What can I do with chicken poop?

That thing above? He is my arch nemasis. He keeps me up at all hours of the night, and annoys me with his "cock"yness all day long.

Well, this has been one big week and a half. All I have to show for it is lots of sunburns, blisters, and back pain. I am really out of shape and apparently I am not the only one to notice it. According to my nica friends the first thing they noticed about me since I have been back is, how fat my arms have gotten! I also got asked if I was pregnant the other day...how special. No I am not pregnant, I just have a tire around my waist. Or a muffin top as we call it..but they don't understand what that means because they don't have muffins...but tires are plentiful.So lots of things have happened, I don't have any particular order so I will just start from the top.

I went to this glorious canyon of somoto with my friends last weekend, and It was absolutly incredible. It was like a grand canyon that you could climb around in and jump off at any point to swim in the water. I went with a group of 7 including myself, unfortunetly I was one of two girls amongst the group of idiots that are my friends. We woke up early saturday morning, got loaded up on bread and gatorade and headed out for a hell of a day trip. We crossed rivers, and completly fell and submerged ourselves at various points during the hike. We jumped off cliffs into crystal blue streams of warm river rocky water. And climbed more cliffs, and sang folk songs at the tops of our lungs. It was really special, and I am anxious to go back.

Lets see, My goat had babies, and they are too cute. A chicken tried to lay eggs in my bed 3 different times in one day. I had to whip her into shape. It was not funny, of all the beds to lay eggs in, why mine! ? I already have enough troubles with mosquitos and lice, and sleeping in general. Oh, the joys of living in the country! I also woke up the other morning to my host brother skinning a pig, all that was left was the head, fully in tact and the eyes bulging. Heres a photo! Just some of the daily pleasures I take part in....

This was to make a typical nicaraguan food called "nacatamale" its corn meal, veggies, and pork all wrapped up in a bananna leaf and then boiled until its delicious. I have the luxury of enjoying one every week since my host mom makes them as another means of income. Speaking of income, it is becoming really apparent to me the wrath of the poverty that occurs in the dry season. In other words, if the farmers have nothing to harvest, then they are without any means of income. They are working for pennies in the tobacco fields during the dry season. Anyawys... I have spoken to various students who cannot afford the bus fare to ride to and therefore aren't able to go to school. For a measly fare of 50cents. And my first instinct is to give them the money, but then I think about not wanting to become a source of income for every person who cannot afford something. Although the money is not an issue, its the greater issue of sustainability that is at hand here. I had another issue, a host sister told me that she can't go to school because she has no backpack, pens or notebooks. Her mom is a single mother and cannot find work at this time. So, without thinking I gave her a drawstring adidas bag, a couple of MDVIP pens (thanks mom), and the only notebook I had without any writing in it. I don't know if this was the right thing to do, but my impulses couldn't help themselves...an education over a couple of notebooks and pens? It is complexes like these that I am going through each day. I wish there was something I could do....I guess that is the whole trouble with development..You can't just "fix" it.

Changing subjects, during the week I had a date with my friend laurie who lives just up the road from me and luckally has her own place. We had a much needed girls night, and made some serious food in the kitchen! We made saag paneer, which is a typical indian dish consisting of spinach and indian cheese. But we used the things we had at hand which was the swiss chard I had grown in my garden. ( Look at my harvest! )

and the cheese the old lady up the road had just made. It was a success! We made garlic naan (indian tandoori style flat breads) to go with it. We paired the spicy dish with passionfruit-mandarin and lime rum-ritas. Delicious to say the least. The next day we made handmade pizza, homemade pizza sauce, and topped with freshly made cheese and basil and parsley. We watched sex and the city, and another awesome movie called Charlie Bartlett. It really felt like a sunday in the states; rainy, grey, and with the greatest company of all, your girlfriends.

Below is the rainbow that came after the rains, and the pizza that we mastered, from scratch.

The week to follow was a great one. I got knee deep in cow poop and chicken droppings, all for the sake of a compost pile. My host dad loves doing projects and because it is the dry season, he is left without much to occupy his time. He has told me that he is really interested in working with me in making a medicinal plant garden filled with garlic, ginger, onion, oregano, aloe, dill, etc. But first, we needed to make some compost to improve our soil quality.

A compost is an equal balance of:

carbon sources (browns)--like leaves, nut shells, sawdust, corn cobs husks or any other husks, and nitrogen sources (greens)-- animal poop (cow, chicken, goat, pig, NOT human), egg shells, ash, fruit and vegetable scraps, etc. and sunlight, and water of course to keep things moist so that microorganisms can break down all the nutrients and turn them into usable, incredible soil to improve the quality of the plants one is growing. Our soil happens to be very clay-ish and therefore hard for roots of plants to pass through and develop properly.

So, my host brother has a chicken coop where he raises chickens to sell as a secondary source of income. So the chickens need "beds" in which he uses rice husks. Anyway the rice husks, get thrown away every 44 days, and they are beautifully coated with chicken poop by the end of the cycle. In other words we have a PERFECT balance of ingredients to make a compost. We started by preparing a giant 2x2 meter bed, about 2 feet deep. unfortunetly the land is what they call, 'pura piedras'-PURE ROCKS, and our first 2 days consisted of digging out the clay filled soil to remove giant boulders and rocks from our hole. It took all morning and afternoon, and I couldn't help but notice the profound strength that my host dad possessed. I wanted to ask him, "Dont you ever say to yourself, 'boy I am getting too old for this', or ' wow, my back is really starting to hurt from all this physical labor' ". But no, he is trooper, and I felt like I had to keep up with him seeing as though I was a third his age, and he was still trucking. I am hanging with the big dogs. He, unlike me came prepared for the sun and unfortunetly I forgot my sunblock, hat and long-sleeved shirt. So I was hurting the next morning.

Thats my host dad- what a guy!

Anyways, the next day was the day we made the compost pile. First we had to collect 125lbs of cow poop, and boy was it HEAVY! I had a bucket full that must've weighed 50lbs and he had a saco of fresh, wet cow poop. We were quite the duo in the cow pen, literally picking up the poop that had just come out of there butts. All of the cows took a liking to me and sooner or later I was surrounded by 15 huge mama cows. I got scared but all my host dad said to do is give em a grunt (ruuhh) and bop them on the head. So I did, and it worked. The cows got back to being milked by there young. Heres a little picture of a mother and her lil guy---

So after our grand haul, we made it back to the site of construction. Basically the pile consisted of layers, rice husk, then dirt, then ashes, then cow poop, then water. Repeat 8x and there you have a compost pile. So around noon we finished up, tired, and covered in feces. It was a real day of work and it felt good. Everyone had a good laugh about how dirty we were. It attracted a lot of attention from the community. They wanted to know what was the purpose of what we were doing, and wanted in on the action. Hopefully more people will want to get involved in this potential community project.

Turning pages a little, there seems to be a surplus of this rice husk/chicken poop combo and even with our huge pile of compost we were left with tons of extras. So I asked around in the community and found out that you can take this and mix it with salt and molassas and turn it into cow feed. So the next project I do is experiment with this and maybe it can become a small buisness oppertunity.

Last thing that happened this week, was my host sister and cousin took me to there secret swimming hole that is on their family property. It was a little afternoon adventure that turned out to be a blast for all of us. It was my 17 year old sis ingrid, and my cousin 8 years old, paola. Little 3 year old linda wanted to come but we couldn't bring her because it was too much hiking. We explored the creek by our house and then followed it to the land that belongs to my host dad and then decided to go to this swimming hole. It was so much fun, as we walked my sister showed me the coffee plants and the mango and avocado trees of our family. She told me different uses for different plants that we saw along the way..She also told me stories about coming here when she was a little girl. So we get there, and it looks like a secret cove that is in the middle of a paradise! huge rock walls surrounded this little sun-kissed hole of clear water, that looked too delightful to pass up. We decided to take a dip, and ended up staying for hours...playing tag in the water, jumping off rocks, pretending we were models in a soap opera. All in all it was a great laugh, and I could tell I wasn't the only one enjoying myself. We were all giddy for the rest of the day, and all the other girls and I decided that we needed to go back and have a girls day at the "redonda" as it is called.

Well, That is all I have to report for this weeks little jammer. I hope you all aren't freezing your butts off in the snow-ma-gadden or whatever they are calling it. Oh by the way, I have a funny little story about that before I go. So my host brother calls me in the living room the other night and tells me that "maryland is on the news" I couldn't believe my ears, so of course I run in to find out that they are reporting on the snow fall. Well, there must have been a glitch in the system because what was reported was that "14 FEET of snow had fallen". I about died when I heard this; I knew it had been snowing a lot but I couldn't believe this . My heart fell when I thought of my mom and alice stranded at home with roof high snow. I left to call them immedietly the next morning only to find out that about 4 feet had fallen during the whole storm. WHEW.

la vida campesina

I am one day back, and it really feels great, I must admit. As you can see in my picture, I soon realized the depth of my dads presence when I was shopping and came across a MSI jersey and a Montgomery Soccerplex polo in the store. In the entire 8 months I have been here, not once have I seen anything even from maryland, let alone something this relevent to my dad. I took this as my first sign.

After my training I had a hard time going back to my site, because I was worried about being pressured to work and at the same time go through my grieving accordingly. I had a couple days of alone time where I ended up thinking too much, and then I realized that I needed to go back and give my community a chance. AND I AM SO GLAD I DID!! All the things I was worried about have gone and left my worried mind. I was greeted so warmly by my community, and instantly I felt better. When I came back, my host sister presented me to my family and said "your daughter has arrived". Kisses, hugs, smiles, affection filled the room. I found out tht all my plants had been tended for, the greens garden (all my lettuces and swiss chard and cucumbers) had been watered, my cilantro bed has been cared for and watered every day, my room had been maintained. They even saved a pile of chicken poop so that we could start a compost together like I had said I'd wanted to do before I'd left! they didn't forget! My host dad had put a huge shelf in my room so that I could put away all the things I had brought back from the states. I had left some laundry that I didn't get to do before I'd left, and when I came back it was all folded and done for me. It was evident that they missed me...

In other words I was just blown away by the hospitality of my host family and my community in general. Not one person told me how sorry they were, or instigated talk of my dad or anything like that. They were just so happy to have me back, and I for the first time since I have been back in nicaragua, I really felt wanted and like I was in the right place. All the projects I had started before I left hadn't been forgotten about (my animal concentrate project). I had anxious and interested community members approach me yesterday that I didn't even tell. It turns out that my host brother had been collecting opinions from the community while I was gone so we could generate a needs assesment when I got back. He was thinking of it all along! The little girl who I live with wouln't leave my side all day..she kept playing with my hair and giving me hugs, and all of the kids wanted to show me the presents they'd gotten for christmas.

And on top of it all, my goat (se llama pellybuey) had 2 babies last night! she was supposed to give birth around christmas, but my host dad said she waited for me to come home so I could be there for it. I feel so honored. I don'r know if you all have seen a baby goat, but boy are they cute! I tried to milk it unsuccesfully...oh well there is always tomorrow. I will take pictures and put them on here this weekend.

It seems like I have a lot to keep me busy this week at least, and I am excited to get back into the swing of things. I am sorry if this entry seems a little wordy, but I am very emotional right now, and well I tend to talk alot when I am feeling this way. This is not the last time you will here from me! As we say here, Hasta la proxima vez! (until next time!) VA PUES (go well!)

Here's to new begninngs!

Alright...Welcome, or bienvenidos to all. With the new year, I decided to jump on the blogging-bandwagon instead of sending those long emails to explain the many strange events which are my life. When I brought up the idea to some of my PC friends, they looked at me as if I had just discovered the television...Apparently I am the only one who is doing things the hard way and living here blogless. SO....I Brought back my laptop from the states to write entries while I am in my site, and then post them once I get to Esteli. If I can figure it out, I will be able to post videos and pictures as I go. But lets take it one step at a time. This last month has, to say the least...taken the wind out from under me. I have, and still am going through one of the toughest battles I have yet to fight, but somehow, I am able to move forward. I don't know what it will be like going back to my site, and trying to pick up where I have left off. I kind of feel like I am starting over, from scratch. And I am so overwhelmed with everything that I don't think I have even given myself a chance to even get hit with the weight of reality...But here in the land of alone time, I am sure it'll come sooner or later. One of the things I realized while I was home, is that having such an amazing group of friends in Nicaragua made the going back bridge a lot easier to cross. I was greeted warmly in the airport by 6 of my friends, with posters and screaming chants of welcome. It felt really nice to be back with them. We went together to my own city of Esteli, because lucky for me, it was here that we were to have a week of training!

It is Friday the 29th of January and our agriculture group has just finished our first IST (In-Service Training). We did all sorts of interesting things, like make Drip Irrigation Systems, Make cheese, and learn about medicinal plants and how to process them into concentrated tinctures (Syrups), and other usable products. It was just like being in training again, a lot of standing around while watching a few people do things. No I am being too harsh, we did participate some...So I guess I will just start from the top.

A drip irrigation system (for those of you who don't know) is a device that is used in agriculture all over the world. It is an especially good alternative to typical watering methods in third world countries who don't have access all year to rainwater, or runninng water. In my case I am lucky to have running water all year, but the rain only comes from may-november. So there are these systems, very simple, that run water through tubing from a central barrel, to garden beds. The tubes have special holes that "drip" out water slowly, therefore watering your garden without acutally having to physically water it with a hose, or a watering can (which is my primary mode). It uses less energy, and is more efficent in the long run. So, our group built 4 in a community that happened to be located right up the road from my site. It felt great to get dirty and sunburnt again. Although I must admit, this time around since I have stopped biting my nails, I enjoy scooping dirt out of the ground much less, since now I have to maintain them. :)

So on the drive back to the city, my boss Bayardo, told me he would swing by my house with the whole aggie gang so that I could drop off my luggage and see my family for a quick minute and say hello, I am alive and I will be back soon. WELL, let me just say it was way too overwhelming. I was greeted by pretty much everyone in my family (40+ people) running up to me with hugs and kisses and huge smiles. I could not even find words to say. It was like being some sort of gringa royalty or celebrity, not to say I didn't enjoy it, but just my family being there alone was a lot, PLUS the added density of all my fellow group members and bosses etc. I'll tell you one thing, all the boys in my group can't wait to come back and visit me after getting a look at some of the very cute girls in my family. AND not only are they cute, but they are 18years old, single, in college, and without a baby...let me just tell you that combination is harder to find in nicaragua then a pair of sunglasses in the ocean!
The days to follow in training were very cool. We got to go to this finca (farm) that grows medicinal plants and herbs organically, and then dries and processes them into various medicinal products, like tea, soaps, syrups, etc. Some of the herbs we worked with were:
aloe- which is very good for your hair and skin and also used to help treat stomachache ,
garlic-which is an anti-fungal, anti-parisital, anti-bacterial, and a really good cleanser internally. It is also used to help repel pests in the garden by making a tea of garlic and chile +water. I was told it is really good for your nails too, so I made some garlic oil and rub it onto my cuticles and nails to strengthen them. I highly reccommend it if you can stand the smell! it helps me keep the boys away! :)
lemongrass- which is used for many things, teas and to help with stomach troubles.
lemon balm (or citronella)- is used for repelling mosquitos and also if ingested can help with insomnia and sleep discomfort.
Chamomile -is used to also calm nerves, and help with sleeping.

We worked with others like oregano, basil, wormwood, etc. but the above were the most interesting to me. Anyway we took dried leaves of the various herbs and mixed it with either alcohol or boiling water. and let them seep into a very concentrated liquid version of the leaves. We then made sweet syrups that children or adults can use (kind of like tryminic) to heal various health problems. I made on with mentha (mint) for stomachaches. We also made polmades which are vasaline, and beeswax based and then mixed with the strong concentrations we had made earilier. I made on with chamomile ( I am using it as lip balm) and one with garlic (as a nail treatment). At the end of the day, the director gave each of us 25 plants, and a bag of different seeds so that we can give the same information out in our own communities! I love when we get seeeds, as you know how hard they are to come by.

The cheese making- well it was very cool. I took a video but am not sure how to upload it onto here. I also have pictures as well. We took milk, and mixed it with sour whey to separate. After that we drained the liquid and cooked the cheese until it resembled something like mozzerella, but certainly was not. We got to eat it afterwards. Very cool. I am going to work on pictures for this so you can see. Well that is all for now. I will write again soon- hopefully!