June 11

Friday, June 11
I woke up at 5:30 and did an abbreviated yoga practice. The sound of the frogs, crickets and howling monkeys would make it impossible for me to sleep in. I definitely like going to sleep early and waking early. Continuing the practice at home may be a challenge.

I decided to drink coffee while I’m here because it smells and tastes so good. I’ll still have a cup or two of tea as well. After breakfast for the boys, we dressed for farm work and headed into the fields. Our job today was to move cut debris from the ground around the new trees in the orchard to help collect water. The debris will breakdown in a matter of weeks or months. The trees we’re protecting and feeding are mango, avocado, banana, papaya, citrus, and others I don’t remember. We worked along side two volunteers from CA, Tyler and Brian and two others, Andy and Katy. All the volunteers are between 19 and 21 except for the boys and me-LOL.

Margim (pronounced mar heem), a tico who lives on the land, called us over to see a tree frog, the same one pictured in our lonely Planet—bright green with red eyes. Aaron worked for 15-30 minutes then spent some time looking for other critters. He made his way on his own back to the house. There he planted seeds in split bamboo trays.

Ethan and I worked along side Derek and the other volunteers for 4 hours total. We were sweaty, tired, hungry and dirtier than I’ve been in a long, long time. Temperatures were 85 degrees F with about 99% humidity. We ate lunch and then swam and washed in the river. I toured the property with Derek, my host. I love that everyone has time to chat and share about their experience even though there’s so much work to be done.

The house we are staying in can easily sleep 14 people. The downstairs where the kitchen and main living area is located is completely open doors and windows contain no glass, screen or wood. The rain falls as I cook with Tiffany, my hostess. Insects, birds, the dog move in and out. The bugs were difficult to get used to at first. Ants frequent the kitchen, bees and flies move through the fruit.

This week’s chore is sweeping for me; the boys are responsible for watering potted plants and seedlings. We are all responsible for washing our dishes after each meal. Meals are generally group projects. There’s no microwave or microwavable food. The boys were allowed to choose some foods they knew from the store, which are much more costly in CR than healthier non-processed choices. Pickles, hot dogs ketchup, chocolate sandwich cookies and root beer are what they chose.

After another wonderful meal, this time rice, bean and pico dile (a mixture of potato and squash) and some deep conversation and watching the boys go nuts around the house, I crashed early once more. I have slept more deeply here even with the noise of the frogs than I have in a long time. Some of the living things that have visited us are a scorpion, a very large caligo eurilochas sulanus (no nick name butterfly), scarlet-rumped tulanger, blue heron, a small tree frog in my bedroom, various hummingbirds, hawks and vultures,