If I didn’t know a singular word in Spanish the phrase I would have come to learn the fastest would have been “quieres jugar?” meaning, do you want to play? Most of my days start with school recess, which is held in the Manna Project office. Here, there is a library of books and plenty of craft materials and games. However, the kids’ favorites are the classic Uno (which I’ve mastered) and a game they have made up themselves with the winner being the player with the highest suite card. I think that's the rules of the game anyway. I still don’t understand it, and even when I think I do, I never win! Game play goes on until all but one player runs out of cards and the winner gets a knock or “capote” on the head. The game is not only a little confusing but also fast-paced. If you’re slacking you get a “tu toca” (your turn) if you’re lucky, and a “me toca” (my turn) if the kids are eager for their turn.
As always, it was a busy week in the rainforest! We started Monday with our usual weekly meetings, helping us to get centered and focused on how to get through the rest of the week. Our first order of business was meeting with one of the online volunteers to discuss social media ideas to present to Javier to advertise his sendero further. We discussed how to keep this process focused on Javier and teach him advertisement methods (as opposed to doing it for him). As a result, another intern and I have been working on making social media templates that Javier could follow. We also figured out how to put the Sendero on Google Maps, a huge step towards tourism legitimacy!
I also spent a lot of time this week working outdoors, starting the week by planting plantains on a local family’s chakra (an ancestral farm)! This was a really interesting process, as an already established plantain tree is split to create new trees to put into the ground. This was different from the cacao that I helped plant last week, and I’ve been interested to see the different agricultural practices here. On this chakra, we also saw the harvest of contactors, which are considered a delicacy. They are beetle larvae found only in the Conta Palm Tree, and are described to taste like chicken (and sometimes bacon) when grilled. I haven’t tried one yet, but there will surely be a picture if I’m brave enough to try one.
The majority of my days are occupied by working on my other various projects, especially the Sendero with Javier, and it has been amazing to see his progress! He is already starting to construct one of the main buildings and plans to have the roof on by the end of the week! It feels great to help him and be intimately involved with ecotourism. We also had the chance to talk to Javier about the bees on his property and ask him about his continued interest in helping support the bee project we are looking to start with the Manna Project. I have also been putting in a lot of work with the mural and am pleased to update you that we have begun drawing. Of course, Ecuador is the first on the map. I hope to finish drawing this next week and begin painting soon. It has been rainy, so I haven’t been able to put as much time into it as I’d like, but I’m eager to get it finished!
I am consistently impressed with my involvement here at MPI and know that this will help me to be a well-rounded leader in my professional life. Every day, I am met with unfamiliar challenges (most of the time in Spanish) that I do my best to navigate through. I am getting so many experiences beyond just environmentally focused projects. I have access to people with so many different interests and experiences and it has been such a great opportunity to widen my knowledge on all kinds of careers. I am learning as I go and building an incredible toolbox of skills!
