Monday, November 8, 2010

I don´t know what to title this... so PAPAYA.

We now have a swing!  Well... more like a long piece of rope tied to a tree with a stick at the bottom to sit on, but still a swing!  A couple of volunteers who are always creative climbed the tree that holds our water tower and attached the rope.  I swing and try and grab things off the ground and see if I can grasp whatever it is I´m aiming at... Just call me Tarzan:)

I have never smashed an egg on anyone´s head... that was until Laura´s birthday!  I think I have mentioned the Peruvian tradition of smashing eggs on the birthday person´s head and pushing their face in the cake.  I was honored to be one of the people to smash an egg on Laura´s head hehe although she might have not felt too honored by it.

We are starting a new crop experiment at New Farm.  Most of the farmers that have grass on their land don´t know what to do with it after they get rid of their goats or other farm animals.  Therefore, they just move on to another plot of land and cut down more forest.  If we can find a sustainable crop to plant into land that was once covered by the long grass then the farmers wouldn´t have to cut down the precious forest.  What we are doing at New Farm is planting different types of plants in meter wide by 100 meter long sections cut into the grass.  Guess who got to cut the meter long sections with machettes?   We did!:) It was 20 volunteers cutting for 2 hours with machettes in the hot sun and with the over friendly flies landing in our ears and sneaking into our nose to only cut one fourth the grass we needed to cut.  It was hard work, but always rewarding when I think about how this project will aid in saving the rain forest. 

Stuart gave a caiman presentation that was fascinating!  The group Crocodilians, which includes Gharials (they have a long, thing snout and are found in India and Pakistan), Alligators, and Crocodiles, are the second oldest group.  The first is turtles.  Caiman are in the same category as Alligators and are found in the Americas.  Caiman have a bony plate over the ribs which alligators don´t have on the stomach.  Here are some interesting facts about caiman, but I am just going to list them so if they bore you feel free to skip over them haha: if they are not moving they can sit under water for 20 minutes without coming up for air, but if they are swimming they have to come up sooner for air.  They have a secondary palat in their throat which blocks the water from entering their  throat and drowning them when they open their mouth under water.  They have two eyelids, one is an invisible membrane so they can see under water.  Their front feet do not have webbing in between their toes, but the back feet do.  To swim they tuck their from feet under themselves and the back feet work for steering.  Their tail provides the force they need to swim.  Caiman are not slow like many people think.  On land they can ambush predators.  They are quick but if are chasing their prey for 50 to 60 meters they get tired.  Caiman grab their prey side ways.  They cannot pick up food off the ground.  They can influence the sex of their offspring by controlling the temperature the eggs are at.  Out of a nest of 30 to 40 eggs only 1 or 2 survive and that is with mom looking out for them in the first 6 months.  Out of 40 that survive the first 6 months, only 5 will make it to 5 years old.  And just a little warning, if you only see the head of a caiman... their body is 7 times the size of their head.  So beware! 

After Stuart´s caiman talk... WE WENT ON A CAIMAN HUNT!  We have to look for caiman at night because that is when they are awake and hunt.  All the volunteers were squished together on the boat with Gigo driving and Stuart at the head of the boat with a flashlight.  The volunteers were directed to not make a sound and be very still.  We also couldn´t have our lights on and couldn´t move until the caiman was on the boat.  When Stuart spotted a caiman (their eyes reflect orange when you shine light at them) he directed Gigo to get closer.  When the boat was right by the caiman, Stuart would lean over and grab the caiman right behind the neck.  One time he chased one into a bush.  I swear that man is fearless.  He ended up catching two caiman.  The first one was a spectacled caiman and then a smooth fronted caiman.  As the hunt was going on there was a lovely display of lightening to the northeast.  It was a perfect night.

I am not sure if I have mentioned this... (i probably repeat stories all the time and I apologize) but one of my new favorite snacks is peanut butter and rellena cookies.  Rellena cookies are fantastic!  They have many different flavors but I love the ones that are a chocolate cookie on the outside and have a mint creme of delightfulness on the inside.  And with peanut butter it is GOLDEN.

Ok so as many of you know BASKETBALL IS THE BEST SPORT IN THE WORLD!!!!!!... at least to me haha.  So one normal (well, normal for the jungle) day when I was taking a siesta I heard this hammering outside and went to check it out.  I walked out to find this beautiful basketball hoop being built.  3 volunteers, Sally, Simon, and Zack, were building it.  The pole was bamboo and the back board was wood.  Zack had bought an iron hoop for it in town.  Simon had dug a 6 ft hole in the ground to support it.  I helped a little by picking up the extra pieces of bamboo and getting the hoop in the hole but i felt guilty for not helping even more because the basketball hoop is one of the most excitingly beautiful things I have ever seen.  I can´t help but get this big feeling of glee when I look at it.  The ground is pretty good for bouncing a ball, too.  I was so happy I attacked the 3 volunteers with hugs.  After it was put up we measured how tall it was and it was exactly 10 ft!!!! It was fate:)

Lately, our generator has been a tad faulty.  But as we tend to do in the jungle... we turned a situation that could have been bad into a great thing.  One night the generator went out an hour early.  We lit candles around the kitchen to give some light and distract the bugs from attacking our bodies.  Then two volunteers with angelic voices, Lucy and Cecile, played guitar and sang.  It was beautiful.  It felt like we were at a summer camp or something haha.  Raul drew this really cool picture that is hanging in our room now (he was going to get rid of it and I couldn´t let him do that).  It was of everyone watching Lucy and Cecile sing.  Sally also got her harmonica out and a few volunteers tried it out.  I think I might buy one when I get home:)

I got to do butterflies again one morning only instead of setting up the traps I was on a mission to catch them.  Armed with a net, I set out on the trails with Yessi and Jane.  We caught 4 butterflies in the traps.  I got to get one out of a trap.  I was so scared I was going to hurt the butterfly because it´s wings are so delicate.  I captured it safely though.  We chased down two butterflies with our nets but barely missed them.  Those mariposas are cunning little dodgers.

I had my first encounter with a snake!  I was part of a group of people that was making a 3 foot perimeter clearing around the future turtle enclosure sight.  I was raking leaves to clear them and flung a bunch behind me when suddenly a snake appeared.  I think I might have raked it haha.  It was red and grey and Yessi said it was probably poisonious. 

I love you all!

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