RIP IPOD

This week my host mom came home and I developed a serious fear of vector borne diseases and contact with animals in general. These events had nothing to do with one another but I think that first sentence pretty much sums up the variety of emotions that I felt over the course of the week. The daily challenges tend to create an emotional rollercoaster which inevitably leads mini-outburst over insignificant things. I have heard of friends crying over things like pasta that was supposed to come with marinara arriving at the table with green sauce. My outburst this week came when my ipod broke. This actually makes a significant difference in my life as I use it to keep me motivated while I run and to escape into a "happy place" when things aren't going as planned. I even use it as an excuse not to answer the children who chase me down the streets as I run. I have often found myself cranking up the volume and running faster when I hear a drunk man or a young child screaming "SEÑORITA DANI!!" I guess I will have to be a bit more social when I run now.
The extremely positive part of my week was that my host mom came back from Lima! She had been away since mid December because her daughter gave birth. Due to some complications she stayed a few more weeks than she had anticipated until everyone was happy and healthy. I have a very strong connection with my host mom and now I finally feel content and comfortable in my house again. My host mother, Ludi, is a member of the solid waste committee I work with and a well loved and respected member of the community. A couple of years back she was even the queen of Carnaval! Now that she is back we spend lots of time chatting, eating, and watching telenovelas. She introduced me to her new favorite, Muñecas de la mafia, and now I am hooked. Picture The Real Housewives of Medellín (except fictional because I don't think drug lords in Colombia let their wives do reality tv). The women in this show smuggle cocaine in the platforms of their stilettos, way more badass than anything the Desperate Housewives do. As you can see, my host mom is a pretty great lady and I'm glad to have her back.
The paranoia about diseased and poisonous animals stemmed from a conversation with fellow volunteers who were talking about venomous snakes in their bedrooms and cases of the Bubonic Plague in towns not so far from mine. My nightly encounter with rats just brought a whole new level of danger. I would like to avoid the Plague if at all possible. The day after having this conversation, I became aware that there has recently been an outbreak of Dengue fever, a mosquito borne illness, in the next town over from mine. This disease is known as the bone breaking disease because it is flu-like with aches and pains so bad that one feels as if all the bones in their body are breaking. Needless to say, I went to put on repellent immediately after learning of this outbreak. As if this wasn't enough, while turning the compost at the nursery I work at, I came in contact with both a tarantula and another venomous species of spider. I scooped both out of the compost with my shovel and whacked them. I never knew how hard tarantulas are to kill!
Overall, I had a pretty typical week in the Peace Corps but I did realize that I need to be much more cautious about insects and animals here. The ones that aren't poisonous probably carry some crazy disease that could put me in the hospital. As far as the ipod goes, I got over it and I think that it will actually be good for me to run without it for a bit, maybe I'll even find that I don't even need TI, Lady Gaga, and Nelly to motivate me. For now though, I'm learning a lot about the powerful (and of course very good looking and scantily clad) women behind the Colombian drug cartels, all thanks to my very awesome 65 year old host mother. Now I'm off to Ash Wednesday mass. Wish me luck!