Field Trips Galore

This weekend began like any other; without reprieve from the ever-vocal roosters or the incessant tortilla slapping. But it continued in a pleasant fashion. The four of us in my site were lucky enough to receive a lesson in making tire gardens (the ingenious solution to the lack of land space for personal gardens and excess of abandoned tires) from a group of Food Security volunteers. We were also joined by a group of 3 more Marketing Volunteers from a different town, bringing our group to a party of eleven volunteers, two Spanish teachers and two Guatemalan men, cutting and flipping tires en masse. It’s hard to visualize the ingenuity of this solution, but trust me, it's a cool idea. I've posted some pictures to facebook to give you an idea, along with a video that captures our struggle to flip a tire inside out.

The tire garden is one of the food security group's essential tools in encouraging healthier family nutrition and personal consumption. It’s easily constructed by 1) cutting the rim off a tire of any size, 2) carving handles for easy transport, 3) covering the bottom with two sticks for support, 4) canvassing the bottom with an easily drainable swatch of plastic or a used sack and, 5) filling with a mixture of soil, sand, compost in which to plan the seeds of your choice. I’m amazed at solutions like these that I see around every day that are incredibly resourceful. Not only do the people employ these tire solutions, but I’ve seen old pots, buckets and egg shells housing seedlings and household plants.

Aside from the excitement of implementing my tire garden (from which I’ll soon be expecting cilantro, parsley and radishes, by the way), I also had the chance to climb a [very active] volcano on Sunday. Volcan Pacaya is located about an hour away from the central town of Antigua, from where most tourist excursions depart. At a rate of about $6 US per person, almost half of my training class got to the National Park that houses Pacaya and back, a modest weekend splurge.

We were accompanied up the mountainside by a seasoned guide, who somehow beat us up each steep climb, but also found the cardiovascular resistance to chain smoke while he was at it. He finished off a pack of Marlboros, no sweat, (literally) while the rest of us were trailing him, wheezing.

It was a tough climb, but short climb and we made it to the top in about two hours, where we scaled the side of the volcano to reach a spot where active lava was flowing. When we arrived at the source of the fresh lava, it felt as though the temperature had gone up about 20 degrees, to the point that we were actually able to quickly roast marshmallows in the crevices surrounding the lava flow to make s’mores. Visibility quickly became limited as well by the steam surrounding the flow in combination with the impending afternoon rainfall. Although we were in need of a longer break at the top, we were rushed out by our nervous guide, who sensed an oncoming surge of lava from the source we’d found. Yelling orders in incomprehensible Spanish, cigarette dangling from his mouth, he hustled us back down the face of the volcano. All in all, it was a great time and definitely a nice break from work and training.

Until next time..