Cusuna

After a 14 hour bus ride on a yellow school bus we made it to Paradise. Cusuna is a Garifuna community (black community) who speaks Garifuna and Spanish. It is a rich culture full of music, dance, and food. We saw a program put on by the community and learned some Punta dancing moves. The Garifunas do not have a money system and use very few limpiras. Instead, they all work off of the land and produce everything they need and share everything, like a Utopia.

The community was very welcoming and loving and I enjoyed it very much. If you have time, research about the Garifuna history because it is rich and interesting to learn. It was also on the coast, because the Garifunas control a large area of the coastal land, so we swam in the ocean and found jelly fish and star fish. On the downside, it was about 100+ degrees there and many people were sick.

On Sunday we took Lanchas (a canoe-like boat with a motor) to a Garifuna church in a smaller community. It was an experience that I will never forget, as we sang and danced and sweated all at the same time. Picture your church, and then think of the opposite. ☺

We ate from the Garifuna people sometime and other times we went to restaurants, where I ate a delicious fish (head, tail, and all) and tajadas. We were supposed to make it to Cusuna on the first day, but the trip was longer than anticipated, so we stopped a dingy hotel for the night. Unfortunately, the electricity didn’t work with 35 people so there was no air conditioning and no fans. Each room was about 85 degrees (not an exaggeration), so I slept on the cement roof with only a sheet with some other people.

Today we returned to class at the University because the strike is over. Although many feel this is good news, I felt the strike was a positive thing I still feel unsettled because the government made an agreement that acted like a band aid instead of a sustainable solution. Today we also visited the Congress and heard presentations about the government system. Actually, I was more interested in the paintings on the wall, sipping my sprite, and trying to figure out the interesting ceiling and didn’t learn a thing about the government system. But, I did shake the President of the Congress’s hand.

There is a dog that lives at the neighbor’s house that has a problem with barking. Every 5 seconds, he barks 3 times in a row. Every time someone passes the street, he barks more. He also has a friend who is a bird that lives at the other neighbor’s house. This bird has a problem with skwaking all day long. If anyone has any ideas of how to get rid of them…. ☺