On water, rivers, and peace

"El paisaje  ha cambiado profundamente...El arroyo  establemente tenia  agua.  Habían pozas  para  nadar y  cocinar.  Los niños  se divertían  en las aguas, pero con el tiempo se comenzó a talar los árboles del arroyo y a sacar la arena,  algunos para construir  sus viviendas y  otros para negocio. Así poco a poco el arroyo se ha ido secando."  ("Mujeres narrando su historia de Pichilín")
"The landscape has changed profoundly...The river had water.  There were waterholes for swimming and cooking.  The children would enjoy themselves in the water, but with time trees began to be cut from around the river and the sand was removed by some to construct their houses or for businesses.  Then little by little the river has dried up." ("Women narrating their history in Pichilín")

"Las lluvias son las mayores dificultades que enfrenten a campesinos en mi comunidad" (mujer de la comunidad de Pichilín)
"The rains are the biggest challenge that campesinos face in my community" (woman from the community of Pichilín)

"Ahora no hay comida, ahora no hay plata, no llueve" (Pichilín)  
"Right now there is not food, right now there is not money, it is not raining" (Pichilín)

"Este tiempo es difícil--no está lloviendo--no podemos obtener plata para comprar" (Pichilín)
"This time is difficult--it is not raining--we cannot make money to buy" (Pichilín)

Un aguacero en La Finca Villa Barbara Granja Experimental
A downpour at the Villa Barbara Experimental Farm

I am a sunny day person.  The perfect day for me involves a lot of sun and a few clouds.  So when I looked at the weather report before coming to Colombia, learning that I would be coming during the rainy season and that it would supposedly be raining everyday, I was a little bit bummed, so much rain seemed like a bother to me.  In a society where there is always fresh water available, where there are always a myriad of food products available in the large supermarket close to my house, and where  the biggest agricultural challenge is keeping one's lawn immaculately green all year long, I was separated from the importance of water.  
Me gusta los días del sol.  El día perfecto para yo es un día con mucho sol y pocos nubes.  Cuando miré el pronóstico del tiempo antes de venir a Colombia, aprendiendo que iba a venir durante la temporada lluviosa, me sentí un poco triste porque lluvia, antes para yo, era un poco de una molestia.  En una sociedad donde siempre hay agua pura y siempre hay muchas alimentos disponibles en el supermercado cerca a mi casa, y donde el desafío más grade de la agricultura es mantenerse hierba siempre verde en el patio, estaba separada de la importancia del agua.  

But when I came to Colombia, my perspective changed rather quickly--my second day, in fact.  I was rather surprised to learn that, contrary to the predicted rain, it had not rained in three weeks.  Because of this, a fellow volunteer and I set out on a trek on the farm, each carrying two full watering cans, to give some much needed water to some newly planted avocado trees.  We are lucky on the Finca Villa Barbara--we have enough water that we can give water to the plants that need it, in a manual process that requires significant time and effort.  But for many of the small rural communities here, when there is no water--there is no safety net of watering systems or even the ability to manually water--all water must be carefully conserved for consumption and bathing and cooking.  
Cuando llegué a Colombia, cambió mi perspectiva rápidamente--mi segundo día.  Sentí sorpresa en aprender que, al contrario de lluvia predicha, no ha llovida hace tres semanas.  Y por eso, yo y una voluntaria empezamos un camino arduo por la finca, cada llevando dos regaderas, llena de agua para dar agua a unos arboles de aguacate.  Tenemos suerte en La Finca Villa Barabara-- tenemos suficiente agua para regar las plantas que lo necesita en una proceso manual que requiere mucho tiempo y esfuerzo.  Pero para muchos comunidades rurales acá, cuando no hay agua, no hay un red de seguridad de un sistema de regido o aún suficiente agua a regar de mano--todo el agua debe ser conservado para consumir, bañar, y cocinar.  

Of the various things I have been doing with Sembrandopaz as a volunteer, one component includes conducting surveys of agriculture and food for families in two of the rural communities that Sembrandopaz supports.  These surveys include a variety of questions related to agriculture and food: what are families growing on their land, what crops have given the most and least success, what are the most significant challenges related to agriculture that farmers face, what are families are cooking and eating, and questions about food security.  It is these surveys and my experiences learning to be a campesina on the Finca Villa Barbara that have transformed my perception of water and rain.  
De lo que he hecho con Sembrandopaz como voluntaria, un parte incluye encuestas de agricultura y alimentación con families en comunidades agricultures acá, los que aporta Sembrandopaz.  Las encuestas incluye preguntas que se trata de la agricultura y la comida: que cultivan familias en su terreno, que cultivos han dado los mejores resultados y con que les han ido mal, que son los desafíos más difíciles de la agricultura que enfrenten campesinos, que cocinan y comen las familias, y preguntas relacionado con la seguridad alimentaria.  Es estés encuestas y mi experiencias, aprendiendo ser campesina en La Finca Villa Barbara, que han transformado mi percepción de agua y lluvia.  

El resultado de sequía, tierra sedienta 
The result of drought, a thirsty earth

Regardless of what you might think about climate change, I have experienced and have seen and talked to small farmers about their experiences of climate variation and change.  Even though have technically been in the rainy season for the majority of the time that I have been here, rains have been very irregular and the dry season recently have been hotter and drier than is customary.  I have been able to see local environmental degradation and environmental challenges and degradation on a larger-scale, national level.   The women of Pichilín mentioned this when they talk about the river--removing the trees from around the river and taking its sand have been connected with a drying of the river.  But perhaps more so in the Global North the effects and rapidity of this environmental degradation is more alarming.  Environmental degradation contributes to climate change, which most acutely affects the most vulnerable communities.  
Independiente de lo que piensas de cambio climático, he visto y hablado con agricultores pequeños de sus experiences de variaciones climáticas y cambios climáticos.  La mayoridad de mi tiempo acá técnicamente ha sido la temporada lluvioso.  Pero las lluvias han sido más irregular y el verano más fuerte que normal.  He visto la degradación del medio ambiente en un nivel local y nacional.  Las mujeres de Pichilín mencionaron eso cuando hablaron del río--talando arboles y sacando arena ha contribuido a un secado del río.  Quizás, donde vivo yo, en el Hemisferio Norte, uno puede ver más fuerte los efectos de degradación ambiental.  La degradación ambiental contribuye al cambio climático, que más afectan las comunidades más vulnerables.  

Sembrandopaz is an grassroots organization whose goal is to build peace.  They do not see peace as simply a lack of conflict.  Rather they see peace as a process with a holistic goal of healthy and life-giving relationships, connecting to the Biblical principle of shalom.  A big component of this is one's relationship to nature.  Sembrandopaz also places a focus on the process of accompaniment.  By working from the grassroots level, Sembrandopaz accompanies several local communities.  This process of accompaniment involves learning to understand the communities--their resources and challenges--and help them to initiative productive processes to build a peace that begins within the networks of the communities themselves.  
Sembrandopaz es una fundación de base quien tiene el objetivo de construir paz.  Se ven el paz no solo como ausencia del conflictos.  Pero se ven paz como un proceso holístico con objetivo de relaciones sanos y vivificantes, vinculado al concepto de shalom en la Biblia.  Un componente grande en eso es la relación entre uno y la naturaleza.  Sembrandopaz también tiene un enfoque de acompañamiento.  Sembrandopaz trabaja de base con varios comunidades.  Esto proceso incluye aprender de las comunidades--sus recursos y retos--y ayudar a empezar procesos productivos para construir una paz que empieza dentro de los comunidades.   

One project involves mapping the rivers that flow through these communities.  In four of the communities that Sembrandopaz supports, various youth are hoping to be able to travel along the portions of the river that flow through their community, documenting the conditions of the river--whether there are various forms of environmental degradation--what is the health of the river?  How is mapping a river connected to constructing peace?  For these communities, water is life.  Without water there is no agriculture, there is no food, there is no money.  The process of peace necessitates a peace with the environment and remedying the damage that has been done.  Though peace certainly begins with an agreement--a signing of accords, there is so much more to peace.  Peace is built in communities, in the lives of individuals, through small actions.
Un proyecto involucra mapear los ríos que fluya por las comunidades.  En cuatro comunidades que apoya Sembrandopaz, jóvenes esperan mapear los ríos que viajan a través de sus comunidades--dónde encuentran la degradación ambiental--qué es la salud del río?  Sin agua no hay agricultura, no hay comida, no hay dinero.  El proceso de paz necesita paz con el medio ambiente y uno remedio por el daño ya hecho.  Aunque paz empieza con un acuerdo de paz, y mucho más a la paz.  Paz está construido en comunidades, en las vidas de individuos, por acciones pequeños.  

This is just one of the projects of Sembrandopaz in its process of accompaniment and grassroots peacebuilding.  Currently, Sembrandopaz only has enough funds to support the mapping of the river in one community, but the goal is to map the river in three other communities.  I would ask you to consider understanding peace from a different perspective--from a grassroots level.  I have seen the good work that Sembrandopaz does day in and day out, supporting peace on a micro-level.  This past week, the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the peace accords in Colombia.  This is extremely significant for Colombia and for the process of peace, even though the peace accords and process are still underway with some uncertainty.  But as Santos understands and as I have seen, peace is not simply about a peace prize or the signing of a peace accord, although these are instrumental.  It is about building peace in the individual communities and in the lives of those impacted by the conflict.  As a HNGR volunteer and someone who has had five months of experience living in Colombia and visiting communities, I ask you to help us accompany this peace process by supporting this river mapping project.  A fellow volunteer here, Becca, has been working on this campaign and here you can learn more about this project and donate in the link that is given below.  Thank you!
Esto es sólo uno de los proyectos de Sembrandopaz en su proceso de acompañamiento y construcción de paz de base.  Actualmente, Sembrandopaz sólo tiene suficiente recursos para mapear el río en una comunidad.  El gol es mapear el río en tres otros comunidades.  Preguntarías a considerar de aprender la paz de otro perspectivo--de un nivel de base.  Yo he visto el trabajo bueno de Sembrandopaz hace cada día, aportando paz desde un nivel micro.  Este semana pasada, Juan Manuel Santos ganó el Premio Nobel de Paz para su trabajo en los acuerdos de paz, aunque los acuerdos y proceso de paz sigan con algo incertidumbre. Pero Santos entiende y he visto que paz no es sólo de un premio o una firma, aunque esos sean claves.  Es sobre construyendo paz en comunidades individuos y en las vidas que los afectaron por el conflicto.  Como un voluntario del programa HNGR y una persona quien ha tenido cinco meses de experiencia de vivir en Colombia y visitar a comunidades, les pido que nos ayude aportar el proceso de paz, aportando el proyecto de mapear los ríos.  Becca, una compañera voluntaria, ha trabajado en una campaña de aporta y con el siguiente enlace, puede aprender más de este proyecto y donar.  Gracias!

Youth from the community of Pichilín, who will be participating in this river mapping project.

Colombia has recently made international news because of complicated political disagreements surrounding a Peace Agreement.  However, sixteen Colombian youth are not letting this stall their peacebuilding efforts.  They are taking concrete actions to build peace by preserving their natural environment.  

Please support these youth in their efforts to map the streams in their three villages.  Your support will empower them to care for their natural environment and lay a foundation for a peaceful and sustainable future.  

You can read more about the campaign and donate here: https://www.generosity.com/fundraisers/peacebuilding-and-stream-restoration-in-colombia

If you are unable to donate, please share this campaign on social media, and follow their adventures on the SembrandoPaz facebook page.

Los hechos recientes en Colombia y el futuro incierto de los acuerdos de paz son el enfoque de todas la noticias en el país. No obstante, y a pesar de los retos a los que se enfrenta el país en materia de construcción de paz, hay 16 jóvenes en la región de los Montes de María que, con convicción y esperanza, están tomando acciones concretas para construir la paz a través de la conservación ambiental.

La incertidumbre, el desasosiego y la desesperanza son hoy sentimientos que muchos colombianos sentimos frente a la realidad actual del país. Muchos podemos sentir que no hay mucho que podamos hacer frente al devenir del proceso de paz. Sin embargo, sí podemos aportar a la construcción de paz en una de las regiones más afectadas por el conflicto armado. Apoyar a estos 16 jóvenes es una acción concreta que podemos tomar. Apoyarlos en su iniciativa de conservación de arroyos en sus comunidades no solo contribuye al empoderamiento de este grupo de jóvenes sino a la protección del medio ambiente y por lo tanto a la construcción de un futuro sustentable sin violencia. 

Pueden leer mas sobre la campaña en este pagina: https://www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/peacebuilding-and-stream-restoration-in-colombia

Estos jóvenes necesitan su apoyo para poder elaborar los mapas de los arroyos en sus cuatro comunidades.  Si usted está interesado en apoyar esta iniciativa, agradecemos sus donaciones. Si está interesado pero no cuenta con los medios para donar, puede apoyarnos compartiendo esta iniciativa a través de las redes sociales. 

A post long overdue!!!

I believe I wrote my last blog post around May 20th, about my one month anniversary of HNGR.  Well, right now it is month four and a half.  Three and a half months have passed.  Three and a half months of sometimes busyness, sometimes slowness.  Highs and lows and in betweens.  There is no way I could sum up three and a half months well.  But even if I wrote every single week, it would be hard to sum up a HNGR experience.

They say that a picture says 1,000 words.  So here are some pictures from the last three and a half months that give a snapshot of not just what I am doing here but the rhythms of daily life.  This is a LONG post with a lot of pictures, finally this week...after four and a half months, I got a flash drive and was able to download photos off my phone to another computer then transfer them to my computer because my computer doesn't have a slot for a memory card. Rather than trying to explain three and a half months of words, I think pictures will give a better idea of what life is like.  Most of these pictures come from the little, ordinary moments of life and are rather disorganized, but that is a bit accurate of life here.

My host brother cooked "enyucao," a cake made with grated yucca, coconut and other yummy things, cooked on a stove and wrapped in a banana leaf.  This pic deceptively looks like I made it, I just helped with the hard work of eating it :)  

A fellow volunteer who was here in June and food from Manuela's Restaurant, or what I like to  call the food my host mom makes, very yummy and probably mango juice!!  Qué mango!

A pretty typical lunch: rice, salad (really just lettuce, here chopped lettuce=salad which makes me a little sad), fried plantain slices, stewed chicken leg, and a lentil soup

Of course there would be a chicken on the beach in Colombia...

A restaurant on the beach, or "la playa" at a little retreat we had for volunteers.  This glorious plate of food is the typical plate of food on the coast (AKA, go to any of the restaurants on the beach and this is the only option on the menu--good thing its super yummy!)

"Que el guerra duerma en paz"  May war rest in peace!!

This is not a baby monster, or a villain from Veggie Tales, although the size and spiked outward appearance  would say otherwise.  It is the guanabana, a wonderful creamy white fruit that is kind of like vanilla frozen yogurt.

We had so much watermelon one day from the farm, our family decided to name it "El Festivo del Día de la Patilla" or the festival of the day of watermelon, a tradition I think we should propose to the national government :)

When it is the temporada, or season of a fruit, this is what the kitchen table looks like.  This was the season of the guanoabana!

Plumeria on the farm, almost too perfect to be real!

Narcissi killed two snakes in one day, very very poisonous, but we always wear rubber boots when walking on the farm, which Narciso is displaying in this picture.  Recently we have had a little bit of a snake problem because of neighbors slashing and burning on their property, driving the snakes to ours, where we do not slash and burn.

A sunset and papaya trees, what a marvelous combination!

Days on the farm can be long, and one of the things I have taken up in my free time is painting and drawing.

I made homemade bread!

A meeting at the Sembrandopaz office (and the day our dog Chiqui came, definitely not normal to have dogs at meetings, but I like that idea).  This was our mid-year evaluation meeting where we evaluate all of the accompaniment work that we do in the communities.  Sembrandopaz is a peace building organization that works closely with several primarily campesino communities on the Caribbean Coast.  As an organization, we focus on accompaniment rather than projects, with a defined start and end goal because peace building cannot be defined by projects.  

Meet the anon.  A delicious tropical fruit that is as much seeds as fruit, but reminiscent of the guanabana--aka vanilla ice cream.

The field of eggplant on the farm, also starring Tommy.  Here one can see a lot of the agroecological practices of the Finca Villa Barbara at work.  In this field we are intercropping eggplant and canavalia, a legume that helps to fix nitrogen.  In order to prevent soil erosion, we have planted rows of lemongrass horizontally along the slope.  And that funky blue contraption is a dew catcher--condensation will collect in the web, drip down into a channel beneath, and be used to irrigate the field.  

This is a wild fruit tree called the Hobo fruit.  Maybe not the most pleasant or exciting name, but the fruit happens to be both pleasant and exciting--like the hybrid of a peach, apricot, and cherry.

My wonderful host sisters and dog, and my attempts to draw them! 

Fried Okra, pt. 1 (channeling my Southern roots or at least pretending--this was the first time I cooked okra in my life)

Fried Okra, pt. 2

Fried okra, Pt. 3 (not bad, eh)

Shoutout to Hannah if you read this, thanks for this great piece of room decor from Vietnam!

A very campesino breakfast: yuca slices, Costeño cheese, scrambled eggs, cabeza de gato (translates "head of a cat:" don't worry no cats were involved in the making of this--it is smashed boiled plantains mixed with onions and garlic, normally served shaped into balls)

A sunset in Cartagena.

Hostel El Viajero in Cartagena.

"Museum of Cacao and Chocolate" in Cartagena, Colombia.  There was no way I was going to  pass this by without stopping in (and sampling everything)

Hmm sounds pretty accurate "The show of Trump: profile of a seller of smoke"

Cartagena! 

I cooked a candy make with caramelized green papaya called "caballitos" 

A little more sugar to celebrate my 23rd birthday, with a strawberry lime cake.   Half cake, half frosting in true Amy fashion :)

Birthday dinner: arroz con pollo (chicken with rice) and hot chocolate.  Arroz con pollo sounds deceptively simple but my host mom does some magic with simple ingredients rice, chicken, and vegetables, and it becomes debatably the best food you can eat in Colombia (in my opinion, that is)

A new kitten was added to the animal fam about a month and a half ago, her name is "bruja" or witch.  

A harvest from the farm, including dried corn kernels, eggs from the hens, tomatoes, and dried shelled beans.  

The first chicken I killed (**tears**).  I thought my host dad wanted me to go watch him kill a chicken, but that was apparently not the case...

Chicken stew, from above chickens.

Fried fish, yucca, huyama.  I am perfecting my technique of eating a whole fish without ingesting the hundreds of little spines.  A chore, but worth it!  

Host cousin, exploring the farm!!

This wasn't as dangerous as it looks (only almost)

Host brother and sister and dog on the farm!

A stand at the beach.

I went to the Sincelejo Pentecostal Convention.  The most Pentecostals I have been around in once place, very neat, but very Pentecostal 

5th National Convention, "Walking in the Spirit," Pentecostal Church of Colombia, July 2-3 2016.

Me with host brother and sister at the Convention.

Cooked tacos with a friend in the community of Pichilín.  A very un-Colombian food, contrary to popular misconceptions.

July 16 was the Festival of the Virgin of El Carmen.  I visited El Carmen for the weekend with fellow volunteers Liana and Katrina, where Sembrandopaz also has a small office where it bases work in the Montes de Maria, a region made of many small pueblos where Sembrandopaz works.  Here in Colombia, a predominantly Catholic society  (or at least that was its heritage in the past, it is not as evident currently), many pueblos have a patron saint.  Well on this day to celebrate, there is a large procession down the principle street in the town.  So here we are, waiting for the procession to pass.

Everyone marching in the streets, holding candles, and the light in the distance  is from the statue of the virgin of El Carmen, being carried down the street with a ton of people following both in front and behind.  We decided to follow the procession.  It involved a live band playing the same short song over and over again...and after three hours we made it to the town center, what an experience!

Introducing my new favorite Colombian fruit, the Mamón.  If the pink Jolly Rancher became a fruit,  this would be it.

The night I cooked dinner (well, sort of).  Black bean burgers, fried yucca,  arepas, and rice with huyama (winter squash).  In celebration of Colombian food and carbohydrates.

In the rural community of Libertad, drinking maté and making art!  Maté is a tea, similar to green tea that is either native to or at least very popular in Paraguay--there they have these special cups and straws that one uses to drink this tea as seen in this picture.  I am at the house of a friend and SEEDer who lives  in the community.    The Mennonite SEED program is a program where volunteers live in several communities, getting to know the community and accompanying the community in the processes of peace building that Semnbradopaz supports and facilitates.  Thanks to the SEEDers and their knowledge of the community, I have been able to the project of agricultural and food surveys for Sembrandopaz.  

Art + maté, a great combination.

A house in Libertad; very typical style with palm roof.  

Libertad.

Libertad is located right on the Colombian coast.  It is a rather large community, and its northernmost boundary is the Caribbean Sea.  While in Libertad, I was able to visit the beach for a short bit.  

Beach in Libertad.

Shells on the beach.  This is not a tourist beach as can be seen by the abundance of shells.  Rather than having a bunch of tourists, the shoreline is linked with small fishing boats, representing the livelihood of many in the community.

Dr. Lewis and Ia visit!  This was the first night when I cooked them some Colombian food outside the Sembrandopaz office.  I was happy to demonstrate my Colombian cooking skills (avocado salad, arepa, sliced fried eggplant from the farm, cheese, and sliced fried plantain.)  I'm glad I decided to make food because later in the week when we went searching for a restaurant, it was surprisingly hard to find!  Here there is a tradition of going out to restaurants for lunch.  The experience is not at all like an American restaurant and it is very cheap, even for Colombian standards (typically between 5,000 and 8,000 Colombian pesos, or approximately a little less than 2 USD to a little less than 3 USD).  There isn't a menu but rather a few "corrientes" or options of the day which one can choose from, usually a few cuts of different meats and a vegetarian option.  One the side are a variety typical Colombian staples: always rice, sometimes fried plantain, sometimes beans or lentils, a salad usually of lettuce and tomato, sometimes pasta.  The meal almost always starts with a soup--a meat and bone broth based soup with either yucca, green plantain, or ñame (a potato-like root vegetable).  And it is almost always served with "aguapanela"  a drink made with brown sugar like panela, water, and a little bit of lime or orange juice.   

Some animal friends we have on the farm, a baby capybara and a rabbit.  

Dr. Lewis and Ia, learning about the Finca Villa Barbara from Lillian of Sembrandopaz, who supervises my work on the farm.

Kira.  Cats of HNGR pt. 1.

Plaza de Majagual, located close to the office of Sembrandopaz, a great spot for people watching.  

Cats of HNGR, pt. 2.  Cats vs HNGR HW (to name one of the many distractions that one might face when trying to get HNGR HW done).

Meet the Corozó!  I have no idea what this grape-like fruit is in English...It is vaguely like grapes but way more tart with a thick skin and big seed in the middle.  Amply sweetened, it makes a lovely juice!

This was a photo I took at an activity at a workshop in one of the communities, Berruguitas (a rural, agricultural community--and rural in the sense that we had to cross six rivers to get there, in a truck--almost getting stuck once).  I was just there really to watch, but it was neat to be able to attend.  One of the goals of Sembrandopaz is capacity building and development that starts within the community and is defined by the community.  The goal of this meeting was to map out community resources and challenges--what challenges does the community face, what resources do that have, and how might they utilize their resources to develop as a community?

Art in Berruguitas.  When an outsider enters into this community, they might not see a lot of potential.  But what the community has is resources and an amazing sense of creatively, that can make something beautiful. 

This was from an agroecology workshop in one of the communities that I was able to attend--the principles of agroecology.

The advantages and disadvantages of burning and not burning the land before planting--this is what those at the workshop came up with.  

Finca Villa Barbara in the early evening.

This was taken at a celebration for peace (before the signing of peace and before the vote for peace) in a town called El Carmen.  

Talking about the peace agreement the day that the peace agreement was signed--in this event, a variety of voices spoke about their past and about what the peace agreement will involve for Colombia now and in the future.  This was before the plebiscite vote--and part of the event was to encourage people to vote yes to the peace accords between the government and the FARC.  

I was able to be in Cartagena, where the peace accords were signed between Santos (left) and Timochenko (right,  leader of the FARC).  The signing of this accord occurred before people voted to ratify the accord (still not exactly sure why this occurred...But basically everyone very much expected that the vote to ratify the accord would win).  This occurred a week before the plebiscite vote.  Even though it was very much expected that the "Sí" or yes vote would win, the "No" vote won by an extremely small margin.  All of this deserves a whole other blog post of its own, that is my next goal.  

Colombian celebrates a hope for peace, near where the peace accords were signed in Cartagena.

Cartagena, same location as above, united hands for peace.  

The coastline of Cartagena...so beautiful!

I gave my host sisters permission to do my makeup for my birthday, and this is what happened :)

My crazy host sister :)

A typical campesino breakfast with an ample portion of my new favorite food, huyama (winter squash ind of like butternut squash but less sweet and starchier).  Also represented, the ever-present yucca as well as eggs.  

My other host sister :)