Things are still messed up by the hurricanes which have made a mess of the food supply. Ike, particularly, blew down huge numbers of banana trees, as well as our house. Other stuff, like boniato, salad and the like has been planted and will be providing food again soon, but he platano is a big tree which has to grow again, fruit and mature. It’ll be about a year before we have a reliable supply again.

All this is particularly tough if you keep pigs because  the big ‘platano burro’ or ‘tambura’ were always a good standby for them and us if leftovers were scarce.

To add to our problems, we have a clampdown on people selling things. Any things. No-one wants to sell you pigmeal (OK, it’s often stolen from their work) or even palmice (little buts which are the fruit of the Arroyo Palm) in case they get caught which they might well do if anyone sees you leaving with a big sack of something. It is undoubtedly a good idea to stop the selling of stolen goods and no-one likes the profiteers who buy cheap crap in dollars and then sell in pesos for a ridiculous profit. However, to me, banning sales of food, pigfood and building materials when we need these things so desperately is a step too far.