Such a sad day in Ankazambo Atsimo. The
big box-ish store in Befandriana has stopped selling the instant
coffee that has been my life blood. I do not know if this is a
permanent thing or if they are waiting on a re-supply. It seems
pretty permanent. For some one who craves caffeine the way I do this
is a bit of an issue.
In the US I had many easy to access,
and gloriously tasty, caffeine sources. Energy drinks, the occasional
diet soda, and of course Starbucks. (Starbucks, to me any way, has
become synonymous with all purveyors of $4 espresso drinks such as
Coffee Bean, Peet's, etc. Kind of like Kleenex or Q-tips for their
respective products.) Unfortunately the big, green giant from the
Emerald City hasn't penetrated this market just yet. I'm sure that
will come eventually. That feels inevitable. Here you can get coffee
at many little road side stands that also sell various kinds of deep
fried breads. The coffee is bitter and requires some sugar to make it
palatable but it is not too bad considering the circumstances. And
the deep fried goodness is fantastic. However, much to my sadness,
the bread sellers in my small town do not have coffee. So I have
taken to the instant coffee previously mentioned. (Side note: The
instant coffee is called “Cafe Pele” after the soccer star.) You
can actually by fresh coffee and roast it yourself here as well which
is fun but time consuming. Since I can be a bit lazy, especially in
the morning pre-coffee, I stuck with the instant stuff.
I ran out about a week ago and couldn't
make it to town for a replacement for a 2 days. Those were rough. I
was not a fun person to be around and basically shut myself in my
house with the exception of a few meetings that were already on the
schedule. Then I went to town and learned the bad news of Cafe Pele's
demise. So, since I was still feeling lazy, I got tea. Tea here is
actually pretty good. Most people take it with a ton of sugar but the
tea is not bad. It is the kind that comes loose, so not in tea bags,
so you need a little strainer which I have. The problem is that it
doesn't have the kick that Pele had (get it). So I drink a lot of it
to offset. Not bad but unsustainable.
I think I will have to break down and
do the fresh coffee. It is infinitely better tasting than the other
stuff so I'm not too broken up by the thought. I'll just have to get
in a routine with it and always have some fresh roasted and ground.
Unless my dear friend Pele makes a return. What a glorious day that
would be.
In brighter news, I had a training on
making compost the other day and have another scheduled for next
week. It went pretty well. I think everyone gets it but followup will
be important. I have to make sure the people who come to the
trainings are actually doing what they have learned. Usually most
don't but a couple are just a little reinforcement away from being
good to go. Compost is a good thing to be doing right now because we
are a bit in between growing seasons. It's plenty warm enough to grow
things right now but water is in short supply so most people do not
grow right now. In our garden we just started some greens and peppers
but even we don't have it going at full capacity. That will happen in
a few months when the rain comes. Until then it is compost, compost,
compost on the garden side of things.
