I’ve heard from people here that it’s good to get stung by bees.

October 3-9, 2005

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