BROOM MAKING 101

What an incredible cultural experience I had today.  Liz, Ginny and I learned how to make brooms. 

Acela and Alba took us deep into their field.  Ginny got a little ride when the weeds got tall.  

 

 

They showed us the type of weeds we needed to pick – dry ones with lots of branches.

Next, we chopped down the broom handles.  We tried our hand at whittling it with a machete, but as you can see from the picture, Alba just laughed at our attempt!

Alba attached the weeds we collected to the handles we whittled with a rag.

And viola!  A broom!

We walked for 2 hours!

And then we picked mandioca.

As the sun was setting, we went back to their house, sipped terere and hung out with their family.  What fun memories!