Again, we woke up early. We had another fabulous home cooked breakfast. Milk and cheese from Nellies cows and rice, beans, eggs and corn tortillas. Blanca is always in the kitchen cooking. As soon as one meal is finished she starts on the next. She makes the corn tortillas from scratch! Once breakfast was over, we headed down the hill to the school at Montserrat. This one room school house is home for five children who come from the small group of families in the area. We arrived at 8am and started right away building the greenhouse. The greenhouse was our service project and donation to the community. We started by clearing the area. Once the area was cleared we started putting in the foundation pieces that would hold the tubes that would be the frame. Once the frame was in place we drug the plastic up and over creating the three main walls. Alvero secured the plastic walls in place by drilling in snaps in the side. A trench was dug around the base, the plastic laid out and lots of dirt added to secure the base. The walls were already doing their job as the inside of the greenhouse was warmer than the outside. While some of us worked on the greenhouse others worked in the storage room cleaning it out and removing broken and warn furniture. This was soon turned in to a school library. Desks and tables lined one wall and book shelves and books the other. Now the students had a place to sit and read books. After the library was finished the group was split into two groups. One group worked with Dr. Mo to replant roses. The goal was to make a nature wall down the side of the school with a row roses. When grown up the nature wall would be the schools boundary. The other group dug a trench that would direct water from the rain away from the school. Using picks and shovels the trench was created. Once the trench was dug it was lined with broken tile pieces to help with the erosion of the soil.When all was said and done, at around 12:30, we had a functional greenhouse built, a water trench dug, and a row of roses planted. Teamwork does wonders when we're on a schedule. We were invited by the teacher to go into the classroom to meet the students. She has 5 students this year. Two of them are in 5th grade, two of them are in 2nd grade, and the youngest one is in 1st grade. They have school from 8- 1. They are learning creative subjects as well as academics. One of their creative subjects is dance. They taught us two different kinds of dances. It was so fun. Before we left we gave them a bag full of ASU goodies. They were really excited when we gave them pens, pencils, and highlighters to use in the classroom.
After our service projects and dance lessons we went across the street to have lunch outside in a large Ramada. There were two sisters who made lunch for us. While eating rice, beans and chicken, we experienced a torrential downpour. It is amazing how one rain shower will deposit 3 - 5 inches of rain within minutes/hours compared to what we have in a year in Arizona. To get back to the lodge took a couple of trips. We had to wait the downpour out to get back to the truck. Again, there were two groups going back up the hill. After the first group left, the second group had the opportunity to go fishing while waiting for transportation. After a few tries, some of us caught a few trout that we were able to take back to the learning center for dinner. Once at the center, these fish were gutted, cleaned, and fried. Yum! Those of us who wanted to participate, learned how to make empanadas from scratch. Blanca, the cook, was very patient with us as some were giggling so much it was hard to get the dough shaped right. We ground the whole corn, added water and mixed. Then we formed balls out of the mixture and learned how to press out the tortillas on a piece of plastic paper. Some were more round than others! We ate chicken, trout, empanadas and rice for dinner. After dinner we had our circle time. Circle time is the opportunity to share out. Casica - the leader who shares a Spanish word of the day and share what we learned as a group. Next there is the Calufa. The Calufa reads their days journal entry. During this the Calufa shares their high and low of the day. Once they are done we go around the circle and everyone shares their high and low, if they had a low!. Tiko time is the person who reports out on what is happening the next day. They share the schedule consisting of the times and events. After circle we were off to bed for our last night in the cloud forest.
Again, we woke up early. We had another fabulous home cooked breakfast. Milk and cheese from Nellies cows and rice, beans, eggs and corn tortillas. Blanca is always in the kitchen cooking. As soon as one meal is finished she starts on the next. She makes the corn tortillas from scratch! Once breakfast was over, we headed down the hill to the school at Montserrat. This one room school house is home for five children who come from the small group of families in the area. We arrived at 8am and started right away building the greenhouse. The greenhouse was our service project and donation to the community. We started by clearing the area. Once the area was cleared we started putting in the foundation pieces that would hold the tubes that would be the frame. Once the frame was in place we drug the plastic up and over creating the three main walls. Alvero secured the plastic walls in place by drilling in snaps in the side. A trench was dug around the base, the plastic laid out and lots of dirt added to secure the base. The walls were already doing their job as the inside of the greenhouse was warmer than the outside. While some of us worked on the greenhouse others worked in the storage room cleaning it out and removing broken and warn furniture. This was soon turned in to a school library. Desks and tables lined one wall and book shelves and books the other. Now the students had a place to sit and read books. After the library was finished the group was split into two groups. One group worked with Dr. Mo to replant roses. The goal was to make a nature wall down the side of the school with a row roses. When grown up the nature wall would be the schools boundary. The other group dug a trench that would direct water from the rain away from the school. Using picks and shovels the trench was created. Once the trench was dug it was lined with broken tile pieces to help with the erosion of the soil.When all was said and done, at around 12:30, we had a functional greenhouse built, a water trench dug, and a row of roses planted. Teamwork does wonders when we're on a schedule. We were invited by the teacher to go into the classroom to meet the students. She has 5 students this year. Two of them are in 5th grade, two of them are in 2nd grade, and the youngest one is in 1st grade. They have school from 8- 1. They are learning creative subjects as well as academics. One of their creative subjects is dance. They taught us two different kinds of dances. It was so fun. Before we left we gave them a bag full of ASU goodies. They were really excited when we gave them pens, pencils, and highlighters to use in the classroom. 
After our service projects and dance lessons we went across the street to have lunch outside in a large Ramada. There were two sisters who made lunch for us. While eating rice, beans and chicken, we experienced a torrential downpour. It is amazing how one rain shower will deposit 3 - 5 inches of rain within minutes/hours compared to what we have in a year in Arizona. To get back to the lodge took a couple of trips. We had to wait the downpour out to get back to the truck. Again, there were two groups going back up the hill. After the first group left, the second group had the opportunity to go fishing while waiting for transportation. After a few tries, some of us caught a few trout that we were able to take back to the learning center for dinner. Once at the center, these fish were gutted, cleaned, and fried. Yum! Those of us who wanted to participate, learned how to make empanadas from scratch. Blanca, the cook, was very patient with us as some were giggling so much it was hard to get the dough shaped right. We ground the whole corn, added water and mixed. Then we formed balls out of the mixture and learned how to press out the tortillas on a piece of plastic paper. Some were more round than others! We ate chicken, trout, empanadas and rice for dinner. After dinner we had our circle time. Circle time is the opportunity to share out. Casica - the leader who shares a Spanish word of the day and share what we learned as a group. Next there is the Calufa. The Calufa reads their days journal entry. During this the Calufa shares their high and low of the day. Once they are done we go around the circle and everyone shares their high and low, if they had a low!. Tiko time is the person who reports out on what is happening the next day. They share the schedule consisting of the times and events. After circle we were off to bed for our last night in the cloud forest.
No comments:
Post a Comment