Sorry I haven’t updated lately. Over the past couple weeks I have had more classes and my second tech trip. There is nothing super exciting to tell about the classes except one day we had a ‘sports day’. We split into 6 teams, came up with sweet team names, and ordered/designed uniforms. My team was The Skeletons so we went with a Day of the Dead theme. Thus, everyone on my team painted their faces like those of the candy heads they have for the holiday. The day started out with a procession onto the soccer field by all the teams. Then each presented the cheer that they had come up with. There was also a beauty queen contest (apparently there is always a queen of each sport event) and they had to dance and then answer a question. The queen was sashed, and then the games began. We played soccer literally all day. I forgot how much I like the sport; it will be fun to play in my town. My team came in third (not too shabby). Later than night we all met up and cooked some delicious burritos. All in all a good day, but the next day I could barely move because I was so sore.
I had my second tech trip this past week. This trip was devoted entirely to cacao and everything there is to know about it. All the ACDI/VOCA people went on the trip and we stayed at the hostel in my town. After a long morning of traveling we got to BA Monday afternoon and had an introductory charla by the ACDI/VOCA folks. The next day we went out to a farm about 40 minutes down the road to learn how to prune cacao trees, about the different diseases the tree can get, about the different fertilizers, etc. In the afternoon we went to the APROCAI complex (the local cacao organization that members of my town, including Jefferson, and a few others nearby started) to graft some trees. It’s a skill that will take some time to perfect. Wednesday morning we traveled about a half hour east of Bucay to see a town/organization that really has it together in regards to cacao. Many groups/organizations don’t succeed in Ecuador because of corruption, lack of motivation, or lack of resources/knowledge. This group was so far from that and an excellent example of what can be accomplished. We visited a few different farms and it was amazing to see how well the cacao was producing. The main reason for going was to learn about the irrigation system that they are currently installing on the farms. It was refreshing to see actual AutoCAD plans on plotter paper. In the afternoon we had a charla about communication and how to communicate on the same level as the farmers. On Thursday we harvested cacao (lots of machete use…woohoo), learned the fermentation process, and the drying process. In the afternoon we talked about registers and bookkeeping stuff. Currently only about 30% of cacao farmers actually keep records of how much they harvest, sell, the market price, etc. I also met with my group for my tech trip presentation. We’ll be doing a feasibility study/cost analysis on value added cacao. It should be super helpful for my future work with APROCAI since they want to eventually process chocolate at their facility. On Friday we got a bus back to Tumbaco. There are only two more weeks until I’m officially sworn in as a volunteer.
Random Thoughts:
· Everyone that went on my tech trip was super jealous of how pretty my site is (hint, hint visitors).
· I will soon be buying my very own machete.
· My host family said they are going to breed my dog, Dana, with the Rottweiler down the road and that I can have one of the puppies.
· My town had an interesting change in politics while I was gone. Don Bolivar was ousted as the President and a new guy (who is friends with Jefferson) was voted in. Now Jefferson is the Treasurer. This may have made my life a lot less complicated for the next two years.
· The APROCAI organization will be changing their leaders soon too. This whole organization should be interesting to watch because they haven’t really invested any of their own money, but got outside grants from MAGAP (Ecuadorian Ag Ministry). Thus, I feel like there might be some corruption in the future.
· I decided I’m going to build a composting toilet in my site.
· I was supposed to be sworn in at the US ambassador’s house, but since Correa kicked her out earlier this week, I’m not sure what we’ll be doing for the ceremony.
· I’m starting to enjoy the long bus rides across Ecuador. They are always amusing since there is at least one little old lady with a chicken on her lap, one man selling Ginseng or shiny rocks in the front, one stop to let guys pee on the side of the road or to let women find a random public restroom, tons of food vendors, and tons of bad action movies.
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