Fotos al azar.

A "chicken bus" (see previous entry) prior to being filled and prior to departure. This one happens to have the interior decor only of a few signs in the front that you can barely see. To really get the flavor of this, imagine it with 3 people per seat plus a random array of people and things filling all other available and unimaginable spaces.



Hello, Xela. This is the big round thing in Parque Central. You may have even received a postcard of it. The central park is sort of the heart of the city and is about one block wide and three blocks long. And on the north end of it, there's this lovely thing, which is a popular place to sit and hang out and popular for activities such as: sitting and whiling away the time; watching street dogs have gang fights or courting sessions; getting approached/approaching people for money; getting hit on or hitting on someone; whistling or hissing at strangers; giggling at lost foreigners; reveling in the ability to drink a beer in the open; seeing teenagers feel cool as they smoke, and so on and so forth.



This is the street corner one block up from the part, looking toward the cross street, 3a Calle, where Trama, the women's weaving cooperative/my old volunteer job (and the same street that around the corner past the people, a few doors down, my old house) is located.



Job #1: This the view looking into Trama's store, where I spent a hell of a lot of time folding stuff, translating for customers who wanted to ask the women questions, putting tags on random items, and chasing Oralia's kids around. But, in short, here are all the pretty textile things I was surrounded with...



...And, here are all the textiley things before they are made into textiley things! This is the thread store where I bought most of my thread that I have woven with/ where Trama buys its threads for its big orders.



And, me, looking like an idiot, setting up one of my weavings in the office at Trama.



Job #2: This is "El Cuartito" (the little room), the bar/cafe where I work. Pictured are various friends and coworkers at the despedida (goodbye party) for my friend Maja who just went back to Denmark.



A view of El Cuartito looking back from the opposite side of the table of where the first picture was taken. Through the doorway behind everyone is where one goes to find the next picture...



This is my El Cuartito dwelling place, ie working behind the bar. From left to right is my manager, Daniel; the owner, Osman (who bought the cafe from the original owners in May); and of course, me, with a bewildered smile on my face.


So, in sum, a partial illustration of the previous post, a snapshot of Xela, and my old (well, in the case of El Cuartito, soon to be old...as of September 3rd) places of employment.