Dylan and I made our way back to Santa Marta after our relaxing time in Palomino. This time, we stayed at a quiet hostel outside of the city center. It had a nice little pool, and we spent a few days planning for our trip to Bogota and then to our farm placement. We found cheap airfare to Bogota and were thankfully able to avoid a 16 hour bus ride :) This was especially convenient because both Dylan and I started to feel a little sick our last day in Santa Marta. We were able to make the quick trip to Bogota with no problems and even felt better that night. Unfortunately, Dylan was hit hard the next day and spent the whole day in bed with a fever. Since we were supposed to meet our farm host the next afternoon and didn't want to have health problems our first day with her, we both took anitbiotics. Thankfully, the next morning, we felt much better. We packed up and took a taxi to our meeting place.
We were met by Erika and her 16 month old baby, Maue. Erika is from Colombia, but she spent 5 years in New Zealand and can therefore speak English. Her partner, Rafa, is working in Bogota for the time being, and so she splits her time between Bogota and their farm, usually spending a week in each place at a time. She drove us 4 hours (with stops for groceries, gas etc) to the farm. I spent the time in the back seat with Maue, who, though very cute, was having a hard time. He was crying a lot, and toward the end of the trip, threw up all over. Needless to say, it was an eventful 4 hours.
Erika and Rafa's farm is located on Erika's family's property. Her dad has several dairy cows, and the farm hand, Alberto, is responsible for grazing and milking the cows. He and his wife also produce cheese and butter from the milk. We were able to try some of the cheese this week, and it is awesome! Erkia and Rafa have a big garden for personal use with onions, corn, peas, beans, leafy greens, cabbage etc. All together there are about 10 beds planted with vegetables. In addition, they also have 2 chickens for eggs and a farm duck and goose that are more like pets. The farm produces coffee for retail, and they also make use of the many banana/plantain trees and coconut trees on the property. They produce plantain flour and coconut oil and also sell shredded coconut shell as mulch for house plants.
Erika did her best to introduce us to all of this on our first day, but it was very difficult because Maue had a high fever and was sleeping in the house most of the day. Erika took Dylan up to the garden to point out all of the plants and then to turn the compost pile while I stayed with Maue. When he woke up and his fever broke, we all went up to the garden to do some weeding. That night, Maue's fever spiked again, and the following morning, Erika decided she was going to head back to Bogota to take him to a doctor. She spent the morning and early afternoon showing us a few other things and helped us to create bamboo supports for the corn that was falling over. Then, she left us with the farm with the expectation of being gone for 5 days. Our arrangement is that in exchange for room and board, we work 5-6 hours 5 days a week. We had 3 more days to fill before our 2 days off, and we were really only familiar with the garden. Therefore, we spent about 18 hours over the next few days weeding... and weeding... and weeding some more. Though the days were long, we also did some short workouts at the end of the days. The hill the farm is on is a beast, and I will be proud if by the end of our time here I can run up it 5 times without feeling like I'm going to die. By the time our days off rolled around, we were ready to just sit and read (both of us were in the middle of The Count of Monte Cristo).
Our first morning off, we slept in and had a lazy morning reading and drinking coffee. Dylan looked up at one point to see the red chicken strutting through the front yard. Erika made a point of telling is to be very careful to close the gate behind us anytime we entered their coop so that the chickens didn't escape. Well, here was one of the chickens 'free as a bird', cruising around the farm. We immediately devised a plan to have Dylan corral the chicken back to the gate (which was still closed) where I would wait and open at the last second (so the other chicken couldn't escape too). I have never wished I had a camera more than as I stood at the gate watching Dylan running around trying to get the chicken to go in the correct direction. To make things even more entertaining (for me), the duck also got in on the action and started running around frantically with Dylan and the chicken (the goose honking and hissing in the background). After about 5 minutes of madness, we managed to get the red chicken back into the pen only to watch her run to the other end and out a hole in the chicken wire.
The game was on. We spent the next hour walking around the pen finding all of the gaps and holes and doing our best to mend them with whatever we could find lying around. About halfway through our efforts, we watched the white chicken dodge through a second large hole in the wire. Once we felt confident that their means for escape were squelched, we proceeded to hunt down both chickens and herd them back into the coop. Feeling satisfied with our efforts, we returned to the porch and continued to read/relax. A few hours later, the white chicken walked right past us throwing us smug glances. This time, not wanting to miss another Kodak moment, I grabbed the camera before heading to my post at the gate. Thankfully, the duck acted her part once again, and I was able to capture the essence of our experience with the farm fowl. Despite our efforts to contain the chickens, they kept finding new ways to escape, and we spent our days off chasing birds. Once Erika returned, she dug up some more chicken wire, and we made a more hearty enclosure. Though they continue to thwart our efforts here and there, they have remained, for the most part, contained.
The doctor had told Erika that Maue had a virus and just needed rest. After her 5 days in Bogota, she felt he was better, and returned to us with the intention of spending a full week on the farm. Erika returned with another volunteeer, Mateo, from Italy. He does not speak much English and has been working on his Spanish during his travels over the last 5 months. Therefore, we have been able to practice our Spanish some more. It was helpful to have Erika as a sort of translator when vocabulary failed us.
Our first morning, she sent Dylan and Mateo to stir the barrel of fertilizer behind the house. It wasn't long before the entire area reeked of a cross between shit and sour milk... not pleasant. The fertilizer was a mixture of cow manure, milk, and molasses, and had been left to "soak" for several months. Our job was to mix it, filter out the solid portion, and then dilute it with water. As I had been given a different job for the morning, I was (gratefully) under the impression that I had avoided this rather undesirable job. Unfortunately for me, once it became time to filter the fertilizer, I was dragged over to help. We set up a series of buckets and attached a rag to the top of one. With all five of us gathered around (Maue continually trying to poke at the bucket of nasty with a stick) we expectantly poured a pitcher onto the towel. It very slowly filtered into the bucket. It quickly became apparent that this was going to take a loooonnnng time, and that it was not necessary for all of us to watch poop milk slowly drip into a bucket. Erika quickly delegated new tasks, and I somehow ended up responsible for the shit station. As the boys went to turn the compost pile, gather dead banana leaves for mulch and work in the garden, I spent 4 hours tediously filtering grassy solid gloop from the liquid fertilizer. Luckily, after about 30 minutes I became immune to the smell, and after about 1 hour, I was pretty much numb to the gross-ness. By the end of the day, I had 50 liters of diluted fertilizer ready to go.
In the morning, we loaded up the jugs of fertilizer and a spray tank (think Ghostbusters) and drove to the other side of the valley where the coffee plants are located. Dylan was given the tank full of fertilizer while Mateo and I cleaned up the coffee plants. The coffee beans grow inside a small fruit that looks kind of like a cranberry when ripe. The plants need lots of shade and water in order to produce healthy fruit. With 6000 plants on the farm, there are some plants that are not conveniently located and that receive too much sunlight. The fruits on these become burnt and if they are left on the plant will just continue to utilize energy and nutrients that could otherwise be going to healthy fruits. Mateo and I were sent to seek out these plants and remove any burnt fruit we saw. It was very hot out, especially in the sun, but still a welcome change of pace from weeding and sifting poop. We passed the morning with the coffee plants and returned to Erika's for lunch. During our break, I found out that the Ghostbuster style spray tank that Dylan had been using to spray the coffee plants had leaked fertilizer - aka liquid shit - all over his rear end and part of his shirt. I felt better about having had to strain shit the previous day. That afternoon, the boys went for more mulch (there is a constant need for more) and I was asked to prepare more fertilizer for the next day. :) Since I had a system down, it actually went by quickly (though still unpleasantly) and 2.5 hours later, I had another 50 liters ready for the next day.
That night, Maue, who was showing symptoms of a bacterial infection, had a really high fever again. Erika packed up and left for Bogota early in the moring. We woke up to find a to do list for the next 2 days, which included a lot of cleaning, weeding and mulch gathering. While the boys got started with the garden tasks, I spent the morning deep cleaning the kitchen. It was relatively painless until at the very end, when I came accross a stack of rarely used dishes at the back of the cabinet. When I lifted one mug, about 50... okay 15... cockroaches scattered throughout the cabinet. Luckily, it was already mostly empty and they didn't have many places to hide. I squashed a few, but those buggers are fast, and most of them slipped through the cracks of the cabinet and under other dishes and disappeared. I had spent about 2 hours cleaning the rest of the kitchen, but it took me 45 minutes to remove and clean about 10 dishes. Each time I reached in to remove one, I had to muster all of my will power for fear of finding the escaped insects. It was the worst 45 minutes of my travels thus far. Somehow I managed to complete the task and kill a few more bugs. When the boys returned from the forest with bags of mulch in hand, they found me in a state of disarray. Needless to say, I went into hysterics later that evening.
Aside from Dylan and I having to corral a few escaped cows back into the pasture, the rest of the week has passed uneventfully, and we are in the midst of our 2 day break. While there is a very small town that is a 20 minute walk from the farm, all that is available there is very slow internet on desk top computers. We have taken the bus to Guaduas, about a 15 minute journey, to seek out WiFi and civilization in general. Erika is due back at some point this week. Maue does not have a serious infection (no bronchitis) but the doctor advised that she stay near medical help until all of his symptoms disappear. Until then, we will keep weeding and mulching.
Our intention is to stay another 2 weeks. Dylan has had some allergies to their cat and plants in the area. We think they are under control with medication now, but if they persist, we might leave sooner. Hopefully, Maue's health improves so that Erika can teach us some other skills. While we might not get the opportunity to follow through with the entire coffee production, we will hopefully get to make coconut oil and plantain flour. Only time will tell.
