So its been a fun two weeks. Sorry i didn´t update last week. Sunday is usually the day I use the internet, and last sunday i spent in bed, with mary on the trundle part of my bed, eating empanadas and oreos. yes oreos. i went to san lorenzo last saturday with ronell and mike and bought 5 packs of oreos. along with my first equipo for terere. so about last sunday, just didnt have any energy to walk the 4km to the internet. It may have had something to do with the awesome dance party we had the night before at davids house. who knows?!
Monday the 14th I went with mike, brad, adam, and michel on our long field excursion. we went to a place called arroyos y esteros to visit a rural economic developement volunteer, mateo. my host family there was much different than my host family in passo de oro. Lillian, the mother, was 26 with a 9 year old son. and a man was there too, can´t remember his name, he didn´t say much.
anyways....we arrived monday around 930 and went straight to work. we were supposed to cosechar mamons but it was bad weather so we hoed some land or abut an hour. after we went back to our host families for lunch. lunch was good, and after we were just sitting around the carbon fire-stove thing talking and lillian started telling me about a miscarrage that she had 4 months ago. the next thing i know is she said something to her son and he left and came back with a jar....in the jar was the baby. i was shocked. i didn´t have any idea of what to say, especially in spanish. so i just ooked, nodded my head and said nothing. finally the little boy took the jar away. luckily it was time to go and meet back up with the group.
Tuesday we went into the larger pueblo for the day. first we met with a large coopthat exports cana de azucar or sugar cane. they export and use fair trade so they are doing pretty well. it was very interesting. then we went to prepare for our charla skit thing that we were going to give to a coop of women who are the presidents o smaller coops or comites. mateo wanted us to do a skit that showed how samples work at places like farmers markets. they loved it, they thought we were a bunch of clowns. later tuesday we went to a local radio station to talk a little about health, and germs because the H1N1 flu is a big deal down here right now. paraguay and argentina are on health alerts or whatever its called. we also sang a few songs together, mateo played his guitar and sang in guarani. tuesday was also mikes birthday.
wednesday the boys went out into the chacra to cut cana de azucar while michel and i played in the huerta. we built some tablons and transplanted lettuce. after we sat and drank terere. later that afternoon we learned how to make compost or food for the worms. we had to go into the cow/ox field and collect wet poop. i was in charge of pushing the wheel barrel. then we learned the proper steps in mixing poop, leaves, and fresh dirt to make gormet food for the lombriz. this particular farmer uses the castings from the lombriz as abono or his crops. its apparently the best fertilizer ever for crops.
it was my third day there and it was time to tak a shower. i was trying t put it off for as long as i could. but we were doing the birtday party for mike later that night and i had spent a lot of my day playing with cow shit. my host mother lillian boiled me some water and i mixed it with some colder water. she had her son and the man close the door to the room they were in across rom the kitchen. because the kitchen didn´t have a door or a curton. yes, my shower/bath was to be taken in the kitchen, in a tire, next to 6 chickens. there was a window with a white sheet that i coud totally see through and while standing in the tire, at the right angle i could see the street. there was water boiling on the carbon fire and lillian was making empanadas on the other side of the see through sheet. i stood there or a second planning on how i was going take my shower. in the middle of the tire/bucket bath/shower experience i thought to myself how crazy of a situation i was in , and how silly i looked. oh and i forgot to mention that the toilet was a latrine behind the house with three tin walls, the door was a black trash bag with a big hole in the middle of the bag and no roof. the hole in the floor was smaller than a dollar bill.
so wednesday night after my shower we had a small birthday party or mike. it had been raining all ady and that night i woke up about 3 am to pee. i had to run outside and pee in the rain. and had t change all of my clothes beore getting back into my sleeping bag. because i was soaking wet. thursday we did the same skit to a different womens coop . the day was pretty tranquilo. then friday am we had a charla given by a girl who is rm the uk and works for the producer side of fair trade. we learned all about it, and i am now a believer and want to be a follwer.
last night mikes mom and a surpise birthday party for mike. during the party carrie and i walked to my moms store to buy more wine, and while we were in the store there was a drunk guy. yelling crazy things in guarani. a woman had bought a large bag of rice and needed help carring it. so drunk man decided to help. throws the bag over his sholder, and fell straight back. hillarious.
anways...we find out our sites a week from tomrrow. super excited. i hope its close to here, i am going to miss my family, and neighbors.
miss you all.
ciao
No comments:
Post a Comment