Where In The World are Brian And Angela?!?: Holes and Cute Kids

Frist of all, Brian and I must say that we have the absolute best friends a person could ever ask for!! Thank you to all of you who keep us in your hearts and take such good care of us even if we´re so far away. Really, we´re almost spoiled rotten! And thank you Ash, Ann Marie, Frank, Missy, Krista, Doug, and Shauna for going out of your way, literally, to do what friends do best!!

Well, the beans in our garden are flowering and we have some re-seeded alfalfa shoots coming up. We´re pretty happy because the nurse at the health center and a really cool dude who lives in Sícchez have kind of adopted the garden too, which is so much better than us being the only ones who care. They work in it without us even being there! YAY!! However, every garden is not without it´s plagues, and our beans have these powdery white circles on the leaves. Not being from this zone, I inquired numerous people about what the heck it is and how to fix it. So far, we have five possiblities: it´s a special dust that falls from the sky, it´s from the ¨freeze¨ (it never freezes here – ever!!), it´s ¨burnt¨ (hugh??), worm eggs, and mold. I think I´m going with the mold theory. As soon as the agricultural specialist comes to town, we´ll have a chat.
Brian´s almost ready to start giving workshops to the mommies in the garden. It´ll be about composting and preparing soil (mixing in natural fertilizer and planting legumes and nitrogen-fixing cover crops like alfalfa). They´ll each be expected to prepare a garden space at home. If said task is completed, they earn lettuce seeds. Each workshop attended will earn them more seeds, until the end when they will be ready to plant a full garden.

¨Trashy¨ would be an adecuate description of me lately. My community partner and I finally got the municipality to install a sanitary landfill for the bio-contaminated waste at the health center (now we just have to get them to use it). I also installed a pilot landfill at the local school in one of the villages. The deputy govenor and I went house-to-house passing out instructions and encouraging the families to replicate the pilot landfill in their homes instead of throwing trash in the streams and/or burning it. We have a contest going there to encourage participation. I will now be headed there each month to check on progress and help the families manage their landfills correctly. We´re doing the same basic thing in two other villages, each one at a different stage in the process depending on the personality of the community.
In the urban center, my community partner and I are trying to form an ¨environmental promotion¨ committee who will help me educate the locals about using the trash cans, separating their waste streams, and keeping the streets clean. My work here is a lot harder because I can´t seem to get full support from the municipality, so I spin my wheels a lot waiting for follow-through. But I am proud of the few people here who have worked hard to help out their community.

Welp, that´s about it. We´re basically lovin´ life a lot more these days because we´re able to ride our bikes, walk in normal shoes (not rubber boots), run, hike and just generally be outside. Someday soon I´m fixin´ to make my own yogurt (as soon as the cows at the local stable have their babies) and start sprouting...well, anything that´ll sprout. If anyone has any homemade yogurt or sprouts suggestions, pass them along! (Isn´t sprouting the perfect alternative when there are no veggies?!?!? WHY didn´t I think of that a year ago??)

Community members diggin´ their landfill behind the school. They´re basically 1mx1m holes in the ground that you fill with alternating layers of trash and dirt, top with more dirt and plant a tree on top of. Pretty simple, but NOT a simple habit to change!!

By two meters down, this poor smiling guy was throwing the dirt out of the hole over his head. My back hurt just looking at him.

Here´s the landfill for biocontaminates at the Health Center. It´s lined with plastic and the biohazards are deposited in plastic bottles before being thrown in the hole.

I recently went to see the southernmost mangroves in South America (near Piura) as a Peace Corps training event. It´s a very small protected area outside the city of Vice.

More mangroves.

Do not let Brian´s smile fool you. He had to entertain these second graders for 30 full minutes while I taught computers to the first graders. He was ready to pop each one several times in the head by the time I took the foto. What a sport!!!