Thursday, July 20, 2006

A Day in the Life...

.....of a reforestero

Because I frequently am asked, "So Eliot, what exactly do you do down there?" or "What is a typical day like on the farm?", I decided to give a schedule of what I did yesterday....all days being more or less similar. (Although yesterday seemed like a long day)

Wednesday, July 19th

7:00 Woke up. Made coffee. Ate breakfast - granola, yogurt, and papaya. Read for one hour.

8:00 Washed my clothes by hand and hung them up to dry. It was deceivingly sunny.

8:30 Tended the worm farm. Watered the worms. Checked the compost. Checked on the trees. Realized that I had run out of bags to transplant trees into. Became worried that the trees needed to be transplanted soon. Relaxed because I realized once again that they are trees, and they want to live. Found some hardwoods had sprouted that I was worried never would. Became happy. Checked on the vegetable garden. Wondered why some kale leaves look like they were cut in half. Was it a bug or a falling guava? I had to fill up our biodigestor with more water. It smelled surprisingly bad.

10:00 Started to cloud up. Was worried it would rain as hard as it did the day before when I was stuck in Aguabuena because the road to Coopabuena had flooded over. A UCSC student came by, sortof lost (as usual), and asked if I could help with with his research project. We brainstormed. He decided he would research different fertilizing methods used on our seedlings.

10:20 Told the student that I had to take a shower and he should just sit there and think about his project. Showered. Dressed. Took my clothes that were not dry and hung them up in the garage.

10:30 Walked with UCSC student to my neighbors, Harold, to ask him to explain to Daniel (the student) what kind of fertilizer is usually used on coffee seedlings. Just dirt, rice husks, and calcium.

10:45 Walked with UCSC student to Coope Pueblos office for an HTML lesson given in gringo spanish by a student from Evergreen. Walked instead of rode my bike because I had left my bike in the office the day before because of the flood.

11:15 HTML lesson. Learned about tables "Mesas".

12:30 Checked email. Ate fried chicken for lunch at the fried chicken place next to the office. (I hardly ever eat out but I was starving).

1:00 Rode bike back to Mendez house to meet with Becky, Ian, and Julie to talk about restructuring the CAN internship program. Talked forever. Drank coffee. Came up with idea that I will lead a seminar every week for students. Started raining very hard.

4:00 Went to Ferreteria (hard ware store) to ask about bags for the trees. They didnt have both the sizes I needed.

4:30 Went home. Ate dinner early - beans, rice, salad, spinach quiche.

5:30 Headed back to Aguabuena to start English class.

6:00 Helped Peace Corps teach "curso de ingles" to 50 students aged 8-50. The 12 year old boys were better behaved and made paper hats instead of airplanes this time.

8:30 Went to Robertos Bar with the Peace Corps volunteers. Had two Imperials. I dont drink very often but English class is rough.

9:30 Rode bike home in the rain.

10:00 Fell asleep.

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