Notes From a Small Isthmus: Pig Roast!

Last Sunday, Enrique, the son of our neighbors and Chepo's first and only ordained priest, came back to town to lead a mass in the Catholic church. He brought many members of his parish with him, and there was a big party to celebrate. In Panama, due to the shortage of priests, there is one priest per district. We live in the district of Las Minas, with around 40 communities. Enrique has the adjacent district, Los Pozos, with about the same number of communities. How does one priest serve 40 towns? He is very, very busy. The bigger towns get one visit a month from Enrique, with the biggest ones getting the Sunday visits. The little towns, especially those which require a long walk to get there, might only get a visit every two or three months, usually for some town holiday like the day of their patron saint.

The visitors descended on the town of Chepo, arriving in all kinds of vehicles, from pickup trucks to a minibus. The preparations, however, started two days in advance. Someone had to prepare the food for over one hundred people, and that job fell to Enrique's parents and family.

There was a pig roasted over the open fire.

Myelis, Yeimi and Noelis get a whiff of the roasting pig

Grandpa Andrés cuts up the pig's head. No parts go to waste!

Nothing was left unused except these!

Pig's feet anyone?

Meanwhile, the women prepared bollo. They husked countless ears of corn, ground it all by hand, and made it into small rolls which were boiled wrapped in palm leaves.

Grandma Librada with her grandkids

It was a fun party even though it rained on the day. Panamanians are used to the rain, and there was enough space for them all to be under one roof or another.

On another note, Steve's mud brick stove project got off the ground with the making of the first batch of bricks. They are taking quite a while to dry out in our rainy season, but we hope to build a stove soon.