Summer?

To be honest, I’m not sure how to describe the Seasons here in Colombia,. when I arrived and for decades before, there were four seasons, Dry, Wet, Dry, Wet, they were predictable, and each lasted about three months, so in effect we had two summers and two winters, but that has changed over the last couple of years, and now, it’s any ones guess, much like anywhere else in the world.

Two weeks ago, it looked like the Dry season was here to stay, it has been gorgeous, blue skies, nice and warm, even hot on some days, which up here at 2300m ASL is a bonus, but all that has changed again, two days ago, the clouds returned the heavens opened, and tropical storms were here. It looks like we are all going to have to buy a warmer wardrobe!

Life at home has been run of the mill, I’m not complaining, it’s been quiet, I’ve got on with the gardening, and done some repairs around the property. One of the walls in the Cabaña shower room had a patch of plaster coming away, so I scraped it out replastered and repainted it, whilst Maria Elena (Mother-in-law) is away, until next week at least, it was an ideal opportunity to get on with it.

The garden itself has to a large extent been abandoned, until Nala is a little older and less destructive, there really is no point in trying to introduce anything new, she would just destroy it.

One of my garden maintentance sessions last week was pruning our plantains in the garden rather than the orchard, after cutting down the ´trunks´I cut them up and pile them around the base to self compost, Nala had other ideas, believe it or not, with the help of Tito, much of that mulch is spread around the garden

She loves it, and if it allows the rest of the garden to survive, who am I to argue!

However in contrast, Nala’s training has come on leaps and bounds thanks to the prong/pinch collar, she is now walking to heel,

As for our morning walks, the pleasure is all mine! I can only hope that the rest of her training comes on so fast.

People keep asking me why in the past I referred to the bottom of our land as the ‘Abyss’, it’s hard to describe, and photos really don’t do it justice, but any steeper, I would need crampons, on our land the view is blocked by Avocado trees, but our neighbours plot is pretty much identical,

This shows about half way down the plot, the ridgeline before the land drops away, and then!

The land drops away, down to stream which forms our boundary, I haven’t been down for ages, due to my knees, but am planning to get down there soon, I just have to ensure I organise it, so I have everything I need, and don’t have to make multiple trips up and down.

Marcela’s Associate, Joachin, who maintains the Orchard, skips up and down like a mountain goat, it grates, but then he was brought up on the terrain.

He came around the other day, and said the current crop of Avocados is ready for picking, he thinks there will be about two tons, which he thought was down on last time

He has a short memory, Marcela checked her records, and the last crop was 1.1 tons, so nearly double, which is great, as the trees grow so does the crop, there are only two downfalls to this, the first, the weather, it is slowing down production, they aren’t growing so fast, so more time between picking. The second is that at the moment, everyone else is picking their Avocados, so the price has plummeted, therefore Marcela and Joachin, have decided to take the risk and wait a couple of weeks, hopefully, everyone else will have picked their crops, and the Suppliers will be hunting around for more, so the Producers will be able to name their price, within reason.

It is a risk, because the weather could turn even worse and ruin the crop, on the other hand the crop could suddenly ripen faster, and be beyond selling, but as we are a small business, not reliant on the income, it’s a risk worth taking.

We went out the other day, came back, checked, but couldn’t find any significant damage, until I sat down out on the patio in the evening.

One of the new Adirondack chair is alongside Narla’s patio bed, and she had been nibbling the arm of the chair, I wasn’t happy, but the following morning out came the sander, then my blowlamp, and unless you knew…

So for now, she has been forgiven, and yesterday when we went out, I sprayed the arms with ‘Bitter Apple’, it seemed to have worked, we couldn’t find any damage, holes, or stolen items anywhere.

My final piece of news this post, is that I have made the decision to apply for Colombian Citizenship, I have posted in the past, I tried at the end of 2016, having taken advice from the Departmental Government, a bit like County Hall back in the UK, my application was rejected, because due to a misunderstanding, I hadn’t had my Residents Visa long enough, so having studied for 3 months to take the exams, and paid the fees, it was all for nothing, and no, no refunds.

However this time I no longer have to take an exam, as I am over 65, so that is a major hurdle out of the way, now it depends on whether I have upset anyone in power over the last eleven years, I don’t think so, but who knows! I guess I will in a month or two.

Why do I want, dual Citizenship, when I have a UK Passport which gets me into more countries than the Colombian one? well I have lived here long enough, that I know, whatever happens with the Government here, that I am unlikely to leave this Country now, it is home, the people are great, the country has a lot to offer, especially for Foreigners, despite all the red tape, and corruption and violence. If you keep your nose clean, and stay out of the National arguement, it’s a great place to live. However, it would be nice, if I had the vote in National Elections, as well as Local ones, which I have at the moment, and not have to pay for a new Visa every five years. If I am going to end my days here, I want to feel part of my adopted country, and that means trying to citizenship, so we’ll see, I’ll keep you posted.