Shoulda been a farmer

Being Holy Week, there was no work on Friday and most people hung out with the fams Saturday and Sunday. I went to mass (for the first time since being here...whoops...) on Friday night. It was very...warm. The church was packed and there is a tradition down here that you don´t bathe during holy week. Which explains the funk that was eminating to the rafters the whole two hours I was smushed in a pew. But hey, it was for The Lord.

Saturday I woke up early and went with my neighbors, Rosario and Elvis, to their finca or farm. It was a blast. I helped Rosario plant corn, and I was really glad I went because a) I have already done it and am now becoming a novice at planting corn and b) the señora that usually comes to help out didn´t show. So it was Rosario and me plantin´. It didn´t turn out to be too too hot that day, but I did work up a sweat...and some blisters. We planted for about 6 and a half hours. Talk about a work out...it´s amazing these men and women work in the fields until they are about 70. I walked away with a great booty of free fruit and Rosario made me a plate of my favorite empanadas. I definitely believe money is over rated and we should go back to a barter system...but that´s another blog...

So here are some pictures, along with a cornocopia of other photos. Enjoy!

Rosario and Elvis taking a break. We had to plant the corn where you see all the banana trees behind them. It was hard work, driving a big stick into the ground and then dropping three little kernels inside. My favorite part was how quiet it was; all you could hear were the birds and the sound of the banana leaves blowing in the breeze.



Me at the Rio Zamora, along side where the finca was. I´m holding a papaya I caught. They were like, CORRIE--CATCH THE PAPAYA because I was the only one that could reach....


I love this picture...true corrie fashion. We were walking home from a charla one day and my friend, Sandra, invited us to get some guavas from her house. She climbed up the tree like a freakin monkey to get them down for us. They are a funky fruit, but pretty tasty after a while. They´re like giant pods with a little fuzzy fruit inside and you spit out the seeds.



Here´s Sandra scaling the tree like it´s nothing. No shoes, no problem. It´s amazing how people just KNOW how to do stuff like this down here.


Me with the Zamora Boys...Dirney (behind me) and Agusto. They played soccer...and lost to the doctors. But they played real well. Agusto was the one who got into the fight at the end...we all can´t win, right?


Me and Yadira, a FODI girl, and Sandra. You can sorta notice my crazy jungle hair (more noticable in the guava picture...) I never had really curly hair...until I got here. And now it´s out of control. But it´s a good look...Corrie en la SELVA.