Well hello again all you happy people out there in the world, it is I, the one and only Jennifer Zirbes (actually there are apparently four Jennifer Zirbeses in the U.S. according to an internet search but I will still stick to my claim).
I would like to tell you about the fair in Chichica briefly. All in all it was quite successful, in spite of many challenges from lack of group participation and institutional aid. I have been telling these guys all along that even if they are only a handful of people they will be better able to carry out projects and with their own local resources, and that is exactly what happened here. I was really proud of Deisy especially, she took charge of the whole thing even though she isn't even part of the presidency.
Well, we got all the final preparations taken care of on Friday and slowly but surely the booths began to fill and they were worried that they wouldn't have enough room for everyone. Unfortunately none of the government agencies bothered to show up, even the director of Proyecto Ngabe-Bugle who was supposed to be the guest of honor who cuts the ribbon. Well, he came but four hours too late so they had the guy that was driving Proyecto's car do the honors! The fair grounds looked nice with all the ranchos the group had built, and they had their own tourism booth that featured elements of the Ngabe culture. I quizzed Ruben on explaining them so he could practice. I also went around being everyone's best customer, since I think I bought something from nearly every booth because I have reached the time here where I need to start collecting some awesome souvenirs. There was a great turnout from the community members, which made me happy. I was worried that nobody would show up but for naught.
For the main program at night the tourism group gave a fashion show of traditional clothing, including Jess and me as models. I wore my new nagwa, and then my black dress with a chaquira beaded necklace. Jess wore a campesina grandma dress like many of the women wear here, and then a nagwa. There was also a variety of nagwas modeled, and even a silk evening dress with the dientes triangles sewn on! They even convinced two of the men to model, which Clemente hammed up with his casual pimpin style. Unfortunately I dont have any pictures because my camera sucks so I will see if Jess has some. There was also traditional Ngabe singing and dancing, I will see if there is enough time to upload the video of this too. It was kind of cool that night because there was a bit of fog in the air and it made the lights all hazy. Someone grabbed me to go dance in the jegui line so I did that, I am sure there are some photos floating around somewhere of that too. Then I went around gathering trash and talked to people some more. I decided to stay the night at Deisy's because it was late and I was tired and it is like a mile to my house.
That night it decided to rain. It continued to rain all morning long, and we were starting to get worried but then it cleared up around 1 in the afternoon and people began to arrive again. It was a little muddy for the soccer tournament but not too bad otherwise. I had made a fishpond game out of some cardboard and magnets, charging the kids a nickel to fish. When the caught a fish they could choose a prize like a balloon, candy, or hair ties. They thought that was the most awesome thing in the world, especially because nobody had ever seen anything like that before. Normally nobody takes entertaining the kids into consideration. Plus it gained another $6.30 for the group! Thats a lot of pescado. They are still asking me if we can fish again. They would have fished all night and spent hundreds of nickels but I got tired and hungry so I put an end to the game.
That evening was the main cultural event of the fair, which included a dance competition of the traditional dance jegui. There were four groups which participated, and this was the best performance of jegui that I have personally seen. Especially the kids group from Guayabal, they were actually really synchronized and rhythmic (normally people are all over the place, I was beginning to question the rhythmic ability of the Ngabe people until this point). Although the fair prohibited the sale of alcohol which made the environment much nicer, there were a few drunks that crashed the party during the dance competition. I think they ended up tying one of them up because he was causing trouble. But all in all it was a nice night.
The third day was the main day of fun competitions. They held the football finals and a volleyball tournament. There were several other Peace Corps people who visited the event and we put together a volleyball team. I wasnt going to play but they needed another body. We ended up barely getting 3rd place out of four teams, pretty pathetic considering that before the games the guys were bragging that they were all like five feet taller than the other people and they were going to dominate! There was also a rice peeling competition, a food eating competition where you had to eat a place of rice with your hands tied behind your back, and a greased pole. The pole had a bag of candy tied near the top, and if you reached the flag you got a cash prize. Some of the gringos tried their hands at the various competetions, but didn't really win anything.
All in all it was a fun, memorable event and I think that it was successful enough that it will probably maybe most likely have a possible chance of continuing in the future if all goes well. I hope they do it again next year! Not only that, but continue with the tourism project after I am gone.
This week was kind of a wind down from the fair. I cleaned my house Monday which needed some drastic attention since it had been neglected for quite some time. On Tuesday we tore down the ranchos at Deisy's house. I gave my ETV class on Wednesday on how to improve communication skills, which basically consists of not being too timid or too aggressive but communicating with self-confidence. Oh, Pancha also had her puppies the night before the fair, she had four but one died so now there are three, each a different color. She's not the best mom, always running around looking for food. Maybe if her owners fed her better she would stick around with them more. During the nights I practiced my guitar, drew a self-portrait which I gave to Mile, and made a dream catcher out of hemp twine and feathers from my chicken that I killed with my bare hands!
This weekend I went to Santiago to visit Mile. It was kind of a lazy relaxing weekend just hanging out at his house but it was nice. He still hasn't been paid his first check yet by the school system and has run out of money so we couldn't really do much anyway. So we cooked in the house and went out for pizza and walked through town. Mile actually got to eat some real food that way, since he is a broke bachelor and has been living the last couple of weeks on cereal, bread, and coffee, half of which he mooched from his roommate Kenny.
And now I am on my way back to Chichica! I had better go because the car will be leaving soon. So goodbye!
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