On Tuesday had more than 100 visitors from a school in the county that me, my Guatemalan counterpart and his brother tried to herd in an orderly fashion along the trail and up to the top of the mountain. This of course turned out to be impossible because of widely varying fitness levels, our lack of communication (no radios) which led to the kids charging up ahead of us while I waited to make sure the older folk and young children were not going to collapse along the way-this resulted in said older folk left with the burden of carrying lunch (jumbo sized cans of beans, a large box full of fried chicken, several 3 liter bottles of soda) past where the car could no longer go. This all amounted in no small amount of chaos but with some effort (I helped by carrying one said gigantic can of beans) and a little luck all arrived safely at our destination where soccer games, tug of war, and even a little reptile education commenced. Unfortunately in all the chaos Bella decided to peace out, and once I realized she was gone I spent the remainder of the outing picturing various horrible scenarios involving my poor little lost dog. Of course when I finally got home there she was, in my yard, safe and sound...*phew* The good news is-she knows where she lives! All in all, a successful if slightly chaotic and stressful day up on the mountain.
The next day I went out to check on the (slowly) progressing bottle school. Last week I got very frustrated when I went out to visit only to see that barely any progress had been made in the last month. I was starting to wonder whether or not this project would ever get done.... but when I arrived on Wednesday, our contractor along with two fathers from the school were working away, and they seem confident now that they will finish by the end of this month, and that we might actually make it within our budget!
Lastly, our assistant country director came out to visit and wanted to talk to both me and the volunteer that arrived a few months ago to Agua Caliente, Emily. Emily came the night before and gave us a chance to catch up, cook some food, etc. Our director Wendy arrived on Thursday and we showed her the trail, I explained a little bit about what I've been working on in the park. She seemed to really enjoy the park and enthusiastic about my ideas for it. After we worked up an appetite, we had a really good lunch in a local comedor, then she went on her way. Emily and I took advantage of the sunny afternoon to continue trading music and movies and sitting in the sunshine on my patio while the computers did their thing-ended up taking too long and Emily was forced to spend another night in Sija-we enjoyed Mexican tortas and too much beer, and she made the journey home the next morning. I however got to sleep in ;)
And now to share some photos from the week....
Wild berries ripening in the sun
Mossy rock
More cool fungi
I caught an alligator lizard on tuesday and let it bite me to prove that no, they are NOT venomous....I love the kid's concerned look in the background.
Show and tell with the local herpetofauna
Latest photos of the bottle school-with cement on the walls it will look like just a normal building.
View of the countryside I walk through to get to the school-I'm excited to see the conclusion of that project but I will miss this walk!
Another view from the walk to the school-the mountain you see is the Park where I do most of my work, "parque cerro sija"
Just another landscape..wildflower season is starting i hear 
Love the pic of the lizard biting you and that kid's face!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! That trip sounded like chaos! I would've freaked out leaving the mountain without the pup. Glad everything worked out though! Great pics tooo :)
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