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On Earth Day, we did a beach cleanup and gave away trees (13 samango; 7 guachapeli) to passersby who had space at their houses to plant one. Caitlin Donnovan arrived on Wednesday afternoon (after a very long bus delay due to the political protests that ousted the nation’s president) and has taken the back room. She will stay for two to three months. Kristen and Andrea are now sharing the front room. The next volunteer, Carley, will arrive on May 4th. Hasta el proximo! [Top]<<<<><><>>>>Report #7 Kristen Lansdale, Field Bioregional Education Manager
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Transportation: $72 |
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Communication: $48 |
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Research: $120 |
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Materials: $180 |
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Excursions: $130 |
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Other $30 |
I have found a voluntary assistant who is a local
Bahian, went to the Univ. Catolica and studied Marine Biology. Blas
is very enthusiastic about helping out with the course.
I have spoken with Mike Morgan as well and I think
that Heather and I will be going to visit Cerro Blanco Reserva in Guyaquil
in the next couple of weeks to see what is happening there, talk about the
Dry Tropical Forest and obtain seeds.
Hasta pronto,
Kristen
The climate has been changing already – more breeze and
cooler nights, and no sunsets.
This week we planted and cleared at Inter-Americano and the
Cherry Tree site. The school children at the Inter-Americano should
soon begin to water twice weekly. We also began planting the new
site, which will be called Hidalgo, the owner’s last name. He says
he will water the trees himself. We transplanted more Colorados
and continued turning the compost pile.
The Civil Defense Force would like to cooperate with Planet
Drum to plant 150 trees along the road from km 8 going into Bahia. They want Guachapeli and Samango, which is good because we have a lot of
those and they are good fast growing shade trees.
Our new volunteer from Canada, Carley, arrived Wednesday night
and is settling in quite well, in spite of not knowing any Spanish upon
her arrival. She is learning fast and studying daily! Blas,
Jaime and Cheo each helped out a day. Riccardo came through and left
for England on Sunday. He is thinking of coming back for part of the
Bioregional Education Program.
We are still doing quite well with publicity, thanks to “Cronica”,
the week night talk show. We don’t even have to be there and they
talk about us! This week Blas went on talking about how it is to
volunteer with us, and also about the new education program. I
attended the BEP informational meeting on Wednesday but I’m sure
Kristen’s filling you in on that so I won’t go into details.
I got to organize the electronic seed bank information and will
soon determine the next steps to take with that project.
We got a lot done around the house this week – fixing
toilets, a new (old) oven, screens (thanks to Kristen’s dad) and working
on flowerbeds. It looks like the toilet in the front bedroom may
need to be completely replaced according to one of the plumber’s who
came to look at it.
More later!
Heather
The
This week was an introduction to the course and the
focus was on our direct relationship with nature. This was
highlighted by the El Niño phenomenon. On Tuesday we had several
guest speakers, Friends of the Eco-city and those participating in
teaching the course. Nicola Mears from Guacamayo Tours spoke about
what it means to be a citizen of the eco-city, Galileo spoke about our
placement in time and being aware of the historical and cultural elements
that affect our environment. Vladir of Genesis School spoke about
what it means to be an Ecuadorian ecologist and the significance of
bioregional education. Marcelo Luque spoke about the El Niño
phenomenon, its causes and effects and the human involvement in it. The we broke into groups of five and discussed personal experiences with
the El Niño phenomenon. We got back together in a large group after
this and had Jose Paraga from Civil Defense told us about his experiences
rescuing people and the sixteen deaths in Maria Auxiliadora. We then
watched video footage of the disaster which really brought the message
home.
On Thursday we put the theory into practice with an
excursion to the different areas affected by El Niño. We started
off in Jorge Lomas, discussed the presence of the new water diversion
canal, walked to the Planet Drum site, and then continued along the ridge
until we reached Maria Auxiliadora and walked through El Bosque en Medio
de las Ruinas where they could see first-hand the effects of the disaster
and the ruins left behind. This was the introduction to the course so that
they would take a personal interest in the subject and start thinking
about their own relationship with nature, that of the society, problems
and solutions.
Next week we will start the course material. We
will take the first several weeks to learn about the four different zones
of life: Dry Tropical Forest, Very Dry Tropical Forest, Humid Tropical
Forest and Mangroves. We will have different guest speakers to talk
about the different zones and take excursions to see native plants and
animals in the zones. We will start off with Marcelo Luque and Cerro Seco.
We will also gather seeds and plant in the greenhouse to start
the reforestation aspect of the project and introduce the participants to
what Planet Drum is doing.
So things are moving along very smoothly and again,
it is exciting to see the enthusiasm over the project. The main
concern I have now is limiting participants, but I guess it is better to
be in that situation, rather than searching for more. Let me know if
you have any suggestions or ideas.
Hasta pronto,
Kristen
This week we finished transplanting the Colorados,
Ebonos, and the Guachapelí and Samango stragglers that were big enough.
We also did a lot of work with the compost pile. That was Caitlin´s
special project. She completely turned the entire thing to aerate it, as
it was lacking air. It is now well on its way to forming good compost. The
finished side was also tended to – it was thoroughly weeded, and the
fruit trees which had come up were transplanted. The finished compost was
then transferred to the storage area under the tarp. In addition, repairs
began on the small planting beds outside the greenhouse.
We planted again at the new site in km 4 (Hidalgo),
and planted a few trees at the Eloy Alfaro High School down the street
from Bosque en Medio de la Ruinas, with the help of students and the
ecology teacher. The make their own compost there and had made
biodegradable paper bags for planting.
A lot of house maintenance also got done, including
the painting of a wall, and the sanding and varnishing of shelves in the
kitchen.
Andrea came back to volunteer with us for the latter
half of the week after a two week absence (which she had advised me of).
Blas volunteered one day.
More later!
Heather
This week we talked about the dry tropical forest and
had Marcelo take us to Cerro Seco to see first hand lichens, orchids, the
mighty Ceibos and spiders hanging from their webs. We were thirty
this time and it seems that slowly but surely there is a self-deciding
process of those truly interested in the material and projects. For
homework on Tuesday they took leaves home with them to identify and learn
characteristics and uses. Then when we walked through the forest
they identified and presented on the plants. They are a very
energetic and enthusiastic group!
Other exciting news is that there will be an
Environmental Week celebration the first week of June. We are part
of the planning process for this and it will include different education
projects, theatre, and more! I went to the meeting this week and
suggested that the high school kids join together with the community
members and not just walk around and see nature, but experience it and
work for it first hand. I suggested that we all join together on the
first Friday of June and have a community clean up of Bosque en Medio de
las Ruinas. It was met with welcome approval and on Tuesday I will
go with the leaders of PMRC and Civil Defense to see the safety factors
involved in bringing a big group of high school kids there and to plan it
out. So it will be a good step for the community taking charge of
the project.
We are heading to see Mike Morgan at Cerro Blanco
this weekend and I look forward to getting some education material from
him, gathering seeds and learning more about what he is doing there and
the dry tropical forest.
On a personal level, I am settling in nicely and
really like Bahia. The apartment and volunteers are all good and we are
learning to work as a team!
Hasta pronto,
Kristen
I let the Civil Defense Force know that we are
willing to work with them on the tree planting project, and am awaiting a
response.
It rained a few days this week. I spoke with Carlos
Franco about fencing on the Dairy Farm and he is placing the final gate
which will complete the proper fencing required (shoulder high barbed
wire). Carlos Endara, Cherry Tree, Inter-Americano and the Hidalgo sites
are also fenced with barbed wire. I will have to look into the Fernando
site as there is currently no fencing.
This week we worked in El Bosque – maintained
trails a bit, fixed handrails and placed a few new ones, fixed steps and
leveled trail where needed, replaced missing signs.
We worked in the vivero (greenhouse) transplanting
many Colorados, turning compost (as usual), continued fixing plant beds
and weeding. We also cleared the University site. We are actively
collecting plastic bottles, and our biggest source is the Depto. De
Higiene (Sanitation Department), which has started to separate them from
the trash they pick up.
We helped in the building of a vivero for mangroves
at the Universidad Tecnica, and went on a tour through their mangrove
forest. Dr. Acosta at the UC expressed interest in PDF doing mangrove
planting projects.
We continued with the house maintenance – painting,
organization and inventory of tool cupboard, making of a garden area
downstairs.
Seed bank – This weekend we went to see Mike
Morgan, his nursery and to visit Cerro Blanco. We received 3 types of
seeds from him, and collected a fourth on our own. I also picked out which
species we need more information on in order to continue research.
Hasta la proxima!
Heather
I couldn't be happier with the way things are turning
out with the Bioregional Education class. It seems the numbers of
students at different times in the class are resolving themselves and
those that I am left with are really interested and dedicated. The
majority are about seventeen which means they have lots of energy and
enthusiasm and it is just a question of directing them in the right
direction, the bioregional direction. But they truly seem interested
in the topics we are learning about, really like the practices and
excursions, and want to do community development projects as well!
This week we have been learning about the Humid
Tropical Forest with the assistance of Cheo who is a dynamic and
commanding teacher. On Tuesday we went over different vocabulary
words such as vines and biosphere in order to put the Humid Tropical
Forest into context, then talked about the forest and finished off with a
creativity/team-work game in which they had to stack cards into a pyramid
and get it as high as they could as quickly as they could. We broke
them into three groups and it was great to see them work together and
brainstorm. I think it is an education style that they are not used
to, but or course enjoy.
Thursday we went to the vivero (greenhouse) and I was
so happy to see the enthusiasm that the participants showed with what we
were doing there. We split up into two groups and I took one group up
into the reforested hills to talk about the different trees, our projects
and why we do them. The students all asked a lot of questions and
had a really good time. Heather was in charge of the other group
which she led through the greenhouse, preparing beds and planting seeds. We then switched groups so that they would all have a chance to do both
activities
On Sunday we are meeting to go to Cabo Pasado to see
an example of Humid Tropical Forest. Cheo will be our guide and the
owner of the property will accompany us. The students are really
excited to go and see all the plants and animals there, and I think we are
in good hands with our guides.
Next week Friends of the Eco-city are kicking off International
Environment Week. We will be participating in the Bosque en Medio de
las Ruins clean up on Friday. My students are enthusiastically
preparing a skit to perform before the town on Saturday night about the
importance of taking care of our natural resources. On Sunday we
will all be participating in a beach clean up followed by marine creature
sand sculptures.
I have also had the opportunity to participate in
some of the different meetings of the presidents and representatives of
the neighborhoods. I was a special guest at the last one and was
asked to talk about what I am doing for the Bioregional Education Project.
I asked the different representatives for support in the project and said
that my students are interested in taking what they are learning and
teaching others, doing education projects in the schools and community as
well as beach clean ups and other projects. There was a warm
reception on the part of the representatives and so now it is really a
question of coming up with something concrete and implementing it.
As far as the Bosque clean up next week, I am working
hard to involve the community of Maria Auxiliadora as well as the
high-school students in the project. I have been talking to both
Elba from the Eco Amigos as well as the president of the barrio in order
to gain more support and involvement in the clean up. One thing that
we have been thinking to do is clear an area to put in benches and
possibly tree swings with the help of the Civil Defense representative
Jose Parraga. We will also be weeding the trails and do some clearing of
debris as you suggested. One issue that has been raised is if there
is someone that can keep an eye on the park and take some responsibility
for it. I will be talking more to the community about this next week. I am wondering if it would also be possible to plant some
trees symbolically in the area that we have cleared for benches. It
would be great for the students to be able to be involved with this and
see the trees grow and also be good for community spirit.
Please keep me posted on the possibility of sending a
digital camera down with the mayor. I think that it would be
wonderful for the education project both for the students and community
here as well as to show you all the fun, interesting and educational
things that we are doing and post them on the web.
So with much enthusiasm I conclude this weeks report,
Kristen
This week we prepared and maintained seedbeds in the
greenhouse, and kept up the regular activities of watering, transplanting,
cutting bottles to make insect guards, and composting. The BEP
(Bioregional Education Project) class also helped us out one
afternoon, and sowed laurel, compoyo and guasmo seeds. We have an
arrangement with the Dept. de Hygiene now to collect the city’s plastic
bottles from them.
Also quite exciting was finding a coiled up matacaballo snake
under the tarp that covers the compost. Carley found it just after
telling us about a dream she had had a few nights before about a snake
attacking her, which looked exactly like the snake at the greenhouse!
It was injured and part of its tail was missing and bloody.
Here is the greenhouse inventory taken on May 23rd:
Guayacan
64
Cedro
178
Algarrobo
12
Colorado
243
Ceibo
97
Seca
1
Papaya
22
Ebono
71
Jaboncillo
8
Mamey
16
Samango
150
Guachapeli
144
The Civil Defense Captain said that they are not ready for the
trees yet to plant along the highway since they haven’t organized
anything. So it looks like it may not happen this rainy season.
I’ve talked to the property owners at the Jorge Lomas/Fernando
site about fencing and they are fine with it. I bought a hole digger
and am in the process of looking around for stakes. We can start off
using the barbed wire we already have in the bodega.
We maintained trails in the Bosque, mostly weeding, and I took
the mayor and his assistant, Teddy, there on Friday afternoon. He
said he had no idea it was up there and seemed pleased with the visit. We
walked all the way over to the bamboo house that is at the top of the park
and met the people that live there.
I’m trying to get some new sites for next year and have a
lead on one behind Interamericano School. It belongs to the
Mayor’s wife, Maria Piedad.
We maintained the three sites in Ciudadela Maria Dolores (km
8), i.e. Endara, Cherry Tree and Dairy Farm. The trees at the Endara
site look superb and have grown much more than at the other sites. I
think it’s because the water level is near the surface.
That’s all for now! Happy World Environment Week!
(We had a meeting at our house last week to plan the activities that will
take place in observance of Environment Week.)
Weekly update from Bahia. Sunday's outing to
Cabo Pasado was a smashing success. The walk was led by Cheo and was
a challenge to many of the participants who aren't used to physical
exertion, but they loved the challenge none the less. We got to the
beach and they were in heaven playing in the sea and in the sand. Then Cheo gave us a talk about the significance of Cabo Pasado for marine
migratory species, as an earthquake fault line and the meeting place of
the La Niña and Humboldt currents. We then walked down the beach
observing the tide pools. We found petrified wood and fossils and I
explained the process that makes them and the geological processes that
created the beach there. I loved to see their excitement as they
waded through the tide pools squealing with excitement and delight. We walked back through the forest and found monkeys hanging from the
trees. They couldn´t have been happier. Most of them had
never seen monkeys before! It was a treasure to discover the beauty
and joy of their bioregion alongside with them. They are hooked!
We have been learning about Mangroves this week and
had Thea from the Peace Corps come and give the class a presentation. We started off with a discussion for reasons to protect the forests in
general and then moved over into the importance of mangroves and their
function in other natural systems. We had a beautiful Power Point
presentation and then went out to the river and collected Mangrove seeds. I was amazed to find out that many of the students didn´t know what the
seeds looked like even though they are washed up all over the beach.
Today we went and planted the Mangrove seeds that we
found. We talked about the different kinds of Mangroves and they can
now tell the difference between a Red, White and Black Mangrove and know
how each excretes salt. It was such fun to sink our feet into thick
and oozing mud and they loved and hated it. It was at first hard to
coax all of them to get down and dirty, but they all did and were so
excited and happy to do so. It was like taking them back to
childhood where it didn´t matter how dirty they got.
Tomorrow we are doing the clean up of the Bosque en
Medio de las
On Sunday my class is putting together a skit to
perform before the town, police force, firestation, etc. to celebrate
World Environment Week and to teach about the importance of conservation. They are so eager to perform and I will let you know how it goes in the
next report.
Ciao from Bahia!
Kristen
Volunteer situation: Hannah and Montana arrived on
Wednesday night, and Jackie on Saturday night. They will be staying
through the summer, except Montana, who leaves mid-July. He is
staying at the Bahia B&B. (Hannah was actually one of students
in the group I led in a previous job to Costa Rica for the Experiment in
International Living.) We now have 6 people living in the house. Two brothers come for two weeks in July and will also stay at the B&B.
In August there will be new volunteers coming on the heels of those who
leave so I expect the house to remain full until October. I revised
and updated the contents of the Volunteer Manual.
Fencing: Afran Hidalgo, the property owner of our
km 4 site, also sells wood. He will get me as many moyuyo posts as I
need for $1 each. We may be able to get two posts from one as they
are quite tall. I am thinking of doing individual fences around the
trees in the ditch at the Cherry Tree site using scrap wood that we have
in the bodega. The barbed wire I would use for a ditch at the Dairy
Farm, and also the entrances to the Fernando site.
Watering: Trip Martin says we can have whatever
bamboo is left over from the dock complex construction within the next
month in order to make more watering pipes. It turns out we were
using the wrong technique with that. I discovered after a trip to
the Bella Vista revegetation area (I’ve been up there a few times,
including with the mayor), that you’re only supposed to make a small
hole with a nail to perforate the membrane inside the bamboo stalk so that
water slowly trickles down and the soil stays moist. We had been
removing the entire membrane so the water shoots straight down. The
plants are not showing any signs of lacking water yet and look quite
healthy.
New sites: Maria Piedad is having her site cleared
before we come to visit, which should be this week. Plan to plant
the Leonidas Plaza site on Thursday.
Week’s Activities: Caitlin was intensely sick
last weekend and so was not able to work a few days this week. She
did some research for the Seed Bank though. I took her around to the
doctor, hospital, etc. It turns out she had a mystery virus which
hit hard and then left.
Carley made a no littering sign in Spanish using scrap wood and
paint, which was put up by the greenhouse as the Universidad Catolica
footballers always leave their trash behind. The University had a
minga (community workday) for Environment Week, which we also helped out
with – clearing the underbrush and putting it in a large hole, which
happens to make it easy to collect for our composting purposes. We
watered, continued fixing the seed beds, removing dead plants and
prepared plastic bottles for transplanting later on. The compoyo
seeds planted by the Bioregional Education Program have started to come up
already!
The minga (community workday) in El Bosque was successful. We had participation from 2 schools, the Defensa Civil, Maria Auxiliadora, and Bella Vista communities, and the BEP students. After an introductory talk, we cleared trails, picked up the garbage at the bottom entrance (which still has open dumps on either side), planted trees and made benches from wood donated from a lumberyard. They are located on the summit and under the big Poinciana / flamboyant tree (by the “ceibo inmaduro” sign). We did not remove dead wood from the forest because we thought efforts would be better spent otherwise.
Hasta luego!
Heather
Aside from the usual greenhouse activities (watering,
composting, clearing out dead plants, organizing), we did a lot of
structural maintenance as dogs had broken in. We reinforced certain
sections with wooden posts and/or chicken wire. Also continued
fixing the seed beds. We put up plant label signs for the seeds that
the Bioregional Education Program had sowed, and remounted the Planet Drum
sign. We got more bottles for transplanting from somebody who had
been storing them at his house and was glad to be rid of them.
We further maintained the trails in El Bosque by fixing more
steps and handrails. (Clearing dead wood is being done this coming
week.) We made a rope fence at the bottom of the first entrance
between the houses, in order to make the path more obvious from the street.
We also added compost and water to the trees planted during
the minga (community workday) during World Environment Week. I saw a
beautiful big mot-mot bird there! Jackie, our newest volunteer, and
I went on Radio FB to talk about recent improvements to El Bosque and to
invite the public to visit.
We watered and maintained the Cherry Tree site, Dairy Farm and
Inter-Americano Colegio sites. Talked to Carlos Franco about keeping
animals out of the Dairy Farm planted area and he plans to reinforce the
fencing (in addition to the fencing that Planet Drum will do). We
started putting individual fencing around the trees at the Cherry Tree
site using scrap wood, with chicken wire to be added later. So far,
no signs of animals there though.
The kids at Inter-Americano will soon begin helping us water. I gave Dr. Sanchez a map of the planted area so they could find all the
trees, which are also well marked. He offered us sandwiches and
drinks from the school cafeteria...awww.....We planted a new site near the
football field in Cristo Consuelo, Leonidas Plaza, and constructed
individual fences around each tree. Marta, who lives in front of the
field, helped us and plans to water weekly.
More later!
Heather
This week we finished up our topic of the different
zones of life in this bioregion (dry tropical, very dry tropical, humid
tropical and mangrove) with seed art. We went and collected seeds from
various trees around Bahia. We then learned from a local artisan how to
perforate holes into the seeds with an ancient method of heating up a
needle in a candle flame and pressing it through the seed. The
participants will be making the holes at home and when we get back
together again we will make the art, necklaces, bracelets or whatever
their creativity leads them to.
It was very interesting to see the method for making
the holes and fun to gather the seeds. Soon we will be learning about
animals and birds of the area.
I am leaving for this week and classes will resume on
the 21st of
Take
Kristen
Angel and Pablo from Maria Auxilidora stopped by to
discuss their idea of fixing up
We painted and punched holes in the bamboo watering
pipes, and installed them at the three km 8 sites.
We did not water at Endara as there was no water in
the cistern and the
We kept up the greenhouse chores. The compost is
working really well now that
We went to Rio Muchacho as Nicola invited us, and
learned a lot about permaculture, utilizing waste, and the area history in
general. They are starting to provide weekly organic
Well, that's all for now. Sorry my report wasn't that
long but most of our work this
Hasta luego,
Heather
June 25, 2005
The seeds that we collected for the seed art mainly
were jaboncillo and maracuyá. They also collected some seeds that I
unfortunately didn´t write down so I will try to keep better track of
This week
The group is very enthusiastic and wants to get more involved doing projects in the community. I hope to have them go to some schools soon and do education projects with younger kids as well as in the greater community of Canton Sucre.
June 30, 2005
Marcelo and I led a presentation on birds and how they can be a good indicator of contamination as they are migratory animals. We will be going to Isla de Corazon to see many birds, mangroves, as well as a successful effort at conservation. The students will be giving presentations on the different birds we will see there such as pelicans, cormorants, frigate birds, etc.
Today we had a fun day of building sand castles on the beach. Heather and some of the other volunteers were the judges and gave different awards such as, "the most ecological", the most architecturally sound", etc. It was a beautiful day of fun in the sun and great to see their enthusiasm as they got down and dirty.
Ciao,
Kristen
This week we watered and finished installing pipes at the Dairy
Farm and Cherry Tree sites. So far no problems with insects or animals at
Cherry Tree, and the trees look healthy. There is a world of a difference
in growth between the trees planted just 2 months earlier in the rainy
season, and those planted later. Dairy Farm fencing is being reinforced by
the owner, and we will fill in any gaps so to speak.
No more break ins at the greenhouse since our last job of
reinforcing it. We used some of the logs left over from cutting down all
those neem trees as the base, and used scrap wood from the bodega as
stakes. We transplanted more trees from baggies to bottles, mainly cedros
and ceibos.
We installed pipes at Jorge Lomas Fernando site and watered. Of all the new sites, the trees look the best there, probably from the shade and elevation (more moisture). The Jorge Lomas Casas site was checked and caterpillars have been eating the leaves of the guachapelis. I assume the leaves will come back once the caterpillars move on to the next stage in their life cycle.
There were two days out of the week that we could not travel to
any of the sites as there was no transportation due to the Manabi strike.
We did, however, maintain El Bosque en Medio de Las Ruinas - steps,
handrails, tree watering, garbage removal. Unfortunately the wood
from the benches on the summit was also stolen, so now we have no more
benches.
Nicola decided to leave early due to personal reasons, but we
had help from a friend of hers and from Jaime as well this past week. We
have four short-term volunteers arriving this coming week. Two will stay
in the house and two in the hostal. The new low flush toilet has
been installed.
The newspaper article based on my interview about our work here
came out this weekend and I have saved a copy for our files.
Hasta luego!
Heather
I am sorry that I wasn´t able to write sooner but
there was a strike here in the lovely province of Manabi to demand more
money to improve the infrastructure here. Everything was shut down from
the buses to the schools to the internet cafes. It put a bit of a
cramp in this week´s lessons as well. On Tuesday we continued with a
lesson on birds from Marcelo as well as a guest biologist from the states,
Antoinette. We went out and did some pelican observation after the
discourse.
Saturday was also great at the Isla de Corazon and
the participants loved the boat tour as well as seeing the great magnitude
of birds that inhabit the island.
I am in the process of
Kristen
We've been having some beautiful weather recently,
interspersed with the gray skies and misty air.
All four volunteers arrived, two on Monday and two on
Thursday night. Together with Jackie and Carley there are now 6
volunteers. After another week, we will be down to 4.
We spent time at the greenhouse transplanting trees
from baggies to bottles, repairing one of the outside seedbeds, and
putting up a bamboo fence attached to the football field side of the
greenhouse. The bamboo came from the very goal posts of the football
field! They were given to us by Horacio, the Head of Maintenance, because
the bamboo was old and he didn't want them playing football there anyway
for the time being. We also sowed seeds - cedro, guachapeli and guachapeli
balnco, palo de vaca, amarillo and colorado. The seeds were old (from last
year) so if they don't germinate, we will plant fresher seeds on top. One
of the compost piles is nearly ready to be transferred to the compost
storage area.
We watered needy trees at Jorge Lomas Casas, and
found little mammals living in some of the pipes! They look like they
could be possums? We also watered all three km 8 sites, and filled in
where the kids may have neglected at Inter-Americano. Most trees are
surviving at all the sites.
Two of the trees that we planted around the football
field in Leonidas Plaza were replaced upon request because they had died.
They continue to be watered by the family there.
The bodega downstairs was completely cleaned out and
reorganized, and we found quite a few goodies in the process! Such
as a few chairs, a hammock, paint scapers, a surf board case, etc. We
filled in the tree ID chart on the wall, complete with drawings, and did
some other home improvements.
Jackie and I visited Fundacion Futuro's new
greenhouse in between San Vicente and Canoa. We learned a lot from them
and got some seeds (cedro amargo, marañon, manglario) as well. They were
very helpful and are willing to collaborate with us in the Seed Bank
project, although we still have to talk more about it.
I also went to a greenhouse inland from Canoa to see
some cedros that the owner is donating to whoever will have them. We may
take some back to our greenhouse when the municipio goes to pick up
theirs.
Planet Drum was also part of a crew which released a
green sea turtle that had been kept in captivity for months at the
Universidad Tecnica. It had been rescued from fishermen who would have
killed it, but it was being kept in such terrible conditions and for way
too long at the university that it probably would have died anyway had
Johnny Delgado not been convinced to agree to let it go.
Talk to you later,
Heather
This week in Bahia I have been
I am working with Marcelo to organize times that we
can
I am also organizing a minga (workday) to make a
mural with Galielo and involve both my students and others in Bahia. The
mural will be about the resources of the region and the reasons and ways
to protect them. My students are also preparing to go on the radio
and share some of what they are learning. So the focus of the
project right now is community education, but at the same time we
continue with the class’ education.
I have almost made it through the information for the
first quarter. The topics that we have covered thus far are plants
and habitats of the region, animals, and art. We are starting
on the watersheds, contamination of the estuary, water
The two brothers who were here short term left midway through
the week, and the two Canadian girls, Jenny and Elisabeth, moved in. They will be here a month, till
mid-August. They are friends of a
past volunteer. Now we have 5 people in the house including me. Carley leaves at the end of the month and Jackie in
mid-August. We
have more volunteers lined up to come starting mid-August.
This week in the greenhouse we finished repairing the outside
seedbed which we had worked on last week, and began repairing the one
under the moyuyo tree. We continued transplanting from baggies to
bottles, and started taking out the compoyo seedlings which had come up. We moved finished compost from one of the piles for storage under the
tarp. Our piles are composting really fast now due to the
above-ground method and doing smaller piles so they get more aeration. I watered the few trees that needed it on the lower slope of the
Universidad Catolica site. We received 102 cedro amargo trees from a
greenhouse near Canoa. They had so many they didn't know what to do
with them all and were looking to give them away. Afranio from the
Depto. de Riesgo was our link to the trees and the municipio provided the
transport to get them to our greenhouse. I helped them offload
theirs at the Fanca greenhouse too. I collected some barbasco and
algarrobo seeds for sowing last weekend from the Machalilla area. Below is the greenhouse inventory on July 19th (before we received the
extra cedros):
algarrobo
13
colorado
102
cedro
135
ceibo
120
guachapeli
114
jaboncillo
4
guayacan
152
mamey colorado
15
samango
132
We watered all three km 8 sites, and El Bosque. We got
help in El Bosque from a kid who happened to be wandering around in there.
We also constructed a fence at the Dairy Farm going across a
ditch near the entrance. It was the only non-fenced area that we had
planted.
We've been continuing on the house improvements - getting
things fixed and organized. There is now a hammock hanging in the
patio area in the back - a prize from cleaning out the bodega last week!
Heather
This week we worked with the Fanca eco kids club to
make recycled paper. On Tuesday they showed us how to rip up papers,
what kind to use, how to soak them, blend with aloe to make it sticky, and
then use frames to create papers. We left them to dry until Thursday
when we completed the project making boxes, notebooks, frames, cards etc. We used petals and leaves to decorate and they came out
beautifully. The best of all was to see my students interact with the eco-kids club and
how much they exchanged and learned from one another.
I really look forward to soon getting my students in
touch with the schools and teaching what they have been learning.
Take care,
Kristen
We’ve been getting slight sprinkles here but no
rain to speak of. The plants are hanging on, but I can tell
they’ll need more water as the dry season progresses. Some have
lost their leaves but I am assuming it is because they are naturally
deciduous, being native to the dry tropical forest. The ceibos and
algarrobos are doing the best, and the colorados the worst.
There is enough water in the various cisterns we draw
from for now.
We watered all the main sites – El Bosque, Universidad
Catolica, Ciudadela Maria Dolores (km 8) sites, Inter-Americano and
both Jorge Lomas sites. The trees in El Bosque aren’t doing as
well as the rest since they were planted in the dry season as
We installed more watering pipes at the Fernando site,
and will have to pitch in for donkey loads of water that are carried
up there to keep it full.
The greenhouse is doing well. We finished fixing the
last outdoor seed bed, transferred more trees from bags to bottles
and sowed some chirimoya seeds.
As far as new sites go, Dr. Sanchez at the Inter-Americano
would like us to plant a new section of the hill in the winter and I
saw a small property on a hill in the middle of Jorge Lomas, less
than a hectare, but it is a barren hillside. The owner said he
would like it planted in the dry season but that his employees will
water the trees everyday. I didn’t say yes to him because it is
like his backyard and is not very big. What do you think?
I had a meeting with Juan Carlos from the San Vicente-based
Fundacion Futuro, who is willing to collaborate on the Seed Bank
project. We are going to compile the info we have in a table and send
to him to fill in the gaps. We think the project name should be
changed to reflect the project more accurately, as “Seed Bank”
gives the impression of constructing a seed storage facility.
Three of our volunteers will be leaving this coming week, which leaves myself and Jackie. The next volunteer arrives in Ecuador August 10th. By the end of August, we will be full again.
Take care,
Heather
This has been an interesting if not a bit frustrating
of a week. On Tuesday I spent the better part of the afternoon planning
class with Maria Elena who has done her thesis work on contamination of
the Estuary Rio Chone. We had put together a presentation which when we
tried to print. It wouldn’t and then the computer shut down all
together. When we tried to start class the guy who opens the room wasn’t
to be found and to top it all of a large number of my students couldn’t
come because they had another project to work on. So I had to reschedule
class.
On Wednesday I went to Rambuche where I am helping
Varon teach a school way up in the mountains where there are two grades
and about twenty students up to the age of 18. I am helping him teach
ecological education, English and art once a week. To get there I ride my
bike to a boat to the bus then walk to where I ride a horse up the
mountain. Quite a journey!
Today we had class and went out with the civil
defense and Maria Elena to see first hand the different characteristics
and properties of the estuary and the contamination there. It went very
well and we were able to consolidate the theory and practice into one. I
hope that we will be able to go out again soon to talk to fisherman about
the nets they use, fish they catch and their experience with the estuary.
I have been planning with Marcelo Luque to prepare my
students to start teaching in the elementary schools and that is going
well. That aspect of the project continues. I also spoke with the mayor
today about finding a wall to do a mural using recycled art materials
(glass, ceramic, stone, shell etc.) involving protecting our natural
resources.
Ciao,
Kristen
Well, this week the house went from being full to empty as we
had the three Canadians leave on one day. Now it's just Jackie and me
until David gets here next week, which is Jackie's last. She has been sick
with a stomach virus type thing and wasn't able to work for a few days. It
will be just David and me till the end of August, when an Australian
couple arrives, and then 3 more volunteers by mid-September. I will be
able to get help from some local volunteers if needed.
Last week we watered the Universidad Catolica, the 3 Maria
Dolores sites, both Jorge Lomas sites and El Bosque. We also installed the
rest of the watering pipes we had prepared at the Fernando site. That day
we had help from Carley's brother, Ajay, who was visiting for a few days.
I collected seca seeds from a friend's property way down the
coast past Punta Gorda (which is past Punta Bellaca). They are drying
outside now. Also, the owner of a nearby soda bar rode by our house this
weekend offering plastic bottles for transplanting. I picked up two rice
sacks worth. We will be getting more from the Dept. of Hygiene and
continue to collect from the U.C. cafeteria too.
We are in the process of adding all the new information we got
for the Seed Bank into the excel table, which will then be translated and
sent to Juan Carlos of Funadcion Futuro.
More improvements were made to the house - the small wall
surrounding the window panes behind the stairwell was painted yellow to
cover up some unsightly artwork. It looks a hundred times better,
especially with the new color scheme. A curtain was made for the front
bedroom as well. Our landlord got our water pump fixed for us, as our
water pressure had been very sporadic. It is such a relief, and we can
shower comfortably in consistently warm water now.
Our computer problems are finally over! (for now) I was
at last able to transfer the files from the old laptop to the new one. I
went through all the files, consolidated the material on the new laptop,
and the old laptop is now retired.
Till next time....
On Tuesday we had a very interesting day of class.
The gas station Repsol has been leaking gas into the estuary for what
seems to be about eight years, or since the earthquake. It became such a
problem that they could no longer turn the blind eye and have had to close
the gas station and do some major clean up. So Friends of the Eco-city got
together and wrote a letter saying that the company should make
reparations and put certain things in order (such as put the gas tanks in
a concrete container in case of further spills) before they can open
again. My class participated in the meeting and then voiced their opinions
and concerns over the problem. We then went and were fortunate enough to
get a tour of the clean-up process at Repsol and talk to the engineer in
charge who gave us a very different perspective on the story. He said that
Repsol was being very diligent in the clean up process, that the spill was
contained and that nature has a remarkable way of repairing itself. So my
students had the opportunity to see both sides of the story and we
discussed the motivations behind both. It was very educational and they
were all thrilled to be involved in the process and see something that is
affecting all the inhabitants of Bahia without them really even knowing
it.
Then on Thursday there was a special meeting on
Tourism in Bahia put on by the municipality. We went and listened and
unfortunately it wasn’t very interesting from an ecological perspective
but took on more of an economic slant.
I am having a little bit of trouble organizing my
students to teach at schools because they have vacation coming up and many
of them are traveling from the 18th of August to the 5th of September. I
think that I might not have any students around during that time to even
have class!
Kristen
The Planet Drum House is not the same anymore. The
summer chapter of girls has closed and we are in transition to a mixed bag
of fall volunteers. Right now there is only one volunteer, David, who
arrived Thursday, and the next volunteers will be arriving about the end
of August. Jaime ("Flaco") and Thea (Peace Corps) each helped
out one day this week as we were low on volunteers.
There was a bit of drama with the Cherry Tree site.
We arrived to water one morning, only to find it partially burnt!
Most of the trees had been spared but some were charred. I talked to the
caretaker about this, and found out that the property had changed owners
from Janel Acosta to Miguel Vera. The new owner plans to make it into a
sporting complex and wanted the hillsides cleared of "monte"
(weeds) just so that it looks "clean". I asked the caretaker to
please not burn anymore until I was able to speak to the new owner. I got
his phone number and called various times with no success. So we went back
to the property to see if we could meet up with him (and also to give the
stressed out trees extra water). We found that they had burned more,
despite my plea to the caretaker, and the phone messages I left for the
owner. I would say we lost about a quarter of the trees. I was able to
talk to the new owner that morning however, who had no idea about the
revegetation project. Now that he knows, he said he will cease the
burning, and he actually wants to show us one of his other properties as a
potential planting site.
Things are going fine in the greenhouse. None of the
seeds we sowed had sprouted (I think they were too old as I planted the
old ones first), except for the cascol seeds I had collected from Bella
Vista. They are sprouting in the shaded seed bed under the moyuyo tree.
We got a lot more plastic bottles from the
Universidad Catolica, and watered the trees on the plateau.
Both Jorge Lomas sites were watered and seem to
be doing well. We get water for the older site from a man in the
neighborhood named Angel, who is very friendly and says we can have as
much water as we want. I gave the a bit of money to the man who gives
us water at the new site as he has to pay a donkey to bring it up to fill
his tank.
We watered the InterAmericano site, as school was on
vacation that week. Dr. Sanchez, the principal, requested 4 samango trees
for the school, so we dropped those off as well.
We began hulling the barbasco, algarrobo and seca
seeds I had collected—quite a time consuming process, but it's nice to
chat as we work.
Heather
(I forgot to say in my last report that we also
watered and picked up trash at El
Well, no more burning at the Cherry Tree site. David and
I had a hard day of watering there and at the Dairy Farm, just us two.
As we water, we check up on the watering pipes and if they're not draining
properly open the hole again with a nail. We also repair the fences
as need be.
Did some minor repair at the greenhouse and compost hole,
weeded, watered, composted and transplanted a few little trees that were
growing up outside the greenhouse. Also watered the trees at the
Universidad Catolica site.
Watered the Fernando site with Thea's help, and got a tour of eccentric Carlos Salazar’s home improvements, such as his new kitchen mural, and front yard cat walk.
The tour of El Bosque went well with the Genesis school - about
25 students and 5 adults. We talked about the history, dry tropical
forest and species, burning, the importance of an urban park....
They helped us water the trees as well, and received their treat handouts
at the end.
The trees at the Endara site near Cherry Tree and Dairy Farm
continue to do well, and probably won't need any watering after next rainy
season.
Hasta pronto!
Heather
This week we repaired and reinforced the greenhouse (the dogs
had broken in through a weak spot), did the usual greenhouse chores, and
sowed seeds - aguia and cedro amargo. We also continued hulling seeds (seca
and algarrobo), and even collected more algarrobo seeds from the Cherry
Tree site. I discovered that seca seeds can also be collected there, but
at the moment we have plenty.
We tried all week to get the plastic bottles from the Depto. de
Higiene (Health Department), and finally got over 15 rice sacks full.
Thank goodness for a large bodega. David experimented with making water
bottle carrying contraptions using rope, since all the water bottle
handles are breaking.
We checked up on Inter-Americano Site, and did some mulching,
watering and pipe fixing. The kids were out watering when we were there.
Each class waters once a week, but they don't seem to have clearly
designated areas so the trees further away may get missed. Dr. Sanchez had
planned to plant the 3 samangos from us later that week, as an experiment
of sorts. The rest of the planting on the expanded site should take place
in the winter.
Both Jorge Lomas sites, El Bosque, the Dairy Farm, Endara site
and Cherry Tree all got watered, and we unplugged some of the blocked
water pipes. Some of the semi-burned trees at Cherry Tree are showing
signs of recovering, while others have since died. Still a good survival
rate, but the hillside is now so barren of any other vegetation, that
erosion will still be a big problem.
Two Australian volunteers - Natalie and Michael, arrived Friday
morning, but by the weekend they had decided this place wasn't for them,
and moved on in their travels. The next volunteer is slated to arrive next
Wednesday afternoon, and another on Sunday evening. That will put us to
three volunteers, which is a good number to work with. I found out from
Nicola Mears that one of the volunteers also plans to work for her
environmental education project in the schools which could lead to a time
conflict, however the volunteer herself has not mentioned anything about
it to me over e-mail.
I tried to meet with the property owner, Marcos, of a potential
site which stretches from km8 towards Fanca, but he ended up being
unavailable. A man named Fernando had organized the meeting and says that
if we can secure that tract of land, it would have a great impact and be
something on a larger scale than we have worked on. I still have not heard
back from Maria Piedad since dropping off the convenio (contract), but I
know she is still interested in having us plant on her land. I also made
an appointment for next week to tour the tract of land adjacent to the
Cherry Tree site. If we plant there this winter, that will make three
tracts of adjoining land (including the Dairy Farm) that we have
revegetated.
The weather has continued to be good for our work schedule,
with clouds in the morning and some afternoon sun to enjoy in the
afternoon. We even had a couple very light rain sprinkles.
This week two new volunteers arrived - Briana and Stephanie,
which puts us to 4 people living in the house. Both speak Spanish.
We were able to retire one of the compost piles at the
greenhouse and move it over into the storage area. We also repaired the
fence around the compost area, and put up a new section. Parts of the
netting that were flapping off of the greenhouse roof and walls were also
fixed. I tilled the soil, and removed some big seeds from the seedbeds
that had not sprouted in months. Some of the guachapeli are now coming up.
It may be because I buried the seeds a bit deeper in the tilling process
last week, whereas before they were practically just on the surface. We
began going through each plant individually to fix up the baggies (add
dirt, loosen soil, set straight, fold open top of bag, etc) and take out
dead plants. Completed the colorados and ceibos, and got started on the
samangos. I sowed a few guaba seeds I had brought back with me from
Esmeraldas as an experiment. It may be that they are better suited to a
more humid zone.
We watered Cherry Tree, Endara, Dairy Farm, El Bosque and
Fernando sites.
Talked briefly to people at Cherry Tree and Dairy Farm about
why they clear the hillside vegetation down to the very last blade of
grass, leaving all the dirt exposed. The answer was to keep the area
"clean", so I tried to explain a more ecological way of thinking
to them. There's not much use in us planting trees, if nothing else will
be allowed to grow to protect them and keep the soil intact.
At El Bosque we also installed some new watering pipes, picked
up trash, and fixed the rope fence at the bottom entrance. The top of the
hill (lookout point) was somehow wet with water and the land was eroding
down the top set of stairs. We will have to think about how to go about
fixing this as a big crevice has opened where the stairs are.
I stopped by the property of Pepe Santos, neighbor to Cherry
Tree, to see about planting there this winter. He is still into the idea
and will look over the contract I left. We talked about what types of
trees he wants, and I will get a tour of the property in the afternoon
sometime. Peter and I also scouted out some new planting sites this
weekend. El Toro was badly and quite extensively eroded.
We continued hulling algarrobo, seca and barbasco seeds.
We have been going into rainy season prep mode by preparing
seeds (hulling, soaking) and sowing in the greenhouse. This week we hulled
some more of our barbaso-algarrobo-seca store, and sowed zapote de perro
and algarrobo. We mixed some more sand and compost into the seed beds
before sowing, as it seemed that the soil was getting too compacted with
the watering due to the high clay content.
The aguia seedlings have come up. We have a lot more of those
seeds so it is good to know they are still viable. So now we have 3
species sprouting in total (guachapeli and cascol as well).
We had bought some fishing line to repair the greenhouse
netting, which seems to be working better than the wire, as it doesn't cut
into the netting as much, causing it to eventually fall apart. Part of the
fence around the compost pit had been knocked down and was put back up.
The new volunteers got a tour of the the revegetated area at
the Universidad Catolica by Peter Berg, and brought down a drum that had
been used for water storage which was no longer needed on that hillside.
The weaker trees at that site were also watered.
We finished fixing up the samangos in their baggies, and
started in the cedros. We did an inventory of the plants (only those in
bags/bottles) as follows:
algarrobo
9
colorado
84
cedro
232
ceibo 111
ebano
11
guachapeli
96
jaboncillo
5
guayacan
208
samango
104
seca
1
We passed by Inter-Americano to check up, and ended up doing
all the watering as the school was on another vacation - something having
to do with the election of a school "reina" (queen).
We watered Cherry Tree, Dairy Farm and Endara sites, as well as
both Jorge Lomas sites and El Bosque. A jaboncillo tree which had been
burned at the top of the hill at El Bosque, and was as dry as a bone,
miraculously sprang back to life with little buds coming from the base
just above ground level. I have found this to be common among many of the
species that we plant. Some are surprisingly hardy. We found the source of
the water that had destroyed the top staircase, as a spring spontaneously
appeared on the hilltop while we were fixing the stairs! I found out
from EMAPA (responsible for municipal potable water supply) that it is due
to a problem in the water piping somewhere else so the backed-up water had
found another outlet. They are working on fixing it. In addition to fixing
various steps and handrails, we also put in another watering pipe, and
located a missing sign ("ceibo inmaduro") and post, which had
been dragged half way across the park. I got holes punched in the sign in
order to reattach it to the post.
Over the weekend, Peter Berg and I took a hike into El Toro to
look for planting sites. We identified two possible areas. We also had a
meeting with Angel, president of the Maria Auxiliadora community
association, to talk about his idea for a project to fix up El Bosque en
Medio de Las Ruinas.
I put together a seed collection schedule, and will continue to
do research to fill in missing information for certain species.
Heather
We've begun watering the greenhouse three times a week,
and have already seen improvements, especially with the samangos, perhaps
because they are not native to the dry tropical forest, and do better in
transition zones (according to Dario of Rio Muchacho). We prepared more
seed beds and sowed seca (soaked for different lengths of time as an
experiment), barbasco and guachapeli seeds. I don't expect the guachapeli
to come up as they are old, but we'll see. All the seed beds have been
sown now, but some more may become available from seeds that do not
germinate. We fixed up some cedro and guayacan seedlings in their baggies
and repaired the compost fence on the side where the soccer ball hits. The
trees planted on the hillside were watered. We also continued the seed
hulling this week (seca and algarrobo).
We watered Endara, Cherry Tree and Dairy Farm, the
latter two twice as we had enough time to do it, and of all the sites,
they could use it the most.
In El Bosque, a few more watering pipes were put in,
trees watered, trash picked up and the #4 sign (ceibo inmaduro) put back
up in its place.
We watered both Jorge Lomas sites and took a hike up
the path behind Las Casas that goes off to the left on the hill top as we
did not know what was there. We followed it as far as the summit - quite a
good view. It continued along the ridge but we came back down.
We were interviewed for both the radio and newspaper
(El Diario) together regarding the Green City Accords signed by Bahia's
mayor. We also obtained the survey map for the new property acquired by
Planet Drum for the purpose of building a bioregional institute.
The volunteers also had time to work on their own
special projects - David created a new spreadsheet for keeping track of
tree survival rates in all the various stages of their growth, Briana
hemmed up the curtains in the front bedroom, and Stephanie began making
new signs for the greenhouse trees. We are also bringing home dirt from
around the field at the Universidad Catolica for making a garden
downstairs in the patio area.
Talk to you soon!
Heather
We went to the greenhouse 3 times again this week, and sowed
more algarrobo seeds. Ramon's dad, from whose land we got the seca seeds,
said that those seeds may take months to sprout. I trimmed up the muyuyo
tree where it was getting in the way around the outside seeds beds in
front of the greenhouse. We emptied the sacks of compost from the Depto.
de Higiene. The 16 rice sacks will be just as much appreciated as the
compost was! That day we had help from Marc Beck, the tourist who
went with Peter Berg to El Bosque.
We visited El Toro to look for road access on the other side of
the gorge, but there was none past the driveway to a farm, and on the
other side of the farm was another steep-sided gorge. We may be able to
use the top of the main gorge and part of the slope as a test patch. The
land on that side belongs to a Gutierrez from Bahia. The first site we had
decided on last time belongs to Rita's family.
I got a tour of the site on land beside the Cherry Farm - only
about 2 hectares of it is plantable, and he has cows roaming all over it.
The owner suggested that we plant only along the fence line and make a
parallel fence to protect the trees. I don't know if that is worth it
since it seems like a landscaping job now.
We watered all the new sites, Dairy Farm and Cherry Tree twice.
Endara site didn't get much water because the cistern was empty but
luckily we had a bottle left over from Dairy Farm to use. The two watering
pipes that had been installed at the top if the hill in El Bosque were
missing, and the water leakage continues, but not as strongly as before -
great for us!
Volunteer David is now working on figuring out tree survival
rates for the whole project from the maps we have drawn with the dead
trees crossed out. Volunteer Stephanie got her tree ID signs laminated,
and Briana finished the office curtain hemming. We finished hulling the
seca seeds and continued on algarrobo. I got some more information from
Marcelo Luque on when to collect seeds of certain species. It seems like a
lot will be falling in the next couple months before the wet season.
The new boat club Puerto Amistad had an
"inauguration" this weekend, but it wasn't that rip roaring of a
time. David, the Genesis volunteers and I went to a friend's farm (Baron)
in Rambuche this weekend, and collected some guasmo seeds there.
I checked on the Green Accords article that Peter Berg and I
were interviewed about at El Diario newspaper a couple times but no luck
yet.
Hope all is well,
Heather
BIRTH OF A PROJECT
When I set off for Bahia de Caraquez exactly six months ago I had no dea
where I was going or what I was really being sent to do. My
When I got to Bahia the first thing I did was to come
up with a
Now I just had to find the experts, find the students
and contact the community. To find the experts I decided to call upon the
Friends of the Eco-city group for support. I planned a meeting in which I
discussed the plan for the project, curriculum and the actual program of a
twice-weekly meeting of a few hours in which theory and practice went hand
in hand. The Friends were wild with support, volunteered to help as the
experts, and proffered names and phone numbers of experts in other
subjects. One thing led to the next. I did some more sleuthing around and
by the time I was done There was a long list of names and numbers for each
and every subject. Experts, check!
The next thing I had to do was find the students.
This is where I hit the ground running. I went on the radio, I talked to
the newspapers, I talked to college classes and high school students and
told everyone interested to meet next week at the municipality building (Municipio)
and we would talk about subjects, times and all those other details. The
only requirement was an enthusiasm for learning and a desire to protect
the environment. There were over fifty students at that first meeting!
That was much more interest than I had expected but I said to myself,
"What the heck, the more the merrier." Students, check!
Then I got in touch with community leaders such as
barrio presidents and city agency heads who were accessible through the
municipality data base and sent them all letters inviting them to an
informational meeting about the program. “Come one, come all,” I said
and ended up with a representative sprinkling. I told them about the
project and asked for their support in heading any community development
projects that were in line with the themes of the education program such
as beach clean-ups, elementary school education, and erosion-controlling
tree planting projects (just to name a few). They were enthusiastic and
promised to help with the bioregional education program as much as they
could. Some even volunteered to be students in the course. Community,
check!
The last plan was to find a place where I could hold
classes. Because the course was to be of the people, for the people and by
the people, I couldn't think of a better place to teach the course than
the municipality building. I got the stamp of approval from the mayor and
was set to go. Meeting place, check.
AS IT UNFOLDS
I think that the true genius of this project lies in
the fact that theory and practice go hand in hand and, as I see it, this
style of education is not only more interesting, exciting and has greater
information retention value, but it is also essential for a full
understanding of the subject matter. My students and I spent one day
talking about the devastating effects of the El Nino phenomenon on the
community, watched a video tape put together by the civil defense agency,
listened to their rescue stories, and then walked through the ruins and
sites of mudslides to really visualize the houses that slid down the hill
taking 16 lives with them. This provided a perfect opportunity to discuss
the link between nature and human interaction. People had
After we established a base of understanding about
human interaction with nature we moved on to other subjects such as native
plant restoration. We talked about mangroves and their role as filters in
the estuary, And followed up by planting mangroves. We talked about the
dry tropical forest characteristics of the bioregion in Bahia, then walked
through the forest with a guide and saw the role of trees, orchids,
lichens, and vines in an unadulterated state. When we talked about the
river and the role of fishermen in contributing to contamination and
overfishing, we went out in a boat and saw the nets and saw the floating
trash. We made necklaces of native seeds, planted native trees, learned
about native birds, studied the currents and climate and their effect on
the seasons, watched monkeys swing from mangrove trees (most had never
seen a monkey!) and learned all about the Bahia bioregion.
The students gave back to the community through clean
ups on the river and ocean beaches, and a site known as "Bosque en
Medio de las Ruinas" or "Forest in the Middle of the Ruins"
where the lives had been lost and houses swept away during El Nino
mudslides and Planet Drum Foundation was actively working at revegetation
using native trees. The high school age students joined up with a younger
Ecology Club kids to make recycled paper and decorate paper products. In
this way the experts taught my students and my students taught the
community.
The great diversity of subjects led to a great
diversity of learning activities. My students were continuously learning
more about their bioregion and all the natural resources that they had the
responsibility to protect, and at the same time were constantly exploring
and pushing their comfort zone as they planted mangroves in knee-high mud
or walked hours through a green, viney, Tarzanesque forest. My students
were constantly smiling, and hardly realized how much they were learning
because they were having so much fun doing it.
AND COMES TO A CLOSE
The course started off with fifty participants and
slowly the wheat was separated from the chaff and I was left with about
twenty constant, dedicated students that loved the course and wanted to be
true crusaders of protecting the bioregion. They were mostly high school
age because it seemed they had the most time, motivation and ability to
put into the course. They were to receive a certificate of completion when
the course was over, but even more importantly they were to graduate with
a real, concrete knowledge of their bioregion and an understanding of how
they could protect it.
Now comes the catch. Because my students were high
school students, and mostly seniors at that, the course had to take a
backseat to their other school responsibilities. When it came down to
finals or school projects I found myself with only a handful of students.
After about five months of teaching, I learned that many of my students
were going to have to take an after school preparatory class required for
attending the University. Because of the time conflict, they would no
longer be able to participate in my class. With great reluctance due to
not being able to continue with the different subject matter, but much joy
over what had already been taught, the course came to a close.
WITH FUTURE PROSPECTS
It was both the innovative as well as extracurricular
nature of the course that brought it strength and weakness. There isn’t
a general cultural model for extracurricular education in Ecuador.
Consequently, even though there was great interest and enthusiasm for the
novelty of the course, there was a lack of commitment to see it through.
There is a real cultural difference in work ethic between the costal
Ecuadorians and North Americans. Ecuadorians are typically late and even
take pride in impunctuality, calling it "la hora Ecuatoriana"
(the Ecuadorian hour). People often wouldn't show up for meetings. Of
course it also meant that things in general were more laid back and that
the people take things a little easier and slower (which they call “tranquilo”).
I couldn't help but wonder if there was some happy medium of efficiency in
a laid back setting somewhere in the world.
In order to give the project greater structure in the
future I would recommend that the course be taught through an already
established system such as public and private schools, churches or
community programs. I would give greater, more tangible incentives to the
students that complete the course by encouraging more dedication and
attendance. In the future there should be even more local and community
involvement in the program, including a local teacher who has greater
cultural understanding of the system and work ethic.
I would strongly encourage partnership with other
organizations to strengthen the scope and breadth of the project. Because
what Planet Drum Foundation is doing is so innovative and ground breaking,
I believe that it could be more effectual and efficient with support from
other organizations that are also interested in environmental protection
and education such as the Fundacion Cerro Seco and Ecology Clubs of the
area.
I think that there is great potential for a future
bioregional education project if it was given greater structure and some
of these steps were taken to ensure its heightened success. A truly
in-depth knowledge of the people and place is crucial. Then, truly, the
sky is the limit.
I'm a bit sick—got some dirt in my eye in the
greenhouse which caused an infection which I am treating now. I
finally bought Blas' surfboard (he wanted a new one) and so am practising
more regularly. I also got attacked by a bees nest at Cherry Tree. It was
one I had seen before but forgot was there, low to the ground in the only
stand of grass left there. I must have walked right on top of it. They
followed all the way down that big hill and to the cistern, where I got
Briana to douse me with water and take them out of my hair. The stings
were quite painful until the nighttime, when they mysteriously felt better
after some cabbage soup. I've heard from people here that it's good
to get stung by bees—some sort of physical therapy thing.
Did some repair of the greenhouse walls and sowed the
seeds you gave us from Las Coronas. The Zapote de Perro seeds are finally
coming up, and more Algarrobo seeds as well. The Aguia seedlings that
were coming up seem to be getting smaller — an insect may be getting at
them but I can't see anything. The Cascol seedlings that were transplanted
aren't doing so well—they were probably too small but they don't seem to
be growing anymore in the seed bed. Maybe it will take the rainy season to
make them a bit more robust.
There is no water at Dairy Farm or Endara so we have
been taking from Cherry Tree to water the other sites. So far it's been
working out, as nobody else is using the water at Cherry Tree right
now.
We watered both of the Jorge Lomas sites, and there
is construction going on behind Las Casas. They completely removed
one house and have cleared out the area behind it. It looks as if they are
going to build a drainage canal leading from the gorge with the
Guachapelis planted on the side. We lost a couple trees to it—Algarrobos,
Colorados and Guachapelis—probably about 5 in total.
David is still working on the survival rate database,
and Stephanie finished making her signs for the greenhouse trees. Briana
was doing other maintenance tasks such as sharpening the machetes
Still haven't been able to see Jacob to hear exactly
how many days the men have been working, but will keep trying. I am now
giving English classes to Maria Piedad, the Mayor's wife. She would like
to put a sign out in front of her property on the roadside to let people
know that Planet Drum is doing a revegetation project there.
Hasta la proxima!
Heather
The greenhouse inventory below was taken on October 10th (bags
and bottles only; not seedbeds). The numbers may not be exact, but they
give us an idea nonetheless.
Algarrobo
9
Aguia
3
Cascol
10
Colorado
83
Cedro
223
Ceibo
117
Ebano
11
Guachapeli
102
Jaboncillo
5
Guayacan
221
Samango
103
Seca
1
TOTAL
888
We did some minor repairs to the greenhouse as usual, and the
University has for some reason chopped back the Muyuyo tree that was
covering the outside seedbeds. Maybe it will be good for those trees to
get more light? We transplanted some Aguia and Cascol seedlings,
sowed more Aguia and Guasmo, and aerated the bottles of some Ceibos that
were growing an algae—like film on the inside. Stephanie placed her tree
identification signs, which are quite artistically done. The smaller trees
at the University site were also watered.
We watered Cherry Tree and Dairy Farm twice—many trees at
both sites seem to be doing better now and have sprung back to life after
being burnt (at Cherry Tree). The climate has also been a bit moist
recently, with light rain in the characteristically wetter areas. Maybe
this is slowly recharging groundwater supplies which some plants are
drawing on.
The Fernando site is still doing well. The tank we use there is
very low, but the owner wants us to finish it off since the murky dregs
are good for watering trees, but not much else. I got a few Bototo seeds
from a tree there—they are surrounded by a light fluff which feels like
sheep's wool.
Riccardo has decided to volunteer with us two or three times a
week as he feels this arrangement is a fair exchange for his stay in the
house. David departed on Saturday night, and Megan Bomba, the new
volunteer, arrived on Sunday night on the same bus as Stephanie and Briana,
who were coming back from a trip to Quito.
I went to look at some new land for planting on the hill above
the Mariantia Jesus neighborhood. It is the land around the defunct cement
water tanks up there. I think it will be a feasible site. We have
permission from Roberto's family, who lives in the area. I should also get
permission from the Municipio, as some of it is public land. Let me know
if you would like me to send you pictures.
I also went hiking to La Gorda (a couple of beaches past Punta
Bellaca), where I collected some Pela Caballo seeds. This is the place
where Don and Thea are working on an eco-tourism project with the land
owners.
Hasta luego,
Heather
For the first time since the dry season started we had a
reasonable rain in Bahia on Wednesday!
The dogs have found new ways to break into the greenhouse so we
have reinforced the walls again. What we thought were Zapote de Perro
seeds coming up were actually weeds, but now the real seeds have started
to come up, although in small numbers. The first Seca has come up as well.
They take quite some time. We have been recording greenhouse and site
inventory data into the new database that David designed for us. I think
it is basically the Seed Bank in a nutshell! We added dirt to some
of the seed beds which were getting low, and also repaired one side of the
seed beds inside the greenhouse. We also transplanted into bottles many
Guachapeli that were getting too big for their bags.
In Jorge Lomas, the Fernando site is doing quite well, and it
turns out the digging beside Las Casas was indeed for a drainage ditch
which will connect to the main one in the middle.
The three km 8 sites are doing fine—Cherry Tree and Dairy
Farm continue to receive water twice a week. There is still no municipal
water supply to anywhere in Bahia but luckily Cherry Tree still has enough
water for all, and as far as our house goes, we apparently have a huge
cistern.
I met up with Shane, the Aussie who is doing his PhD on
“learning tourism”, who took me for coffee and asked a few questions.
I gave him a self-guided tour pamphlet for El Bosque Park and mentioned
that the Maria Auxilliadora Barrio Community where it is located is
thinking of turning it into a tourist attraction.
Speaking of El Bosque, most of the signs there are now missing,
posts and all, with no trace left behind. We did some trail, handrail and
step maintenance, and the usual trash pick up. It is a bit better than
before, but is still accumulating litter.
Riccardo fixed the screens on the windows in the dining room,
and the women volunteers worked on placards for the Catolica University
Open House next week. Stephanie made a new one for composting. We have
formalized weekly house meetings again. The first one went well, and was
relatively stress—free. Megan is settling in fine, although she was
quite tired the first week. She also speaks good Spanish. Now we have four
volunteers total.
I went to the launch of a UN Environmental Global Citizen
Program, of which Canton Sucre is one of two selected cantons for the
project (the other is Riobamba). Also, Friday was the launch of the USAID
funded Solid Waste (garbage separation) Project. Looks like things are
happening in Bahia!
Hasta pronto!
Heather
I have circulated the strategic plan you left, which some of
the volunteers were interested in seeing. It is good for them to have a
better understanding of what Planet Drum is all about.
This was a greenhouse intense week, as we did a lot of
maintenance to prevent further dog break-ins, such as putting up more
stakes, lining the walls with big logs at the bottom, and sewing up the
mesh with fishing line. We neatened the area in general, e.g. fixing up
compost fence, removal of old hoses, etc. in order to prepare for the
Universidad Catolica's Casa Abierta (Open House) on Thursday. They also
inaugurated the new meteorological station on this day—the mayor and
Cristi Ruperti gave speeches. He always says hi to me and asks about the
trees. We put up the placards on composting, bioregionalism, and
revegetation, and gave talks and demonstrations to groups of students who
passed by. We also led students up the hill and watered, to show them our
revegetation site. The students ranged from elementary school to
university age, and seemed to be quite interested in our work. I also gave
a short interview for FB Radio.
In the greenhouse, we also transplanted 33 Cascol seedlings,
and hulled Pela Caballo and Algarrobo seeds.
Did some fixing up of individual trees at Dairy Farm that
weren't looking so hot. Most of the ones left seem to be doing fine
though. Cherry Tree continues to regenerate, and Endara is doing as well
as ever, except that we found some cows had gotten in last time. I alerted
Carlos Endara about this, who said he would investigate. In Jorge Lomas,
the Fernando site was watered, and construction continues at the base of
Las Casas. It looks like the trees further up the hill will be safe. The
trees at Inter-americano looked healthy, which shows that the students
have been watering since we haven't been there in a few weeks. At El
Bosque there were a few freshly chopped trees but nothing blocking the
path this time. We lost one Cedro recently, but the other trees left from
the June planting look fine. One of the volunteers found a dead Mot Mot
bird on the path that had apparently been stabbed by a stick
Some of the volunteers helped paint a mural in La Cruz this
week as they are having their barrio fiestas this weekend. The fiestas of
Bahia are next week, which will most likely be volunteer Stephanie's last.
She will be replaced by another Stefanie (from Germany) who arrives a week
later.
I got the convenio signed by the property owner for a section
of the land in Marianita Jesús (on the hill behind La Cruz). I talked to
the municipio as well about the other part of the land, who said it was
fine.
I got my eye looked at in Quito, since there are no
opthamologists in Bahía and I was going there anyway for the weekend.
Apparently when I got that dirt in it from the greenhouse, it caused a
tear duct to get blocked. I have a new prescription which should work, but
if not, surgery is an option to remove the hard ball under my top eyelid.
It's not serious though.
Hasta luego,
Heather
Everything is fine in the greenhouse, and the sites— all the
regular ones got watered, including Inter-Americano, which still looks
good. When I went to water El Bosque, an Ecuadorian friend and four kids
from Maria Auxiliadora came to help.
The fiestas in Bahia consisted of parades, street concerts and
parties in the clubs at night. There was also a surfing contest, and a
rock concert at the skate park. I was asked to model in an
"international" fashion show at the Yacht Club, so I did it for
kicks, and ended up getting some unexpected perks out of it such as free
clothes, and a year's free entry to the night club next door to it!
Well, sorry there’re not more details to report on the work
side of things, but on volunteers, Stephanie and Briana are both traveling
for a few weeks, which leaves me, Riccardo and Megan. A new Stefanie from
Germany gets here this weekend.
Hasta luego!
Heather
This week we did quite a bit of work in the greenhouse, as we
sowed seeds (Algarrobo, Bototo, Barbasco and Pela Caballo), did
maintenance to the greenhouse structure and outdoor seed beds, finished
transplanting the Cascol saplings, moved over a compost pile for storage,
and fixed up the other side of the compost hole to start using next time.
Instead of having both compost mounds on one side, we will try to have one
mound on each side of the little wooden dividing fence to utilize the
space. We also hulled some more Algarrobo seeds this week.
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We watered all the usual sites, Cherry Tree and Dairy Farm
twice. The cows were still in Endara, so I went over to talk to the owner
again, and he promised to take care of it this week.
They are building a drainage ditch at Jorge Lomas Casas, and do
not plan to do any further construction into our site. We only lost some
trees at the very bottom. There is also a new road cleared directly from
that site to the Fernando site, which makes access by foot a lot easier,
especially since we had to lug water from below last time, as Don Carlos
was out of water at the top of the Fernando site. He plans to get more
brought up by donkey load. He also invited us to lunch this week, which we
took him up on.
We maintained and watered El Bosque. Here are photos of Megan watering and observing Bahia and Rio Chone from the ridge above El Bosque en Medio de las Ruinas.
Megan came with me to look at potential sites in El Toro, and we dropped off a convenio (contract) for the Espinoza brothers to look over (the first site we decided on), since the land there is apparently shared between them. They say the area would have to be fenced.
I didn't see any hillsides to plant in Pedro Otero's land—the
deforested areas were mostly flat areas, and everything would need to be
fenced there because of roaming cattle. There was an area on a low slope
above the right hand side of the road (across from the passion fruit
orchard going up into Pedro's property) with frutillo trees that was
sparsely forested and could stand more trees. Both sites have no water and
pay to fill their cisterns. I would like to talk to Flor-Maria about
planting on the slopes closer to the entrance of El Toro. So far we have
the two sites you and I identified last time, and the test patch area,
which is on the flat land just above the second potential site.
The weather is already beginning to change—more humidity,
light drizzle and warmer ocean temperatures.
Stefanie from Germany arrives this weekend.
Heather
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The solar hot water course has come to the end of the
first part with successful results. Around 15-17 students participated,
and about 7 students followed the entire course with enthusiasm and
involvement.
On Wednesday we visited Genesis School and did
a real survey of the site. We went through the details of the project.:
where to position the collector, how to install the system, what type of
materials we are going to use, and how much it is going to cost.
The design of the system has been drawn with some
final details to be discussed next week. We are trying to create an
original design which can be extremely cheap, easy to construct and
custom-made for Ecuadorian weather. After relentless research I finally
arrived at a conclusion. We can use the hot water tank as a collector
itself thereby avoiding the construction of a complicated and expensive
system. The water tank will be placed in an insulated wooden box, a glass
will be put on top of the collector, and the tank will be painted black.
We will use mirrors to maximize the solar gain entering the collector. We
also will build a platform 4 meters high using bamboo and wooden boards to
place the collector on top and to increase the solar gain. 
The quote for the project is around 420 dollars
including the platform. It will be good to build the platform because we
are using a traditional building technique for bamboo which is slowly
disappearing. I know Planet Drum has no funding for this project but it is
extremely important to acquire those foundations. The system has a cost of
200 dollars without the platform and is affordable for many people here.
We would like to conclude the project by the February 23 when we will have
an open house and people from Bahia will have the opportunity to see this
installation as part of the celebration of the Sixth Ecociudad
Anniversary. I really hope you will be able to support this project with
the necessary funds....we are working towards reducing the budget by
searching for materials through friends, looking for unused or leftover
stuff.... 
S