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1 <!doctype html> 2 <html lang="en"> 3 <head> 4 <meta charset="utf-8"> 5 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> 6 <title>Quest for a Hammock - Chris Bracken</title> 7 <link href="/css/site.css" rel="stylesheet"> 8 <link rel="apple-touch-icon" sizes="180x180" href="/favicon/apple-touch-icon.png"> 9 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="32x32" href="/favicon/favicon-32x32.png"> 10 <link rel="icon" type="image/png" sizes="16x16" href="/favicon/favicon-16x16.png"> 11 <link rel="manifest" href="/favicon/site.webmanifest"> 12 <link rel="mask-icon" href="/favicon/safari-pinned-tab.svg" color="#140f42"> 13 <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/favicon/favicon.ico"> 14 <meta name="msapplication-TileColor" content="#603cba"> 15 <meta name="msapplication-config" content="/favicon/browserconfig.xml"> 16 <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"> 17 </head> 18 <body> 19 <header id="header"> 20 <div class="site-title"> 21 <h1><a href="/">Chris Bracken</a></h1> 22 </div> 23 24 <nav class="site-navbar"> 25 <ul id="menu" class="menu"> 26 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/">Home</a></li> 27 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/about/">About</a></li> 28 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" href="/code/">Code</a></li> 29 <li class="menu-item"><a class="menu-item-a" rel="me"href="https://bsd.network/@cbracken">Fediverse</a></li> 30 </ul> 31 </nav> 32 </header> 33 <main id="main"> 34 <article> 35 <h2 class="post-title"><a href="https://chris.bracken.jp/2001/08/quest-for-a-hammock/">Quest for a Hammock</a></h2> 36 28 August 2001 37 <figure><img src="/post/2001-08-28-old-door.jpg" 38 alt="A worn-down wooden door lies framed by a crumbling building façade in Mérida. Traces of faded lettering remain where the paint has not flaked away."> 39 </figure> 40 41 <p>In Mérida, most people sleep in hammocks. Walk down any residential street and 42 look in the windows and you’ll see hammocks strung all over the room. What I’m 43 getting at is that I finally caved in and bought a hammock. Now sit back and 44 listen, ’cause here’s my advice…</p> 45 <p>If you’re in Mérida, you’ll be approached every five minutes by someone wanting 46 to sell you a hammock off the street. Do not buy it! That man is crazy! The 47 quality of hammock you get from a wandering hammock guy is a mystery until you 48 try it out. And you’re not going to be trying it out until after you’ve paid 49 for it. Generally speaking, they’re pretty bad. Locals refer to them as 50 ‘hospital hammocks’ because that’s where you end up if you use them. Go to a 51 hammock shop with a good reputation. If they can show you a photo album of them 52 and their grandparents chopping down sisal (henequen cactus), stripping the 53 fibre, and making hammocks, it’s a pretty safe bet that the hammocks are 54 good.So Julio Armando pulled out a few hammocks, strung them up, proudly 55 displays the threading to show there were no flaws, and got me to jump in and 56 take it for a spin. Hammocks come in lots of sizes: single, double, 57 matrimonial, and matrimonial especial. The difference is the number of pairs of 58 end threads. Matrimonial has about 150 pairs of end threads, whereas a single 59 has about 50 and a double has about 100. Keep in mind that these sizes were 60 designed for people of Mayan stature, which is a lot smaller than your typical 61 Canadian, or Mestizo Mexican.</p> 62 <p>Unfortunately, the walls in the apartment must be the only ones in the whole 63 city that doesn’t have hammock hooks! Even a lot of hotels in Mérida provide 64 hooks! I ran across the street to the Tlapalería¹ and using hand signals and 65 pantomime, bought exactly five metres of nylon rope. Using those engineering 66 skills I spent so much effort learning at UVic, and some knots I learned in Boy 67 Scouts, I rigged up a makeshift hammock hookup. Unfortunately, the only 68 available post to string a rope around was the chunk of wall between the 69 balcony door and the window, which meant that both the door and the window had 70 to be open to use it, and I had to pull the mosquito screen out of the window 71 anytime I wanted to use the hammock.</p> 72 <p>About Mérida’s weather: Maybe you people back home have looked at the 73 temperatures in Mérida and thought ‘Wow! They spend the whole summer in the mid 74 to upper 30s! It’s just like Cancún!’ True, but it’s also insanely humid, which 75 means you’re covered in sweat 24 hours a day—imagine waking up sticky and 76 sweaty every morning; that’s why most people use hammocks. What’s more, unlike 77 Cancún, there are thunderstorms every afternoon between about four and seven. 78 You can set your watch by them. During these thunderstorms, it rains. A lot. So 79 much, in fact, that having the window or door open even a centimetre spells 80 certain doom. In short, the hammock is no longer up. Back to the drawing board.</p> 81 <p>A curious side note here. If you wander the streets of Mérida enough, you’ll 82 notice an inordinate number of people with one or both eyes missing. The reason 83 for this is quite interesting. Mérida is famous around the world for its 84 hammocks. And to make hammocks you need henequen fibre. The sisal cactus from 85 which you get it has very, very sharp, needle-like barbs. You get the point.</p> 86 <h3 id="glossary">Glossary</h3> 87 <ol> 88 <li><em>Tlapalería:</em> A sort of little roadside hardware store.</li> 89 </ol> 90 </article> 91 </main> 92 93 <footer id="footer"> 94 <div class="copyright"> 95 <span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#"> 96 The content of this site by 97 <a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://chris.bracken.jp/about"><span rel="cc:attributionName">Chris Bracken</span></a> 98 is 99 <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0">CC BY 4.0</a>. 100 </span> 101 </div> 102 </footer> 103 </body> 104 </html>