The house is done. We finished over a month ago, right on schedule. Building a house is simultaneously one of the most frustrating and rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. Doing it all off the grid adds a whole other dimension of challenges, but it was worth it all because this is probably the cutest house I’ll ever live in (with the most amazing view)! There is a video up on Vimeo if anyone wants to take the virtual tour ( http://www.vimeo.com/3636491 ). Warning- watch it on a laptop because you’ll need to turn the screen sideways to compensate for my horrid filming skills. As soon as I got settled into the new place, my parents and brother came to visit for a week! It was a blast to show them around the community and introduce them to all my favorite people here. I was nervous that they weren’t going to be able to rough it here, but they sure proved me wrong! They were great! We did a lot of hiking and endured insanely hot conditions with limited water supply. I am also very thankful that they brought my old mountain bike down so I can start exploring further into the depths of the Comarca. Having the bike opens a whole new world of freedom for me and I can’t wait to get out there! On my debut ride the other day, however, I got 3 flat tires. People that know me well, know how crazy I am about cycling, but not many know that I’ve never had a flat tire. Not even when I rode a good 400+ miles of the CA HWY 1 last year. I found a team of little kids along the trail to help me out, luckily. Together, we gave it 3 tries before a 6 yr old firmly told me that the tube was done and needed to be replaced. I took his advice and walked the bike home that day. Since then, I’ve been out on a few great rides along ridge roads with beautiful mountain views.
(Photos: my 'pit' crew gathering around the bike, family photo in Cerro Iglesias)
Other than hanging out in the hammock at my new place and planning for future bike rides and hikes to remote places, I’ve been busy with lots of activities in the community. The knitting class continues to go strong and is growing with every class. I will be starting another class in a different community soon, because the word got out and now those ladies want to pick up the sticks and make stuff! Thanks to my mother for hauling down more than 30 lbs of donated yarn so that these classes can continue! Many thanks also to the ladies who contributed yarn – it will be put to great use! I will, however, charge my group a very small amount (between 5 and 50 cents) for the yarn, because they need to know that in the ¨real¨ world, things don’t always come free. They will take more ownership, care and interest if they are purchasing it themselves (even though it is super-subsidized). With the money I will either have a party for them, elect a few ladies to bring to a knitting seminar that another volunteer wants to organize or purchase more supplies when we run out. The coffee group is still trying to get organized to obtain the legal documents to have access to a loan that will help jump-start their local coffee processing and sales force. Recently, the leading presidential candidate came to Cerro Iglesias and offered to donate badly needed resources that the group needs to continue down this path. Politicians are full of broken promises, but I have a pretty good feeling about this one. I have worked with one family (Jorge’s) to roast and package coffee that we sold at a Peace Corps leadership seminar a few months ago. He made $30 in 10 minutes! The other major activity recently has been harvesting honey with a few brave ladies in the artisan group. What an exhausting but exhilarating task! The next blog entry will detail that process. It’s intense.
(Photos: Roasted coffee we made to sell, Hello honey bee!, Liliana roasting coffee in a huge pot, Zulieka knits her first bag)
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