Llano Ñopo and Bajo Mosquito

Hey guys, so is everyone ten pounds heavier from the holiday food? I don´t think it is possible for me to get fat here, I eat whatever I want and I never gain much because I walk so much. Anyway, Thanksgiving in Cerro Punta was fun, there was twice as much food as we could eat and it was mostly pretty good. I hate to complain since I actually had pumpkin pie, but it wasn´t that great of pie. It was very anticlimactic. So yesterday I went out and found some eggs and finally made my pumpkin custard. I had to use whole cloves and chopped ginger so it had stuff to pick out, and it was a little watery, but it tasted tons better than the stuff at Thanksgiving. I ate practically the whole thing, so I´m now stocked up on vitamin A for a couple weeks.

I was awarded a $60 grant by the Volunteer council to go to my leadership seminar that I´m planning for April, so that was pretty cool. I guess this time they had lots of applications so I was excited to hear that I was chosen.

So after thanksgiving, I went back to Chichica to drop off my stuff. On the way back I was able to pick up my birthday packages from my parents that had been sent out two months earlier, so it was pretty fun to go home and open my birthday presents. Of course my neighbors were there to look at every single item (except the seeds, I somehow managed to keep those under wraps because I am still mad about how they used my seeds that I brought with me before). I was especially excited about my new iPod battery, headlamp and flashlight, and chocolate from Dad, and from Mom I got tons of books for my students, including a boy scouts manual that has already come in handy in my planning for my own scout troop. It is too late in the year to start a real large garden because of the lack of rain, so I hope the seeds will last until around April. Maybe I can plant something like a squash hill or a box of green beans or something that won´t require a whole bunch of water hauling but still provide me some fresh veggies.

Then first thing the next morning I headed out to the fair at Llano Ñopo, which is about a three hour hike away. I met the new Volunteer from Bajo Mosquito there, so we hung out for a few hours. There wasn´t as much artisanry as I was expecting, maybe they sold a lot of it already. But I did find a book I liked, a Ngabere hymnal. I am learning how to sing Silent Night in Ngabere from it, because it is the only one I can recognize without having the music written out. I need to talk to someone to figure out the other ones. Anyway, the fair wasn´t extremely exciting, other than I saw the traditional Ngabe dances for the first time. In Chichica they only dance the panamanian tipica, at least that I´ve ever seen. So that was interesting.

Dan and I left for his site before the heavier drinking started, although people were already beginning to pass out. So we went on a little tour of his site and I met his host family and stayed the night with them. The next morning I walked back to Chichica, although the way that Dan showed me was definitely not very direct. The path went up through Cerro Algodon, which is on the hill next to Chichica so I kind of went in an arc instead of a direct line. Oh well, I made the most of it and visited a teacher there that speaks English quite well, since he grew up with an English family. He likes to be able to practice his English and wants to improve but there aren´t many opportunities.

When I got back, I had two weeks of laundry to catch up on and a house full of insects because it wasn´t properly aired out for so long. So I spent the whole day washing and arranging all my new stuff and getting rid of the giant ants that had made a new home in one of my bags. I also bought a hammock, I got tired of not having one. It is really nice to just kick back on the porch and swing.

While talking with my neighbor Ana, she told me that she is disgusted with the director of the elementary school and Catholic church leader guy, because in church he was saying that I am teaching their children "things of the devil." I guess that is referring to my harmless little Halloween party that we had all these weeks ago, where we dressed up in costumes of princesses and ninjas and learned about trick or treating. Yes, candy is of the devil, it is a terrible vice that leads to the destruction of teeth, but if that is the case then they should ban the sale of candy in Chichica and forbid the use of the word "bruja" (witch). Ha, that´ll be the day. Anyway, I wish that he would have talked to me beforehand if he had any problems with the idea, and not publicly defaming me. I had been thinking that recently he has been acting a little cold with me, so that explains why. So yesterday after hearing about that, I wrote a thank you note for the use of the school for my classes and brought a present of an okra seedling, and visited just to see what would happen. To keep it short, I did all the talking and the teacher didn´t even stay outside to talk to me while I was there. So I guess I´m not really very welcome there, I hope it all blows over. At least the attendance at the Catholic church is low!

Today I had to come to San Felix to take out some money from the bank and work on the computer. Speaking of which, I really ought to get going on that, I´ve already been here an hour and I have a couple more hours worth of work to get done today. Therefore my fine folks, I bid you adieu for the time being.