Piñatas, petroglifos, y playa

Umm, there is some crazy guy sitting next to me. . .

Mysterious petroglyphs at Nancito






Giant pots at the park in San Felix (we wanted to climb in the pots for the picture, but there is a police station across the street. . .)

Greetings fellow earthlings, I come in Peace! Peace Corps, that is. . . hardy har har!

So, this week was pretty fun and fairly productive. Once more the trip to the waterfall was cancelled, but we got some digging done at the office site, and poco a poco vamos a terminar! I am still frustrated with lack of progress in the group due to agency interference, but whatever. But I actually had two English classes this week with good attendance, minus the one day when Mile didn't show up for work for another two days. Oh Panama. . .

We finished the piñatas in Recilia's 2nd grade class, and I took lots of pictures but my camera ran out of batteries in the middle of uploading just now so I will upload them later. Maybe tomorrow. The kids loved it, and next time we are going to make a mother's day present. I took a picture of each student and they are going to make a frame for it out of whatever, sticks, cloth, whatever is available. BTW, my camera screen is trying to come back to life. You can kind of see stuff when you go to take a picture only if it's really bright, but you still can't really see the pictures that have been taken already. Maybe the silica gel that Mom sent is helping, at least I can see if something is in the frame!

I had a little essay contest to decide who I am going to send to the youth conference in Panama City, and it worked out well. I recieved about 10 applications for 2 spots, but I think the ones I chose have a lot of potential and will enjoy the opportunity and be great representatives for the town and the comarca. They wrote some good essays, whereas everyone else said some generic things that didn't really say anything. There was also one kid that went really verbose and threw in every big word he knew apparently, but didn't even say anything more than the kids who wrote one line answers. I was worried when I didn't get any applications from girls until literally the last minute, but then I got three. Those girls, always too embarrased to participate!

I also began the actual mural for the map project. I got the wall somewhat cleaner than it was (not much, but whatever) and drew out the grid for drawing. I have finished drawing the boundaries for nearly four provinces, only 7 to go. The drawing should be the most difficult part but it's not too bad. I think I'll get lots of volunteers to help paint it! People keep asking me what I'm doing, even though it is getting to be obvious what it is I am drawing. But then again, they always ask me about Jessica, the new other Chichica gringa, even though I have no idea where she is at all times. People assume that since we are both from the same country that we live together and knew each other back in the states. She is really cool though, and I think she's already doing a great job of getting to know the community.

Klaus stopped by Chichica yesterday because he had been invited to some supposed celebration that Jessica and I hadn't heard about, nor could we find the whereabouts of the alleged brindis. So we ate a superb lunch at the restaurant. That chicken was really tasty, it was marinated and blackened to perfection! And it only cost $1.50! I don't want to think about paying the food prices back in the states again.
Afterward I got invited by Mile to accompany him and his friends for a little afternoon trip to see the petroglyphs at Nancito and then go to Las Lajas beach. It was nice to go down in a private vehicle, I almost forgot how it is not to have to wait for the public transportation, get shoved into 3 cubic feet of space with 40 Ngabes into a single pickup truck, and get elbowed in the face for 2 hours on the bus while listening to the incongruous music of four different people all at once. But I digress.

The petroglyphs were cool, they were grooves carved into the rock and are about the perfect size for your fingers. Nobody really knows what they mean. Then we made a stop in San Felix where we took some pictures in the park with the giant pots. I don't know what it is about giant pots, but they are abundant in the area. And then on to the beach. It was a lovely day for swimming, the water and beach was clean and deserted, and it was partly rainy but sunny at the same time which is one of my favorite combinations. In all, a romantic setting for a trip to the beach with the novio, and also hilarious because when you least expect it you get whacked in the face with a wave! A lovely afternoon, and don't you all wish that you were at the beach right now instead of in sub-freezing weather? Eat your heart out!

And now I am in David trying to get some more things accomplished like find a world map and prepare materials for summer english classes. And also hang out with Mile (ulterior motive)! Well, I'm gonna go have some dinner, please don't let it be a hamburger that turns out to be a crappy chicken sandwich! Later!