And so it begins... kind of

Anai, Diana, and me

Well, I haven´t technically started work yet, but I have worked. I spent this weekend getting to know my homestay family, the Aguavil´s, and helping out a little. On Saturday, I ferried banana bunches in their field/orchard/forest. On Friday I scraped the dangerously slipperly mossy slime from the hard-packed dirt ground around the compound, I suppose the equivilant of mowing the lawn. Also on Friday, the day after I arrived, I helped out with a Tsáchila tourist show. A group of 7th graders from the nearby city of Santo Domingo came to watch and participate in a display of Tsáchila traditional culture. (Here is a short video of the family performing). The night before, the Aguavil´s showed me how to make henna-like tatoos with the juice of a huito fruit. When applied with a stick, it goes on mostly clear, but in the morning you have a bluish-black mark that lasts for 8 days. The father put one ring on my arm, without pressure or knowledge of the expectations I stayed with that. The day of, all the men, myself included, painted their hair red with the dye from achiote, which washes out with soap. Everyone else was dressed in skirts and fully painted, so I wasn´t a very convincing Tsáchila (the blue eyes were a give-away too).
The community Los Naranjo has a center (the futbol field of course), but most of the families live a short distance away on their fincas (in this case, the banana dominated, partially-wild plantations). I´m sleeping in an approximately 15´x16´ timber framed house with bamboo-siding and a thatched roof. There are several other buildings like it on the compound, varing in shape and size, as well as a couple of palm-roofed covered areas holding hamacas or benches. Closest to the road the parents stay in a cement-block home with a kitchen and tv and further up the oldest son lives with his wife and three daughters. These grandaughters, aged 8 to 2, are a hoot and always keep me company, requested or not. Their favorite games include stealing my hat, repeatedly asking what my name is, and all sitting in my lap at once.
As for the mapping project, the plan is to have a meeting Monday morning. My host father seems to be very keen on having a map of the community, so I´m trying to stay optimistic, but I can imagine the difficulty in convincing all the community members to bushwack their property lines with a gringo.

The covered area in the family compound used for meetings and shows