Dia de las madres and la epica

Here are more pictures!! Can not beileve it has already been three weeks!! Just finished a three week Spanish interview check-in with the professor we have had. He was aces!! Going to really miss him! Need to work on reflexive verbs and need to get that preterite and imperfect straight! The garden is looking great with a nice strong line of rabanos and a little almacigo of baby tomates and peppers. The sqush have already started showing their first leaves and the drip irrigation system is up and ready to go. We have our first charla with our youth coming this Tuesday and I{m a little nervous. Not the easiest thing to talk in front of a bunch of teenagers in English for 30-40 mins but now in Spanish. Vamos a ver! The pics are a mix of the past weekend and the last couple of days. The epica, a big patron saint festvial, was Sunday, and as far as I can figure, it seemed like everyone who has a horse in Masatepe came in full regalia. The horses prance and do tricks up and down all the streets of Massatepe. The park is turned into an amusement park (like the State Fair) and there are a bunchy of tent parties sponsored by the big beer and cellphone componies. My family and I were certainly out of our country element and only stayed for a brief time. Lots of noise but also lots of fun pics of cowboys with cellphones and Tonas (the local beer). The other pictures are of the boys in my family (tallest one is my brother Wilmer and the shortest is Manuelito) along with my cousins walking up the backroads of Jardin Botanico. And last, but certainly not least, we have several pics of Wilmer, me, and Lindsey. Lindsey is the volunteer who stayed with my host family two years ago during her training. She is AWESOME!!!It was like having a big sister for 3 days and it was great to see how receptive the whole commuinty was when she came to town. Definitely shades of Grace Thanksgivings and Nawn X-mas. We made Dona Lysett an improved oven for Mothers Day (I also gave her a box of maple candies which have held up surprisingly well). It was so much fun and it{s the 2nd oven I{ve made while here. Practice makes perfect. We are going to be baking with the ovens tomorrow during charlas. Our youth decided on Coconut cake for their oven product for the competition at the end of training, and the rest of my group is trying to see if we can decorate the cake with the community map of Jardin Botanico. Talking with Lindsey about her experience as she is about to COS reenergized me and remotivated me at just the right time. That and being able to get onto the Peace Corps sharepoint to find even more recipies and arts and crafts ideas which brings me to the final funny moment. I brought all the bracelets that I{ve made in the past (at Kewaydin and care rides, etc) and I thought I might try to sell them to raise money for the youth to go to the beach or for the ingredients for the cake. The big bracelets in the stores and markets here go for about 30 cords and I did not fee comfortable asking that of my community, so we went with 5. I currently only have 4 bracelets left. Once word got out around my family, people have been coming up to the door and asking to see which ones are left. Wilmer, Yaijaira and Lindsey all gather around to watch. It really is one of those moments we talk about in Training where you think it{s a simple thing that doesn{t mean much but it winds up opening so many doors and being such a connection. Big hugs to everyone and hope to write more soon!