Long Cool Woman (in a black dress)

No one is probably old enough to remember that song by the Hollies...

This is our maid or "empregada", Pasqua.  She has graced these pages before.  We really love Pasqua and have come to appreciate and trust her.  We treat her well and believe that she enjoys her position here.  Pasqua lost her husband a couple of weeks ago, while we were gone.  He often worked for us a a general contractor (organized our post-robbery repairs and improvements) but he was not looking good for the previous few weeks.  Pasqua is dressed here in traditional mourning garb.  I took a few minutes with her today and asked her to teach me the local customs concerning death.  She will wear the mourning clothes for six months.  Bodies are cleaned and dressed and a "viewing" is held in the home of the deceased before burial.  Friends and family gather and eulogize and there is always a great outpouring of emotion -- truly over the top, and often feigned.  Only the face of the deceased is visible in the viewing.  Food is provided for the guests by neighbors and friends.  Burial occurs generally within 24 hours of death and a funeral procession goes from the house to the cemetery.  We often encounter these processions on the road--made up of hundreds of people.  They walk, ride bikes, ride in private vehicles and ride standing in the back of large flatbed trucks rented for the occasion.  Seven days later there will be another funeral-type event in the home of the deceased with the same group in attendance.  Six months later, another similar event is held which is sort of a final goodbye--and then the widow can shed the black clothes and get on with life.  I learned some time ago that employers have a responsibility to be supportive to employees suffering the loss of close family.  I paid for a coffin in this instance.

I took my car in for an oil change today.  These five people were all busily engaged in that complex piece of mechanical wizardry.  It was interesting to have my car up on the rack and see under it.  It was filled with mud and sand in every possible surface and crevice.  We do ride this truck hard and half of the time we are going through mud and deep water holes and sandy stretches.  I need to figure out a way to periodically clean my undercarriage.

On the way home tonight, Passing a spot where a side street comes through a market and empties onto the main highway, we came across a wrecked motorcycle and bicycle in the middle of the road and we were flagged down and asked to transport the injured to the hospital.   This photo is insensitive, but informative.  We had one in the back seat and one, as shown in the pickup bed.  We had come through that market street and onto its blind intersection with the highway only an hour earlier and had commented what a dangerous place it was.  The guy in the back was probably not mortally wounded but he was in pretty bad shape.