I am sitting and writing this in what can only be described as a torrential downpour this afternoon. So it clearly is the perfect time for reflection of my morning tasks, which included harvesting and feeding the pigs as per usual. The fun tasks today involved walking all of the produce up to the lodge. This time I went with Pablo and he showed me a sneaky back way to get not only to the Lodge’s pool and kitchen without walking through the reception. Mostly I just enjoy talking about random things with Pablo, like where I had travelled and my plans for once I leave here.
I also really enjoy watching Pablo interact with the kitchen staff, which includes his wife. Watching him shoot the breeze in rapid fire Spanish and being so light-hearted with them just made me so happy. Plus we got fresh squeezed juice as a treat for bringing up the produce. So really how bad can life be?
On the way back down we harvested more natural string for the recently planted vainicas (similar to green beans) and pre-existing kalala (passionfruit) plants. This involves wandering slightly off the road and pulling these vines off of the forest floor. This time however Pablo was without his machete and I without my knife. We made do with his one knife/sharpener and I with my bare hands. While we worked, Pablo told me that I should stay in Nicaragua forever. I told him about how my Grandma told me not to fall in love with a local in Central America and he laughed. He just said I didn’t need to love someone here, just the place.
The best part however was when I tried teaching him how to say the names of my family members. The best two were Bob and Irene. Apparently these names, for slightly obvious reasons, are not common here. Just watching him attempt to comprehend these alien sounding names and then give up on even attempting to pronounce them was just priceless. Bob he could almost muster, but Irene he just couldn’t wrap his Nicaraguan mind around. He asked me if I would spell them later, which I did and I could see the comprehension dawn. Pablo is fast becoming one of my favourite people here.
Pablo also finally showed us how to make the bug deterrent here. They call it “pesticide” however in no way does it equal its “conventional” counterparts. Today while we harvested limes Pablo cut down the adjacent tree branch saying “neem”. Neem leaf oil is the main ingredient in our pesticide. We also chopped up three onions, three heads of garlic and 30 small chilies (which we grow on site) to be included in the mix. All of these ingredients ferment and there you have it. An all natural method of ensuring the health of the plants and beneficial animals while slowly reduce the insect population.
Pablo set Sara up with a large bucket half filled with water and a rock inside. I had no idea why this was all set up, however I soon found out that this was how we collected the neem leaf oil. You rub the leaves against the rock and collect the oil in the water. How ingenious! I helped out a little bit but I was distracted when we let out the pigs to eat some of the overgrown weeds around the property.
In fairness they were fairly harmless, but I followed them anyway to make sure they didn’t destroy our garden beds or kalala plants. They would frolic around in the weed beds and eat the greens they found. Occasionally they would dig their noses into the earth and rummage around for non-existent tubers as well. You could tell they were enjoying themselves immensely. That was until Dukie decided to come and ensure my safety, or more likely entertain me. He would run at the pigs when they got too close.
Part of this may be because I yelled at the pigs yesterday. I was mostly curious what they would do if I yelled as loud and hard as I could. Dukie then came running to ensure we were ok. Indeed no harm had fallen upon us, except for the arduous task of feeding the pigs while they attempted to knock you off your feet. However the most impressive moment was when Pablo returned the pigs to their pen. While the pigs were happily grazing, I had snuck into their pen to grab their feeding tubs. I had cleaned them out and was about to fill them when Pablo came by, grabbed one of them and walked off. He just started wandering back to the pen and those darn pigs just followed him right back in. As soon as they were fully inside the pen, Pablo just walked right back out. Tub in hand.
One regularly occurring event every day is when Pablo lights the fire to cook down the pig grub for the next day. He usually managed to construct these monstrous fires which seem to burn all night. Due to our failure to create such an impressive flame as Pablo, I asked him if I could watch how he did it. Other than using about three times as much wood, not much else was different. Except today I suppose Pablo was feeling cheeky. Pablo is supposed to light the fire with paper, but today he opted to use gasoline wearing a grin normally seen on mischievous children.
After he had constructed the piles of wood he tipped the red coloured gasoline onto the wood and prepared a stick to ignite the piles. The whoosh of ignition was both impressive and absolutely ridiculous Pablo and I started cackling like little kids while I told him “estas tramposo ahora”--essentially that he was being a trickster. Which only made his mischievous grin grow wider.
In less exciting news, I also got new pants to be worn as my “clean” pants. If you have ever visited Balgue and their brick building lined streets and mud road, you might understand why this was such an achievement. Especially ones that fit! However success was had and I had a companion, Dukie joined me on my pant excursion. He is fast turning into a very faithful companion here. He likes to sleep in the same room as me, will accompany me on my journeys whether for pants or peanut butter, and he has the cutest reaction to his name.
All in all I feel this was a successful day. Tonight we celebrate our continued awesomeness with a movie and popcorn.
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