I’m a full-time gardener and tree guy now. The residents of Cerro Papayo stared wide-eyed as I built my composter and started to fill it. I was constantly explaining the process of compost and how it can help with gardens. Everyone in town is a farmer, but they slash and burn and don’t understand soil improvement or nutrients. It’s all new to them and interesting because they’ve noticed that the fields take longer to recover and don’t yield as much anymore. And they stared when I took a pick and hacked out garden beds from the clay, because out there no one really cultivates. But they all want to learn and are asking advice on where to put their gardens and how to start. It’s encouraging to see interest in my projects.

And to help me learn and integrate into the community, I’ve been going out to work most mornings. The rice was planted about a month and a half ago, and it’s about six inches high. All the weeds are growing up, because the ground wasn’t cultivated, so we take short machetes to hack down the grass between the rice. It’s the worst work ever. You’re bent over to reach the ground and the sun in your face and sweat in your eyes and the rice keeps going up and up the hill. But people were quite amused at how bad I was at it.

I think I’m going to really connect with people, given some time. At first I thought that it wouldn’t really be possible, since we’re from such different backgrounds, but I changed my mind. Back home, I’m much more likely to talk about the weather or the world cup than I am about anything from my college courses. There’s no reason I can’t continue to talk about those daily subjects. It helps that I’m interested in all the nature and agriculture topics. Some of the younger guys in town seem cool too. I’ve been playing some dominoes and talking with a group from Papayo.

So this was two weeks in site. It’s been the longest period in my life I’ve gone without speaking English and been away from modernity, so I’ve had some intense cravings. The food is good, but there’s nothing with really intense flavor. I really want anything Mexican or Italian. Or anything cold. Ice cream. The lack of refrigeration really limits things. Oh! Want to know how many days I ate pork from the same slaughtered pig? But mostly cheese. The problem with that craving is that even in the cities in Panama, it’s not really possible to find it. So it goes. But I think as time goes, I'll do better and better without those things. And maybe soon I'll be able to make cheese in the jungle. And this week Didima said he'd teach me how to make bread over a fire. And in a few short months my chiles should start to bear fruit. All part of adjustment, I guess.

Well. I miss you all and I hope to be able to write again soon.