Last night was a complete gong show. Having never slept under a mosquito net, or set one up, I definitely set it up too low. I had a net in my face the entire night. And to try to prevent creepy crawlies from entering my backpacks I slept with them at my feet. This meant that I had approximately four feet to sleep in. Not exactly comfortable. Additionally I could hear the gecko’s calling, the monkeys hollering, and the crickets chirping the entire night. Perhaps the most unbearable was the insect which buzzed in my ear. Frankly I was too exhausted to do anything about it, and subsequently woke up with 56 bites. Only on my left hand.
You can imagine my surprise when I woke up with that many bites, which are completely isolated to one small portion of my body. According to both Martijn and Pablo I probably slept with my hand too close to the mosquito net, and that’s as good an explanation as any. Also I was woken up at 5:00 am thanks to some nearby howler monkeys and just couldn’t really fall back asleep. Thus when I had to be up and ready by 7:00 am to meet Pablo, I was already thinking about sleep again.
To top it off, I’m still adjusting to my surroundings. I was under the impression that the shower area had a sink. Which it doesn’t. So I wandered all that way with my toiletries bag to brush my teeth and ended up with an ant bite on my baby toe. Not too impressed. Although I did enjoy brushing my teeth at the kitchen sink.
Martijn arrived and explained what he believed needed addressing in English and then once Pablo arrived I was ready to start working. We started by feeding the pigs yesterdays kitchen scraps which had boiled over night and turned into what I can only imagine is a delicious pig meal. Pablo did the work while I took note of what he did. Martijn told me yesterday to try to feed the pigs banana leaves or greens everyday as well, so I found these items while Pablo gave the pigs the scraps.
I will admit that these pigs already make me incredibly happy. Mostly because they have a very entertaining dynamic. The older, bigger pig (or friendly and fat--his name) and the younger, slimmer pig (mean and skinny) are quite the opposites when it comes to meal times. Friendly and fat is passive and just wants to eat, while mean and skinny has a bad attitude and forces friendly and fat to leave the food. Mean and skinny always feels like he’s missing out on something if friendly and fat is eating it. However when they aren’t eating they are best of friends. Martijn even says that at night you can see them snuggled together. I am just hoping that they don’t decide to kill them while I am here.
After this I learned how to prepare and “fumigate” the plants using a natural pesticide. Apparently the pesticide affects the reproductive systems of the insects rather than outright kill them. It’s an interesting notion and they seem to have some success with it. I sprayed the plants while occasionally getting tips from Pablo. Which admittedly I found rather entertaining, I thought spraying would be a relatively simple thing. Apparently I did admirably because he left me to my own devices after a while.
One of the biggest tasks of the day was the destroy and re-construct one of the long bean beds. I won’t bore you with the details, but it took a few hours to complete all the parts. The destruction of the original bed, hoeing the dirt and picking out roots, going into the forest to collect “string” for the stakes, and finally assembling the stakes again for the new crop. I really enjoyed the work and talking to Pablo. Although most of it is light and friendly, he cracks me up. For example, by the time we were nearly finished the clouds left the sky and it was absolutely scorching in the sun. I was sweating as I always do and he was saying “tengo frio” with a deadpan expression. Jerk. It is not cold!
The last thing we did together was to feed the pigs once again. After that Pablo told me I was done (I only work five hours) and that he was off to enjoy his lunch. I was so thoroughly dirty, sweaty, and sleep deprived that I couldn’t really function. I could barely contemplate cooking, I couldn’t muster the will to go shower, so I sat at the table and read the Organic Gardening book. Pablo came back to work while I looked like a zombie and then Martijn showed up. We chatted for a bit and then he decided we should eat. And who was I to disagree.
Martijn cooked once again and similarly my contribution was left to collecting and washing the greens. Then I sat and watched him cook. Again, not going to complain. We sat and talked about his vision for the farm in five years time and about Nicaragua in general. Martijn returned to work and I continued my zombie impression. I sat and read for a bit, still contemplating showering. My real issue with this was the hassle of getting all the pieces I would need. Clean clothes, shampoo, my towel, etc. Each of these items was in a separate part of my backpack and I really couldn’t be bothered. Then it started raining.
I actually really love the rain here. It is so temperamental; at times it is calm and misty and then it is a raging storm and then it is somewhere in between. I started contemplating stripping and running around in my underwear rather than go through the effort of taking an actual shower. However with Pablo still around, I felt this perhaps not the greatest way to go about it. Instead I chatted with him for a bit while the rain raged and he figured out to risk going home in it. He also invited me to spend some time in his community on Friday, an invitation I gladly accepted.
After being generally a lazy bum, I finally got my ass in gear and grabbed my shower stuff. The shower is an open space, where you can look down at the rest of the farm. The water was just warm, the view was incredible, and I enjoyed the novelty of showering outside...in the rain.
Spent the evening up at the Lodge taking advantage of the Internet and will likely have an early night. Que bueno!
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