Summer ... and the Livings Easy

I feel like I´ve climbed to the top of a hill ( in reality that´s all that I´ve been doing during the past 7 months: climbing up hills, literally and figuratively.) Speaking figuratively then, looking down into all hte rolling hills and high peaks around me -the real ones which are being slashed and burned to a crisp- I know the challanges aren´t finished and that the lows will still pull me down, but it feels different. I feel different. I ´m calmer, less affected by the funeral of a baby , the endless demands for money, the sloth-paced speed of life and the absence of easy success.

The other day two kids chased me up the hill from the church. ¨Take my picture! Take my picture!¨I ignored it at first and they must have yelled it at me 20 times before I turned around and said, Ï´m not going to take your picture. Go away.¨They stopped screeching form y camera and they sniggered down the hill, seemingly unaffected by my cold responce.

Perhaps my realitive peace of mind can be attributed to the lull of work to be done here. The beans have been planted and only the men leave with their ¨bombas¨to fumigate the plants with fertilizer once a week. It´s easier to feel ok about not having work to do when no one else is working either.

I gave a pretty good lecture on agrochemicals the other day. I used more illustrations than anything else. They must have liked the drawings because they were involved and interested in the topic. Dropping words like ¨Sterility¨ and ¨impotence¨helps get attention, too.

Walking through my community I notice that most still fumigate without the masks and gloves I solicited for them. But some do use them. And that makes me feel good.

Overall, I get more satisfaction from the daily one on one interaction than anything else. I think most of the kids in my community have heard the story ¨Juan and the Magic Bean Stock¨at least once. And I love grabbing them as I read ¨I smell the blood of an English man!¨and hearing them squeal.

The other day I hiked down to a town at the bottom of the mountain with Micheal, my 14-year-old host brother. He acted as guide after Paula warned me about vacas bravas (angry violent cows) that graze on the trail. The whole time he told be near horror stories about close calls with the vacas bravas (¨But then I grabbed its ear....!¨) and snakes (¨Si, those are dangerous, they can squeeze a grown man to death, and you know, they´ll chase you!¨) On the way up a woman named Maura stepped out of the bushes onto the trail. ¨Boo. Did I scare you?¨she asked me. ¨Whew. I said pretending to catch my breath. I thought you were a witch!¨I replied. Maura uses every possible opportunity to engage me in converstation about witches, twins and kids born with tails. ¨¨You know, ¨She said, ¨I saw you both pass this morning and I thought, At last! Betdi found a man and she´s going to the river with him!¨ We laughed at her mistake and I pretended to be slightly scandalized. I tell her in Ngabere, NO MAN! I think it has a nice ring to it.. Brare Ñagare!

Summer is great here....

Take 54.... or so it seems

My favorite time of day is dusk

Guandú, our first bean harvest.

Carmel Popcorn! Gilberto Jnr, Nini, and Jesenia mis hermanos.

The view from my porch

A muñeca (doll) representing the old year. They often hold a bottle of liquor. On New Years they burn the muñecas. This one has a note above it from a grandfather reminding his grand children not to forget their culture.

I hope everyone had a great holliday. Christmas in Kuna Yala was fantastic. You can tell from the photos. We slept in hamacks, visited a private island every day, payed locals for coconuts, which we ate sitting in the shaded white sand, and gorged on king crab and lobster. You wouldnt believe me if i told you how cheap it was. However, not for the tourist looking for luxery. ( I cannot spell today, please bare with me). I pulled on my pants one night after returning to the beach and was promptly bit by a 5inch centipede that was hidden inside. We were all screaming as I, with my pants around my ankles tryed to distance myself from the bug jumping around like a crazy ginga. An old sage looking Kuna man said ¨The same thing happened to me. It hurt real bad. The next morning I woke up vomiting blood.¨ But I didnt and the rest of the trip was a blast.

I stayed in my community for New Years, it was rather lonely, but I went to church with my host family and I could tell they were glad I went with them. Pastors from a more developed town brought in a PA system to the church (remember, we have no electricity). So imagaine my suprise upon returning to my community and hearing the screeching of a mic too close to the machine. Then, rather than saying -testing 1-2-3- they kept saying - Gloria a dios, gloria a dios (glory to god) over and over again. It made me giggle. my host mom Paula sent Nini up to my house with a bowl of their new years dinner. I freigned excitement (I´ve been sick with, as it turns out ameobas) and went down to their house to eat with them. She had made my plate especially without noodles, the gesture just momly enough to make me tear up. Later that night the kids and I made carmel popcorn, which was a hit. and of course, I was only to excited to share my favorite ambrosa with the fam. I started, again, from scratch on my garden, I built a raised bed and filled it with horse poop and compost materials. So, it was good I stayed in site.

The other day Nini had come asking to hear a fairy tale. We sat down and began reading. Ever so nonchalantely she threw her arm around my neck and leaned into me as she looked at the pictures. As I read I marveled at how far this little seven-year-old and my relationship has come. Nini was slow to warm to me. She rarely smiled and wouldnt look at me in the eye. She´s amazingly mature for her age and often was the one that would cook when I was still living with her family. I remember coming home some days so hungry and trying in vain to knock oranges out of a tree to eat something! I remember her watching me and feeling so out of place and so shamed, somehow. By a 7-year-old! So that sisterly show of affection ment alot.

I´ve been ill. I wont go into the details, except that in one midnight trip to the latrine with purpose, a giant spider the size of my hand crawled around the rim of the seat. I did a little dance as I tryed to decide what to do. Everytime I focused my light on him he crouched and stuck his butt in the air. But sometimes the urges are just stronger than aracnidphobea. So we negotiated.

I´m in my regional capital taking 3 different medicines for ameboas, I have had them for I dont know how long. Should have gone to the clinic much sooner. As irony would have it even though I rarely stopped pooping during the last week, when the doctor asked to collect a sample, well you can imagine. That is all I will say. I dont feel very good, and the meds make you feel sick for a while, but things should clear up soon.

Happy New Year!

Kat and her Lobster..