In these few days I've learned a lot and now understand a lot of things that had been frustrating to me. Occasionally, people would randomly refuse to come to meetings or participate in projects or even just seem unwilling to speak to me at all. It seemed random and I couldn't figure out what the problem was until someone mentioned that two men in two are arguing over land. Asking questions about that problem, I discovered that the town is split between two

factions that both claim to have the exclusive right to large tracts of land around the town. Usually people can be amiable to everyone, but there are some people who are so bitter they refuse to participate in anything together. So I've spent the week investigating the split.

It turns out that almost everyone in town is descended from one woman, who lived on the site of the school and owned all of the land of what is now Cerro Papayo. When she died, her

five children started to fight for more land. So I've been mentally tracing out family trees and figuring out who is with who and why. It's been interesting, but sad that it won't be possible to

work with everyone at once.

And Clement brought us a live armadillo in a bag. We smoked him for a long time

and then

fried the meat still on the shell. It was excellent. Remember that southerners.

Everyday, several times a day, I find myself repeating the phrase "poco a poco." It means little by little and our trainer often used it to calm us shell-shocked trainees when we were having trouble. In site, it's become important to me. I chant it when looking up at the mountain I need to climb while carrying a heavy load or down at the length of ground I need to hack out

a ditch. I think of it while studying Ngobere or trying to get someone to open up when they're shy around strangers. And it's comforting to remember "little by little" when I think about my future projects, my role in Papayo, and how my time in the community might be helpful. That all can be sorted out, but poco a poco.

Ah! I have a project. I'm very excited. Rufino and Didima want to build a rice tank, the traditional patty that we think of instead of dry rice in a field. Peace Corps advocates it because the ground doesn't lose fertility that way and it's much more concentrated than slash and burn agriculture and so is better for the environment. We went and scouted a site, hacked down all the trees, and dug a bunch of holes to test the soil. I think the site is perfect, so pretty soon we'll have some Peace Corps and the neighbors to come work on making the tank. Hopefully this will be an example that inspires other tank projects in the area.

Alright, I'm going to go back to site soon. I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to seeing you. Remember Lisa in Honduras. She's just a little one so she might be scared. I'll write again soon.