A Day in the Country

Yesterday we spent the day in the camposina... with a small farming community.   We worked to clean up a field  which thee community  recently received through a grant and where they hope to plant banana trees.  They make a bread using bananas which they can sell and make a little money for the community.  Unfortunately, it will take about three years for the trees to produce, but the sooner they can start, the sooner they will have fruit.  Our work kept us busy and out in the sun much of the day.  First we had to walk to the field which is quite a distance from there village.  Though probably a walk of less than a mile, it seems longer in the heat of the day.  We cleared the ground of all the trees and limbs they had cut down earlier.  Some of us even got to use machetes!!  We saved some wood which they can use in the village and stacked the smaller sticks around the big old tree trunks. Later they will burn those stacked around the trees to try to burn the trees so that they will be easier to move.  Some of those trucks seem to be about two feet on the diameter and since they mostly use machetes for cutting, it would take too long to cut them down without another process to get them started.

We finished earlier than we thought we might so off we went to the beach.  Getting there on narrow country roads with a big bus was a bit of a challenge and we had a bit of a walk after we got off the bus, but a beautiful beach welcomed us at the end of the walk and the wonderfully delightful sea soothed our battered bodies and helped clear away a little of the dirt.  The perfect end to the work day.

We arrived home tired and still dirty, but some of us had the strength and energy to go to the fiesta, a sort of street fair complete with music and many booths where we could purchase food or jewelry and such.  It was fun to see how people in a different culture do this. 

Today we are going back to the country to help the community again.  More about that later. 

It seems impossible that we have only these two days before we are on our way back to the US on Sunday, so we will see you soon.