La expoventa y Terrero!

So over the past few days we have been pretty busy here. Ferria finished up, and we have been doing our regular visiting and practices as usual. Its been a great few days!
Thursday we had baseball practice, which was significantly less frustrating as usual. There were about 10 or so kids there, and many of them were usuals, so the continuity was encouraging. We didn’t do anything extrodinary, but the kids seemed to actually be making improvements, and the kids were pretty coachable, which isn’t always the norm here.
Friday morning we had a very encouraging meeting with our boss, Amy, and then Mike and I went to Terrero, our favorite aldea here. We drove up a bit later than usual, and went on a different day than usual, but the people there were receptive, nonetheless. We were welcomed into the first house, and there we ended up helping husk corn for a couple of hours. Nothing too challenging or remarkable, but a great way to pass some time with people and a good conversation starter. Here it is actually good to play dumb, it sparks much more conversation than if you were to always have the answers, and it’s a great way to bond when you let people teach you things. Of course they knew significantly more about husking corn than I had imagined there was to know, and I was happy to hear about the types of corn, where its grown, what they use it for, and the different techniques they use. And our reward, besides for the companionship, was Mondongo. Mondongo, if you are curious, is cow intestine soup, a delicacy here apparently. The soup, at first glance is just like any other concoction you might receive. However, upon further inspection, you see not only the usual vegetables (types of native squash, tomatoes, etc), but also rectangular chunks of rubbery tan colored intestine. Although it tasted pretty foul, that wasn’t the worst part. It’s the consistency that gets you! I will spare you the details of the ingestion of this unique culinary work, but it comes close to the time when we ate mountain cat soup.
After that we had a few more great visits with other people there, and headed back to Talanga. On the way into town we were driving past a young teen that was carrying mandarins and squash into town as well, so we offered him a ride, a frequent practice here. He was a nice kid, and we struck up conversations for a bit. We brought him to the park and told him we were going to our house, and asked if he wanted to get out there. He said yes, but then didn’t gesture to get out, and didn’t say anything else. We thought it must have been a language issue, and continued on to our house. He didn’t gesture to ask about getting out, so we drove to the corner we live on and told him this is where we lived and were going to park the car inside, insinuating he might want to get out. He said ok, but again didn’t gesture to get out. Mike took the initiative and walked around to the side of the car the kid was seated on, and opened the door for him, and offered to help him get the fruit and veggies down for him. The kid then hopped out, and grabbed his fruit, gave us some lemons and a squash for the ride, and thanked us, left the door open and walked back in the direction we had just come from. Mike and I both thought this to be a bit strange, then we realized, that may have been the first time he had ever ridden inside a car. Usual practice here is to always have people hop into the bed of the pickup truck. Mike and I thought we might as well have him come in the back seats of the cab, because it’s just more comfortable. I opened the door for him, just trying to be nice because he was carrying all the goods, and I never even thought he wouldn’t know how to get in if I hadn’t helped him. The things we take for granted!
Saturday we drove a couple people from town to another town to pick up Tilapia, and with 120 fish we drove them back to town, all in preparation for our big expoventa. Then we brought Sean to the airport, he was heading home for a med school interview. Later I spent about 4 or 5 hours preparing for what we were going to make for the expoventa, Pizzas. I grated 6 pounds of Mozzarella type cheese, cut veggies, make sauce, etc.
Because it was the last official night of Ferria, there was a carnival in the street Saturday night. Usually we don’t do much after dark, but Chico, who is a father type figure to us invited us to go with him and his family, so we thought we would oblidge and head down to the one paved road in town, where the street had been blocked off and there were a few stages set up. Vendors lined the road, selling French fries, beverages, cigarettes, fried yucca, and other types of foods, and streets were full of people of all ages, just dancing. It was an interesting mix, from grandparents to babies, people dancing to folk music, reggaton, punta, salsa, marimba, you name it. We actually ended up staying for a bit, and trying our luck with the various dances. Apparently when a gringo dances, the town knows about it. I think that to say we were watched would be an understatement, but rather we were scrutinized by the majority of the people in Talanga. They got over it, especially when they noticed Chico, a well respected Talangan dancing with us and teaching us the moves, but it certainly gave me a good idea what being a minority was all about. We did have a lot of fun and learned a lot, mostly that we should never dance in public in a country where 90% of the population is born with more moves then we have!
Sunday we got up and got to work. Melissa and I were to stay at the house and cook up Pizzas, and Mike and Joe would be the sales crew. After two hours of no success, Melissa and I relieved Joe and Mike of the duties in the park, and the boys came back to relax for a bit. At about noon with still no sales yet, we were a bit nervous about our recent purchase of 120 personal pizza crusts. We were certain we would be eating only pizza for the rest of the year! Mike and Joe decided to get more active, made some pizzas, and brought them to the park. We moved our table so it was more visible, and Joe and Mike decided to give out some samples. By the time Melissa and I got back to our house, just 3 blocks away from the park, Joe had already called to tell us to get working! For the next three hours I topped the pizzas and handed them over to Melissa, who was manning the oven. We recruited two of the kids that frequent our house to be runners, which they did gladly when told they would be rewarded with pizzas at the end of the day, and they were saviors! We bought 9 more pounds of cheese, more makings for sauce, and lots more veggies. At about 3:00, after a few oven burns and a lot of sauce on my clothes and arms, we made the last of the pizzas and brought them up to the park. Soon they were all gone, and after the final tally we made 2300 limpira, or about $115. We were certainly proud of ourselves, and we handed the money over to the church, glad we could do something to support the fundraising for the construction of the new church. It was a great, but exhausting day, and we were happy to help!