Esperanza de Libertad: the first week!

Hi ya´ll! Well, I know I haven´t been here for a week quite yet, but I just really quickly wanted to write a teensy update on what I´ve been doing so far.
When I first arrived last Thursday, it was incredibly hot here, so I spent the first few days trying to adapt to the heat. The bus ride from Rurre to Ixiamas took about 5hours, and I was melting in my seat the whole time. When I finally arrived, I managed to locate the hotel where Stella´s friend Franci had said to meet her (she rents a room there for when she is not on the land), and I waited about an hour until she appeared. Franci is really, really amazing! She is totally badass and is also one of the nicest, most unpretentious people I have ever met!!!
Anyway, we had to spend the first night here in town because her car was leaking oil like crazy and we couldn´t fix it in the dark, so my first glimpse of Esperanza was the next day, Friday, late in the morning. There is a family (Franci´s nephew, his wife and their adorable little boy Marcos) who lives there, so Inez (the wife) was there with little Marcos to take care of the animals while Franci was gone. Inez is also extremely cool, a super tough lady who is also a really good mom. It is hard to believe she is only 22!!!
Anyway, the animals living there right now are a fun bunch: there´s the extremely mischievious spider monkey, Preto; a tejon (kind of like a raccoon but different- you can google it) named Luchita who has an injured leg; a little turkey hen; two lodos (a kind of parrot), & two dogs. Preto and Luchita love to climb all over everything and everyone, and find it especially amusing to try to run into the kitchen/ my bedroom at every small opportunity! They also both love to be cuddled, especially the tejon, which is really fun cause her fur is soft and she is super small (she´s still a baby), and she makes these really cute chirping noises when you pet her.
My first few days there, the only long pants I had were my jeans, and it was way too hot for that, so I ended up wearing a skirt and flip flops but boy, did I pay the price in mosquito bites! Both of my ankles were so bitten up that they were completely swollen, and it is only now that they are back to normal size, though the hideous bright red spots are gonna be there for awhile, not to mention the itching. But it´s been really fun, too. The work on the farm is not easy but it´s really amazing what they´ve accomplished so far: when they started there was only grass, but now they have corn, bananas, peanuts, peppers, papayas, mango trees (babies, still not producing) and lots more being planted. Yesterday we planted 52 baby banana trees which should start producing fruit in about 8 months or so, according to the old guy down the road who sold them to us. Everyone is so sweet here- it was raining when we went to get the plants, and we hadn´t yet dug the holes yet, so in a split second he announced that he and his two sons would be coming with us to help us get the bananas planted faster. We were all completely covered in mud and it was really hard work for the next couple of hours, but it was really fun, too! Preto kept trying to destroy the new trees, which actually isn´t that hard since they are so tiny still, but we managed to salvage them alright and I think it will all turn out okay in the next few months. After the rain let up I went with the girls and Marcos (age 2 1/2) to go hunting for wild limes and chirimoya, which is maybe the same thing as a custard apple? Not sure. But it´s really, really good, enough to get both Franci and Inez way up in a tree trying to knock down the riper ones with sticks. A little scary, but fun, too!
There is also a little stream near the house, so the first day I was here we went to the stream and did laundry and generally cooled down, which was fabulous. The next day we cleared grass, which sounds like no big deal but let me tell you, it is NOT easy when you are using really basic tools and it is about 100 degrees outside!
Anyway, I need to go cause this internet is really slow and really expensive, but I will write more soon. I can´t believe that in one month from today I will be at my parents house in Utah! I can´t wait but I also don´t want to leave!
big hugs to all, pike