"Well of course I´ve seen an anaconda," Monica Chichaco says, as she weaves an anaconda design from memory. "It´s three, maybe four, meters long," she adds.
Monica´s husband, Beder, has prepared her workspace by banging a few nails into the floorboard in the living room. Monica uses these nails to secure her chambira fibers for the maroon and white anaconda belt. Beder says that he and his wife always work together. "Of course, she is the master," he adds. "I just help."
As she weaves, Monica nurses her six-month-old baby, Mayronela. When Mayronela cries, Monica swings her to sleep in the hammock and then returns back to work. Monica´s 11-year-old son, Willy, and four-year.old daughter, Darcy, peer over her shoulder.
The entire family is gathered in the living room, sitting on the floor beside a baby stroller, a boat motor, and a pile of palm leaves that Beder will use to fix the roof. Ten pairs of baby jumpers hang overhead on a clothesline.
This is where Monica works and lives with her family, together.
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