Tiempo de Mangos

Right now is the ¨Tiempo de Mangos.¨
Almost every third house here has a Mango tree and each mango tree has hundreds of mangos. Nobody can go hungry at this time of the year. At almost every house I visit, I´m offered a mango or three for a mid-afternoon snack. Most of the mangos are very sweet, juicy and delicious, but tend to be full of long and stringy fibers that get stuck in your teeth. So it´s kind of like a love/hate/slightly emabarrasing relationships I have with the Mangos. By the time I´m finished with my 1st or 3rd, I have atleast 2 orange stains on my clothes, mango juice dripping down my arms, and long orange strings sticking out of my teeth. Any good host brings me a bucket of water to wash up, and a super good host brings me floss and a towel.

I prefer the mangos with less fiber!
I´ll post photos as soon as possible.

Back to the campo

I rolled up in the truck from Santo Domingo to find screaming girls and big hugs. Evony and Lily were very happy to see me again. They decorated my room with flower petals and drawings. Muy dulce. I met Ruth´s sister, Rosanny, for the first time. She usually is studying in the capital. Vacation days for students are quite strange here. It seems like there is always someone on vacation.
Yesterday we had another Kermes (potluck) to raise money for our patrionales celebrations. Food, dancing, and cock fights. Yes, I witnessed my first cockfight. They attach an extra plastic claw to the back of the cock´s legs. Attack. It´s quite disturbing watching the two cocks fight to the death. Bloody and exhausted, just pecking away.
Just two weeks to go before our dance performance. I´m hoping to finish our swing routine this week. Yikes. We are all nervous it won´t get done nor be as beautiful as it was planned in my mind.

I´m glad to be back and healthy again. Gracias a Dios.