This and That

For Spanish classes this week we cooked traditional Panamanian food and had a mini fiesta with limbo and dancing and lots of eating. We did this in each of our groups so TEA and CEC had different parties. For CEC´s group, they made Sancocho, which is a traditional chicken based soup. Sean actually killed the chicken for the soup! He and one other CEC member each killed a chicken...Sean said he did it because he has always felt disconnected from his food and this helped bring him as close as possible to what he was eating. He killed it by wrinign its neck, the other group member sliced the throat of the chicken he killed. In the first picture you see Sean and his chicken, in the other he is hanging the next chicken up for the other group member.

Our food prep was a little tamer. We made Arroz con pollo, essentially chicken and rice with lots of delicious vegetable and flavorings. Four of us dressed in traditional wear. Kate (in the black dress) and I are wearing Enaguas, the traditional dresses of the Ngobe Bugle people.  Sara T. is wearing the taditional skirt, called a paloma, of the Embera people, who she will be living with for her two years. Finally Glenis is in the Pollera, the traditional dress of Panama. When wearing the Pollera, the way the hair is worn and the jewelery is as important as the dress itself. They are very big in Los Santos, but all over Panama are considered the traditonal formal dress, they are very expensive and wealthier families are more likely to have them. Most women have two in their lifetme - one before the age of 16 and one after.

The picture below is the group that will be in the same province as us (Colon) Some of them will also be in Chagres National Park, but living with the Embera. This picture was taken the day of site announcements, as they called us up by region announcing one at a time who would be in that particular province.