Better than TV

Life in the village is typically slow paced and very routine: work in the gardens in the morning and then around 2 pm, it’s off to market with produce to sell. (Read about my market adventure here.) After the evening meal, everyone sits and talks for a while, and then it’s time for bed.

On occasion, though, things that are slightly out of the ordinary happen…

One of the village dogs that hung around, hoping for scraps.

One day I was sitting on the front porch, reading, when a great big ruckus started at the next house. As I sat and watched, I saw (and heard!) a chicken, squawking to wake the dead, come flying through the trees, followed by a dog, barking hysterically. As if that wasn’t enough, about eight kids were running along behind the dog, yelling—at the dog or the chicken, I wasn’t sure. Only about half of them were wearing clothes, as it was quite hot that afternoon. They chased the dog and chicken past my house and into the jungle, so I wasn’t exactly sure how it happened, but a few minutes later, the whole entourage marched past my house again, with one of the older kids carrying the chicken and the dog following along behind, whining at the loss of his supper.

One of our family's pigs that escaped from its pen.

Another day I was, again, sitting on the front porch (the afternoons were usually quiet, with most people disappearing to rest in a cool place) when I heard a woman shouting at something. Eventually she came into view through the trees and pineapple plants, but I still couldn’t tell who or what she was yelling at. She continued on down the path and a minute or so later, I could hear grunting. What in the world?! Had our family’s pigs gotten out again? No, it wasn’t our pigs, but one of the neighbors’, following along behind its owner, with a dog nipping at its heels, keeping the pig moving along. Not a sight I was accustomed to seeing every day, but apparently a common one in the village.