Celebration

Today Margaret Jane and I headed down to the Centro Arte para la Paz for a celebration and exhibition. The celebration, which included a concert from the band Exceso de Equipaje (named, I gather, because the men in the band carry a little extra baggage on them). Their lively, politically charged songs were followed by certificates for all the students who had participated in a couple of classes at the Centro, and by an exhibit of the work of one of the groups, calls for earth awareness painted on bright umbrellas and murals.

I missed most of the event, though, because Margaret Jane and I joined Peggy and the sandwich maquila out in the kitchen, helping to make, wrap and stack 400 chicken salad sandwiches. Then I was invited to help fill plastic bags with a tamarind refresco. This is a very Central American way of serving a drink: you put a cup of the drink in a plastic bag, tie the top of the bag, and give it out with a straw for drinking. I've seen these, but never tried to fill one. I can now tell you that it takes a little art to fill the bag without covering yourself with tamarind refresco. I was fairly well covered with tamarind refresco by the time we had 200 little plastic bags bobbing in a big tub.

I'm heading back to Bellevue on Tuesday for vacation, family time, community time and some work time with PeaceHealth. My newly learned skills of pouring liquids into plastic bags are unlikely to be needed there.