La Chocolata

So last week we left our memory drive hanging out of the side of the computer in Matagalpa, so there are no pictures to add this week. Fortunately we were able to arrange for its sound recovery or there would be no more pictures ever.

After the brigada left town, we went out on the jornada again. We travelled to a village called La Chocolata, so named for the color of the dirt there, where we waited around for the nurse to give vaccines to the children of the campo and I (kory today) chatted up one of the men from the area. I got him to gift me a cacao tree (baby) to take back to our house to plant. I hope it lives. Later I was chatting with another man from the mountains and he was asking me the english word for horse. We got to talking horse, not that I know anything about horses since I had never ridden one even though all my cousins have horses and are rodeo queens and such, and he offered me a ride on his horse. He disappeared down the hillside and after a few minutes returned with his stud. I climbed aboard and he gave me a quick lesson. I rode down the hill to his house and then back up to where we were working. It was a blast. Ultimate Peace Corps. The reason for all of this man chat was that we were planning to corral the men that stand around waiting while their wives get the screaming kids vaccinated so that we could chat with them about VIH/SIDA (HIV/AIDS). After a few more minutes of waiting we decided to start with what we had (five men and a boy of 15). We chatted for a bit and broke out a wooden penis for its maiden voyage. All was a success. Later Heather was chatting with someone about some bamboo (horse guy) and he said there was some up on the hill. She volunteered to go get some but was denied the experience by the reigning machismo, so I got to accompany him to acquire some to plant in our yard. (good thing too, the hike would have killed her). We walked to the bottom of the mountain and then back up the other side. It was amaizing, pastures, fields, and jungle. We chopped down one stalk about 30 feet tall with his machete. He hacked off the top and some of the latteral braches. Refusing my offer to help carrie some, he hoisted the twenty-foot bamboo pole on his shoulder and we headed off into the jungle again. When we got back he chopped it up into plantable sections and we tied it up and headed home. All in all, a great Peace Corps journey.

Also, we painted our house. The first coat looked too peach, so we applied a ¨cacao¨wash over the top of it. We may be the first Peace Corps volunteers in the history of the world to faux finish their home. Pictures to come when we get our card back.