ChANCHO!!!!!!!

so...i woke up this morning at 430 and went across the pueblo to a familys house which is a little bit more rural.
we started off the day milking cows...only watched haha i tried one time but the cow ran. i think i was squeezing to hard.
but what came next....???

WE KILLED A PIG!!!!!!!

nutz...they pulled the guy out and he was huge. they dragged him to a wooden plank, hog tied him, and i swear i have never heard anything make a noise so loud. i started off feeling really bad for him. they asked me if i wanted to kill him but i had to decline. next time for sure though. what hold him down and a quick jab through the neck and straight into its heart. its a good thing i just watched the first time because blood splattered all over the place and then just started flowing out of his neck. it was quick and painless though...i think. he died within 30 seconds. he was a big guy...lots of blood.
haha i had mixed emotions as this point...the feeling of pitty and remorse and sadness was disappearing. once it stopped moving i realized it was something they had to do to survive and it became easier to accept hahaha

next the took boiling water and poured it on his skin to soften it and with a huge knife they scraped the top layer of hair and skin off. after an hour it was a beautiful clean white pig haha i was able to help with this part. next we hung it up by its hind legs and i continued to scrape. finally they washed it down and it was perfectly clean and white. almost like a piece of art. next we cut off tis hooves and slicced its back open. we started to cut off the skin and grease like a huge coat. haha i got some good pics of us doing this.
next
we sawed it in half and its inards just fell out into a bucket. it was cool to see them save each part and they told us what they were going to cook with it.
haha then we cut off its head and took that guy apart too.
everything was then layed out on a table to be cleaned.

then we preceed back to the center to get some breakfast.
all this by id saya bout 830
haha quite the morning.


soo anyway i really like this pueblo. its pretty tiny and you can walk anywhere in about 15 mintues or so. only a couple main streets....if you would call them that....only one has paving which is new as of last year.

the people are really nice.

today is the current volunteers last day so people have been having despedidos...little going away parties for him. its been interesting and emotional to see him say good bye. its kind of wierd because i keep hearing how great he is and now i have to follow that....but im not too worried. im sure when the next volunteer comes to follow me up the same thing will happen.


but i have pretty much bet all the big players in the town and have made some friends.

i am excited to come back and stay for good.

i am staying with a family right now. mom dad and a kid my age. he is pretty smart and the dad is crazy. we will get along. i will be staying with them for a month or so when i first get back and then after move into the house of current volunteer. its pretty cool and im planning on fixing it up in my spair time and making a huge garden in the back.

he told me he had raised a pig there and then ended up eating it later haha but think ima stick with the garden. we will see.

still freezing here.....supposed to get warm by the end of the month and for this i am excited.

going back to ypane in the next day or two....excited to see my old friends and family again haha



hope all is well at home.....

love you guys

charley