B.E.S.T. Boys Go Global

Today’s original plan was to attend Easter Sunday service at Alex’s house then to chill the rest of the day... but that suddenly turned into us joining the entire Rocha family to their small country town by the same name, Rocha.

Children service downstairs

While the kids were in church I was washing clothes and spending time with my host family. The machines here wash and spin the clothes only. You have to rinse them yourself between those cycles. And of course everyone dries their clothes on the outside line.

Wash

Rinse in these two basins

Spin in the machine

Washing clothes 1 https://youtu.be/NTI4jMxUP88

Washing clothes 2 https://youtu.be/630J1guYRqM

Washing clothes 3 https://youtu.be/-5Hlf44cyhk

We boarded our bus at 12:30 and off we were to Rocha, Colombia. Big Baby and Audys were kind enough to take pictures of me sleeping. LOL!

Lunch

While headed to our lunch stop we got another treat, guinep... or limoncello in Spanish... Colombians have another name for this that I can’t remember.

https://youtu.be/72Gf33h78CU

Here’s lunch

Most of us got fish

Jordan with parrots

As we were leaving we saw cattle crossing the street near our van.

https://youtu.be/-HJjAzHJD_o

By the time we got back to our neighborhood it was 6:30 and the boys wanted to play basketball with friends. I let them play from 7-8. When they got back we walked each other home with our local friend and were all in for the night.

Discovery walk

After Afronet, we just walked around Palenque with our group talking to people, looking at murals, and learning along the way.

Homemade alcohol made by a resident for the holiday celebration.

Written in Spanish and Palenquero. Restoring and preserving the rememorable history and culture of the Palenque territory.

Town elder passing by our group

Written in Palenquero saying something to the affect that, we form a connection like woven thread we are united.

Palenque flag and I love being Black

Right in front of these mural was a soccer field. None of the kids had on shoes and they looked free and happy. Of course the BEST Boys jumped in the game.

https://youtu.be/HRTBmAg07FE

And

https://youtu.be/LDhvYjZwGuQ

Well ain’t that the truth!!

Written in Palenquero, general meaning is to enjoy life

Ancestral and community house of justice

All dispute are handled here by community elders. No police, no court system, justice a community that is united and holds each other accountable.

Livestock everywhere!!

Afronet and Kombilesa Mi

Directly across from the Black Lives Matter mural lives the muralist himself, Afronet. In addition to being the town muralist, he’s also the lead musician in a band called Kombilesa mi, which means my friend in the Palenquean language.

Whole there theynseng a few hip hop songs for us and had us sign their wall as new fans. During the final song they had Demetrius jump in as a guest drummer.

Meeting Afronet- https://youtu.be/OhyNjQnmbLI

Song 1https://youtu.be/2THakV8G9wo

Song 2 https://youtu.be/DdHc_L8KEpI

Song 3 https://youtu.be/BmzYOsHxPwk

Demetrius drumming- https://youtu.be/RWs8QraulYs