Itching My Way Through the Day

I´ve arrived at La Hesperia! Just two days into my adventures here, and the bugs have already taken a liking to me. Aren´t I lucky. We not only have mosquitos to suck our blood, there are black flies too. Yesterday I weeded the peanut garden and came back with numerous bites. They didn´t itch at first, but towards the evening, everything fell apart. I woke up around midnight itchy so badly that I thought about taking an ice cold shower. Instead (too lazy to get up really), I wrapped my ankles tightly in a blanket to try to stop the itch. The pressure did help a bit, but I still woke about every hour itching like mad. Not even itch creme or lotion seems to curb the torture. Today I´m in Santo Domingo de los Colorados with another volunteer. I hope we can find a pharmacy that might offer some wonder creme to keep me sane. Oh yes, I should mention that I used bug spray with deet. The mosquitos seemed detered for the most part, but the black flies are fiesty little buggers, and could really care less if the ingest the poison.

Aside from the bugs, La Hesperia is proving to be a lovely location. The volunteer house is surrounded by cloud forest. One of the trees next to our balcony constantly has little green tucans in it. I´ve also heard that capuchin monkeys can often be seen. The reserve has lots of farm animals, vegetables and even raises tilapia (so I´m told). I´m having an orientation on Monday, but so far, no one can tell me about a clinic. Thus, that dream of getting experience before graduate school may be shot down. Despite that possible disappointment, I think the work will be diverse and fun...weeding, making chocolate, baking bread, working with the animals, and resforestation are just some of the tasks.

Volunteer house

Right now there are eight volunteers. We live in one large house that has numerous rooms. My room holds up to five people. I´m in the loft with another girl. We also have a resident bat, which I´ve only heard thus far. Not an ideal roommate, but it does keep the mosquitos down. We sleep under mosquito nets, so I´m not too concerned with the bat (at least for now). The biggest lifestyle change is the lack of hot water for showers. The best way to work up to a cold shower is take a walk in the hot sun or work for a while and then jump into the shower before cooling down. Otherwise, it´s pretty unbearable. We also have to wash our clothes by hand, but that hasn´t proven to be a pain yet.

Our version of a washing machine. Hard-working hands required!

The weather at La Hesperia is warmer than at Santa Martha, and we are over 1000 meters lower (so that makes sense). It still rains most afternoons or evenings, however.

If anyone has simple ideas for either detering bugs or stopping the itch, please comment. I´m going to try apple cider vinegar tonight (Earthclinic says it can help), though I certainly don´t have enough for the whole trip.

Becky