Diciembre, esta pegando verano! (It´s turning summer!)

Tomorrow is Mother´s Day here in Panama!  And summer is just about here! It´s like I´m in a time warp… is this really December?

Florentina ( my host mom) and I successfully baked cornbread and chili on our fogon cookfire!  We used my recipes from the States. We used a small pot placed inside a larger, covered pot, to create a buffer of hot air around the baked goods.  This was the first time Flora has done any baking.  Some other communities make a coconut flavored yeast bread, but not here, it seems.

Here I am wearing my new nagwa dress, with friends Franklin and Marceliano.

We had a second community meeting on Nov 26. This time we included an additional half dozen houses located above the road which divides the community into Arriba and Abajo, Upper and Lower. The lower community is larger and it organized to bring me here, but the upper section is also interested in collaborating. We discussed my role here, their expectations, and shared some ideas. We had a good discussion that went on until it clouded over and the rains came (predictably) in the early afternoon. We shelved for a future meeting one of the activities I´d planned, making a seasonal calendar, but all in all it went very well with positive attitude and a great turnout of 28 adults.  In the coming weeks I´ll continue doing analysis activities with small groups and designing a house to house survey with some members of the community.  

presenting a community map done at the previous meeting

Ladies´side. In meetings people typically informally group by gender.

We are also making preparations to construct a house for me to live in for the remainder of my time here. As I write from town, my backpack is heavy with nails for the work! We will be tentatively starting construction with cutting the wood and bamboo for siding during the week before Christmas. The group is very motivated and I appreciate that so much!