Let me begin by telling you about our visitor last week. A gecko about 3 1/2" long had made it's way into our bathroom. Of course, when he saw someone coming, he tried to hide, as he had obviously forgotten to lock the door for privacy. Well, he ended up getting cornered in the window, in plain sight. Now, I decided it would be good to encourage him to leave, as he's not really a welcome visitor. True, there's a plus to having geckos around: they eat lots of bugs, which is another thing we would rather not have in the house. However, geckos also come with a downside: they poop everywhere they go... And since they can go anywhere (the whole adhesive feet thing), that means they poop EVERYWHERE! Needless to say, this little guy needed to leave, now.
My plan was simple: close the bathroom door so he can't escape and corner him, grab him, and toss him outside. Unfortunately, I overestimated his girth as compared to the gap under the door.... He quickly saw my oversight and used it to leave me all alone in the bathroom. After making his escape from the bathroom, he headed for our bedroom, where there are lots of great hiding spots. My biggest fear was that he would make it into the open closet and use Alisa's dresses as camouflage. Need I explain why that would be a bad thing? Happily, I got to the closet door before him, and eliminated that possibility. However, he saw an option nearly as good: under our bed. This bed only has about an inch gap at the sides, plus drawers built in under the mattress. So he was able to slide right under the frame, and I couldn't possibly reach him. So he thought. As I lift up the mattress to get a clear view, I think "you're not so smart after all!" That is, until I realize that my hands are too big to fit between the slats that the mattress rests on! So I can see him, but still can't reach him. Again thinking I've gotten the upper hand, I pull out the drawers and use a long handle to reach in and try to push him out. Well, if I go to the left with the handle, he just sidesteps to the right under the frame, and if I go to the right, he sidesteps to the left, all the time giving me a look of disdain as only a gecko can. It's clear to see that he realizes the advantageous position he is in, and has no intention of relinquishing it. Again, I'm thwarted by an animal with a brain the size of a pea. It's about this time that Alisa comes in to see what all the disturbance is. Of course, she's not very pleased with his choice of hiding places either. Did I mention that we were about to go to sleep in this very bed? The idea of sharing our bed with a gecko isn't terribly appealing to either of us (remember how they poop everywhere?), so she joins in the chase. Soon, the mattress has been removed and she is holding up the slats as I try to get a hand on our little friend. Again, he escapes! All told, he has been running me around for about 40 minutes before I finally get him outside the bed frame. Finally he is in the open! He makes a run for it, and I jump to follow. Despite his speed and superior maneuverability, my greater size and determination finally prevail! After all this, am I feeling very charitable with the little fellow? Not at all, over the fence to the neighbor's yard he goes!
Needless to say, a lesson was learned that day. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER let a gecko run under the bed!!!
So the title of this post promised multiple past-times, but we don't have any other action packed stories like that for now. Rather, we can share an experience that is normal in any "developing country", and definitely takes some getting used to. We call it water conservation.
You know how, when you walk to the sink, you have complete faith that water will come out of the faucet? That faith gets broken here. True, by African standards, Burkina has an excellent water system. They have water towers and meters and pipes all through the big cities, and the water is even safe to drink straight out of the tap (we still filter it, just to be safe). However, what they don't seem to have is the capacity to keep all those towers and pipes full 100% of the time. In our first neighborhood here, loss of pressure was a daily occurrence, lasting a couple hours each time. Since moving, we have been rather spoiled to have water nearly non-stop. Until 2 weeks ago. On Wednesday morning the water was cut off. Not a terribly noteworthy event, we didn't give it too much thought other than being disappointed that we had to use our water buckets to wash our hands. As the day continued, the disappointment grew, especially as we again had to use the buckets to clean up before meeting. It's amazing how much more enjoyable showers are with actual running water! Anyways, not a big deal, as we have a 45 gallon can of water in our shed, just an inconvenience. However, as Thursday moved into Friday, and still no water, the inconvenience grew. We had people coming over for dinner Friday night, plus floor cleaning during the day, both of which use water. You can likely guess, if the water had come back on, this wouldn't be much of a story... Of course, the water stayed off all day! When our guests showed up, our reserves were at critical levels. We had drinking water for the night (fortunately most everyone preferred beer!), but washing dishes was out of the question. And, of course, practically every dish we owned was dirty! Top it all off by having to take an ultra conservative bucket shower, and the knowledge that in the morning we would have to go out and search for someone selling water, Friday evening didn't end very well. However, the story has a happy ending.... Saturday morning, we had water again! So began the marathon dish-washing and water barrel filling session.
Once again, a lesson was learned: the following week we bought another water can, so our reserve is now over 100 gallons. Not that we want to have another 3 day water shortage so we need that much!
Hopefully you have enjoyed this small taste of life here in Burkina! As we have come to realize, there really isn't much here in the way of entertainment, so that's why you see us looking for excitement in these "non-conventional" areas.
