I've spent most of the last three days sleeping and I'm going to blame that on the rain. It has been raining non stop here and apparently I was supposed to get some text message that said for Bocas volunteers to stay out of the water but I didn't get it. Every other volunteer in the peace corps got it but me. I guess I should give them my new phone number in case of emergency. The river here has been pretty big but I asked a guy if I could go in it and he sounded pretty sure that it would be fine. I didn't see anyone else in it and there usually is so I stayed away. Because of the rain it has been pretty cool which is nice too. I'm actually wearing a long sleeve right now. The people here freak out when it gets around 70 degrees. They think the world is ending which they already think is going to happen in 2012 because of the Mayans.
I'm in my new residence now which I mentioned before and the living situation is significantly better. Although there is a little kid that is constantly harassing and jumping all over me, he is pretty cute and I haven't got sick of him yet. His breath is terrible and he is usually all up in my face so I started making him use my mouth wash which he thinks is funny. I've also started speaking to him in random english words which throws him off a little.
I'm living in pretty much a basement. They all live upstairs and when I say they I mean Solomon, his wife, the little runt, a brand new baby girl, and the grampa who doesn't have any teeth and can barely walk. They all live in two rooms. I have the entire downstairs which actually has a concrete floor and a light bulb that runs off of a solar panel. It is definitely a step up. Although food is still a problem here, I will be heading into town to make sure there is enough for at least the week. One thing that is bothering is the smell. The horse seems to crap all around the outside of the bottom part and it seeps in ever so often. My bed also smells terrible now. My blanket has started to smell bad for some time but now my entire foam sleeping pad smells terrible. I'm guessing it is a combination between sweat and mold. I actually think its mostly mold because everything is starting to smell like that. In any case, I'm getting my blanket washed tomorrow and I'm on a mission to find anti-anything spray to kill the mold.
After waking up to the bat in my room I attended the chocolate group meeting and we ground cacao for some time. I was able to grind 7 grinders full which is my new record now. I almost passed out in the chocolate bowl. I hate to mention it, but some of the guys there were about fifty years old and they did about 25 a piece. One of the kids probably did 30. I figure that is why their arms look like tree trunks. I guess when we make our bike grinder their legs will look like tree trunks. So we ground a lot of cacao and then had the meeting. I didn't know it but I was including in this meeting as I have been in every meeting since I've been here. I was starting to dose off, getting sick of trying to understand spanish, when my name was called to the front. I stood up like I had something to stay and walked to the front. At this point I leaned over to Solomon and asked him what the hell I was supposed to talk about because not only was I not paying attention, but we didn't talk about me presenting anything today.
I found out that I was supposed to talk about creating a logo for the chocolate and maybe changing the packets. Both things that Solomon and I had talked about the day before in private. I gave a short presentation as to why it was important and told the group to give me ideas for one. Solomon then talked for about an hour and everyone seemed like they were over it. Finally we decided that we would meet late sunday night to come up with a name for the chocolate balls that we sell. I've already worked with a couple members to create a rough idea of a logo (of which I hope my friend Abbie will make better:)) We just need a name now. One guy wants to call the chocolate Chocolate of the Mountain, and another likes Chocolate of the River. Not too creative. I like Sloth Chocolate or Gnobe Chocolate but they pretty much shut those down. We will see.
Speaking of sloths I saw the biggest one yet today. It looked like a bear. On another note, I realized today that I haven't looked in a mirror in 4 days. I don't know what to think of that. I also haven't been eating much since there hasn't been much food in the community, and I hope I haven't lost any more weight. I've lost about 10 lbs so far here. I'm going to make an effort to get it back in the next couple months. I can feel that my facial and head hair are growing but that is it. It is kinda nice not looking in a mirror for awhile. I just hope I'm surprised in a bad way when I finally do.
One last thing. I've noticed a lot of government issued food bags here. All the families seem to have them and the government must have dropped them off when I was gone. I actually really like the government food and wish I was here when they dropped it off. I would have grabbed a bunch for my family. It is mostly dried soups, but there is this stuff called crema which is mostly like sweet cream of wheat but more refined, and it is good. It is supposed to have vitamins too which I could use. They give it to the kids in school and bringing a cup or bowl to school is required to get your crema. I wonder if I go to school and stand in line if I could get some. I start teaching classes next week or the week after that so I probably will. Because of the food here I'm inadvertently becoming a vegetarian. This is mostly because there just isn't any meat unless there is a birthday where they kill a chicken or a duck, and because when they cook fish here they leave it out for a couple days without refrigeration and it doesn't taste so good. I have been sticking to pretty much these wild potatoes that they eat every day and boiled plantains which if you eat fast aren't the worst thing in the world. I'm hoping to buy a 10 lb sack of beans in the city tomorrow. That should put some weight back on me...
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