Battle of St. Cayes Holiday

September 10th is the Battle of St. Cayes Holiday in Belize. Everyone gets off work and usually does a big feast. Today was my day to be a real maya woman. Our cooking day begun at 9 (after my host sister and I cleaned the dishes and straightened the house for the family that was coming over). We started by lighting the fire in the outdoor kitchen Miss Alberta's neighbor let us borrow. We roasted the cacao for about an hour on the cumal (big metal plate with a small handle used to cook on). Then we pealed them, ground them with a hand mill and hand 'whipped' them finishing with a yummy chocolate like drink!

Lighting the fire and roasting the cacao on the cumal.

Peeling the cacao, then separating the husk from the meat.

Hand grinding it, then we whipped it by hand, finally the drink!



All the greens for the soup...and the caldo.

Eating our hard work.

So last night the girls (Miss Alberta, Alyssa, and I )and Bryan went out in search of some chickens for the feast the next day. We walked all over our village and the neighboring one stopping at any house with chickens running around. We stopped at a little dinner in the neighboring village and got papaya and cantaloupe shakes with escabeche!We finally found one and I refused to let them put the chicken in a plastic bag to walk home in so I carried it my way. They wanted me to just carry it by the wings but they let me do whatever I wanted since it would be the chicken's last night. When we stopped to get some leaves to cook with at another neighbor's house Bryan had to go to the bathroom so we told him to run home. We yelled after him, 'Alanan alanan allanan chi'na Bryan!' Which means run run run little Bryan from the story Li Mis ut li Cho'o which is the cat and the rat.

I also killed my first animal on purpose. I killed the chicken. I cried afterwards. But, I feel okay about it. I said a prayer to the mayan animal father for the chicken and I did it quick. I feel like you should not have the privilege of eating meat unless you've killed it. It was weird being involved in the entire process of cooking a meal with meat. Plucking the feathers, butchering the chicken, cooking it, and I ate it too. Mainly to respect the chicken for dying to nourish our bodies I guess.

We cooked from 9 until 2:30 and it was hard labor intensive cooking with no time to sit. I was in the cosine (the outdoor kitchen) nearly the entire time with several other maya women and girls and we only spoke Ket'chi! I am finally to the point where I can pick out several words I know in each sentence now. Miss Alberta's aunt was very helpful and taught me the way to make the cacao drink and light the fire. The neighbor boys climbed the coconut tree in the yard and treated all the kids and us to fresh coconut juice...very refreshing. While we were cooking the littlest cousin Ivan fell into a pot of hot water (it was boiling and then put on the ground to help pluk the feathers of the chickens). We all jumped up and stripped him down and poured cool water on him. Luckily he only got one small blister. I just kept thinking of Greg getting burnt when he was a little kid and of the maya story where a little girl killed her brother to eat him because the word for little brother and casava root are the same!!

The little boy before the boiling water.

After we ate our soup called caldo we walked with Grace to the park in town where the Battle of St. Keys day parade was going on. There were food vendors galore, a punta dance off, and the parade too. It was great because we met up with several other trainees and current volunteers and caught up on all our stories. One of the trainee's host mom asks her every night to tell her again about the machines that wash and dry the clothes all by themselves. This trainee is in a remote small village without electricity.

Hanging out in the park!

We walked back home and had dinner at the neighbors house. It was delicious...they make this wonderful potato salad here, with peas and eggs and milk that is just out of this world. And we had baked beans too! We visited with them until around 8:30. They are both teachers and I lost track of time showing her websites to get resources for her class. I will go back to work with her on teaching writing for her son on Tuesday. Her niece had a nail go in her eye (she was pulling a clothesline to get something and it flung into her eye). She is not doing very well and was released from the hospital. It is such a hard life here.

I am also tutoring a little girl who is 9 and doesn't know all of her letter sounds. I met her mother on Tuesday when we were all cooking at Grace's host mom's house the food we bought, in Ket'chi, from the market. My LCF set up new families for us to interview alone in Ket'chi about their families. I went over and was able to get on just fine with only ket'chi. She understood all of my questions and I understood all of her answers! She asked if I might read with her daughter if I had time. When I went back the next day I did a quick assessment and we just worked on some word families to make sentences. I had her write the sentences in a book we made and then read them back to me. We practiced again on the letter sounds and names she couldn't get and then I read her and her three other sisters a book for fun. She was very cute and tried very hard but she is soooo far behind!

Miss Alberta and the kids!

Family photo!

There is so much more but I am so tired.... goodnight!