Wednesday the 21st, Day 5, started at the not-so-bright, but very early time of 4:30am. By 5:00am, we hopped on the bus and started heading towards La Finca Canavalia (self sustainable farm). After breakfast, we listened to Luis Ramones who was one of the head farmers. He taught us more about agrobusiness and how they use their production to sustain themselves, as well as the farm. He also described the different types of work they do at the farm: cleaning after the cows, weeding the garden, working with chickens, and preparing the soil. Then, we separated into groups to accomplish these farm tasks.

 

Birthday Girl, Kathleen, walking through the cow dung on the way to work and clean.

 

Morgan braving the cow dung in her sneakers.

 

Esther and other Glimpsers trying cocoa seeds from the fruit.

 

Glimpsers feeling accomplished after a morning of hard work.

 

After returning from the farm, we had some free time to clean up and hang out with other Glimpsers. We then prepared lesson plans for our English classes later in the day. After preparation time, we brainstormed projects we could do for Infancia sin Fronteras, our final CAP project for the community. After dinner and exciting English classes, we had a birthday celebration for Kathleen (Feliz cumpleaño!). We ended the day with our nightly meeting where we debriefed on the difficulty of daily life for local farmers and ways to support them within our community. In the future, we can buy more organic food from local fresh markets. After spending a day in the life of a local, we learned that they do not get paid enough for their hard labor.