My First Injury

Well, it was bound to happen...I had my first accident and am now in a splint on my right hand. I was talking with my family when Don Ramon invited me to attend a family betrothal. Of course, I wanted to see this event and rushed to change - I ran down the hill from the house to my place and slipped on wet grass and instead of letting myself fall on my butt, I tried to catch my fall with my hands. You would think after all the safety training I had and gave in my jobs, I would have learned. Anyway, fortunately, we had our training at the Peace Corps office in Belmopan the next day and I was able to see the doctor. They x-rayed and found no broken bones, just a sprain.

The betrothal was interesting. It was Don Ramon's younger brother's daughter who was betrothed to a young man from the village. Don Ramon and Dona Lucina were asked to be witnesses. This ceremony allowed the young man to date the girl which ultimately will end in a marriage proposal. The couple, family and witnesses stood in a circle while the Pentecostal minister conducted a short ceremony. The house was overflowing with family and friends, I sat out in the porch with family members and young friends. The family and witnesses then sat at the dining room table with the couple where each witness gave a little advise, then the food started flowing. I was served tortilla chips with a tomato-mayo dip, then a plate of tamales, macaroni salad and sponge cake. I discovered that what we call tamales is really tamalitos. The tamales was a soft gelatinous texture that at first looked like enchiladas. The inside had a chicken neck - I tried to eat it with my fork but failed. I later found out that you pick it up with your fingers and chew the meat from the bones. The tamalitos is the tamales we are used to except there is no meat in it. They make the masa from green corn which brings out the true taste of fresh corn, yummy!!

The training continues to be intense - there are five of us in San Antonio and we take the bus to Belmopan on Tuesday for spanish and Friday for the group development training. Next weekend we pack our bags for the weekend to spend time with another volunteer at his/her site. We have four weeks left of training then we pack our bags again to go to our assigned site. We stay with another host family for one month, then we find our own place and begin the project.

If you reading my blog, please send me comments and update me on what's happening with you. I'm beginning to feel somewhat isolated even though I'm enjoying my time here.