Wednesday, July 18, 2007

new pics finnally!

So many news things sense the last update. My dad left me his digital camera, but didn´t have the connecting cable. Sorry for not putting a post up in a long time. The biggest thing that happened in this time was an environmental fair in my town. Several different communities and organizations built huts to display artisan works and sell fruits. Government organizations also came to talk. My Panama Verde group made our own house, out of resources everyone in the group donated. One kid gave some nails, another used house posts, another 25 cents to make juice for those working.

My friend Colin and I gave a charla (talk) on nutrition during the eco-fair. We broke the food pyramid into 4 basic groups so it was more applicable. Basic base food, go food, glow food and grow food. After explaining what they were and examples we had all sorts of food drawn out on little peaces of paper and had a race to see who could properly placed the food. After the race we had a big discussion about the importance of some foods and not others.
This three towed sloth was hanging out in the rancho next to me. Apparently they were planning a sloth wedding. As this lady sloth was dressed in the traditional clothes, they also were going to have music and a ceremony. She moved much faster than I thought, but still no amazing speed. The male below was a two towed sloth and appeared to like to hang out upsidedown. After all the hype the sloth wedding didn´t go down because the man wripped his shirt off and couldn´t wait anymore.



Soccer season ended. Our team kinda petered out toward the end, but it was still a fun time playing and I definitely made a whole bunch of friends. The other night two guys invited me to go spear fishing with them in the river. It was moonless and we used flashlights underwater to find fish. Needless to say I barely saw any fish let alone killed them. This is my volleyball team. Most of the people aren´t from my town but those teams were full. We play every Sunday. I have been practicing alot but and still not up to their expectations as the tall guy. The hydroelectric company gave all the jerseys to 14 teams from the county.
Our Panama Verde youth group sent 3 kids to a national camp on the other side of the country. I walked out with two of them to save money. Here is a shot from the top of the mountain. Recently I have been doing an aqueduct study up there. In the background you can see Bocas Island.



I took a trip to Bocas Island for our regional meeting. I went the less traveled way from Changuinola. You take a motor boat through the old banana canals cut through the mangrove. It was really beautiful, as we flew at full speed down this narrow stretch.

I officially inaugurated my house, because it is 100 percent done. I made 6 pounds of fried rice (uncooked),l for my entire host family and the uncle that redid my roof. We all sat around the table at my house like a family dinner in the states. This is a rare here, usually people eat the food as soon as they receive it and don´t talk when eating. Here you can see the yellow table I got from the Army and the big table a different uncle made for me out of cedar.