Don Braulio Catches A Toad.

Don Braulio has emerged as a leader in the garden project. He is among the handful of people who have demonstrated their dedication to the garden by showing up every morning that we come to work, be it building beds, building fence, or coming for the workshops led by the Prefectura (city government officials who have experience in organic gardening techniques and agreed to lead workshops with us over a period of six weeks).

Don Braulio arrives early to the workshops to water the plants, and he stays late to tidy up the garden and chat. (One afternoon in particular stands out, as he "chatted" at length about how he left a privileged home at age 16, trekked across the country, swam the Guayas River, and had many adventures and misadventures along the way.) There is no task we ask of him - and sometimes we don't even have to ask - that he refuses to do.

Case in point: the toads that were hopping along in our garden one morning before the workshops began. They were causing quite a stir among the women.

They're harmless but admittedly not the most attractive of creatures.

While the women were squealing in disgust, Don Braulio valiantly reached down...

...and scooped up the toad.

Simple.

And now Monsieur LeFrog has a lovely home on the other side of the health center.

À bientôt!

Jingle Bells

How soon is too soon for Christmas decorations? How soon is too soon to be asking how soon is too soon for Christmas decorations?

You can blame all this confusion on the DePrati department stores near my house.

Two days ago, on September 27, I walked into the Home Decor part of the store on a whim and was greeted by a festive holiday display replete with decorated trees, lights, and all manner of Christmas-themed dishware. And tchotchkes galore.

If I had been carrying my camera at the time, I would now be posting some scintillating snapshots of things like ice cube trays in the shapes of snowmen and Christmas trees; hot cocoa mugs with gingerbread men for handles; glittery pink reindeer ornaments; and much, much more.

The ice cube trays really struck my fancy. Being from the northern hemisphere, where it is generally cold at Christmastime, I find it comical that such things as Christmas-themed ice cube trays exist in the first place. But here, they are a practical Christmas accessory. I'm just not sure about the snowmen; Guayaquil has never seen one speck of snow, much less enough to make a man out of it.

The whole point of this ramble was to assure readers that if and when the company Christmas displays pop up way too early - heralding not joy and harmony, but rather stress, frustration, and displeasure at the brazen untimeliness of it all - they can know that the same thing happens all over the world. If that's not a consolation, consider buying some Christmas-themed ice cube trays and making little Jell-O snowmen for sport.

Soil Scientists: They Know All the Dirt

So last post we talked about (okay, I talked about; you readers don't really have much of a say in it, although there is always the Comments button should you have something pressing to say, such as, 'Jordan, enough with the garden already') building beds.

We (I) left off with four empty beds. The logical next step is to fill them in.

But with what?

Enter: The Great Soil Debacle of 2011. Actually, it was less a debacle and more a loaves-and-fish-multiplying sort of thing. It's a long story, but the Reader's Digest version is that it's hard to find soil in the big city, so Mike had to make an overnight trip and bring back all our soil the morning of the soil workshop. While there were a lot of logistical details that could have gone wrong, none did.

The trucker who drove Mike and our soil to Guayaquil could have slept through his alarm that morning, for instance.

The truck could have broken down on the highway and we would have had a soil-less soil workshop, for instance.

Mike could have been kidnapped by a band of rabid monkeys, for instance.

But, thankfully, none of those things happened, and that morning we found ourselves with a truck parked next to the Casita de Chocolate, about 30 large sacks of soil in the back of it, and a truck driver who refused to help us unload them, citing that his job was to drive the truck, not unload it.

One of the bicycle-cart men we had hired that morning agreed to help us unload. That went well for a while, until we got to the sacks of the really heavy type of soil. At that point, our bicycle-man walked out to the corner of the street, waved his arms, and shouted to everyone in the general vicinity that there was money to be made from unloading a truck.

Soon enough, we had some helping hands.

There were 3 or 4 different types of soil, and these hefty bags proved too much for us.

I think we may have caused these men serious back issues for the rest of their lives.

In the end, all the bags were unloaded, and nobody got hurt. We were left with lots of soil.

Lots and lots of soil. Too much soil. But we'll get to that later.

First, we have to use what soil we can to fill the beds we have:

Layer 1: Leaves.

Because we used leaves that were lying around, we didn't use so many leaves from the sacks we'd bought. This contributed to even more excess sackage!

Layer 2: Soil.

It took three grown men plus Übermensch Mike to lift just one of these bad boys.

Then they had to hobble across the garden and dump the bags in a bed to be opened and emptied out. At four bags per bed times four beds, this meant 16 trips with really heavy bags of soil.

At this point I decided to make myself useful by snapping pictures of other people working, and of napping babies:

Eventually enough bags of soil were heaved and ho'd into each of the beds, and again, miraculously, nobody was hurt in the process. After that it was just a matter of spreading the soil evenly and breaking up the larger lumps of clay.

Layer 3: Leaves, Redux.

Once the soil was in place, we topped off the beds with another layer of leaves. This time we used the finely chopped leaves we'd brought in.

And that's it. That's how you fill a bed with soil.

To recap:

Leaves on the bottom, then a layer of good soil (ideally a good balance of sandy and clay), then leaves on top. It's like a delicious soil sandwich for the plants, which are the next step.

But for now, let us take a step back and admire our handiwork:

(Notice all the extra bags; the soil aboundeth...)

And now would be the perfect time to utilize these beds for a nice nap, as they will never be as soft and dry as they are right now. Sleep tight! Over'n'out.

Building Beds

Over the past week, at our MidService Conference in Quito, I got to share the garden's progress with the rest of my training class. In return, I got to see just what everyone else has been up to since November (the last time the entire training class was together as a group), as well as participate in a flashmob (completely unrelated to anything).

Here, I shall continue sharing with you all the progress of the garden as well. The first couple days of our workshops were dedicated to building the beds. The Prefectura came in and helped us with this, building the first bed as a model, and then the rest was up to the group.

It was a collaborative effort, with women from INFA; doctors from the health center; the guys from the Prefectura; and community members all pitching in.

Earlier that morning, Mike and I picked up the materials we would need: caña (bamboo) and cuartones (square wooden beams).

We paid $2 to have a guy load them onto his bike cart and wheel them the few blocks to the Casita de Chocolate. It was a wild ride.

And now, a quick tutorial on building raised beds out of caña:

Step 1: Split the caña.

You have to start with an axe, but once you get it going it splits easily enough and you can just use your hands to pull it apart.

Each caña yielded 4-5 slats (enough for roughly half a bed) of the size we needed for our beds.

Step 2: Smooth out the caña with a machete.

Step 3: Saw the cuartón.

These pieces will be used to form the corners of the beds. Get 'em, Mike!

Oh - and you'll also need to saw some of the caña to form the shorter sides of the beds.

Measurements and muscles were involved here; I was not. Sawing caña is a lot harder than it looks. The stuff is stronger than wood! (Well, it felt like it, anyway.) I stood back and embraced my role as photographer at this point in the process.

Step 4: Hack the cuartón into stakes.

Again, these will be used for the corners of the beds, and they need to be pointy to go into the ground easier. ("Pointy" and "go into the ground" - these are very technical terms.)

Doctora Murrillo has been an integral part of our garden project from Day 1. Without her help, we wouldn't have the number of participants we have. She motivates people by wielding a machete and wearing a smile! - er, that is, she motivates people by leading by example.

Step 5: Stick the stakes in the ground.

There is a method to this, and it involves more measurements to make sure you put the stakes into the ground in a straight line, which comes in handy when you want a rectangular bed. It also involves the use of a very heavy metal pole that must be repeatedly driven into the ground to create a hole deep enough for the stake. Our soil was very rocky, so we also poured water into the half-finished holes to soften it up.

Once the stake is in, you fill in the soil and pound away at it with whatever's handy.

Another stake, say.

Or a mini sledgehammer.

Step 6: Nail the caña to the cuartón.

This is also harder than it looks; again, caña is hard.

In addition to the stakes anchoring the corners of the beds, we put some at the midpoint of the long sides to keep the caña from bowing outwards once the bed is filled with soil. We're smart like that.

And before you know it...

...Lo and behold, you've got a bed.

And in our case, a Mike. (Note: In Spanish, the word for "bed" as in a garden bed and "bed" as in where a person sleeps is one and the same, just as in English. I just wanted to share that with you and tell you to have no fear, Mike's little pun translates well. Moving on.)

For more beds, go back to Step 1 and repeat the process. Or, if you want to get fancy, you can multitask and do a teamwork approach to construct multiple beds at once. This is what we did over the course of three different bed-building sessions. At the end, it looked like this:

The beds are not perfect; they haven't been leveled, for instance. But at the end of the day, once they're filled with soil and tended to with diligence and affection, they shall serve their purpose. That'll do, Pig; that'll do.

How to Get a Phone Plan in Ecuador

1 - You have to have had a bank account in Ecuador for at least six months in order to get a phone plan; otherwise, don't even try.

2 - Go to the phone store with your ID and bank account information and explain to the sales associate that you would like to purchase a phone plan. Sign some papers. Believe them when they tell you that your plan should be up and running within 24 hours.

3 - 24 hours later, return to the phone store and ask why your plan has not yet been activated. Don't believe them when they tell you not to worry, your plan should be up and running within 24 hours.

4 - Repeat Step 3 for approximately one week.

5 - Live your life. Forget about getting a phone plan and spend inordinate amounts of money to buy minutes when you need to make a phone call.

6 - Three months later, realize that you really do need a phone plan and you would save a lot of money that way.

7 - Ask your friend who successfully got a phone plan to send you the exact steps he took in order to get one.

8 - Stand in line at the bank for two hours. Bring a book.

9 - Go back to the phone store with your bank account information, bank certificates, and every form of ID possible. Explain to the sales associate that you would like to purchase a phone plan. Believe them when they tell you that your plan should be up and running within 24 hours.

10 - 24 hours later, return to the phone store and ask why your plan has not yet been activated. Don't believe them when they tell you not to worry, your plan should be up and running within 24 hours.

11 - Repeat Step 10 for approximately one week.

12 - Live your life. Forget about getting a phone plan, ignore your phone as much as possible, and work to quell the wave of rage that washes over you whenever you have to use it.

13 - Answer your phone one day and be surprised that it is the phone company informing you that in order to sign up for a phone plan you must go to the large service center across town.

14 - Go to the large service center across town. Walk up to the door and see that it has a big, red "Coming Soon!" sign on it.

15 - Give up on getting a phone plan altogether. Eat some ice cream instead.

16 - Approximately three weeks after your attempt to go to the as-yet-unopened large service center across town, receive a text message informing you that you have successfully been signed up for a phone plan.

17 - Check your minutes and see that it is true: you now have a phone plan.

18 - Do not question what just happened. Life your life. Choose to believe that somehow, some way, all your prior efforts resulted in this miracle of miracles.

The End.

"Cuidar las plantas"

Today we made good on our plans as mentioned yesterday and painted signs with the kids in Eco Club.

Sometimes I get nervous doing craft activities with large groups of kids. Art materials, like Spiderman's powers, should be used responsibly. But we're talking about kids here, not Peter Parker, and things can go downhill pretty fast (don't even get me started on the hugely bad idea of using glitter with a bunch of 7-year-olds).

But today, glory hallelujah! The kids were into the sign-painting and stayed relatively on task. This might have had something to do with the fact that we split them up into smaller groups to paint.

Here, my group does a quick explanation of the activity:



We painted the signs in an effort to discourage people from throwing trash on the ground, and to encourage them to cuidar las plantas, help take care of the plants.

And while some of the paint ended up elsewhere...

...most of it ended up where it was supposed to.

A Tree Falls in Guasmo

Okay, let's trace the progress of our little garden project. Back in April, after getting back from a trip in which we got our hands deliciously dirty every day, Mike and I decided to collaborate and start a garden project in my barrio, Guasmo Sur.

Actually, there was already a garden right next to the Casita de Chocolate. It had been planted a few years ago, but the weeds had been left to run rampant.

In a fit of excitement, we weeded the whole thing. Only afterwards did we check with the health center next door, who actually owns the plot of land we're working with. The final verdict was that we couldn't plant where we originally intended to, as that garden belonged to Dra. Murillo and her diabetes class. We could, however, take over the much bigger space on the other side of the Casita, which sits between the Casita and the health center.

Man, Dra. Murillo is so mean!

So here's the space we were working with:

Big.
Rocky.
Full of trash and used syringes from the health center next door.

In terms of starting a garden, however, the biggest problem that presented itself was the lack of sunlight. The mango and guava/guagua/? trees (see this post for more details), while providing delicious fruit, also blocked out the sun enough that we had to come up with a plan if we wanted plants to actually grow in this space.

So we tackled these problem-os one by one.

First up: Big. This wasn't actually a problem. But Mike, in a fit of brilliance and thinking our project should grow in scale according to the new area we had to work with, called up the Prefectura of Guayas province (a branch of the government) to tell them about our project and ask for their help. We had a fancy-schmancy meeting - collared shirts were worn! - and then they said YES. More on exactly how they are helping us out later.

Next: Rocky. As in, lots of rocks. But you can imagine the movie theme song playing in the background as we, in a fit of motivational frenzy, cajoled and corraled various groups of kids into various rock-moving sessions.

They were champs.

Then: Trash. Lots and lots of trash. It seemed like every time we cleaned the place up, it would fill up the very next day with more candy wrappers, plastic cups, bottles, etc. Even after the epic scavenger hunt we led with some of the kids in the after school program, which had the two teams actually fighting each other over pieces of trash. Tomorrow, in a fit of indignance, we will be painting signs with the kids and posting them outside the garden to kindly remind people to take care of the environment and not litter.

Finally: Lack of sunlight. The Prefectura helped us out with this one. It was like Cirque du Soleil, with machetes. No fits here.

With each successive hack of the machete, the two men on the ground below gave another pull of the hose in an effort to fell the last remaining branch of the tree. A group of ten people looked on with bated breath. Finally, the branch gave way, and everyone cheered despite the fact that it had taken down a power line in the process of falling to the ground.

This was the first day of the Barrio Guasmo Sur Garden Project, or the “Huerto Comunitario Guasmo Sur.” After months of planning, budgeting, re-planning, coordinating with third party organizations, and re-re-planning, the project was beginning in earnest. Currently, Our Plan is: Take advantage of the empty space next to the barrio community center to plant and maintain a demonstration garden. The garden will be used as a training ground for two groups of people, (1) adults from the community, and (2) teens and children who come regularly to the community center for study and activities. This is all made possible by a grant applied for by PCV Mike Close and myself, as well as collaboration with the Health Center of Guasmo Sur and the Prefectura of Guayas province.

Starting at the end of August, the Prefectura began training 15+ adults in garden maintenance and techniques, to last over a period of 6 weeks. Topics include constructing raised beds, composting, and nutrition. Participants will then replicate the gardens in their own homes, attend Garden Club meetings to discuss techniques, and lead home gardening workshops in other parts of the community. The kids will also plant and maintain beds in the garden. In addition, we have already begun a weekly Eco Club, in which children receive classes in the natural sciences. Eventually, they will take charge of the club to plan activities and cleanups in their communities.

In a part of Guayaquil that suffers from severe environmental and economic distress, we hope to improve biodiversity and food security through the promotion of home gardens and environmental education. Ironically, our first step towards achieving this goal was to cut down a tree. But this one tree now lets the sunlight in, giving life to a garden where we will hopefully be planting all types of seeds that will continue to grow for years to come.