Between the two community trips this week and the rain every day, Megan and I had not gotten a chance to tour the entire farm. The living facilities were nicer than expected and we were both pleased to have our own rooms since we were the only two here. There are some rooms that have 5-6 beds in them so if a large group had been here that might not have been the case.
The entire house is open air which definitely has some advantages and disadvantages. Listening to the dogs barking at all hours of the night has really worn on Megan and my nerves. Wednesday night I only got about 3 hours of sleep becuase of their howling. There is also a large frog living somewhere in the house that poops all over nightly. Megan spotted the frog one night before learning that Donald was trying to catch it. He is tired of cleaning up the caca daily.
The view is spectacular day and night. Le Gran Vista literally translates to The Great View. Around the main house they have built all the necessary items to keep the farm running- chicken coop, horse and cow pens, pig pen with a biogas production area (using the pig manure), tilapia pond, red worm house, green houses, and herb garden. There is a larger area for the chickens, roosters, ducks, rabbits, and guinea fowl to roam around in during the day. They are definitely free range animals.
There are lots of fruit and flower planted around the house for consumption and/ or to attract birds. There is a small pond outside my room that will soon house some guppies and beta fish that are growing. I've asked if they could do that sooner than later because they tell me that it will keep the noisy sapos (frog) from jumping in there each night and make a racket despite being very small creatures. Donald did a great job of pointing everything out and the uses for each plant, tree, flower, herb, caca, etc. Everything is used on the farm and nothing goes to waste. As we toured the property he picked vegetables, herbs and fruits for us to taste. We also smelled and tasted many grasses and leaves. He cut open a coconut for us to drink the milk and eat the meat. We tried Araza, oranges, kumquats, and apples and a few other fruits.
We trucked down the hill and deeper into the rain forest. He has planted some trees and cocoa bean plants down at the bottom but is trying to maintain a balance of preserving the bottom as much as possible while using the top of the property to live off. There is a small stream at the bottom where he is able to pump water up the hill to the tilipia pond. The hike back up was pretty steep and tiring but thanks to a larger group of volunteers from NC a nice path with steps had been built. It was then that we realized that we wouldn't want to be apart of a big volunteer group- they get the hard projects!
The entire tour took about 2 hours and we were pretty hot and sweaty when it was done. We rested for a short time, had lunch and then needed to run to Donald's parent's house to drop off some leche milk). Megan and I debated what to bring with us and decided we'd figured out now that with Donald there was no telling what we were going to do so bring everything. When we got to the house we all made ourselves comfortable on the front porch. Donald's parents came out to greet us and although they didn't speak any English they were very welcoming. Donald's Dad is 84 years old and still very active. He was showing off a wood ox cart and oxen he was carving. (Before cars Oxen and ox carts were how the farmers transported cafe beans. The are still very symbolic of the country and you can find the carts every where to buy, especially in souvenir shops.)
We also met one of Donald's sisters, there are 12 kids in all, and his brother-in-law Daniel. Daniel is a Panamaian paster that did speak English. While Donald climbed into a hammock and got even more comfortable we were feed a candy that is made when they make agua dulce, or at least how that's I understood it, chorreadas (I'm going to have to figure out how to make these), and tea. Then Donald's Dad suggested we try fresh sugar cane so Donald chopped some down and we gnawed on it. It was interesting and tasty. Daniel then brought out his guitar and sang for us. Donald then took the guitar and played while the entire family sang. It was spectacular. It was obvious they all enjoyed singing very much. We listened to them sing for quite some time. Daniel went off explaining some odd Panama song with weird noises and they wanted us to sing something like that from the States. Megan and I couldn't come up with anything so they asked us to narrow it down to something from our state so I sang them a verse of "Deep in the Heart of Texas". They liked the clapping that goes with the song, especially Donald's sister that tried to join in. It was a magically afternoon. Megan and I looked at each other and reiterated that we were glad we were not with a big group. All the local experiences we were getting would stay with us for a lifetime.
