Pinatas and Pintadas!

Whoa! So I remember before leaving to Panama that I did not want to go back home to visit and finish my two years without a break. But I went home and I think it is good to go back! It was great to share with my friends and family better about my experience, but one-on-one. Also, it gave me more motivation and excitement to finish the year that I have left to complete.



And I showed my neighbors how to make pinatas! Whenever they have a fiesta in the community, they always use pinatas but they never knew how to make them. I told them I remember learning how to make these in elementary school as an arts and crafts project and now instead of buying them, they can make one at home!



And I made delicious curry soup with ingredients from my garden! My neighbors really enjoy it when I show them new recipes they can use with the ingredients they have available to them, like coconuts, spinach, garlic, ginger, turmeric, tomatoes, and onion. Also, adding some zapallo, a squash, is good too and easily available to add to the soup!

I visited my host family one day and she was weaving hats made from a palm plant. It can take months to complete them and they use special dyes to color some parts of the plant to create designs.


This is what it should look like after she finishes!


And we found snake eggs (according to my community members), while cleaning out a section of land to start some gardening.


This is so cool but an old volunteer from 2010 that did her service in the same area just randomly showed up one day! She was doing some research for her graduate program but of course, she loved that she could visit the people here who remembered her.



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