Susana Field

Today I am practicing waiting. I am waiting for the rain.I am waiting for the new green leaves, for the dull dryness of the hills to turn to juice. I am waiting for the sweltering heat to abate, for the dogs to come out from under the shady bush. I wait for the threat of Covid-19 to go away. For my fear for my neighbors – for Mary and Hector, who’ve been keeping their store Stop y Buy open across the street, for our cuidador Juaquin and his extended family who have all moved back in with him, and for …

In the mornings a pair of Turquoise-browed Motmots has been nearing our porch. Likewise, we’ve been seeing them regularly during our evening stroll up the shallow canyon by our house. Locally common, they are much easier to spot now, at the tail end of dry season, than they will be after the rains start up soon and the barren landscape explodes into jungle. Squirrel Cuckoos have also been coming around. As well as Streak-backed Orioles. The resident howler monkeys are also much easier to spot now while the trees are barren and so many flowers and berries are luring them …

Some mornings I wake up to a flooded house…during the dry season … when it hasn’t even rained. Some mornings I wake up to a large scorpion on my chair where I was about to put my hand…even when I haven’t seen a scorpion in months. This morning was that morning. For both. Time for a cup of coffee. Sigh. And some mornings, additionally, the electricity goes out. Like, just now…

San Juan del Sur is a fishing village. A surfing village. A beach-lover’s paradise. A place of grand sunsets. A picture-perfect bay with brightly-colored pangas bobbing in the sea. But how deep does that sea go? How deep do the turtles swim? At what depths are the fish caught, which later we eat with gallo pinto while clinking bottles of Toñas at our favorite beachside restaurant? https://neal.fun/deep-sea/?fbclid=IwAR0Nw-CltOfbZdfdbmJmzno9MoB7n4ozhfafIdzUnuwZ8r44BaG-jvj9hm4