On my first week here I was invited to make chicha (a local drink) with another volunteer and a local family, as at the weekend we were having a leaving party for a volunteer. All I knew about chicha at this time was that it is a traditional drink the women have to make whenever there is a celebration or a party..... I had no idea how it was made.

We started by peeling the Yuca, which is the main ingredient with large knives and machettes. I did manage to cut myself with one and later saw that the very young children could use them better than I could. After this we built a fire outside and boiled the yuca over it, Placing large jungle leaves on the top to speed up the process. Until this point the process seemed very normal to me, but all was abuot to change.

Once the yuca was properly cooked we took it inside and Corinna, the other volunteer, was asked to soften it with what looked like a large wooden pestle. This is when things started to get a little weird. After she had softened the yuka we were given spoons, to which I thought we were going to eat some. However Myra, the mum, demonstrated that we were to chew the yuca in our mouths and then (and there's no nice way to say this) spit it back into the pot!! Of course we obliged but on our first go we laughed hysterically, which made it very difficult to chew the yuca and not eat it. I soon got used to this process and didn't mind it as they explained that by chewing the yuca we were giving the chicha a sweeter taste, and getting rid of the lumps which are not nice to drink. Myra told us very quickly that we had done it all and that it would be good chicha after the water was added. However, we could see that it was still very lumpy so we carried on for longer.

When it came to serving the chicha at the party, we had to do it. We served it out of special bowls and only one person drinks at a time. The locals seemed to enjoy our chicha, althuogh at first I was a bit startled by the way it was made. However I was happy that I had been invited to be a part of it and had learnt a little about their traditions. It's just a shame that I didn't enjoy the taste!

by Claire Mills