Dust

Two nights ago we had a dust storm. Really, there were only strong winds, but because San Juan is covered in dust, it became a dust storm. Dust got in through the cracks in the doors and windows and covered everything in the house – more than is normal, even. It usually takes only a day or two before a fine dust layer settles on surfaces. After the winds, everything was coated under a thick dust frosting, the kind of bad frosting that is piled on so thick it ruins the birthday cake. The kind of frosting that gets left on everyone’s plate in big, rejected heaps. The kind of frosting that probably causes birth defects and cancer. But the kind of frosting that’s made out of dust.

It’s so dusty here in San Juan because there is dirt everywhere. All the roads in town are made of rock and dirt, except for the highway that runs through town, which is paved. In the dry season, though, dirt roads become dust roads, and currently we’re in the dry season.

This is a shot of the dirt road that runs behind our house.



It’s the road I walk along on Wednesdays, when I walk to the other side of town before catching a bus to San Antonio and Ajijic to do my produce shopping. I walk along this road instead of the highway because I enjoy neither heavy traffic nor ogling.

I’ve posted a few more shots of the back roads of San Juan Cosalá, because they’re just that exciting.

Because it’s such a nuisance, the housewives and grandmothers come out every morning and water down the dust. Then they sweep it. Everyone sweeps the dirt here. Everyone is very diligent about keeping the dirt in front of their house watered, swept, and free of debris … even though they take their bags of trash and throw them wherever, or, better, burn them in the roads. Yes, litter and burning plastic: the sights and scents of San Juan.



So this is a neighbor grandmother, out sweeping the dirt road this morning. Please admire the sidewalks behind her. They are uncommon in San Juan, but of great value come the rainy season, when dirt roads become mud roads instead of dust roads. Sometimes, actually, they just become streams.

The house in this photo, with the firewood piled in front, is made of adobe. These houses are still really common around here. Our house, even, is partly made of adobe.



Finally, I couldn’t resist posting a shot of the creepy duck garbage can that’s up the road from us a few minutes walk.



Public rubbish bins are very rare around here (unless you consider empty lots and abandoned houses to be rubbish bins, which apparently many people around here do), so it’s existence alone is reason for surprise. A good question is whether it gets emptied and, if so, by who? A better question is whether anyone ever puts their garbage in there. But the question I most want answered is why it has a creepy duck head, and maybe also, how did it come to exist in this space.

Maybe the real question I need to ask is simply "Why?"

In this photo, you can also enjoy the raw sewage, which runs from the manhole on the left straight into Lake Chapala. Delicious!

So, dust. It’s what’s happening down here. Next month, though, the rains are supposed to start. You can probably expect a post all about mud.