Our lesson with la lanchas went something like this: We asked to be taken to San Pablo's dock (muelle) however the drivers don't like to take the extra time stopping at such a small destination and often pretend as if San Pablo does not have a dock by telling you just that.. Failing to realize what was happening we were brought to San Marcos a town about 5 miles east of San Pablo. Fortunately we had already set up our cell phone with a local chip and called our farm host for advice. The route to his addressless property was supposedly much easier to reach from the dock so we waited until one of the boat drivers agreed to stop where we wanted. I talked with a local who pointed out all the towns within view- San Lucas, San Tiago, San Pedro, San Juan, San Pablo, San Marcos, Panajachel, and a few more I could not remember the names of.
We were dropped off at the correct dock this time and just as Dave had advised walked not 5 minutes on a path along the water to his property. A local worker of his Jorge' greeted us in front of a banana stand and showed us our quarters and encouraged us to look around the property. The casita we would soon call home for the next two months is a cynder-block building about 20x30 feet divided into a bedroom and kitchen. We found a make shift solar shower and bamboo out house with clothes washing station immediately outside of the kitchens large half moon window. These were enclosed within a small yard with a a little grass and a hammock.
After putting our bags down inside we walked around the property taking it all in. What we found was not what we were regularly accustomed to as farming; not rows upon rows of similar species in fields, but rather more of a permaculture design. Intersperced plantings galore! This is due to Dave's love for sustainable agricultural integration and the sudden steepness of the property from the lake to the top; I'd guess around 100 feet in elevation. The uphill half of the property near his beautiful bamboo home is a staircase of terraces with stone and dirt paths a narrow body width wide running between all.
We couldn't help but notice the gigantic tree jutting out from the top of the property above the house with a partially built platform. On our way to check it out we found Evan the other WWOOFer, from New York, who had been there for 1 month and would only stay for 1 week longer. He volunteered to show us the tree house so we made our way up the switchback paths lined with coffee bushes and lemongrass. We had been wondering what the project would look like for which we had brought with us two 1"x10" lag bolts, and upon seeing the deck from above it began to come together. The view back to San Pedro was made even more spectacular by the sheer thrill of feeling so precariously perched.
Working our way back down Evan gave us a brief tour of the main house and his sleeping quarters. The foundation for the tiny home is on two stages; the first floor being the kitchen and dining area and the second only big enough for a pathway between stairases and two chairs. These sat in front of a fireplace inlaid in a giant river rock back wall that raps around each side of the house. The center was multipile bamboos poles roughly 7" in diameter that spanned to the center of the roof and slightly smaller support poles for floor and roof joists- all exposed. Evan's room was essentially the third floor though just an 8x8 ft room set on the back of the home overlooking the rest.
After we had made our way down Evan introduced us to the family perros, Choco y Canela, two cute, Mayan Terrier mixes; brown haired smaller dogs that had been local strays like most until they were taken in. We were informed that our morning and nightly chores would be to feed and water the pups as well as three chickens kept lower on the property.
By this time Dave had returned from his trip to town and we proceed to get to know each other over lunch. Soon after we went with Evan for a trip up to town for some eggs, garlic (ajo), y onions (cebolla). We soon learned that while San Pedro most definitely had toursity gringo parts, San Pablo did not. We appreciated the stark contrast in that it would allow us the opportunity hablar frecuemente en espanol.
On a side note the vast majority of the population here speak different dialects of Mayan as their first language- Tzuitzui'l being the most prominent. This has proven a confusing distraction :)
More later!
Will
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