I think the fiestas are continuing

Mile the fish


Jessica talking with some Ngabe boys who were going fishing




Carlos and Jessica


Mile on the bridge over Rio Cuvibora


The river, pretty low for the rainy season


Pancha with her puppies (and my feet!)


Are sweet potatoes supposed to be bite-sized?


Mmmmm, wild ginger! How I love you!


Another week has passed in Chichica. Let's see what has been happening. . .

Monday was another tourism meeting, which I don't think I was too excited with what happened in this one. About a month ago, the government sent in some people to give a training in tourism to the group in Chichica and also a group based in Alto Caballero which is probably a three hour walk or a 45 minute car ride from Chichica. During this training, which basically was just a general introduction to what tourism is, this guy Manuel suggested that the two groups combine in order to recieve funding and their personeria juridica (which basically is something that makes the group legal and able to legally keep all assets within the group and make decisions, etc.) I think this is a horrible idea for many reasons. Yes, on paper it looks better to have more members in the group, and all these freakin agencies care about are the numbers. Therefore, they will recieve their funding, but they will then have to figure out what to do to work together from then on. These are two seperate groups that live far far away from each other, and they will not want to travel as much as it will take to be effect. Also, how are they going to split the proceeds that they will be legally obligated to do? It will never work, not in a million years. They asked for my opinion during the meeting, which I told them, and they replied, "Case closed!" But then they mentioned the money that they would recieve for their projects (which they could recieve anyway without combining the groups, it would just be harder) they decided to vote for the new directive anyway. Ugh! I don't know what is going to happen, I think that it won't be good. I was happy with the presidency that they had before, I think that they would have been the most effective people. But splitting the presidency like this between two groups is just going to weaken everything.

Also, the guy that they just voted secretary for the new megagroup invited me to visit his farm in Potrero de Caña, which is pretty far away but I was interested in knowing the area so I accepted. However, I didn't really feel good about it afterwards and decided I would call and tell him I couldn't go, but when I got back to my house and went to call, he had called my phone 16 times! That sealed the deal, so I sent a text message telling him I had to suddenly go to a meeting in San Felix. Then he called me back and asked why I wasn't coming since I was the one that suggested that day, and then this woman yells into the phone, hola mi amor! He also sounded a little drunk. It was just really weird and I don't even want to work with this guy anymore, it's probably a good thing that this new presidency is doomed to failure!

Tuesday was fun though. Recilia, a teacher and one of my best friends here, invited me to come in each tuesday this month and do an art project with her 2nd grade class. So we made piñatas, and as expected it was crazy and messy and really fun! I brought some balloons and we made papier mache piñatas to decorate next tuesday. I wish I would have brought my camera, but I wouldn't have even been able to touch it with my hands covered in flour paste! The kids were covered in paste and it they had a ball. I told them to bring colored paper to decorate them however they want for next week, and we'll see what they come up with. Later that afternoon I made a carrot cake for my english students, but the only one to show up was Mile so I ended up just hanging out with him, eating cake and playing frisbee with some kids.

Encarnaciona, my neighbor grandma, asked me if I was going to plant anything else in my garden. I asked if there was still time to plant anything and she told me that there was still time for beans and gave me some black beans to plant. So I invited Mile to come with me and we planted beans, and afterwards went to the river with Carlos (another professor who is really funny) and Jessica. I thought it was going to be more people, but it ended up just being us four, which was ok I guess. It has not been raining much these days, and it was really hot going down to the river but once we got there it clouded over. The water was low but still kind of fast so we found a place that was safe to get in. However, Carlos immediately dived in and swam over to the other side where there was a waterfall, and then couldn't get back over to our side because the current was too fast in the middle. We thought we were going to have to rescue him or something! He eventually found a place to cross further upstream, and then stayed on the sand the rest of the time. Jessica spent most of the time talking with a couple Ngabe boys who were going fishing, but Mile and I stayed in the water. It started to get colder and the bugs were coming out, so we went back to the road to wait for a truck to pass by because although it's easy to walk down the mountain it's not so fun to walk back up. Fortunately a truck hauling gravel offered us a lift, so we got a free ride. It started to rain a bit on the way back, but not much. In all, it was another fun day.

The next day I went to the colegio to take the pictures to the kids of their certificates that they keep asking me about but I always forget to carry around, but when I actually have them they don't seem to have the quarter to pay for them! So, at least it was another excuse to talk to my boyfriend! I also washed my clothes spending a lovely rainless afternoon at the stream. I had to bathe there too because we are low on water right now. It hasn't rained substantially for a week, and I have run out of all water and the water hasn't been arriving in the aqueduct.

And today I decided to get some work done here in Tole. I have a lot of e-mails to make, forms to get, etc. so hasta luego!