We're quickly approaching on three months in site, so next week I'll be able to move into my own house. There's still a ton of work to do and I bet I'll be pretty uncomfortable for the first couple weeks, but I'm very excited. Life won't be extremely

different, just a bunch of small frustrations that won't bother me anymore. From now on I'll be more independent, able to cook for myself, able to get away for privacy when I want to. And I'll keep busy with home improvement projects for awhile.

So, these days I bathe in a stream a ways from my house out into the jungle. A tiny creek has been

dammed to created a pool, with a spot to stand and pour water over yourself wit

h a gourd. It's actually very nice standing out in the jungle as I take my shower every day.

The other day I was coming back home on the tiny trail through thick forest when I met my neighbor going the other way. We both had on shorts and flipflops and were carrying soap and a towel and it was so much like going to use the communal shower in the dorm room that I laughed out loud.

But with any luck, I'll be able to connect my new house to the aqueduct and I'll be able to bathe in my own yard with a hose.

I'm finally getting a feel for the environmental issues of the area. I had read it was deforested, but disagreed at first because it seemed that every hillside was covered with trees, a scrub growth that's slowly taking over what used to be pasture. However, as I look further, I'm realizing that many areas remain deforested or are covered with low bushes, and that planting the forest tree species that have been eliminated from the area will greatly improve the ecosystem.

People here are not environmentalists, and well, neither am I. But it seems like everyone is excited about the project. Reforestation will mean more available water during the dry summers, more firewood and construction materials, more tasty critters to eat, and more fertile soil when land is cleared for farming. One of the fun things about a Ngabe community is that people want trees in the area. In other cultures, reforestation projects meet with resistance because people are afraid of the forest. Not the folks in Cerro Papayo though.

Well I don't feel like typing anymore because it's been a long weekend full of writing reports. Turns out the Peace Corps belongs to the US government and there's paperwork. But I miss you. And don't worry because I'm doing well and am in good company and I'll write again soon.