(no subject)
I learned how to use a machete today. We cleared tall cow-grazing grass from a section of the reserve. My machete skills are still, of course, a bit lacking, but I think I will have plenty of time to improve.
This morning we made empanadas de queso for breakfast. Barbara used flour, eggs, baking powder, salt, hot water, and oil to make a dough, which we formed into balls and flattened into small circles. We filled the little circles with cheese, closed them, and fried them in oil. When they were cooked we sprinkled sugar on top and ate them with hot chocolate.
I used the new shower today for the first time. The water-heating system is modeled after a sunflower. There is a long coil of black tubing that sits on top of a platform made of bamboo strips that can be turned to face the sun at various time of the day. The water in the black tubes gets warm, and is then pumped to the shower. And since we had to move all the pipes yesterday in order to serve the new shower (which was created to have a more effective waste water filtration system) I learned a (very) little about plumbing, and a bit of plumbing vocabulary.
The other 2 volunteers who where here when I arrived have gone. One went to do something like research for the reserve, taking pictures at another project somewhere, and the other has continued on with his travels through South America. Tomorrow I will go with Milton and Gonzalo (from the reserve) to another location they have on the coast, somewhere near Atacama. The town is a fishing village - not so much fishing as an industry, but fishing to eat, and there is more agriculture at that site than here. I´ll probably stay there for another week or two.
This morning we made empanadas de queso for breakfast. Barbara used flour, eggs, baking powder, salt, hot water, and oil to make a dough, which we formed into balls and flattened into small circles. We filled the little circles with cheese, closed them, and fried them in oil. When they were cooked we sprinkled sugar on top and ate them with hot chocolate.
I used the new shower today for the first time. The water-heating system is modeled after a sunflower. There is a long coil of black tubing that sits on top of a platform made of bamboo strips that can be turned to face the sun at various time of the day. The water in the black tubes gets warm, and is then pumped to the shower. And since we had to move all the pipes yesterday in order to serve the new shower (which was created to have a more effective waste water filtration system) I learned a (very) little about plumbing, and a bit of plumbing vocabulary.
The other 2 volunteers who where here when I arrived have gone. One went to do something like research for the reserve, taking pictures at another project somewhere, and the other has continued on with his travels through South America. Tomorrow I will go with Milton and Gonzalo (from the reserve) to another location they have on the coast, somewhere near Atacama. The town is a fishing village - not so much fishing as an industry, but fishing to eat, and there is more agriculture at that site than here. I´ll probably stay there for another week or two.