Monday, December 13, 2010

Raincoats

Almost no one in El Sauce owns a raincoat, which is beyond me since it rains here with frequency. One man owns what appears to be a strong collection of down jackets but no raincoat. The women, and a handful of more sensible men, use umbrellas. However, the majority of the men forgo the ultra-feminine umbrella in favor of the all-purpose plastic tablecloth. Given tablecloth designers’ propensity for floral designs, this choice is, in my mind, distinctly more feminine than the umbrella. Yet, the tablecloth prevails. Daily, tough men wielding machetes march by my house towards their farms donning pink and purple tablecloth capes. No one but me seems to think that this is strange.