Maya Mountain Research Farm - 12/12/09

Well life on the farm for the past month and a half has been wonderful. The MMRF farm is accessible by hiking an hour, climbing down a steep slippery hill, then crossing the river, or you can get a very enjoyable dorry (dugout canoe) ride, which is how I arrived there. It is an agroforestry farm which basically means that the trees are planted out to resemble the functions and design of a forest, but the species planted are chosen for their various attributes, to make the forest system as productive as possible. The trees planted here produce food for animals and people, firewood, lumber, medincinal use, and ornamentals. Chris is the guy who runs it an he's super knowledgeable but I'm convinced he has adult ADD (no offense Chris). Rachel is the farm coordinator an she's amazing. She deals with crazy shit every day with such grace it's incredible. Hannah is the kitchen intern from SF and is a little rasta lady. She's so chill and wonderful to talk to, not to mention a stellar cook. The three of us form a little trio which works out well. While on the farm I cleared out and started to plant in this big terrace garden that hasn't ben touched for over a year because it was his ex wifes domain which means it was really overgrown. We also cleared out another completely overgrown herb garden near the kitchen, cleared out and planted inthe bega with lots of veggies, transplanted countless plants and trees, and harvested from the agroforestry system nearly every day. We also did lots of work in the kitchen, including harvesting cacao, making ginger beer, and hot sauce. THe kitchen is powered by a seriously tricky and at times frustrating wood stove. The property is lined by a glacier blue river which is a freakin godsend after working a seriously hot and sweaty day. On most Thursdays we go into PG to work with the Red Cross onthe elderly feeing program which I love. The old people are so sweet. My home was an open air thatch hut with a hammock onthe porch. It got some getting used to, being alone and far away from anyone else at times, with no walls to protect me, but I came to really love it. From time to time there was unexpected excitement. Chris sliced his ankle with the chainsaw and bled a bunch. It was seriously gross but Rachael and Hannah took over and bandaged him up. A couple of white trash weirdos also came to the farm; one was supposed to be the garden intern for 6 months and his girlfriend was coming along for the ride. Chris has a strict no smoking on the property rule which the intern repeatedly broke and one morning Chris sent them packing, which would have been eventful in itself but the reaction that it got from this guy was totally bizarre. He was screaming about how they should be allies and brothers in permaculture because permaculture is a minority. He was arguing about money stuff and just kept on ranting. This guy seemed a little off, like developmentally off, neandrathal - esque if you will. So the whole scene, which was appauling, was also a big source of entertainment because it was just so strange. Ah the people you meet travelling, never dull. Another interesting development on the farm was the fact that the farm was trying to kill me. I know that's a rather strange statement, but I think it's true. When Rachael and I went to the source of the river I fell, punctured my hand in two spots, and bruised a nerve that left me without the use of my hand for at least a week. I had a really ba fever that left me bedridden for a couple of days followed by back pains and a rib that popped out of place and made it difficult to breath for a day and night. And for the grand finale, on my last day of work I got bit by a bullet ant on my eyelid, which feels like a bee sting, and it made my eye completely swell shut and I looked like Quasimoto. Whatever. On my last day I went to Saul Garcia's farm, another agroforestry farm, which was beautiful and amazing. I really loved MMRF and I was sad to go, but I will be stopping back on my way up from Guatemala to Belize City to fly home.

It's just madness - 11/23/2009

Finally I am at the Maya Mountain Research Farm in Belize. It was a ridiculously bumpy path getting here, to say the very least. My last week at Neverland actually included working with vegetables, FARMING! Which was really nice. Tina has still not graced us with her presence which not only annoyed all of us but Silvia and Andres (the workers) as well. The woman apparently doesn't have her shit together, oh well. Eventually Rebecca and Andrea, my dear friends and only companions in the valley's wilderness, took off for Guayquil, which was sad. I was left with this new guy who had arrived with two other girls but they only stayed one night and then left which was weird but, whatever. He was super nice but a bit scatterbrained and lost which led to "really deep," soul searching, figuring out the world man kind of conversations that interested me very little. However, this week included zero drama or natural disasters, so I can't really complain. Eventually I made it back to Vilcabamba and stayed there a day or two longer than I had planned, but the weather was nice, it was so relaxing, and my hostel had a wonderfully clean pool. I went to Cuenca for the night and then headed up the long road to Quito. I was really ready to leave Ecuador, which is not to say that my six months there wasn't incredible, because it was. But I was a bit lonely, ready for another volunteering site, and I felt that I had seen essentially everything I wanted to see in Ecuador. So on the day of my departure I got my tickets and checked at the airport, headed for migration when they told me I couldn't leave the country. Homicidal is probably the best adjective to describe how I was feeling at this point. Apparently Ecuadors dumb ass embassy was supposed to tell me to register my visa within 30 days of my arrival in Ecuador and that I needed to get this ID card thing called a censo in order to legally be in the country and to leave. But they didn't tell me any of this, and without it I couldn't board the plane. (insert numerous expletives here) So I left, fuming. Honestly, I just wanted to get the hell out of Quito, but first I had to take care of all this bullshit. Stupid stupid embassy! Well, I would have been more than happy to take care of all this stuff that day but, as fate would have it, it was a freaking national holiday and all of the government buildings were closed for not one but the next TWO WHOLE DAYS! So I had to just sit around in Quito some more; I hate Quito. That night, just to add to my misery and anger, I went to go get some Indian food where they served me glass in my food that broke one of my teeth. Awesome. I really just couldn't believe I had to deal with all this. But I did. Two days later I ha to get up early to go to the bank and deposit a $200 fine into the account of the Migracion Policia, then go to the migracion building, figure out what I needed. Oh, BIG SURPRISE, I didn't even need the damn censo because my visa was four days over the expiration and I could have just paid the fine at the airport. (insert numerous expletives here, again) Fuming once more. I had to change my flight which of course wasn't without difficulty, I had to argue my way out of paying a $250 change fee, but ended up paying $150 to make up the difference in my flight. Then i had to run back to the Policia de Migracion. Finally, everything was resolved and I was leaving the next morning. I threatened the Migracion officer that if I couldn't board the plane tomorrow I was coming to find him and he was going to fix it. Luckily that wasn't necessary. The next day went smoothly, even though I was super nervous that something was going to happen again. I enjoyed numerous magazines in the Miami airport and a bagel, then made it to my hotel in Belize City where everyone was super nice and empathized with the madness that I had been through. Early the next morning I hopped on a bus to Punta Gorda which was my jump off point to get to Maya Mountain Research Farm.