Day 2
As I write this I am still recovering from my first time using the esteemed composting toilet. Could no one have warned me?! I slipslid my way up the rock paved mud path, then removed my chacos at the door and entered what appeared to be a semi normal toilet room, just made of wood, and with a barrel of sawdust next to the tp. I decided to check out where everything went and when I leaned over the pot with my headlamp I did not see a dark pit, or even soil as I expected but a huge mound of squirming, living, moving grubs right below me! Needless to say, what had to be done was, and I could not resist the urge to look again. It was quickly covered in sawdust and I stumbled back to the bunk stifling little screams as I thought about what I had just seen.
Now that i am safely back in my luxuriously draped mosquito free bunk, and still slightly sticky with river water and hair as stubbornly wet as I know my boots will be in the morning...I can relax. I think tomorrow will be a shower day as my stomach is still stamped redbrown all over due to an overly excited and muddy Chihuahua named miguel. He is 1 of 3 black and tan Chihuahuas and then there is Toby, who looks like a midget lab. We started really late today since javier was gone and made a breakfast of rice and beans and the best coffee ever, that I have been enjoying black. Lucia invited me to collect some eggs and on the way I met the resident hens, a very vocal turkey, some geese, a brama calf (I met the cows and bull on my earlier potty break) and the gas-producing hog. We weeded the sweet potato plants until noonish, interrupted by a short water break and lots of sustainable/recycling/reuse talk. Afterwards we were given a farm tour and saw the trees that are used for biodeisel, the sugarcane and its juicer, yucca, a crazy contraption that turns the pig poo into gas for the kitchen stove, this tree called picadillo palmito that they eat the marrow of and supposedly tastes like chicken?, and the path to the waterfall. After lunch it was adventure time and we all headed out to the falls. The hike was nothing less than treacherous and downhill and heavy rain did not help but it was a fun challenge and soon enough we were swimming at the base of a good sized waterfall! We swam around and after some pounding water, were on the backside of the fall looking out. After some swimming and hanging out we realized the falling water was coming a lot faster and was much muddier. We watched as the rocks we had been sitting in minutes before were swallowed by water and the creek downstream turned into a river! Needless to say, we were back dressed and hiking back quickly...on the way back creeks that had barely covered my boots were now up to our thighs and we were holding on to eachother to cross....adventure time proved itself right! For the rest of the night we all chilled/stretched/read books for a while. I started a Michael pollan one that is really interesting so far, and the dogs kept us company. For dinner, I came in to help and ended up preparing 4 batches of fried plantains, kevin made the salad with what looked like sour oranges for the dressing and everything was delicious. Now that javier is back I hear tomorrow will be an early rise and harder work so I should get to bed, 930 here is far past bed time! So far so good, and looking forward to what adventures tomorrow brings!
¡Bienvenido a mi vida!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Attempt at a daily diary...Day 1, Villas Mastatal
Day 1
Left the hostel to meet Kevin at the park, where we then grabbed the bus to puriscal, (1.5hrs?) We were a bit nervous about putting the bags under the bus but as it was directo and K was sure to pick left side seats to keep an eye on them, we did not have any issues. We chilled in the town after some very poor food decisions including hamburgers (because they were literally out of everything else on the menu) and plastic/"candy" apples. As we were reading the directions from the farm and read the sentence 'find the bus station' I remarked how funny it is that one sentence translated to life could be so much longer...in our case we were lucky that those 4 words only = 15 min, but I thought far too long about how (too) simply said directions have cost me hours of travel time before.
Finally on the school bus to mastatal, the difference from the charter busses was made even more apparent by the sacks of rice lining the center walkway of the bus. We were the only gringos and definitely looked the part with our massive packs and yes...speaking English. Kevin has been pushing the Spanish and I keep telling myself I will too, but I am a but burnt out of not being able to fully express myself. We caught up, compared stories, goals, etc...on an already bumpy paved road but the real fun started 1-3 hours later (truly no recollection how long the ride was, just that it felt longgg) when we hit the "dirt" road that we would spend the next (eternity) on...massively bumpy and fun for the first hour we had awesome views of the mountains we were driving oh-so-close to the edge of. We hit a landslide, which based on the drivers quick scooping out and running through, was not out of the ordinary...the calle was more like a río soon, and the rain eventually led to our transmission overheating, the engine being opened and baking us for about 20 min., and eventually a sliding mud stop to the entrance of out first -very rural- farm, Villas Mastatal. Weighed down and getting damper by the second we walked up the mud-way to a little house, but not before an amazing view of the valley in the fog. We were met by a smiling tica who showed us to the bunk area were we immediately met 2 fellow volunteers -2 girls from ---. They camp is definitely rustic, to say the least but really home-y and everyone seems happy and settled in. The rest of the workers, a mash of Canadian, traveler, high school, gardener, & Texas came in time for the spaghetti dinner. Meal convos consisted of jungle book character names, near-death jungle stories ( I will be checking my boots daily for scorpion now and keep my eyes peeled for flash floods) and general introductions. I haven't used the composing toilet yet as I have not had to go #2 but is basically a tiny 3-walled outhouse that (like the rest of the living spaces) shoes don't enter, and that after wiping, there is the extra step of adding 3 cups of soil to the mix.
#1 is taken care of anywhere, tp thrown in the trash after. So far I have found a nice spot down the hill where while squatting with my headlight on, I have an up-close-and-personal view of the cows. Speaking of up-close-and-personal, although the bunkbeda have mosquito nets, an army of gnats have made themselves comfortable on my side of the net. I am typing this on my phone and as I am the only light left on at 930pm and have now mooshed about three of the lazier bugs swarming my phone (or dive bombing my face), I think I will go to sleep. Looking forward to the first day of work and reading the Michael pollan book one of the California girls lent me. Hasta mañana or as one of the guys at dinner said to our host "Hasta la noche" jajaja
Left the hostel to meet Kevin at the park, where we then grabbed the bus to puriscal, (1.5hrs?) We were a bit nervous about putting the bags under the bus but as it was directo and K was sure to pick left side seats to keep an eye on them, we did not have any issues. We chilled in the town after some very poor food decisions including hamburgers (because they were literally out of everything else on the menu) and plastic/"candy" apples. As we were reading the directions from the farm and read the sentence 'find the bus station' I remarked how funny it is that one sentence translated to life could be so much longer...in our case we were lucky that those 4 words only = 15 min, but I thought far too long about how (too) simply said directions have cost me hours of travel time before.
Finally on the school bus to mastatal, the difference from the charter busses was made even more apparent by the sacks of rice lining the center walkway of the bus. We were the only gringos and definitely looked the part with our massive packs and yes...speaking English. Kevin has been pushing the Spanish and I keep telling myself I will too, but I am a but burnt out of not being able to fully express myself. We caught up, compared stories, goals, etc...on an already bumpy paved road but the real fun started 1-3 hours later (truly no recollection how long the ride was, just that it felt longgg) when we hit the "dirt" road that we would spend the next (eternity) on...massively bumpy and fun for the first hour we had awesome views of the mountains we were driving oh-so-close to the edge of. We hit a landslide, which based on the drivers quick scooping out and running through, was not out of the ordinary...the calle was more like a río soon, and the rain eventually led to our transmission overheating, the engine being opened and baking us for about 20 min., and eventually a sliding mud stop to the entrance of out first -very rural- farm, Villas Mastatal. Weighed down and getting damper by the second we walked up the mud-way to a little house, but not before an amazing view of the valley in the fog. We were met by a smiling tica who showed us to the bunk area were we immediately met 2 fellow volunteers -2 girls from ---. They camp is definitely rustic, to say the least but really home-y and everyone seems happy and settled in. The rest of the workers, a mash of Canadian, traveler, high school, gardener, & Texas came in time for the spaghetti dinner. Meal convos consisted of jungle book character names, near-death jungle stories ( I will be checking my boots daily for scorpion now and keep my eyes peeled for flash floods) and general introductions. I haven't used the composing toilet yet as I have not had to go #2 but is basically a tiny 3-walled outhouse that (like the rest of the living spaces) shoes don't enter, and that after wiping, there is the extra step of adding 3 cups of soil to the mix.
#1 is taken care of anywhere, tp thrown in the trash after. So far I have found a nice spot down the hill where while squatting with my headlight on, I have an up-close-and-personal view of the cows. Speaking of up-close-and-personal, although the bunkbeda have mosquito nets, an army of gnats have made themselves comfortable on my side of the net. I am typing this on my phone and as I am the only light left on at 930pm and have now mooshed about three of the lazier bugs swarming my phone (or dive bombing my face), I think I will go to sleep. Looking forward to the first day of work and reading the Michael pollan book one of the California girls lent me. Hasta mañana or as one of the guys at dinner said to our host "Hasta la noche" jajaja
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