So, today was working like a local day, which meant that the glimpsers had to be up and ready by 5 am! We took a beautiful and bumpy bus ride to Finca la Canavalia while trying to eat our breakfast on the go; peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! When we arrived at the Finca, or farm in English, we met Luis, the owner of the farm. He gave us a little speech about his work, we spit up into groups, and started our work for the day.
The glimpsers were divided into four groups that did a variety of tasks to help the workers around the farm. One group fed chickens, another group fed and cared for the goats and cows, and the last two groups spent their time in a yuka field. I was on the trip that spent the most time in the yuka field. The walk down to the field was utterly incredible. It was more like we were in a rainforest than on a farm. We hiked down a hill, wandered through the forests and crossed small streams. And, of course, the rain decided to pay us multiple visits throughout the day, so we were constantly battling with the mud. On the way down, Luis pointed out a little figure in the tree. He called it mono perizoso, which translates to lazy monkey in English. I swear I almost had a heart attack when I realized that we were looking at a sloth! Over the entire day, multuple sloths were spotted, and one of the groups got to see some howler monkeys! When we were working, we could hear the monkeys howling from the trees. On the field, about nine other glimpsers and I dug little half moon shapes around the yuka plant to put the fertilizer. The work was incredibly challenging, and we had to stop to take brakes many times. We passed the time by switching between focusing on the job, and telling jokes. Overall, the time we spent there and the work that we did was very rewarding.
After all of the work and farm tours were done, we had a beautiful and delicious lunch of chicken, beans, rice, and plantain chips at the farm! After we ate, we were able to ask Luis some questions, and the glimpsers took advantage of the time! Over the course of half an hour we learned about what goods are grown there, how long the people work, and who works there. We were all moved by the passion that Luis had for his farm, his work, and the organization that he works with, called ADDAC. The farm is used to teach local farmers how to diversify their farms and make more money. After another long, beautiful, and bumpy bus ride back home, we prepared for our English classes, taught our students, and then made it back safely to the hostel.
The day was very long and challenging for all of the glimpsers involved, but it was also very rewarding. We learned about agriculture in Nicaragua, while working hard and sharing lots of laughs and smiles.