Yesterday, while making compost with the female park guards, I ended up in a 1 m³ hole in the ground with a tarantula the size of my fist and, miraculously, I didn’t freak out. I calmly scooped it up with my shovel and removed it from the hole, at which point the women quickly smashed it. Given my previous sentiments towards the entire arachnid family, barring daddy long-legs, I was pretty impressed with myself. At one point in my life, anything with eight legs over the size of a dime was too much for me to handle with any kind of reasonable behavior. However, after being lectured by the women about how poisonous they are, and about how I was lucky it hadn’t attached itself to my leg, I promptly removed myself from the hole.
-------
Speaking of compost, I’ve been making a lot of it lately. As the price of urea, a nitrogen fertilizer, has skyrocketed in the past year due to rising petroleum prices, people are starting to take an interest in organic alternatives. In the last month I’ve given several compost talks. Susan and I even got together to give a joint lesson in Pacora. We posted signs all over town and in our communities. In the end, there were over 20 people there, most of them male farmers from the district. I was surprised that so many interested people showed up. I’m sure they were surprised to find that the event was being hosted by two young girls from the U.S. Some of them had ridiculously specific questions like, “Exactly how many kilos of compost should I apply to one hectare if I am going to plant yellow corn?” In general, I was really impressed with how interactive the participants were and I think they might actually apply what they learned. In the upcoming weeks we are going to teach them how to make biol, a liquid fertilizer, and humus.
-------
The presupesto participativo is finally really over. Knock on wood. I don’t actually believe it. They say that next year I will have S/.5000 to construct improved cooking stoves in Huaca Rivera. That’s half of what they allotted me the first time, but just about perfect for the number of people that are signed up, exactly 25. I had a meeting with the participants to let them know that the project was approved and that they should begin making the necessary adobe. One woman complained about not wanting to make the adobe and I was relieved when the rest of the people didn’t take her side.
-------
On Saturday morning, I heard a familiar voice coming from the next room, my old host-sister from Lima. Apparently, she’s back, for good. No one told me she was coming back. It really threw me for a loop because I knew my boss was coming on Monday to talk with my host-mother about me changing houses. Well, he did come, but by the time he got here I was even more thoroughly confused about whether or not I should move. For now I’ve decided to stay in my current house for a couple of weeks to see how it goes with my host-sister back. But I don’t know if, in the long run, I will be happy with that decision.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment