Written July 10th

One week down and a hundred and three to go.

Everything is going great. People here are welcoming and are interested in me and in US culture, I haven´t gotten sick yet, it´s been great living with Felix and Senia, I´ve been learning a lot, and am excited to start my projects. Officially, I´m not supposed to start anything because the first three months are for observation ad analysis of the town. But I worked with the 6th graders in the school to plant almond trees, cherry bushes, passion fruit, and guabo. I also broke ground on my personal garden and made myself the largest composter I´ve ever seen, then went around town collecting cow shit with all the elementary school boys. I´ve been devoting the mornings to those projects and the afternoons to language practice- formal study and attempts at conversation with the folks hanging out on the patio. I definitely still cannot get by in ngobere, but I´m hopeful. Even with the difficulty in communicating, I haven´t felt lonely with all the people around and the kids constantly following me.

But one unsettling experience:
Last night I went to a wake. In April, Felix´s sister died suddenly of a cancer and it´s the Ngobe custom to wait of a period of morning, leaving the family house unoccupied out of respect, before holding a vigil to say goodbye. It was confusing to me, a lot of contradictions. We got to the house around sundown and started a church service. A man sang hymns in Ngobere and the pastor came a spoke. They alternated back and forth all night and the guests would rotate in and out as they chose. So it seemed like a Christian service, but then there were witch traps around the house to protect it and the bitter cocoa was there to repel ghosts. And the mood was weird. Some people where weeping loudly and singing haunting traditional dirges through their sobs, while others were right next to them laughing and playing dominoes as they got drunk on yucca beer. It went on and on. Endless rounds of coffee and songs and everything in Ngobere and I was wishing it would end for a long time. But then the sun started to rise. Everyone got into a group and a woman circled us as she sang and sprinkled us with yucca beer and it was over. I´m still quite confused.