Hello from Playa Gigante! Sorry for the long hiatus between posts. We haven´t had many opportunities for internet in the last couple of weeks.
Last week the group worked hard on Finca Bona Fide on Ometepe Island. The farm´s main goal is to promote permaculture, or permenant agricultural, a practice of sustainable farming where the available resources are constantly reused as opposed to being used up as is in most farming. We started our days with 6 am wake up calls and spent the mornings harvesting berries and vegetables, bucket-watering crops, helping cook meals, packing trash into bags to use as constuction material, hauling sand, and many other odd jobs. We got some first hand experiece with the concept of reduce, reuse, recycle on a building project by using trash that the farm had collected as insulation and making plaster out of straw, horse and cow poo, clay, and sand to build the walls of a house. When we weren´t working, the group took took a basket weaving class, a herbal medicine class, and learned about appropriate technology from one of the directors of the farm, Mitch. The basket weaving class yielded a few hilarious hats and many well crafted baskets, and the other two workshops brought new ideas and a new level of understanding to the group.
The first weekend there was a treat because some of the group got to hike up Volcan Maderas. The hike was quite an experience because about 1/3 to 1/2 way up the mountain, we climbed into the cloud cover and everyone began slipping and sliding up the muddy path. It was a slightly difficult and messy experience but we overcame the struggles by distracting ourselves by making mud masks and drawing on each other with the mud. We got to the top and then hiked down to relax in the misty lagoon at the center for lunch, At first we thought the way down would be worse than the way up because of the mud but we were proved wrong when we spent the majority of the hike down falling over in the mud and laughing until our stomachs hurt. By the time we were back below the clouds, everyone was covered in mud and full of smiles.
Overall the week was a success and the farm was absolutely beautiful, with very friendly and accomodating people. Mixed feelings of sadness and exitement were shared as we lugged our bags up the hill to Finca Magdalena, a restaurant nearby. There were struggles during the week with the heat and the intense amount of bugs. All in all everyone seems to have had a great time working on the farm and are excited for the rest of the trip.
Now we are at Playa Gigante taking Spanish classes and hanging out with our homestay families. The beach is beautiful and we couldn´t ask for a more amazing location. We´ll be starting orientation for our volunteer projects in a bit so I have to go now.
Ta Ta For Now!
Adrienne