Monday, August 20, 2007

I woke up at noon with a bad headache and strange woman


I hoped she was the cleaning lady. I hadn't seen her before but there she was in my room acting like she belonged there. Attractive she was not. She did open up the the balcony doors and let the steamy heat ooze over me. Yes it was HOT very Hot. She was the cleaning lady. She was making the bed as I went into the shower. After breakfast of stompo ( a fish filled pastry) and coffee I took a taxi to the US embassy to ask a few questions.
The commercial attaches name was Annette Funora and of course she was from the Bronx. We talked pizza and Yankees for a few minutes..mostly pizza. I think this country needs pizza actually...maybe that's my calling. Well Annette told me that dealing with property was relatively straight forward compared with the rest of the continent but that I should be careful of a few local legal issues. There are 3 titles for owning land. One is the national title, the 2nd one is the tribal title and the 3rd is issued by the neighborhood religious leader. The last title is the most difficult and the most important as it is a clearance that the spirit ghosts have not taken up residence on your land. Basically you need to pay around $200 donation to the what seems like a church/clubhouse/bar. With that clear I left to get some lunch and go back and take a nap. As I was leaving I saw Paul the guy from yesterdays party coming in. He seemed to have something serious on his mind and didn't even notice me. Strange as we had spent 12 hours together only yesterday. Off to Lunch. I had some more local food. A glass of ooroga, a coconut milk and coffee mixture that some people make at home as a fermented drink but can be drunk non fermented. A rice and beans mixture with a piece of pork fat (I hope it was pork fat) and a thick stew of mixed vegetables and fish tails. I ate it. That's my food review. I am back at my hotel now and i am exhausted. Time to read the ny times i downloaded and take a nap. Tomorow I go to the palace. I must go out later and get some local clothes as local dress is requested for non formal palace meetings.

1 comment:

vedi said...

Paggi
Keep going!

Love you!