hi ya'll! so this week was my tech training, which meant that my training group of 6 wonderful and very different from each other women traveled to another volunteer{s site for a 4 day visit. i stayed with an amazing family (this is a trend...i have been incredibly lucky with my family stays). this family is really young with super animated little kids who all have big dimples and want to play all the time. they were pretty loco though. okay, they were a bit over protective. i wasn{t allowed to run alone, nor was i allowed to bathe int he tiny stream alone. so my 2nd morning, my host mom and i went to the river and splashed around (naked and all) together in the most beautiful river. it reminded me a bit of california and a bit of ithaca. canopy of trees arching over a super clear stream. deep enough to come up to my knees, but not much more than that. the river was cold, but the weather hot, so it was so refreshing. it was the! second time i felt so incredibly at peace--one of those very special, spiritual, inside at peace with the world colors and song and silence moments.(the first moment was up in the mountains with the coffee pickers) i looked at my host mom (i have so many host moms! one at training site, and now this other one....) and she just looked back at me, and all we said was [si[, yes, yes, and that is it, but there was so much communicated in the moments of looking. sharing and just being. she told me later that it was her favorite spot and that she doesn{t bring people there. so it was a big deal for both of us. totally amazing though how much communication goes on even without speaking.
anyways, we made this awesome stove that is made out of clay and it is basically this huge indoor stove . most people hear have mini camp fires that they make ontop of tables to use as a stove. not only does it take so much wood and energy and smoke but it{s just an over all really bad for the lungs and environment method of cooking. so ya gotta dig mud and mix with sand and water and then you have this awesome huge stove that youi put wood inside of and has a chimmeny and the works. the best part about this stove is that you get to dig hella mud and put it in a big pile with water, shuck the shoes off and start stamping and dancing in the mud. so much fun!! it{s a bonding event. what else....we made rainwater collection systems, a composting toilet (these are the best. everyone needs one of these. no smell, no bugs, and you can use your human waste to turn your flowers into the healthiest beautiful gardens ever! and your crops...the works... any takers? i{ll build it m! yself.) i know now the complications of harvesting rice, and all about the little buggers that eat away all the vegetables. and how to get rid of them naturally without pesticides. totally great experience with my host family back at my site. my host dad is a farmer and has been really successful, but with pretty chemically methods. however, he is incredibly interested in the homework i bring home and reads over my should when i am looking at recipes for different organic composts and natural pesticides. totally cool is that he wants to try it out on his own crops. this is how it all happens. little by little. he is excited to try something new, and not only is it hella cheaper for him, but better for the veggies and the earth... i{ll work on the pest management later. there are a lot of superstitions to work with here. people are big into folklore and so rational is a bit more difficult. i{m not here to change customs and traditions in any way, but it{s unsettling to find ! several dead, debeaked and de'eyed birds dangling by their feet surrou nding the experimental garden i{m doing. he{s trying to help, as he explained. supposedly, but killing all these birds, and hanging them by the garden, it scares away the birds that eat plants, and it will scare away bad luck. wow. you can{t imagine how upsetting this was though. i told him that it was super kind of him and i wanted to find out what other methods there were, methods that perhaps ddidn{t include taking out the eyes of birds and dangling them over the family green beans. it makes weeding the garden a bit more difficult.
there are so many different things i want to describe. my group has been through hella peace corps politcs. had one trainer who was no good. found another we liked. couldn{t switch because all sorts of political shit involved. stress with that. conversations with family. ecology, religion, food, customs, exhaustion....
i found out today where i{ll be going for the next 2 years. i{ll be in a province up at teh top of panama called bocas del toro. i{ll be in an indigenous site (some running water i think, but no electricity) this was my first choice, and i{m incredibly pleased. so excited. i{ll be visiting in a week so i{ll tell ya{ll what it looks like and what my projects with be and the works. they tell me what they want me to work on and then we go from there. i have to unfortunately start learning a whole new language though....yikes! my spanish will widdle it{s way back down, but i{ll be fluent in gnobe! i wonder what the gnobe population is in the states....
i love hearing from all of you and i read and devour every single message and word. i{m so sorry that i don{t get to write everyone back right away. it all depends on how much internet time i have. generally it{s a bout a half hour, but hella slow connection and all that. please keep writing though!!!
i love ya{ll and can{t waitt o hear about life in the states ( and the rest of the world for those not in the states)
love dana