Jan 6

Chopping Trees and Digging Holes

Today started early again with a departure time of 6:55am. Although it really started even earlier with fireworks and parades at 4am to celebrate the Epiphany (or Three Kings Day). That woke half the group up while the other half miraculously slept through the cacophony. Those of us who couldn't sleep really enjoyed not getting those two additional hours.

Once ready to leave, everyone climbed on the bus to Managua in order to go to John's house (the person in charge of El Plantel). After about a 40 minute bus ride, we squeezed into two tiny red moto-taxi vehicles to ride to the house. Upon arrival, John gave us a little tour of his yard, discussing the issues with water, land usage, and erosion. Eventually, we split into two groups. Trevor, Zach, and Cristian went to dig in the dirt while Derek, Giselle, and Dr. Basha trekked into the woods.

Summary of hole digging from those who did it: it sucked. The goal was to dig a 30 cm hole, loosen the soil for another 30 cm, add fertilizer, and then add dirt back in. In the hot sun. For a 8 meter by 1.25 meter bed. Oh the joy.

Trekking in the woods wasn't so bad in comparison especially because it was nice and shady. We wanted to find logs on which to grow mushrooms. One massive tree fell down in a recent storm, providing a great source with a nice straight branch eight feet in the air. Josh climbed on first and used a machete to trim out the brush. Dr. Basha climbed on next and started to saw the branch (and wished Josh brought the chainsaw as well as gloves). Josh started at the other end so that we could have one long piece. It was pretty slow going until Alexis (one of the El Plantel workers) arrived to help. With his amazing machete skills, he quickly finished chopping the branch down. The branch was a little too heavy to carry up the slope to the house so Derek tried his machete skills (with some coaching from Alexis) to cut it in half. Eventually it was cut enough to twist and break the branch into two pieces. After carrying it back up to the house, Derek, Dr. Basha, and Alexis cut it yet again, in order to have five pieces. All this was extra fun due to the branch having thorns and us not having gloves. Some bleeding occurred.

The other group continued to dig.

With the branches cut, we could begin the inoculation process. First, we drilled holes into the branch approximately four inches apart in a diamond pattern all around the branch. Then, while Dr. Basha held the branch upright, Giselle put the mushroom pegs into each hole, Alexis tapped it in with a hammer, and Josh painted cocoa butter over the holes to seal them (that part smelled amazing). 100 pegs later, the two branches were done and placed in a shady location to sprout in about six months. Mission successful!

The other group continued to dig. And Derek joined them.

Dr. Basha and Josh had a discussion about bees with one of the local beekeepers and got more info for the hive construction project. Then, they gave the laptop to Alexis. He will come to Casa Nica for Intro to Computer lessons in the upcoming week to start learning how to use it. It was an interesting and useful discussion.

The other group continued to dig.

With all of that dealt with, a fantastic smell began to waft from the kitchen. Lunch was close to ready. Dr. Basha and Giselle helped set the tables and get organized for lunch. The other group finally finished after four hours of digging! We all sat down to a lovely vegetarian lunch of lasagna, lentils, rice, and salad.

After lunch, around 1:30pm, we began our adventure back to Casa Nica. John gave us a ride back to the bus stop in his truck. After much waiting, we finally caught a bus back to Masaya. It was full, of course, so we stood in the aisle, trying not to hit people with our backpacks. A seemingly long time later, after much squishing to let people get off and on, we finally arrived back in Masaya. We walked back to Casa Nica in tired silence and were happy to arrive.

Although showers and rest were greatly desired, Zach and Cristian worked on the calculations for the french drain project since we have to give Mercedes a materials list asap in order to work on the project next week. Trevor, Derek, and Dr. Basha finished the security cabinet (just to get it done). With those projects out of the way, showers and relaxing occurred. Derek, Zach, and Dr. Basha cooked a yummy dinner of baked chicken, roasted veggies, garlic pasta, and citrus slaw to end the day.