Our signal is very slow here and we have opted to upload our blog even though we can’t get the photos to load. When we have a stronger signal/higher speed internet we will add photos! So stay tuned!

Today began with a well-planned, well executed, carination of one Dahoon Jose Juan Song. Hoon received a guitar-accompanied performance of both the Spanish and English “happy birthday” songs, while I sat on his bed getting his dogs under control. The day was off to a great start. After walking back to the “big house” after finishing our morning duties, we made a nice buffet style yogurt, granola, fruit, and bread station, which made for quite the breakfast.

After breakfast we prepared to go and visit our new rural school friends, this time at their place of business. After a short hike to Anja and Alex’s house to borrow a car, we were on our way to the school and Huatusco. We reached the school and were warmly greeted by “the homies”.  A couple handshakes and tapas later, Mekhi, Dahoon and I found ourselves in the middle of a friendly fùtbol match. Mekhi came out on fire, scoring the first two goals of the match. After some mild to lackluster defense from our female teammates, we were facing a surely insurmountable deficit. Dahoon and I did our best to get back in the game via him serving me up a few lobs, which quickly turned into screaming volleys as they hit my foot. Although the non-present scoreboard showed the other team having more goals, our team surely triumphed by means of spirituality and sportsmanship.

Following the game, we were kindly toured by two teachers and many students who showed us their progressing advancement in Eco-technologies such as compost piles, designated plastic disposing areas, a small garden with hanging orchids, and their compost packaging partnership with an urban school in which they provide the compost and in return get it packaged while retaining 50% of the profit of the sold compost bags. After the tour, we were able to share our thoughts, show our respect and appreciation, and acknowledge our possible role as creating a brother/sister school relationship with Westtown to help with the money issues, among other things, that go into converting a school such as that one into a completely eco friendly environment. It should be noted that this school in particular is hoping to be the benchmark for sustainability; if/when successful, they will be the model for all of its 1,200 peer schools – the effect of this accomplishment is obvious.

After the presentation and our reflections, we were directed to meet with the students at their main building for a surprise. Once gathered, the students brought out a birthday cake for Dahoon as we all sang to him. The cake was as sweet as saying adios to our Mexican friends was bitter. After a bite of cake, hugs, and many pictures, we were on our way to Hoon’s birthday lunch in Huatusco, where Guillermina was anticipating our arrival. After noodles, optional chicken, eggs, plantains, soup, and another birthday cake, we were ready to call it quits. We said goodbye and thank you to Guillermina and began walking to the urban school, where we were planning to see another group of students that we had taught and exchanged contact info with the day before.

Once in the school we sat and spoke with the assistant principal, talking briefly about what we showed the kids and a more general synopsis of the work Alan and Paula are doing in Las Bellotas (the conversation was in Spanish so don’t quote me on what was said). We were given a quick tour, and to our disappointment had to leave before seeing the kids we met yesterday. Sentimentality aside, we were back on the streets of Huatusco where we had a few minutes to shop. We then met in Hector and Pati’s yoga studio, and a few minutes later were on our way home. We made it back exhausted but in good spirits.

After a good while of resting, afternoon chores, and general chilling, we went and visited our old compost piles we made what feels like a month ago. They weren’t hot like expected, but that didn’t matter because we were now focused on meeting yet again with our apprentice friends for games and dinner. Once there we had a great meal accompanied by fun table games that are too numerous and complicated to write about at the moment. After cleaning up and saying goodbye, we were on our way home, where we are now; showering, taping up blisters, eating leftover cake, sleeping, talking, and blogging. The day was busy with memories for all of us, but for only Dahoon will these memories turn into that of legend. What a (birth)day. I’m hoping to fall asleep soon, in search of much needed rest to lead yoga tomorrow, which with luck, will be followed by ziplining, which will then be followed by our night of camping under the stars… We are all crossing our fingers for clear skies tomorrow night.

See you soon, Samuél

Today was doomsday, but it went really well! For the past week and a half, Sam, Dahoon, Mekhi, Teacher Alan, Teacher Paula, and I have been preparing for a visit from two Mexican schools. We planned to teach the students twenty different Eco-technologies that they could implement in their own lives to improve their personal sustainability, home efficiency and overall impact on the Earth. To prepare, we have had many practices in both Spanish and English and I suspect far more stress and nerves than any of us are willing to admit. Yet, no matter how ready we were, today the students arrived! This is what happened:

We woke up at seven as usual for yoga and a quick breakfast of eggs, beans, and granola. At 9:00 the first group of nineteen kids and their teachers arrived from a rural school outside Huatusco. After introductions and a great presentation on climate change from Teacher Paula, I led the group in a game of elbow tag. Afterwards, we broke into small groups with or without translators and led our new friends to four different Eco-technology stations. I started with the dam, water pump, and bamboo bridge, then moved through the efficient ovens and stoves, lights, solar panels, water filtration systems, cooler, ecological toilets, and compost, also stopping to discuss firewood, mushroom farming, gardens, food forests, and tire staircases. I particularly enjoyed talking to Eugenio, an awesome student who helped me with Spanish grammar and took a large interest in sustainability. After our tour, we reunited with the others on the main porch to share what we had learned. Our Mexican friends brought us wonderful homemade snacks and also shared the process behind their school’s recycling system. We circled up on the lawn for a Big Sit and Yurt Circle and took many photos together before waving goodbye our new friends. After a quick lunch, debrief, and imaginary nap, it was time for round two!

The second group of students was much larger, with twenty-nine students from an urban Huatusco school. These students were much more lively, distractible, and outgoing, though they too seemed to enjoy learning about our ecological systems. Overall, both groups were excellent, and learned a lot about Eco-technologies while teaching us about their own systems at home. After running through the activities a second time, we were all mostly exhausted, though we did have enough energy to take even more photos and walk our friends down to their pickups. They tried to convince us to come back with them to Huatusco, but unfortunately we had to decline. Heading back to the house, it felt like we had made an actual connection with other kids as well as finally mastering the information we had been so stressed about. Back at the house, we took time to stare tiredly into space, eat food, and finish our chores, and then went over the river to herd the sheep.

On the way to meet the apprentices, we met Oscar, our fifteen-year-old shepherd friend. We talked to him for a while about his life in Las Cañadas and taught him some English phrases, before starting a baseball game with a dog and some rocks. We herded the sheep, caught up with our apprentice friends, and then returned to eat dinner and practice our songs. It turns out that both of the injured lambs died in the past few days, a fact that made me extremely sad. I hope that the rest of the lambs live on into the future.

After dinner it was time to celebrate Dahoon’s birthday! Even though it is his birthday tomorrow, we decided to celebrate both days because it is currently his birthday in Korea. We ate the delicious leftovers of solar banana bread prepared by Sam and Teacher Alan, just as our neighbors showed up to sing with us and eat even more Mexican bread! After eating far too much sweet bread and planning for a Quaker renewable energy campaign, we collapsed on wooden chairs to watch the end of Forks Over Knives. We are currently looking forward to Dahoon’s birthday tomorrow and particularly Sam’s secret plan! Have a lovely day,

-Leif

Today was a rather easy day as we were given the option to rest in the morning while others went to retrieve Macadamia trees to plant later in the day. So, Sam and I chose to stay behind while Mekhi and Leif piled in the truck with T. Alan and T. Paula to learn about food forestry and pick up 12 macadamia trees. After a relaxing morning and a great breakfast, we set out with Angel to plant trees alongside the road to the tiny house. The trees were planted two meters from the road, and 8 meters apart from each other. Unlike the trees we planted the day before, the holes for these Macadamia trees had to be much larger in diameter. Furthermore, even before we could start digging holes for the trees, Angel came around with his machete and skillfully made clearings for 12 trees alongside the road. Once the holes were made, we carefully placed the trees inside their respective holes and filled up the sides with 50% compost and 50% soil. The compost was necessary to facilitate their growth.

After the tree planting took up the majority of the afternoon, we had lunch and prepared our presentations for the students coming tomorrow. We rotated through each part of the tour and talked about the various eco-technologies present in those locations. We also read sections from Eric Toensmeier’s book about Carbon farming. We learned about the cloud forest and how it was so important because of its many unique plant species. Lastly, we learned about how pollution is negatively influencing the climate’s temperature. After the later portion of the afternoon was filled with learning about reforestation, we ended the day after delicious dinner with a very shocking documentary about how the consumption of meat could possibly have links with cancer and general sickness. I look forward to spending a couple more days here by living fully alive.

P.S. The seeds we planted in the seed blocks a few days ago are looking great!

– Dahoon