My time at La Hesperia is going well. Work is not as challenging as at Santa Martha overall, but is rewarding nonetheless. Here are some of the activities I did this week: cleared a field covered in fallen trees to make an area for planting corn, pressed sugar cane to make cane juice, cleared weeds around sapplings in the forest, cleared weeds around the banana trees in the garden and made bread.
Every other friday we take a hike in La Hesperia reserve. Yesterday the hike was supposed to last five hours, but it actually took us about eight with a short lunch break. The first two hours we hiked up hill to the highest point in the reserve (2040 meters). Then we veered off to an area that looked and felt more like rainforest---lots of mud, decaying trees and vines. At one point, we stopped at a huge tree that has really strong vines hanging from it. I actually climbed the vines like a rope, but some people tied the vines in a knot and made a swing. Really fun. After lunch, we ¨hiked¨down for about two hours. When I say ¨hiked¨I really mean slid down most of the way. There were a lot of sound effects going on as people fell, nearly fell, quickly grabbed the nearest tree to find stability etc. Mud everywhere and the route down was quite steep. Finally, we turned to a drier forest with shorter trees and lots of grasses. This part was overgrown, so I imagine it doesn´t get used as often. We crossed a river and then (much to my dismay) we hiked back up for about 30 minutes just to go down all over again. I was exhausted and kind of bitter by the time we arrived back at the volunteer house. However, after showering and eating a huge dinner, I was very relaxed and calm. A good bout of exercise will do that to you, I guess.
Going back in time a bit, Thursday was my birthday. It´s so strange to have a birthday away from home because it kind of feels like any other day in life. However, my friend Vivian made it special. She gave me some earrings that were made a her former job (a glassblowing store) and wrote Happy Birthday on our big dry erase board. Everyone wished me a Happy Birthday too. The rain, which had been going on all night, stopped for our morning work (which seemed like a great gift). In the afternoon, when people normally make bread, they made me a citrus cake instead. And, possibly the best gift was that of warm water for my shower. Oh, I was actually able to connect to the Internet at La Hesperia too, which was a first. Thanks to everyone who wrote me birthday wishes. All in all, it was a great day!
Next weekend I hope to travel to a big town, which should mean more online time with a better connection.
Cheers!
Becky
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