following a quickly chugged glass of water [my bladder is the size of a thimble] without worrying the host family will think I am sick.
• Getting up at 6 or 6:30am naturally because I had a good night sleep so I don’t need to sleep until 8 to make up for the tossing and turning in my hard little bed with the roosters outside.
• Not having to worry about Nati banging at my door for no real reason to wake me up at 7am when I don’t want to deal with people yet.
• Being able to get up early in the morning and not be locked out of the kitchen because Nati isn’t awake yet and for some reason she seems to be the primary keeper of the kitchen key
• Having the muni and Cristo Rey[school] about a block away, so that going to work is quick and easy.
• Take up the entire refrigerator without worrying if I’m imposing on the family’s space
• Not having to get completely dressed in the bathroom after a shower
• Coming and going as I pleased without having to worry about the front gate being locked when I get home or worrying that the gate won’t get locked at all and
• Not having Nati constantly in my ear chatting mindlessly touching all of my stuff
• Having a shower head that actually has a good stream of water, the hot water doesn’t last, but in the summer who cares.
• Cuddling up every night to Phantom of the Opera, Miss Potter, Brokeback Mountain etc, that Carly had on her Ipod.
• Making a delicious batch of meatballs and bean stew
• Carly’s bed. It is big and soft. When I woke up this morning after sleeping in fits on my normal bed, I think I bruised my hip. Seriously, there is a sore spot. It could be from my backpack, but I didn’t put the waist belt very tight and the pain is only on one side.

Luna Highlights:
• Luna running away from off-leash area back towards they highway
• Luna digging a moat around Carly’s house
• Luna finally learning to eat all of her breakfast, lunch and dinner which consists of ground beef, dog food, an egg, and mashed potatoes and carrots.
• Luna tried to eat the food I was keeping on the kitchen table, but the first two things she got a hold of were spicy pepper flakes and lemonade flavored Tang. She seems to have stopped after that.
• Luna broke the small tree that her long-leash is tied to, getting out of her collar, and welcoming me as I opened the front door to let her inside the house as if nothing had happened.
• Luna destroyed some of Carly’s tupperware in her quest for shredded coconut.


I brought Lila with me to Carly’s house for the week because I didn’t trust Nati to be able to take care of her and I didn’t want to walk back and for twice a day between the houses. Fortunately her cage was completed on Saturday, so keeping her at Carly’s house was easy. Lila had to stay in the cage most of the time because I couldn’t rabbit proof Carly’s house and Luna is too rough to be trusted with her. We had a good week, but I wasn’t able to take her out and give her as much attention as normal.

Lila was quite happy to get back to my room at Marcia’s house and her normal freedoms. When I left Carly’s house on Friday evening I was a bit tired after making three trips to Marcia’s house to bring my stuff back, a trip to the grocery, and three walks with Luna, cooking, cleaning, and doing some basic unpacking. Remember, I walk everywhere I go.

That evening I just sat on the floor with Lila, she crawled into my arms and I held her and petted her for what seemed like 20 minutes. She put her head right under my chin for a while so I could nuzzle her and give her little kisses. Then she relaxed into the crook of my arm, eyes half closed, fighting sleep like a little kid in the back seat of a car with their head lazily rolling back and forth. Putty Mode Activated. My head was starting to droop too and my eye lids were heavy, but she had been so deprived of attention for the week, I just couldn’t stand to put her away. Eventually she regained consciousness and hopped out of my arms. I put her into her cage for the night and went to bed.


Back at Marcia’s house…

There were some nice things about being back at Marcia’s.
• Doing laundry is much easier.
• My room actually cools down, unlike Carly’s sauna of a house that is always hotter than the temperature outside. We’ve started looking for a new house for her to rent.
• I like the company of Marcia and Anibal.
• The smooth cement floor in my room almost felt slippery when I tried to sweep it after dealing with Carly’s very rough cement floor. I think it used to be a workshop of some sort.
• Being able to play with Lila and let her run around. I realized that she has gotten big enough to jump on my bed again and thus I am quite thankful that I got her little pen made in time because the bed won’t keep my possessions safe anymore.
• Cooking is easier because Marcia’s house has the gas stove and more pots, pans, and dishes, so I don’t feel like I’m constantly using and rewashing the same thing over and over and over.

Other adventures.

One day I semi-lost Carly’s house key. I walked to Marcia’s house and walked back to Carly’s. When I
got there, I didn’t have her house key on my key chain anymore. The other keys were there, but her’s wasn’t. I searched everything I had on me and then walked back to Marcia’s. I was sure that it had not fallen while I was walking, when meant it had to be somewhere at Marcia’s house. Thankfully Nati found it on the kitchen table.

Nati was completely and utterly convinced that Lila was not the same rabbit when I got back to Marcia’s house. She commented that there was more white around her eyes, which is possible, her fur is also getting some black tinges at the end. I explained color change is normal in rabbits, especially when the seasons are changing.

Then she started saying how this Lila was smaller and had smaller feet. While it is possible Lila may have a tiny bit of weight, I can assure you that her feet have not gotten smaller. What actually happened is that Nati got a rabbit that is actually slightly bigger than Lila, and is steadily getting larger because Nati feeds her too much, which thus making Lila appear smaller.

I’ve now decided the two greatest dangers to this new rabbit are obesity, which causes a host of health and digestion issues. Heat is also another potential danger since Nati is prone to keeping her in a cardboard box. She also might run away, because she generally lives in the kitchen and the door is often open. I still think they will probably eat it when Nati gets bored.

Carly and I call the sacrificial bunny ‘Eeyora’ because she is just this dumpy little passive piece of fluff. When you try to pick her up or pet her, she stops moving completely and just sits there. Eeyora even seeks out Inigos attention even though this usually consists of him gnawing on her head.

All in all, I’ll be ready to move out soon. I can’t justify leaving until April when Carly leaves me her stuff, because I’ve got too good of a gig here. Almost no rent, nice family, lots of freedom. But I’ll be ready to go when the time comes.