Mi primero semana en la selva... and other thoughts..

Hey all!

I've spent one week in my new home hanging out with the people, killing scorpions, working on the chocolate farm, naming the bat that lives in my room, and playing some soccer. Anyways, first of all, I have posted new pictures in my Flickr account. I wanted to put some pictures on my blog here, but I need to get some photo editing software to shrink them down a bit to post them within my blog. Although, I have posted a link on the the right side of my blog that should take you directly to my photos! Check'em out! Another note on the pics, they don't have descriptions yet because I ran out of time to put descriptions on them. So I'll go back and do that soon..... I hope.

Anyways, I'm currently in the city of David. I ventured down here yesterday to watch the elections with other PC volunteers. It was a blast! There were about 25 of us in a local casino watching CNN. It was great to finally meet some of the other volunteers that live on my side of the country. Plus, it's always nice to see the volunteers from my training group. I was a little sad when we all parted ways after our swearing in as volunteers.

All right, I need to talk a little about my first week in the jungle, and I don't have much time because I have to catch a bus back to the jungle. So I'm currently living with another host family in a house on 10 foot stilts. I have a host father, he's 28, a host brother, he's 2.5, and a host mother, I'm not sure how old she is, I'd guess 22-25ish. Anyways, speaking of my little hellian host brother, he is a bit of a terror. The aquaduct in my community rarely functions correctly; therefore, we acquire water from the rain and a little stream behind my house(the same place I bathe... Don't ask). So anyways, the other morning I finish up with my breakfast only to walk to my room and see the little turd peeing from a little walkway to another part of the house into one of our water-collecting vessels. I wish I had been close, I would have wacked the little turd in the back of the head. Instead, I had to settle with yelling at him in Spanish and English(he doesn't understand English, but I wasn't to happy with his urine in my drinking water). I also live with a random assortment of dogs, a small kitten that I named "Perro" which is the Spanish word for dog, they thought that was hilarious, a few horses, a rabbit, chickens, and a few other random animals. Ahh I forgot, I live with a parrot too. He is constantly making annoying noises. We actually put him in a cardboard box the other day to get him to shut up.

So my first morning living in my new site, I made my morning journey to the composting latrine. I'll be posting pics soon of my glorious poo receptacle. It actually has a pretty nice view. So I return to my room to find a scorpion chilling out in the middle of my floor. He caught the broadside of my show, then I fed him to the dog. I thought it was a good start to my first morning in my new community. Speaking of other animals in my room, there is a bat that comes to visit me ever evening. I named him Vicente. He eats insects; so he's cool to have around.

A few other highlights.

Most of my time is spent wandering around the community and talking with people. I still need to work on the Spanish skills. Although, it rained for about 4 days straight when I arrived. So there were a few long days where I just sat around reading and sharpening my machete.

Anyways, on Sunday, the community plays soccer. So they tell me to show up at the field around 4PM. I show up thinking it will just be a pick-up game of soccer. When I arrive, there is another official game going on between two teams with refs and everything. A guy walks up to me and hands me a jersey and tells me to go warm-up with my team. It was a pretty sweet experience to show up and play a full 90 minute game with my communities team, not to mention I have a sweet jersey. Although, we didn't win, I need to teach my team how to pass; it was great, and the field was a swamp.

Anyways, there is much more to talk about, but I really need to catch my bus so I can make it home before dark. More to come soon, sorry to cut off in mid-story!


En la lucha,

Brian