A slight change of plans

Well this week we have had less access to internet, since we have spent most of our time on Dave's property and little time in the city. Before I get into the details of the week, I have exciting news to share. I have accepted a position at St. Pete's hospital in Olympia, WA. I will be starting on their progressive care unit, as a nurse resident, on September 12. For twelve weeks I will alternate between classes and 12 hour night shifts, with a preceptor. I am so excited for this job! In addition to really enjoying the PCU (which involves caring for heart patients, mostly) there are a number of other benefits. I will be working at the hospital where I did nearly all of my clinical rotations while a student, so I am very familiar with the hospital, many of the policies, and the charting system. We will get to stay in Olympia, and most importantly, near Jenn and Koren and the boys. Also, I am happy to have the job search over, as that is always a daunting task.

Because I will be starting work before our trip was planned to end, we will be leaving early from Guatemala. This is the only disappointing thing about getting this job. Because we have committed to Dave for 8 weeks, we will be here on the farm for our entire stay, and unable to travel or see much more of Guatemala than the lake. While we were excited to explore further, we are only encouraged to make a return trip to see everything we missed. Besides, we are learning a good deal at Dave's place, and we are able to take short side trips on days off, so we aren't missing out entirely.

With the trip ending early, the amount of time I am in Spanish school, and practicing Spanish is so shortened, that I was nervous about my progress. After lots of conversation and figuring out, Will and I decided to rearrange our schooling a bit. I will be taking classes for the next six weeks, while Will works on the farm. Our host was gracious enough to let us change the plans a bit, and I am grateful Will was so willing to let me sink my teeth into studying and school. Anyway, I won't go on too much about these changes, I'm sure you want to get into the details of our last weeks or so....


We finished our final days of the first week of school with much more knowledge than we started the with, and I think an idea of how far we have to go. I enjoyed my week with my instructor, Luis, who was great at providing encouraging corrections. I think it is a great testament to his ability to teach that he would tell stories, all in Spanish, which I could understand. He knew how to speak slowly, clearly, and with the vocabulary I would understand, it was very impressive. I learned a little bit about local history, and we talked about politics,which I am always interested in. On Friday, all of the students have an opportunity to walk with their teachers to a home of a local family in need. Part of the money we pay to the school for our classes is allotted to helping local families. The school purchases food weekly that the student and teacher deliver. Additionally, the school uses some of this money (and additional donations) to build new homes for families who lack adequate housing. This, along with the fact that the school is cooperatively owned by the teachers, is why we chose La Coopertiva La Laguna. There are many spanish language schools in Guatemala, and San Pedro, so it was hard to be certain we chose the right one. After one week there, though we are happy with the choice.

Back on the farm, we got to work gardening and building. It is not quite accurate to call Dave's place a farm. It is a large swath of partially vertical land that produces lots of food. Dave has a vision for a "food forest" on this land, with permaculture practices at it's center. Will and I are learning a ton about this different method of growing. My experience with farming and growing is very focused on production, with organic and sustainable practices. This method yields an abundance of crops with intensive labor, but consistent, efficient produce. The permaculture method is more fluid. It's about rejuvenating the land, interspersing plantings, using every possible space, erosion control, and putting in a little work, in order to let nature do its thing. There is little weeding, since most everything is planted intentionally. Instead of letting unwanted plants crop up, often "weeds" are planted- like the arugula scattered all over the property. The incredibly cool thing about this property (aside from all of the food and plantlife) is the incorporation of buildings and the choices Dave has made for construction. For example, he has a "bano organico" (composting toilet) for the main house, and we are currently in the process of building one for the casita (where we are living). The cement block foundation was built by previous WWOOFers (more on WWOOFing later) and local day laborers. The bano is built high enough to collect waste (that's a euphemism for poop, folks) for a year. That space is then closed off and unused for a year, while the waste composts, and the other side of the foundation is used. After a year of composting the waste can be removed. Some folks believe this waste is composted enough to be used as fertilizer after this one year of composting. Other folks will take the compost, and mix it with soil, and other composting material, and wait another six months or so before using this nutrient rich mixture to fertilize their crops. We'll be working on building for the next few weeks, and we'll try to take pictures of the progress. Will built steps from the casita to the new bano, as shown here.
Another cool element of this region is the number of banana trees! Banana trees sprout up everywhere and are a great for many things! In addition to the delicious food, they grow incredibly fast. This helps to hold the soil in for erosion control. They are also great filters, so Dave pipes his urine to banana circle (literally a circle of banana trees) to be filtered as part of his permaculture design. Just today, WIll and I uprooted some shoots from the banana trees and transplanted them in places in need of erosion control on the property. I wish I had a picture of me hauling a banana tree, two feet taller than me, over my shoulder, up the slope to the terrace that needed stabilization!

So we have had a productive week of building, and planting, and eating great meals. Apparently, Guatemala is not known for its cuisine, so Will and I are grateful for the wonderful food we get to eat, which is very much like what we are used to eating at home. We are especially lucky for the varieties of fruit that grow here, which we consume daily. I'll let Will tell about our day trip to the Chichi market, and all of the fruit varieties. For those of you that would like a little interactive participation (homework for the HAZEN google group?) feel free to compile a list of your top ten favorite fruits and post in the comments section. Will and Dave revelled in a conversation trying to identify which would make it to the top ten, and which of those were in the top three. Will listed about five that would make his top three :)