Today is Sunday so its my "day off". So far I have done the dishes, the washing, made the tea and have to start making the lunch in about ten minutes. I feel I have mis-sold myself on this job. Since money is tight, we can't afford a cook/cleaner, only one member of staff, which isn't me or Jen, and the light has gone in the our bathroom so Jeni and I are having to wash by candle light. I really thought this whole setting up my own business thing was going to be a breeze. Its more like a harsh wind with sandy bits in.
Things are looking up though. Jen and I have finally managed to put together most of the volunteer documents, mastered the shopping and have constructed a menu and rota for everyone to chip in and help. We are surprisingly good at cooking Paraguayan food and have even been baking our own bread...in an oven!
There have been a few teething problems too which I hope I will be able to share later. They are really the most interesting thing that has been happening here.The volunteers seem happy enough, even though they will leave earlier than they were intending to, and have been a great help to us getting things sorted. One of them has been working on a map of the area for us to put on the wall complete with tracks and trails, soil variation and vegetation changes. Jen and I have been working on a moth and butterfly project (among a hundred other things) and we are hoping to set up some small mammal traps this week to see what we can find. There may even be a new species of burrowing mammal in the cerrado! This time next week, we could be describing a new species.
OK, my ten minutes is up. I have to go put the soup on. I will try and get better at writing this and making time for myself to do so. Hasta la proxima....
domingo, 16 de mayo de 2010
Obviously, this was a while ago.
I last posted from a comfortable bed in the middle of Asunción with everything I needed around me. Since then I have been stranded in a small town for two days, bumping along the dirt roads and cleaning the hell out of the new house and the stuff we have to put in it. Things don't keep well with chickens.
On Saturday we wanted to leave, on Sunday the rain started (but we left anyway) and we got stuck, on Monday we stayed stuck (but had a good dinner) and on Tuesday we arrived.
Robert Owen, the scientific coordinator of Para La Tierra, has loaned me a 4x4. It's kind of a beast. I managed to negotiate my way from Asunción to Santa Rosa with only a few minor mishaps. The worst was when we drove the wrong way down a one way bit of road on a corner in the middle of Asunción. Half way there we got a phonecall advising us not to try to reach Laguna Blanca because there were trucks blocking the road.
Being stranded is bad enough, but being stranded in Santa Rosa is worse. It is a dead town. It has one road lined with shops....and that's it. We found the nicest hotel in the area and holed up until the rain went away, drinking beer and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That part at least was good. We were like aliens from space in town. We couldn't find anywhere to eat on Sunday night, as most things are closed, but stumbled upon a woman and her daughter with a stand and a bbq selling kebabs, sausages and mandioca. They invited us to sit down and proceeded to watch us intently until we left. We had to stay in Santa Rosa for two nights while the rain continued. In the end, one of the guys who works at Laguna Blanca had to come and look for us on his motorbike and take us to the reserve via a much longer alternative route. We almost didn't even get through.
When we arrived we found the furniture we bought and had delivered last year being used as a chicken house. To get access to some of the things we had to carefully remove hens and their eggs from on top of tables and cushions. The whole lot was covered in a mingy kind of stoor which took Jen and I three days to clean off. With the house finally clean, or as clean as it's ever likely to get, we went shopping.
Jeni and I went all over Santa Rosa getting all the things we needed yesterday. It was great. We are known in all the shops now. I think they think we are a bit mad. As Jeni said, they have probably never seen girls shopping like this before! We came back with wire, cutters, a spade, 2 massive bits of polystyrene, rope, packs of beer and wine, loads of plastic containers and a whole car full of groceries. Just your standard stuff for life in the cerrado.
Today we went walking in the cerrado for the first time. We didn't set off early enough and before long it was just too hot to keep going. I think we will go in the morning in the car instead. Will be quicker and there is air conditioning. The first volunteers are arriving tomorrow with any luck. They spent an extra day in Puerto Iguazu so we got a spare prepare day. So far we have spent most of it sorting scientific equipment into boxes of things we can use, boxes of things we recognise as things and boxes of things that we have no idea what they are or what we are supposed to be doing with them. Now we are trying to draw a map of the area using google earth as a guide. Thank god for google.
On Saturday we wanted to leave, on Sunday the rain started (but we left anyway) and we got stuck, on Monday we stayed stuck (but had a good dinner) and on Tuesday we arrived.
Robert Owen, the scientific coordinator of Para La Tierra, has loaned me a 4x4. It's kind of a beast. I managed to negotiate my way from Asunción to Santa Rosa with only a few minor mishaps. The worst was when we drove the wrong way down a one way bit of road on a corner in the middle of Asunción. Half way there we got a phonecall advising us not to try to reach Laguna Blanca because there were trucks blocking the road.
Being stranded is bad enough, but being stranded in Santa Rosa is worse. It is a dead town. It has one road lined with shops....and that's it. We found the nicest hotel in the area and holed up until the rain went away, drinking beer and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That part at least was good. We were like aliens from space in town. We couldn't find anywhere to eat on Sunday night, as most things are closed, but stumbled upon a woman and her daughter with a stand and a bbq selling kebabs, sausages and mandioca. They invited us to sit down and proceeded to watch us intently until we left. We had to stay in Santa Rosa for two nights while the rain continued. In the end, one of the guys who works at Laguna Blanca had to come and look for us on his motorbike and take us to the reserve via a much longer alternative route. We almost didn't even get through.
When we arrived we found the furniture we bought and had delivered last year being used as a chicken house. To get access to some of the things we had to carefully remove hens and their eggs from on top of tables and cushions. The whole lot was covered in a mingy kind of stoor which took Jen and I three days to clean off. With the house finally clean, or as clean as it's ever likely to get, we went shopping.
Jeni and I went all over Santa Rosa getting all the things we needed yesterday. It was great. We are known in all the shops now. I think they think we are a bit mad. As Jeni said, they have probably never seen girls shopping like this before! We came back with wire, cutters, a spade, 2 massive bits of polystyrene, rope, packs of beer and wine, loads of plastic containers and a whole car full of groceries. Just your standard stuff for life in the cerrado.
Today we went walking in the cerrado for the first time. We didn't set off early enough and before long it was just too hot to keep going. I think we will go in the morning in the car instead. Will be quicker and there is air conditioning. The first volunteers are arriving tomorrow with any luck. They spent an extra day in Puerto Iguazu so we got a spare prepare day. So far we have spent most of it sorting scientific equipment into boxes of things we can use, boxes of things we recognise as things and boxes of things that we have no idea what they are or what we are supposed to be doing with them. Now we are trying to draw a map of the area using google earth as a guide. Thank god for google.
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