Days 8-13 - Flor de Pochote

A week on the farm...I began my mornings at 8am with breakfast of fresh fruit and coffee prepared by the resident chef. Definitely nothing to complain about. Everything served here was either grown on the premises organically, or within the community. Following, around 9 I had Spanish lessons for a few hours with a professor from the Spanish school in Granada where I had been last week. It turned out that she was the sister of my teacher from last week. She was great and I definitely improved my oral abilities over the past week; however, I am still a long way from fluency. During our lessons, the chef would bring us a snack of pastry and juice. Around noon, we had lunch together. Each day at one, we would meet up with the grounds keeper of the farm and participate in some work for a few hours...this is where it gets interesting.

Monday, I learned how to scrub down the goose bath and corral. Also, I learned how to make organic chicken feed before distributing it. It is interesting because as the farm is organic, there are no real limitations put on the animals. The chickens, cows, sheep and horses are free to roam around as they please. Kind of funny when you are eating breakfast and all of a sudden, the cow comes to eat with you.

Tuesday, I learned how to sharpen a machete and determine if a cactus was infected by a plague. If yes, I had to chop off the infected area or slice it with the machete...I did not like this task at all and I think the grounds keeper began thinking that I was a princess. Oh well.

Wednesday, we walked around the community and spoke with different people about what they grow and their thoughts on the current economic conditions in Nicaragua. It was really interesting not only to see how they live, but also to know that I can comprehend discussions such as these at this stage in the game. Obviously, my responses and follow up questions were in broken Spanish, but these folks were appreciative of my efforts. We also visited a coffee growers cooperative which was pretty cool. It has been around for 30 years and these guys were hard core sandinista. They had murals of Che on their walls and spoke about how much they do not like the banks having ownership of their property. They were very hospitable and answered all of my questions about the production process and the history of their group, but it was an extremely different lifestyle than what I am used to.

Thursday, I learned how to sharpen an ax and to saw down trees with an electric saw. I also tried - key word - tried to chop firewood, but it was much more difficult than I´d thought.

Unfortunately, Friday I contracted a fever and had to cancel my activity, but the family and their staff were very hospitable and took great care of me.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling much better and ready to head back to Granada for the day.
The taxi picked me up at 11am and brought me back to the school. I am finally able to use the internet and charge my phone with more credits as I was pretty much in isolation over the past week. It was a great experience living on the farm, but I am very excited to be headed to the beach tomorrow morning!