Homecoming

Hey friends, there was an unexpected delay in posting. Hopefully now we are back on track, a story a day, Monday through Friday.

Day 6- August 12, 2015

By 8am, I was sitting in a hammock under Irasema’s hut, eating a bowl of cold rice with my left hand while licking guanabana juice oozing out of the fruit and running down my right arm. Ira was telling me the story…

The chainsaw broke agai.  Misael was there with the boys, taking it apart to find the problem. The girls were down at the river doing laundry, thank God. Bombelé, Chicheme, Elpidio, Chibigí, Bichichí, Flore…all the guys were here arguing about how to fix the motor. I was in the hammock when all of a sudden there was a huge crack, and the floor was gone. I screamed so loud! Those men went rolling to the ground like toys. Elpidio slid down head first. So dangerous. We are so lucky. I told Misa a hundred times that we needed to replace that room. The floor had so many holes! Imagine, that post in the corner just slipped off and everyone came sliding down. No one was hurt. I couldn’t believe it. The chainsaw should have taken Elpidio’s head right off. The floor just disappeared, leaving me hanging there above nothing.

And that was why we were crouched underneath the hut, rather than eating inside it, and I for one, was grateful for it. I caught up on the rest of the latest gossip, including sad news that my host mom was out of town with her two youngest boys. Her oldest, my 16-year-old host brother Sami, had been ill for a month and was hospitalized in Panama City. I was very disheartened to hear the news. Not only because Sami was sick, but also because I wouldn’t have a chance to say goodbye.

The rest of the morning was a flurry of house visits and plates of food as I tried to say hi to everyone and tolerate the heat. Mid-afternoon I returned to Ira’s to teach her how to make brownies from cacao. Word (and the chocolaty scent) spread quickly so by the time they came out of the “oven”, there was a crowd of ladies and babies huddled around the oven. When I asked Iritzel if she liked the brownies, her face flushed bright red, a grin spread across her face and she nodded- not even daring to look up and take her eyes off the treat.

I left the ladies to finish off the treats. I had to meet with the community leaders one more time. We talked about the community’s desire to continue working with Peace Corps and to pursue the composting latrine project. We filled out some paperwork for Peace Corps and talked about the work for future Volunteers. I handed over my copies of the project documents and we shook hands.

Dark was overtaking the town by the time I had a chance to head down to the river, so it was a quick bath before scurrying back up to my Aunt Yuli’s house for dinner. We settled in with fried plantains and tea while watching an hour of the fifth Twilight movie run off the generator. Just another day in the jungle.

Today I am grateful to see that Naked Baby
has his life together and is wearing a full set of clothes!
You go, Naked Baby!