We had Saturday and Sunday to ourselves - to walk around the city, sit in the central park and people-watch, we found some new cafés, and eat delicious food (handmade pizzas and ravioli from our favorite Italian restaurant in town)! It was great to relax and take it easy!
On Monday, three other MCC'ers (David a Nicaraguan from our team, Miriam a Canadian from the Mexico team, and Patrocinio a Bolivian on the Bolivian team) all met up with us for a learning tour. We went further north to communities outside of San Ramon to see agriculture projects of one MCC's partner. It was interesting to hear what worked and didn't work for people, and what people were experimenting with on their own. Bunny projects didn't go so well, but goats were thriving! The scenery and drive was gorgeous! Mountains and hills, green and lush, a stark comparison to dry Teustepe right now!
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| Drinking coffee in El Tuma. |
Tuesday we drove even further to communities outside of El Tuma. There we visited a site run by a NGO, Christian Medical Action (AMC). Our friend, Beth, used to work for AMC but finished her term in January. They have been working with land banks in where the organization buys an area of land and parcels it off into smaller plots to then sell to individuals without land. They have 10 years (interest-free) to pay off their debt of $1500 for 3 manzanas~5.5 acres of land. There are strings attached, they can't be owners of other land (in the beginning), they aren't allowed to burn the land or cut down trees (no slash and burn, which is what most do), they are not allowed to use chemicals (or only in small amounts in the beginning), they need to grow a diverse array of crops, and they need to live on the land. It was really fascinating to meet with the 17 partners that are apart of this particular land bank. Some had paid off their debt in five years and bought additional land, others where working to pay off their 
debt in the eighth year of the project. These people were so inspirational to me! They talked about how it was really challenging in the beginning to not use lots of chemicals, and that the soil wasn't good, and their neighbors would make fun of them and ask why they weren't burning their fields. These individuals had perseverance to carry on and learn new techniques that in the end resulted in good yields and was environmentally friendly. To see the transformation in these people's lives was incredible and so encouraging! It was a great day talking with them, having dialogue, and walking around and seeing their parcels of land! We saw many shade-grown coffee trees flowering, cacao pods on the tree (where chocolate comes from), chomped on some fresh sugarcane (very juicy, my hands were all sticky afterwards), slid around on some muddy paths, saw 70 boxes of beehives that they were learning to care for, and learned so much in the process! Definitely my highlight, visiting this project!  |
| Beans growing in Malacatoya. |
Wednesday we were in a community, Malacatoya, where our organization, AsoFénix, is working. There has been more rain up north then usual, so it rained a good bit in the morning when we arrived. We took the time to talk to one community leader, Orlando, for a bit and drank a cup of his coffee from the December harvest. We geared up (in rubber roots), and hiked to the hydro-electric water turbine that powers the community of 40 houses with electricity. It was SO MUDDY and I was sliding all over the place, it was quite comical to everyone around. One of my community journalists, Elicelda, accompanied us throughout the day. She was amused by my inability to walk in mud as she easily hopped over areas and avoided deep areas. We learned more about the system, saw a beautiful waterfall and were quite muddy by the end! Later we toured Orlando's fields of passion fruit on trellises, red beans, and coffee. It was so beautiful and the landscape was hilly and green!
We returned home on Wednesday evening and were completely exhausted, plus I was started to get a cold from the climate change from cold to hot! It was a great experience and we learned a lot. I really appreciated getting to know Miriam and Patrocinio more. They are great people and we had some wonderful exchanges of experiences. We hope to pass on some of this knowledge in our work with community members.  |
| Patrocinio, David, Miriam, Liz & Nate |
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