Another near miss. Today we converted a rocky piece of
land into a large compost pile. With buckets, a wheel barrow and a frontend
loader we moved rocks of all sizes out of the plot and added soil with fewer
rocks (No escaping rocks in the soil up here in the young mountains). Compost here
is made in layers. In the morning, Marcos, Carlos and Waynor chopped a bunch of
weeds and grass from the banana orchard with their machetes. Using manure
forks, this material was brought down the hill and cut into smaller chunks of
debris. On top of this was placed cow manure and straw. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Add a cocktail of EM and cover that steamy pile with black plastic for a few
weeks, rotating every now and then. Presto chango, you have compost. Well, I
got my little ambitious hands involved in every part of the process, especially
liking the machete part of chopping up the foliage. Really good mental therapy.
Anyway, I also brought a bunch of plant material down from the hill using a
manure fork. I observed the guys lift it over their heads and followed suit. On
my fifth or sixth trip, just as I arrived to the poopy smelling pile, I felt
and incredibly sharp pain in my arm and immediately dropped the load of plants.
Surely I had just been bitten by a fur-de-lance and was about to die. I looked
down and saw a huge ant with its abdomen piercing my shirt and skin. Massive
mandibles making an audible click attempting to clamp on my shirt, I grabbed it
and tossed the little guy as far as possible. A chuckle from Marcos, ¿se pica?.
Me: Si! Es toxico?!?!
Marcos: No...
Carlos: …para nosotros, pero los gringos no se.
Funny joke. In response to my asking if the ant was toxic
I was told not for Costa Ricans, but who knows about gringos. I looked down and
instantly had a welt on my arm. Although the guys said a bit more, they were
talking so fast that I couldn’t understand. Body language said I would live
after all, and went about my business carrying more loads of foliage down the
hill. Carlos later showed me the hormiguero (anthill) and gently probed the top
with his machete. Dozens of ants poured out and produced a chorus of clicks
with their mandibles. He told me their name in Spanish and some stuff about
their biology. I find it incredible that almost everyone here knows the
insects, plants, medicinal uses for plants, and all kinds of other interesting
facts about the forest. How is it that in the US people have to go to collge
and graduate school for years to acquire this knowledge, yet those with a 4th
grade education can tell you everything you need to know about the world around
them. Interesting.
