round two

This has been a week of seconds; a second group of visitors, a second educational program and constant seconds of food miraculously created by Teressa on a propane-powered camp stove. 

With four days to recover before the arrival of our seven guests, Ursula, Lee and I decided to do a bit of “fixing up” around CECCOT.  Motivated by the near blinding of little Jason, the garden fence was first on our list, followed by refinishing the floors in the commons area and transplanting native plants from the forest to recycled pots around the cabins.  I mentioned months ago that I may eventually understand the slow lifestyle here, I still do not, but I am gradually developing a sense for the volunteers’ initial lackadaisical pace and commitment to our project.  The explanation seems obvious, most people are driven by instant gratification and self confidence, the progress of our project has given the volunteers (and me) both and has resulted in the growth of the garden, self competence, trust and friendships.  With that said, Ursula, Lee, Kenny, Ruth, Luis, Noe and I were able to complete our entire list in one day, this incredible motivation also led to our second successful educational program, a puppet  theater for kids and six happy bird banders from the states. 

all eyes on rand

My first impression of the banding group was that they could not have been more different from the group of UW students.  All six were professionals of various fields (fish and wildlife, education, law, medicine) here for adventurous birding in the tropics and an opportunity to learn more about bird banding from Daniel Froelich, another friend of Ursula and a talented ornithologist.  I now admit that my first impression could not have been more wrong, the majority of the group was as, if not more, enthusiastic about their surroundings than the UWers; they were like kids trekking through the forest in hopes of spotting birds, bugs, plants,etc.  My favorite four included Amy, the only woman and the youngest of the group, Amy was the most vocally enthusiastic of the six and often announced her discoveries with “holy s***, look at that one!” Amy became quick friends with Mike, a witty ex-teacher who now works in wildlife conservation, I became fond of Mike for both his intelligence and his humor, “Horned Screamer,” he announced while looking through Birds of Peru,  “I used to date her in college.”  Mike and Howard, a very quiet, intelligent and talented bird bander, were inseparable.  I didn’t have the opportunity to talk with ‘Howie’, but I liked his gentle demeanor and quick smile.  I did have the opportunity the talk with Rand, an ex-lawyer originally from Louisiana.  I was immediately charmed by Rand’s southern drawl, infectious laugh and interest in everything from conservation education and ornithology to sculpture.  I was not the only one charmed by Rand, he was a favorite among the volunteers and his quick English lessons of “how…are…you?  I…am…great!” earned the attention of our other rambunctious visitors, who came and went in a three hour, action-packed whirlwind.

team younger

Sunday is meant to be “a day of rest”, this particular Sunday laughed in the face of that title.  The nineteen kids that arrived were family, friends and friends of family to Rosemary, Kenny, Ruth, Luis and Noe,  We divided the group into team young, ages 9-12, and team younger, ages 5-8, before taking them through stations modeled from the UW design, the only major differences; a shorter length of time, lack of injuries, more art, birds and fewer “adults”. Overconfident from the residual success of the first project, we were a bit unprepared, inexplicably however, things seemed to fall into place or, in one memorable case, I fell into its place.

keko

While introducing the insect station to team younger, I realized that the spider specimen (most likely collected by Azmera), helpful in illustrating the differences between insects and, well, spiders, had mysteriously disappeared, “fine,” I thought “I’ll just draw a picture.”  As I sat down to draw and explain that insects have six legs and spiders have eight, I just missed, by the grace of the spider gods, sitting on eight legs of a tarantula.  I remained calm so not to scare the kids…okay I was in shock, by both the tarantula and the boldness of team younger, eager to touch our live and incredibly obedient assistant as they counted its hairy legs.  The tarantula was not our only live specimen of the day, thanks to Daniel, Ursula and the rest of the group, the kids were able to watch as birds were weighed, measured, banded and then released.  It was so gratifying to see the kids’ faces light up in curiosity and amazement, hear their questions about the birds, and watch Keko and Victoria (sisters in the group) confidently assist Ursula in releasing a flycatcher.  I didn’t want to pull them away from such a unique opportunity, I cannot think of a better way to develop an appreciation for wildlife conservation than to experience the wildlife so up-close and personal. 

mini Aurellio

The remainder of the day is a blur of spinach and sweet pepper planting, fig tree drawing (take a peak at The Fig File), and water cycling.  I vividly remember, however, being called a hippy by the oldest attendant as I asked team young to give their seeds good energy and I will never forget our special guest’s answer to the “what did you learn today” question.  Some answered, “don’t contaminate the river” or “collect compost,” but little Jefferson was most excited that he had learned “how to play futbol,” I guess the day was such a blur that I had completely missed the soccer station.  Don’t worry, the message of the day was not wasted on Jefferson, as he left CECCOT with his complementary gift of cucumber and lettuce seeds, he was all smiles and anxious to get home and plant them with his saintly, taxi-driving dad, Aurellio.

 

 

my thoughts exactly, Josje