A little song, a little dance, a little heat exhaustion.

2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps

What a phenomenal week of events... and all involving partying in 90 degree heat at the National Mall.

Garifuna Collective featuring the Umalali Women Singers.  

(Garifuna is a musical culture from the Caribbean coast of Central America that blends elements of West African and Native Caribbean heritage and is, in one word, AMAZING) 

 These multi-generational performers from Belize and Guatemala continue the mission of their founder, the late Andy Palacio, to preserve Garifuna language and culture through music.

And in my humble opinion, they have truly done justice to that mission.  What an amazing group of performers.  

The Naro Giraffe Dance Group of Ghanzi, Botswana was created in 1996 in an effort to showcase and preserve the culture of the San people, who have been forcibly relocated from hunter-gathering communities in the Kalahari Desert to government-run settlements.

The healing trance dance, being performed this photo, is a traditional practice dedicated to the removal of bad spirits and ailments.  An important ritual of the San culture, the dance dates back thousands of years and is still practiced today. 

Aires Del Campo, a traditional string music ensemble from Colombia’s Coffee Region, performing Andean music as well as party tunes of the Paisa culture. 

Don't let their serious looks fool you- these gentlemen were belting songs that had everyone from grandma and baby out on the dance floor.   

And last, but certainly not least, food=)

This is a family festival folks, two cerveza limit.  Now, we don't want the Peace Corps celebrations getting too rowdy, do we?

Most the food was sold out by the time we got there, but I managed to fill my stomach with some delicious fried plantains, rice and beans, and that cute little beef empenada.  Not too shabby for festival food, eh?  and, maybe it was the 90 degree heat talking, but that little glass of Passion Fruit heaven was the best maracuya I've ever had (this side of the border=) 

Where have all the black squirrels gone?

In front of my kitchen window grew a lovely tree.  and in that lovely tree lived a family of lovely black squirrels, whom my dog chased and tormented relentlessly at every opportunity.  They'd return the favor by hopping onto my windowsill and taunting Scooter into a barking frenzy.  and so it went until a man with a chainsaw came into our neighborhood last week and cut down my favorite tree.  

 he climbed up to the top with a chainsaw dangling from his waist,

 strapped himself in,

 and began cutting that tree down like he was chopping carrots.

 And that was that. 

 

 Scooter bids farewell to our favorite tree and all its furry little tenants.  

Oh, Black Squirrel Tree, we hardly knew ye.  May you be processed in peace.   

*Photos taken from my Sprint Blackberry.