The river was light with fog this morning. It was so beautiful! The comorants were swimming and diving and singing. Pink fluffy flowers were brought inside. The geese watched our work from their mountain of dirt.
Later on we walked down to the local mennonite farm. As we crossed the gate suddenly we found ourselves in the midwest! Caucasian farmers in a stick-built house. Green grass, pastures, red barn. A stark contrast to the neighbors house- rusty tin roof with a horse tied out back. It is fascinating that so many different people live here.
Ru helped with the wheelbarrow and K picked what looks like a cucumber from a vine. Inside is loofah sponge. Did you know loofah grows like a cucumber on a vine?
After all that work we needed a cool drink. A local man showed B how to chop open green coconuts to get the milk using none other than a huge machete. You can imagine how stoked B was! The milk was delicious- a bit fizzy like its carbonated. Yum! We also found a piece of sugar cane in the road. Sugar cane is farmed everywhere here and big huge trucks come by full on the way to the mill. Sometimes canes fall off. B found one and we tried the sweet natural goodness of pure sugarcane, unaltered. It was sweet and mellow, quite different from the processed stuff on your table.
We collected coconut husks and pulled the fibers out to create a fabulous mulch for the coconut trees in the garden. In the states we pay $3/brick for coconut husk for our aquaponics system, here coconuts can be found in the road!! Hopefully this mulch will help keep the moisture in and the weeds out.
TL and I are learning to use a heddle loom for weaving. If we can get it set up we can teach some of the locals how to use it too.
On our way home today we saw some teenytiny puppies! They were so cute! Dogs roam everywhere here. Do you see the pic of Guinness' girlfriend?
We are having tons of fun! The kids are taking it all in stride- no one has complained about being in a strange town, sleeping in a strange bed, talking to strange people, or eating strange food. They have made some friends and stay busy- get this- playing Outside!! They go fishing and run around and make hopscotch and play "who can jump over those weeds?" Even Ru is having fun- she she loves to have an audience of people to listen to her stories! It's a pretty casual life- working early in the morning while it is still cool, drinking coconut milk in the shade in the hot part of the day, rockin out to the local music (blaring) in the evenings. Ahhhhhh.
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