Matando La Gallina

Last week it was my host grandma's birthday, and to celebrate, our family killed 2 of our yard chickens (gallinas). Mark, my fellow who PCV lives next door to me, with said Grandma (and grandpa) learned some chicken neck breaking skills, shown in this slightly comical video (also shown: my host mom, bro and grandparents.) Notice the neck snap during his third attempt.



My host grandpa is a very cute old man, he talks rambly and fast about lord knows what. Here he is with the chicken.

This is my host mom, grandma and little bro with the chickydoo.

At the evening's birthday our family placed three of us gringos at our own gringo table and then gave us each a chicken leg over a plate of spaghetti instead of rice. I guess that is what gringos like.

Bugs, Bichos, Insectos and Creatures that Creep and Crawl.

I spent the last weekend in an indigenous community near the border of Costa Rica. During this time, I encountered not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 scorpions (which we happened to find on and around the floor on which I would soon be sleeping...) Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of any, which has henceforth inspired me to capture all the unique sorts of creepy crawlies that I find. To begin:
This spider was my daily companion in the tarp enclosed, bucket toilet on site. I like the squiggly strings he makes.
This bug was really rad. It was kind of dieing when we found it, so its kind of cheating, but a panaman told me that it is very rare and most Panamanians have never seen one, so I felt lucky.

During a training we were giving at an "escuelo de campo" about grafting cacao trees, I looked down and found this furry friend on my shirt.

More to come soon... In fact, I have a tarantula that lives outside my latrine and only comes out at night. It is my new goal to catch him on film!


This next addition is probably my favorite. This grasshopper looks like it could be straight out of Aliens. It was in one of the Cacao farms we visited in Bocas del Toro.