Komo

Thursday, I participated in my first real 'komo' or village-wide fishing festival.  A few weeks ago I had someone make me a fishing net - its a big triangular net probably 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide made out of bamboo poles and netting.  Anyways on Thursday right after lunch, everyone even little kids and old people grabbed their nets and ran for the slough.  They literally RAN as fast as they could in the hot sun for about a mile to get to be the first in the water. I just took my time getting there as it was too hot for me to bother running with my big net.  When we all first got in the water it was a bit chaotic as people were splashing about and swinging their nets everywhere.  I caught a fish right away but as I was awkwardly trying to get it out of my net, it stabbed me in the hand with one of its sharp fins.  It didn't hurt but everyone freaked out that I was bleeding. I tried to continue fishing but no one really told me what to do so I was kinda disoriented and uncoordinated at first.  I kept getting my net caught on low lying brush or twigs in the water and running into people.  I kept wondering how no one else seemed to be having that problem.  I'm sure I looked ridiculous. Eventually I finally got the hang of it.  And after about 4 hours of hard work I had filled half my calabash with fish - maybe about 25 medium fish.  Some people caught a lot more than me but others hardly caught anything.  So I guess it has more to do with luck than skill.  I was really tired and sore afterwards but I had a really good time. The best part though was all the fish that I got to eat over the next day and a half.  I don't think I've ever eaten so many fish in such a short amount of time.