Storms

Last night finally brought the rain. It hadn´t rained for about two or three days and it really made up for it yesterday.  Took out the power for a few hours in fact. That was all well and fine until the sun totally went down, and then, the hunt for candles began. After finally finding some, the majority of us sat around the kitchen and played some games. The rain had stopped by the time I went to sleep but I had trouble comfortably sleeping last night for whatever reason.  Today as an early start and a long work day.  Work on the clay oven is coming along well, and today brought a ton of progress.  The structure of the oven is earth bags, which are simply woven fiber bags, filled with a mixture of dirt clay and gravel, layed flat and pounded and stacked to the height desired. with all of those in place, we began to put the outer layer on the front of the oven which is made up of empty glass bottles and cement.  Everything utilized in the process is in an attempt to use less cement and take advantage of materials already on hand.  I was impressed with how much progress was made today on it and though 4 of us worked almost only on that project, it is definitely possible for it to be completed within a few days.  I did neglect some of the plants I have been trying to nurse back to health so I will have to make it a point to do that tomorrow. In addition, I had wanted to clean the bathrooms today, and did not get around to that. Which is causing suffering now because this computer is right near a bathroom, and it literally smells as though there is a nice pile of shit right under my feet. Dirty hot human poo. so gross. You are not able to flush toilet paper here, so there are bags in all the bathrooms full of just dirty tp, so that is no doubt what is causing this smell that i am having a tough time getting over. Oh well. Sorry for complaining. I hope things are going well in your lives those who are reading this sad little blog. More updates to come as interesting things happen.

UPEACE

So yesterday was a pretty cool and relaxing day.  Started off with a fast breakfast and rushed to pile everyone into the car so we could get to the bus stop for the free shuttle that takes you to the United Nations University for Peace, a graduate school located just outside of Ciudad Colon that was created by....the United Nations.  The idea behind it was that we have so many schools to teach about war and fighting, (ie naval academy, military schools, things like that) but there is no school to teach about peace.  So now there is a school that teaches about peace.  Anyways, riding up the mountain to the university it got to a ponit where all you would see is just hundreds, maybe even thousands of coffee plants, just covering the mountain side all the way up.  Once we got there, we went on a small tour of the school though for some reason, everyone got stopped up at the library and everyone grabbed a book and sat down to read for a bit.  After that, one of the other wwoofers here decided that he really wanted to sit in on a lecture. So we found a professor and made that happen. The lecture was on the subject of Terrorism in the Muslim Context, causes developments and things of that nature.  It was very interesting.  After that, we had lunch at the cafeteria. It was the first time I have had any meat in costa rica and I guess i kind of had been missing it. Though not I hadn´t noticed I was.  After that, some people decided to go back to the farm and work myself along with a few others settled on hiking up the rest of the mountain to a lookout point.  The hike was pretty easy and the view from the lookout point was amazing.  After taking in the view, we headed back down, deciding to take the jungle path rather than the more easy path we took up. The path was very cool and allowed for some nice pictures of some plant life and things like that. We got turned around for a bit but managed to make it out in time to catch our bus back to Ciudad Colon.  from there we walked around town a bit, had a beer, and walked back to the farm.  all in all I would have to say that it was a pretty good day.  I am still in the process of planning my trip but every time I get off the farm, i get more excited to get off the farm for a longer period of time.

Lazy days

So the past two days have been relatively uneventful.  Typical work days on the farm, for me at least consist of weeding beds, watering plants if it hasn´t rained, perhaps planting some new seeds that have been germinating in the greenhouse, which is not like a green house as the definition states, more of just a kinda covered walkway with lots of young plants growing.  Two people left sunday which is a bummer because i had really come to enjoy their company and they were certainly some of the hardest workers on the farm.  They did give me some advice for the trip i am planning on taking but that hardly mitigates their departure.  They left sunday, and two new people just arrived yesterday.  A frenchmen and a girl from texas.  Everyone that comes through here has a very interesting story and in almost every single case, a very interesting story of where they just came from, or where they will be. Except for me. For instance, the new guy, Nico, from France, has been traveling around for a few months already and plans on continuing to travel for rougly two years.  He has and plans to cover most of the globe from the sound of it and has been getting to each new place by way of boat.  All the travlers here are extremely savvy when it comes to transportation and aside from an occasional flight here and there, they all get around by rideshare, couch surfing, wwoof, or just straight up hitch hiking.

When the work day is finished, the day we pass the time by cooking, eating, playing soccer, reading.  There is so much cooking that happens here and you can almost always find someone in the kitchen, and most always mooch some food off them. My culinary skills are definitely not as advanced as some of the others so i am more than happy to slide my way into their meals.  As for soccer, my legs are sore and my shins bruised but with how frequently we play there is no way I won´t improve, which is good news for next years tournament.  We are supposed to go and visit the United Nations University for Peace today so I am real interested to see that. There is also apparently a cool lookout point that you can hike to from the university. The rash on my hand is just about completely gone thank goodness but i did manage to cut a finger while cutting up a pineapple for everyone on sunday. Oh well. Nothing major.  I shall keep the updates coming!

soooo.

Naturally I haven't been on here a while but I will try to get better about keeping this more updated, and more frequently.  I am adjusting to farm life pretty well I would say. Though I have belabored the point to some, my only complaint is the rash I have developed on my hand.  It is called Phytophotodermatitis. Kinda wild, and hopefully gone within a few days.  Life in a hammock is growing on me.  It rained all last night and I would have to say that it probably helped me sleep more soundly.  The peaceful steady drum.  Ahhh, though I do hate when I have to get up to pee in the middle of the night, it is annoying. Anyways, this blog is not about some jackass in a hammock, so, the plants grown here are so numerous that in some instances, even the owner of the farm doesn't know what is growing.  There is a myriad of vegetables and root plants, as to be expected. Radishes, beets, sweet potato, yucca, guanacaste trees, squash,  mango trees, cashew trees, bamboo, tons of pineapple, lemons, limes, sweet limes, which you can just peal and eat, though they are still quite sour, string beans, white beans, and plenty of herbs as well.  Dill, rosemary, parsley, and some others that I can pronounce, kinda, but can't spell not to mention all the ones I cannot remember. I will try to get out within the next few days and take some pictures to show the layout and look of the farm.


I finally got to go into town today and I really loved it. It was exactly what I needed.  I got to use a little Spanish, but I haven't used it nearly enough to strengthen my skills. We went to the local market, which was under a cover smaller than a football field, but where tons of local farmers sell all kinds of things. Some we grow, and some we don't.  It was cool though. Then, we went to a small organic juice bar called, organica, which has AMAZING drinks and smoothies (batidos more specifically). It really liked being in the town and look forward to going again and spending more time there.  I will stop now to keep it from getting too long, but I will try to update it more often.

Once more with feeling...

Well the computer that  i am currently using isnt the best so this post will be based on my patience.  Ending my first full day here and without question am in better spirits than the first blog entry I had. Admitidly I am embarrassed for being a total baby and if it doesn´t seem bad to read rest assured that my head was not in a positive place.  I am starting to get into the groove of things and by the end of the week I imagine I will be a regular pro. It seems to be a bit more rainy tonight than last so this will be a good test of my hammock spot but I am confident that I will be completely fine and dry.  Finally showered which was quite a treat but I am strarting to wonder if ladies arent the only thing that axe body wash attracts cause I think the bugs are bigger fans of me now.

Finally got to have some nice discussions with a few of the other people on the farm and have heard some real interesting stories that I may get around to writing about eventually,  There has been talk of building a clay oven to cook food and bread and pizas in so I am excited to see that come together and be part of makng that possible.  Today I harvested some fruit, made lime juice to sell, weeded some beds, planted flowers, and harvested a small number of small yams.  Tomorrow will no doubt be a day that is same same ut different. Two people who apparently were gone for a few days just got back.  Zack and his girlfirend.  I didn´t meet his girlfriend yet but zack looks like a nice enough guy.  I am headed to bed, since I sleep outside, I am getting up wth the sun, which will be out i´m sure sooner than I would like.  I just realized how uninteresting all of this is and I promise that my next entry will be far better than these first two have been. What a rough start into the world of blogging. All things in time.

Suddenly Everything Has Changed

The title speaks for itself. I have arrived and I am definitely not at home.  Truly imagine every image of central america that you can from most movies and tv shows you have seen. Not the resorts, or vacation destinations, but the true central american cities and villages.  That is exactly where I currently find myself.  It is all an adjustment and I would be a liar if I said it was a smooth transition. The transition is still very much in progress.

Last night I didn't have to do any work so I got the opportunity to just hang out and meet some of the other people on the farm.  They are all nice but at the same time all experienced wwoofers so this is hardly anything to them.  I was initially planning on setting up my hammock in the warehouse, which in actuality is more of an over-sized garage. Could probably fit about 5 cars? Either way, the hammock was a no go in there. So after attempts of setting my hammock up between some trees outside, I found what I will call a perfect spot under a large over hang of the garage.  It gives me great cover from any rain that may fall (and from what I hear very hard) but it also lets me be outside where the air is moving and smells way better than this stinky garage. Another person here was nice enough to let me use/have their mosquito net so I am protected from them as well. All in all I think it is an ok place to sleep. For six weeks? We will have to see about that.

The food here is fresh and organic as promised. It is nice to be out working in the gardens and able to simply reach over and eat some beans,  or a piece of fruit you may desire.  I am eating because I know I have to as my appetite is severely lacking. Which is worrisome because I came here pretty skinny and not eating is not going to do me any favors.

The scenery here is truly beautiful.  I have picked up some interesting info from the other people here. For instance I am 10 degrees from the equator, and costa rica is the only country that contains both the southern parts of the mexican dry forest, and the northern parts of the tropical amazon rain forest. (I am much closer to the amazon part).

There are 6 other wwoofers here with me, to other Americans, three Canadians, and one from Mexico.  Two of the Canadians are leaving tomorrow though I think. Two girls and the rest guys but at least in my mind right now gender doesn't mean anything. Everyone works, though some are significantly lazier than others, but they are the two leaving tomorrow.  Today is Roberts birthday so I guess we are making pizza or something like that. One of the girls here made a cake. It should be good. I actually may be late to lunch right now.

It was beautiful all day though the sky is overcast now leading me to believe that rain is on the way.  I love you all and certainly have already come to see the things we all take for granted every day. You read people writing that about their travels all the time  but it is kind of meaningless until you truly realize what it means.

Thinking.
-Phil