It makes a month in site yesterday. We continue to meet challenges and experience exciment as we meet more people and learn about the different oppurtunities. It is hard not to jump right into every project that seems could be improved or implimented and take things slowly to really find some sure footing. Our community seems to know every techincal practice listed in the books of tropical agriculture, but lack the small tricks or often the motivation to do things differently.

There may not be an abundance of trees to keep you shaded while weeding the fields and building gardens, but the swimming holes abound and in our short week and a half veranito and break from the rains of rainy season, we tried to explore as may of the local cool off spots as we could.

Below are a few photos of our daily lives. pounding rice to remove the hulls, resting at the top of a mountian that we just finished weeding, and hanging out with the kids.






a few photos

La Chumicosa gets its name from the shrub like trees that are growing sparsely on the grassy hills around the town. The leaves are course furry and used to be used for washing dishes. It is still unclear the process of this area becoming deforested. Nobody remembers when there were trees in the area and this shrub like species along with the pervasive grasses seem to be right at home in this grass land. Although the annual burning of mostly everything keeps those weeds and trees at a minimum. We still have some research to do on some natural history.

It has been two and a half weeks that we have been the new residents in this small mountain town. We have done a lot of weeding (or limpiar-ing arroz siginifca cleaning rice) of parcels of rice and corn. These pardels tend to be on steep hillsides, incredibly weedy and blazing hot. The chiggers have taken up residence along my pant and bra lines making sleeping only successful for half the night. I can´t help but leave the beautiful blooming flowers (that are few and far between) unweeded, in order to finish their cycle. Knowing that next year this spot will be left fallow and these flowers left to reproduce. We have planted tomatoes and peppers and started a bunch of seeds for our garden. My Okra seedlings came up in 1.5 days! Mostly each day has been working with a different family in what ever agriculture that they may be doing this time of year.

The flash flooding gave us a bit on a run our first week in town. Isaac and I were separated by a 3 foot wave that washed down the river just upstream from us as we were attempting to cross. I ran one direction and he ran the other us logs and rocks and brown turbulent water made their way down the river channel. I waited on the other side at a families house while Isaac walked home. It was 1.5 hours before the water was waist deep and crossable.