A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Photo Essay - D the Firestarter

Early on, D was designated our chief firemaker. This was due to her self-reported 11 years of training. It can get very cold at night in Tlaxcala -- it was February in the mountains at 7500 feet above sea level, after all -- so her services were very much in demand. Unfortunately it appears that her training was not as hands-on as we might have wished. It may, in fact, have involved her husband G building the fires and feeding out bits of useful information that weren't entirely digested.

After the first failed effort, however, she definitely got the hang of it, and it seems that fire maintenance requires constant vigilance and frequent adjustments and additions. I attempted to stay as far as possible away from this process, as I am aware that when it comes to practical tasks like this, I have the attention span of a five year old on a pixie stix diet. I do have other strengths, of course, like providing amusing commentary and tripping over things.


First you light the fire.


Success! D's training came through!


Oops, fire went out after 5 minutes. Lets try again.



Plan B - get Maria to help.



© 2006 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 4:43 PM