Yesterday we spent the day in Muisne and worked in the mangroves in the morning and near the beach in the afternoon. There were six of us in the wooden canoe, which sat just a few inches above the water. It always terrifies me when we cross the estuary: Fernando stands up and paddles with one small paddle, waves from motor boats splash over the edge of the canoe, and I constantly bail water with a plastic jug. On the way back I noticed the holes in the bottom of the canoe.
We arrived in the mangroves and gathered seeds which we took to the reforestation site. After another canoe ride there, we climbed up a bank with sharp, waist-high grass, and then down the other side into the mud. The boots we wear go up almost to our knees, but the mud goes further. When you step into the mangrove mud your foot sinks down at least up to your knee, then you have to wrestle out your other leg and take another step without falling. Normally I’m good at this but that day I could only go a few steps before getting stuck while the others took the seeds and slowly made their ways around the area to plant them. I made my way to a branch and used it to free myself and then the guy who was stuck next to me, but by then the tide was coming in and it was time for us to leave. Once we were back at the dock in Muisne, we washed our boots and legs in the water and walked to a small (one table) restaurant.
In the afternoon we went towards the beach and filled bags with dirt. The bags are small and black and are used for raising all types of plants. Then we walked to Muisne beach, which was surprisingly beautiful and sunny, and I played in the waves in my clothes with my backpack around my neck. Once we were back into Muisne, we waited for the internet place to open, but the power was out so we went back to the station. After a cold shower and lots of aloe for my awkward sun burns, Alvaro picked me up on the motorcycle and we went to Bunche where he played a few games of volleyball.
I have 57 mosquito bites.
Today I got really sick. The lunch I had in Bunche probably had ice that wasn’t made from boiled water although everyone else was blaming it on the coconut they used to prepare the fish. I went to work in the morning feeling weak and we went up in the mountains again to make more roof panels out of tagua. This time we had to walk further to find the trees. We went up and down 80 degree hills in the thick humid forest, through mud, and past numerous brightly colored spiders and insects.
When we got back for lunch, I knew I was dehydrated but just felt sick. I didn’t eat lunch and instead went to the volunteer house and began vomiting up any water I drank. While I was laying on the floor outside the bathroom, Marisol, our cook, convinced me to go to the doctor with Freddy’s wife. We caught a “carro” into Muisne and she helped me walk to the boats and then to the motorcycle-taxi thing that took us to the doctor?s office three blocks away.
While we were waiting, I went outside to throw up the small amount of water I had tried to drink and passed out. I woke up with people holding me up and ushering me into the doctor?s office, where I laid down and he gave me an IV for dehydration. He also gave me various antibiotic injections/pills and instructed me to drink pedialyte and continue taking the antibiotics for the next few days. When Alvaro found out, he waited for me in Muisne and went with us back to the station. That night, Freddy’s wife made me a soup and a blended fruit drink to go with my pedialyte. The doctor visit, medicine, and ingredients for the soup was $60 total.
Today we went to the organic cacao foundation and mixed concrete. While the boys mixed the concrete on the floor with shovels, I wheelbarrowed it across the work site to create a larger place for the cacao to dry. The family that was there fed us lunch: rice, beans in yellow sauce, a fried plantain, and pineapple juice. You really only need a spoon to eat any meal here.
The next day, I went to Bunche to meet with the community leaders and was invited to participate in a workshop about gender roles and the mangroves. It was supposed to start at 9, I arrived at 8:57, and of course everyone else arrived around 9:20 and we began at 10:30. The first thing we did was go to a house in Bunche and help construct benches that we would later eat lunch on. Then we had breakfast at another house and finally went to the elementary school were people talked and argued for about 30 minutes before the workshop began.
There were 28 people present, most of them were women. The part that really amazed me was when the instructor asked us to draw a big mural of Bunche. Everyone got out of their seats and drew things like mangroves, houses, the park, conch, the river, streets, and courts for volley and football. When it was finished, someone responded and said that they had never done something like this before, with such a large group, and another responded that Bunche really does have hidden beauty. For me, it was a unique experience to be able to witness the community coming together and beginning to see Bunche has a community and an ecosystem, with problems but also with positive points as well.
This afternoon I found 10 mosquitos on the inside of my net. It was horrific. Since then I have changed my sleeping situation 4 different times, switching sheets and beds and mattresses and nets. I’m back to the same bed and mattress that I had last time I was here.
It rained very hard for a few nights but it rarely ever rains during the day. The sky is constantly overcast; I’ve only seen sunshine one day in the week I’ve been here. The clouds combined with the humidity makes you feel like it is always about to rain, but that is just the way things are here. It has been noticeably cooler all week, meaning it has been in the 80s and probably not above 90. At night it is 80 and I wear sweat pants, socks, long sleeves, and jacket.
Alvaro and I met in Quito at 6am to catch the bus and he helped me with my bags. On the bus, we held our backpacks in our laps and drifted in and out of sleep. When we finally arrived in Muisne around 4pm, we took a truck to the station where I met Freddy and Vicente. They helped me carry my bags to the volunteer house and we chatted like old friends. There were two Germans, two girls from the United States, and two people from Quito in the volunteer house. Now I am the only girl in the house with four Germans and two guys from Quito who are leaving this weekend.
For my first day of work we went up into the forest and made roof panels out of tagua tree leaves. While we were resting, Freddy found a snail and chopped it in half with his machete. When he showed us the blue goo that dripped out of it, all the girls shrieked. In the afternoon we collected limes around the station.
Flea, the dog, has two puppies now. They are adorable and very skinny just like she is. They like to play with the cat, licking and nudging it while it sits there uncomfortably. The brown puppy is outgoing and clearly Flea’s favorite. The black one is shy and always second to join in playing. Cuco, the big black dog who is very old now, still runs like a horse and loves laying on his back with his legs in the air. Dust clouds come out of his fur when you pat him and he always has a swarm of bugs around him, but he still has the heart of a puppy. He comes with us no matter what work we are doing, often running behind a truck for a mile or swimming behind a boat just to spend the morning with us. Some mornings he comes upstairs in the volunteer house and scratches and thumps all morning.
I have 21 mosquito bites so far.
