A Holy Day in Progresso

We celebrated the Holy Day last night at our house. There were about 40 people from the community who came up to observe it. That meant, since Anne had not yet arrived back from her trip to the states, we had to make all the preparations. And we were short on food. Really - like we didn't even have rice and beans. So, we had to walk down the hill yesterday morning to get the beans on the fire so that they could be ready by dinner time. Plus, one can't have only rice and beans to celebrate a holy day, so we killed two of our chickens. Actually, funny story. The standard procedure is to actually catch the chicken the night before you plan to eat it. You see, it is much easier to catch when they go up into their tree at night. Then, you "simply" shine a flashlight on them and hook them with your home-made noose contraption. Then, tie them up for the night and there they are when you want them. Unfortunately, yesterday, the one chicken chosen to be the perfect one (the one that has been laying eggs in the house for the past month and then jumping on your head when she wants to get out from behind the couch) actually escaped at the moment of her death. So, what to do. One chicken isn't enough to feed forty people - even if it is only arroz con pollo. Well, we had to catch another chicken so we got the dogs to help. And within five minutes they had caught the chicken. We were all so surprised that the dog got the one we wanted. But actually, it turned out it wasn't - it was a smaller version of the old one we wanted. Oh well. So, then we had to clean the chicken. None of us wanted to defeather it, so we skinned it. We got started well enough, but then were unsure of how to continue so we had to call in the assistance of Parviz, who apparently grew up skinning chickens - no, I'm making that up.. but he does know how to do it. Anyways, then we served over 40 people dinner and coffee, said some prayers, told some of the stories of Baha'u'llah's life and then sang some of the favorite songs. And, to finish the night off, we brought out the old laptop, gathered around it and watched the March of the Penguins. Not completely connected with the holy day, but on short notice quite good enough. Except, the night wasn't over yet. During the show, we hear from up the hill "Culebra!!" for those who don't know that means "SNAKE!!" Three men run up the hill and a short time later come back down with a 4 foot long ferdelance spiked through the back of it's neck. So the gringos can take pictures :). Which they did. And, today, us youth cleaned up the house and yard for the homecoming of Anne, and packed our own things to leave the country. So, at 2 we taught an English class at the school and at about 3 we started down for our 3 day rompe in Panama. So, here I am. In David for the night. Tomorrow we head for an Island called Boca Chica (I think).

(by the way, Mom, Nathan and Rachel, if this seems a bit familiar, yes, it is exactly what is in the email - I replied to you first, then decided it was a good enough story to share with all)

Love always!