Reflection

I pass through life like driftwood in the tide - my hands bound by my fear to make waves.

I appologize to those of you who have been waiting a while for this. I have been thinking a lot recently - probably about things I shouldn´t be dwelling on - and it has not put me in the best frame of mind. As a result, I kept putting blogging off until I realized that it was not benefiting anyone. To top things off, I almost wasn´t able to write today; the electricty is out, but luckily this internet cafe has a generator.

I will spare you the details - I think it is sufficient to say that my COS (close of service) conference was a sobering experiece.

Back in May, there were rumors flying around in the community that a company was going to pay people per hectare of land (registered with the company) based on the tons of oxygen produced. All one had to do was submit the deed of the property. It was later explained to me that the company was also interested in CO2, and that the oxygen was for more polluted countries. To add to things, a second helicopter began making rounds overhead (in addition to the one supposedly investigating wind energy prospects) and this led people to believe that it was packaging oxygen to take to the US and other countries. I tried to explain that the US has its own oxygen and that the helicopter was probably just measuring oxygen levels, but I had to listen some more before I finally deduced that they were actually talking about a carbon credit program that they didn´t understand. I can see how some "gringo" trying to explain the concept in broken spanish might come across as looking to buy oxygen for polluted countries. The company did manage to get across the idea that more trees per hectare produce more oxygen so maybe the program will catch on and help promote reforestation.

I was waiting for the bus home one day when a bolo (drunk) came up to me. I usually try to avoid them because they can be openly hostile to foreigners, or at best constantly ask for money. This guy happened to ask me where I was from first, so as not be rude I told him, "Pensilvania" (Pennsylvania). His eyes lit up in shock like I had whipped out some sort of dangerous weapon, and he asked in all seriousness if Dracula was real. Trying not to laugh I spent the next 15 minutes trying to explain the difference between PA and Transylvania.

My dislike of chickens has raised to a new level. Not only do they bullseye to my room if I leave the door open for a second and destroy my attempts at gardening, now they will not let me eat in peace. One day while I was calmly enjoying my breakfast with the customary stack of tortillas on the side, one of the chickens jumped up on the table (with that awkward wing flapping in attept to fly) and snatched a tortilla before my host mother chased it out of the house. Something new every day as they say.

The rainy season has been making up for its relative absence last year. It has rained so much that the tejas (clay tiles usaully superior to tin roofs for the noise factor) are leaking as they have become so saturated that water passes through them, albeit slowly, like a filter. All this rain has made it difficult to pass from one side of the community to the other; the rio is unpredictable. One day I was struck with cabin fever and decided to head out to the field with my host brothers. We decided against the long way around (all on one side of the river but plagued by pooled water and barbed wire fences) in favor of the double river crossing, drier and quicker, normal route. At the second crossing the river was higher than anticipated so my host brothers begin to cross on a log fence suspended by a cable across the river, one by one. Then it was my turn. About four steps in, there was an ominous crack and I suddenly found myself dangling in the river up to my waist. I managed to pull myself out to the other side without further incident, just to catch flak about wanting to swim with clothes on and being the gordo (fat) gringo that broke the fence (although I might weigh 20 pounds more - at most). Just wasn´t my day - needless to say we took the long way around on the way back.


Research has been somewhat less than desireable. I have a weir placed in a spring to measure flows but it has been removed twice. Thankfully I have been able to locate it both times and re-install it. Apparently some of the neighborhood kids (so I was told) emptied one of my rain gauges before I could record the amount of rainfall, but at least that seems to be an isolated incident. Recently the store owner placed a hose in the spring where I have the weir to fill his pila (storage tank). I am still thinking of a way I can accurately measure the amount of springflow that is being siphoned off. My advisor came to visit recently and, in addition to moral support, left me with a gps. Hopefully I will be able to take points of interesting features to compare with satelite imagery and aerial photos (if the rain lets up).