Lucia And Peace Corp
Roommate Barbara Beelar
Told to wear skirts
In Venezuela (and maybe most Latin American countries) in the ’60’s pants were considered provocative and we were warned by the Peace Corps not to wear them.
Three of us were assigned there as a team. This is my roomate and teammate, Barbara Beelar.
Kenny, the third member.
Kenny Ritterspach
Kenny Ritterspach was the third member of our team in Los Cerritos.
One of his first projects was to cut a window in our kitchen wall to give us a view. He was pretty handy for a Yale grad.
Kenny Looking Out New Window
Kenny checking out the new window.
Window View
And the view from that window.
Our barrio of Los Cerritos was built above the main part of Caripito, so we could look out over it. What you don’t see in this photo is the outhouse shared with the neighbors, the sea of red mud in our back yard, and the pig that used the yard as its wallow. BUT, the outhouse was a sturdy one of concrete block, with an actual porcelain toilet seat and a barrel of water to use for flushing. A turtle was tied to the toilet seat, I suppose to make inroads on the swarms of cockroaches.
It was a sad day when the neighbors brought Barbara and me some of their special Easter dish… rice with meat that was a mystery until I saw the turtle’s foot floating on it. Cockroach-fed turtle… yum.
