Valle

I just got back from visiting my site for 5 days. It is pretty big with a few tores, a big soccer field and a brand new school that kids come to from all over the area. I lived with my work partner, Vicente. Vicente is the president of one of the 2 aquaducts in town. He is very quiet but really smart and a very respected person in town. He took me all over and introduced me to different families.

One of the days I hiked up this montain on one of the sides of the valley to go to my work partners farm. Here is the view of the town from way up. The only building you can really see i the school with the blue roof. The government is just finishing this and rumor has it that the President may be taking a helicopter to come see it and meet with people in November.

This is taken from Vicentes house of the new school you can also see some of the soccer field which is all dirt. Every day at 5 they have a soccer game for adults/teenagers. Its pretty competitive and they are all really good. Valle feilds two soccer teams for the local league and 2 baseball teams.
This is Vicent and his freind Benecio on top of the town new water tank. A NGO came in a built this take which has a sand filter without consulting anyone. The NGO did it as a learning project for its workers, however it has really messed up water in part of the town. I{m not exactly sure why but after the tank was built part of the town (the part where I will be living) goes without water for a few days at a time. This will probabably be one of the first things I work on.

This photo is also from the hike to Vicentes finca or farm. You can see the ocean and the nearby port town of Almirante. This is the town where Chiquita Banana is based out of. They have huge boats with the Chiquita logo as well as a big packing plant. All around the region are banana farms.