We just passed a sign that says “Lady Bedspacers Admited”. This was in
front of an alleyway with a row of small shops along the alley. What in the
world does a bedspacer do? It’s amazing how the word is completely readable
but has no meaning in my brand of English.
We’re on the road to Villa Escudo for the day trip. The bus is full of
coworkers, spouses, and a few small children. We’ve been on the road since
about 6 a.m. and it’s now about 7:40. We stopped for about 20 minutes at
the new facility so that spouses could see where their family members will
be working in the future. The weather is pleasant — not as hot as
yesterday, but the day is still young.
Basketball is an obsession here. Full and half-courts are tucked in among
the corregated steel houses and many of the courts have people playing in
them. The traffic is stop and go in a hang-on way. We had a major accident
beside us going the opposite way. A very big bus couldn’t stop in time and
smashed into a small car making it into an accordion in the back of the
truck in front. I think that survivors were limited.
We’re out in the countryside and there are mountains around, covered in
jungle growth. We’re on a small two-lane road with buildings crowding the
street on both sides. No zoning or building codes here! Some buildings are
very nice. Many are much more ramshackle. Quite a few have some kind of a
family shop out front. Fruit stands, restaurants, food shops, laundries,
car repair, but mostly produce shops.
All of the buildings sport very tall, very dilapidated TV antennas. Most of
the shops are named for women — Rose’s Fruit, Kim’s Store, or Mary and
Grace’s Restaurant. We’ve been traveling south for an hour since we left
the new facility and haven’t gotten out of “city” into farmland.
We’ve passed a couple of elementary schools. The classrooms are open-sided
with drop-down bamboo curtains. The rooms have fans in the ceilings to
provide some air circulatiion.
Well, I’m going to send this. There may be more later! We’ve arrived!
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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
I’ve learned that “bedspacers” are people renting a bed in a room or dormitory. The rent entitles the person to the bed and a small amount of personal space either at the head or foot of the bed. There could be many other people who have rented beds in the same facility. It’s generally a lot less expensive to rent a bedspace than to rent a room in an apartment.