Rosi CornwellSo if you read the first instalment of this 3 week volunteering mission, then you would know I said I hoped the wind wasn’t too strong to stop us from heading into Santiago at the weekend. Well, you’ll be pleased to know (or not care in the slightest) that it was windy, but we were able to get a boat into town on Saturday. The boat was an experience itself, we rode over the waves, which splashed into the boat and our nice presentable outfits for the first time in forever, got soaked! It was an adventure, and it was exciting to step onto the dock and not see a bit of dust in sight!
We found a cafe, plugged in our power banks to charge and ordered a tequila sunrise, what better drink to get at 10.30am, and for only £2.61 – BARGAIN.
We did a bar crawl of charging our items in different places, we went to a place that said it was vegan, but it only had 2 options, one of which was a ratoulie burrito with potatoes, it was lovely and very fresh! We then moved somewhere else and ordered questionable mojitos, and booked flights for March 28th from Panama to Columbia.
The time really escaped us, we arrived at 10.30am and suddenly it was 4.30pm! Hollie and I went to get some cash out, but the cash point was closed!! It was locked away in a booth that had been shut for the day….luckily I had cash to get some pasta and we arranged for the boat back, and said goodbye to land for a while.
The next morning I really fancied pancakes. I haven’t been able to make them very well since going vegan and the elimination of the egg, but I managed with flour, oil, powdered soy milk and a pinch of salt! HORARY! It was fairly early and no one was about, I wanted to get the pancakes made quickly so I didn’t feel bad not being able to offer any to the others (there wasn’t enough batter – we are low on soy milk powder!)… And I’ve got this weird complex that Hugo always sees us in the kitchen (we are there a lot, but we gotta eat!). I feel awkward when he is here, as it’s his land, and in the week we make ourselves at home here, and then I just find it uncomfortable acting as if I own the place, when he’s here. It’s weird.
We then ventured over to a different bit of the lake/beach, and spent the day basking in the sun. It was great to see the place from a new angle, and lay on some comfy grass!
The sun was blazing down on us, so we headed back about 2.30pm. Discussing dinner for later. We made burgers out of a packet of soy, which needed flour, water and shredded potato to help them stick together. I made breads for buns and we slathered on the bbq sauce and garnished with onion and tomato, with a side of fried courgette, pepper and onions. IT WAS HEAVEN. I FELT SO AMAZING AFTER THAT MEAL.
We then sat by the fire with volunteer Paul, but this was short lived as it started to rain! Later the water pressure in the taps reduced and then ceased to stop working at all. It was about 6pm, and Hugo said he would get Allysio to fix it in the morning. Lucky for a water filter bottle, as we were able to fill this with the tiny little drips from the unfiltered tap, as the filter tap stopped completely.
On Monday morning the work felt hard without having any hydration, and we decided to go on water strike and did a lot of sitting down as we lacked energy to pull stubborn roots. At this point we were now on a steeper hill as well. Luckily by the break at 9.30am the water was back, so we were able to make muesli as normal!
Hugo said that we had used 1 months worth of water in 1 week!!! We have been washing clothes with this water (which require about 4 rinses until the water runs clean!!!), and used it to water the coffee plants, so hopefully that explains it. I shall wash my clothes at the lake in future, and be more mindful when washing dishes.
Hugo and his girlfriend set off for a week sailing around the lake, and I could relax again.
The French couple (I keep calling them that because I don’t know how to spell the girls name..I should ask her, but will publish this whilst in town without her… Its pronounced O le le) have decided to work 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. On this day they didn’t do any afternoon work, but hey, fair play to them, I would skive off occasionally if I could! We made them a ratatouille with the last of the food, as we were told we couldn’t get any more until everything had been used…. This seemed a bit unfair as we were being mindful of what we were using so we didn’t run out! I made some sauteed potatoes and we did the burgers again. Hollie didn’t like hers this time as it was too big. So I ate both of them. Today really was a hungry day for me.
On Tuesday we continued the work on the dusty hill, and I replaced thinking about home and people to thinking about food. At 8am I’m already thinking about dinner. Hollie and I discussed creating a festival food truck, so that we could travel around to festivals, and not have to return to the 9-5 job, which is ganna be harddddddddd after this. Although we will need a job to save to do it!
For the last hour of work we ditch the hill and throw large rocks out of the lake. No idea why this is a job, but we enjoy the change up!
On Wednesday Allysio sent a text message saying he was unwell, so wouldn’t make it in. Hollie and I look at each other, and know that this means for a nice chilled day. We had planned to go and at least do 1 hours work up the hill at 11am, but as this time crept closer, I suggested that we didn’t do the 1 hour… it took a bit of convincing to Hollie, but she came around to the idea, and said ” as long as we work extra hard tomorrow” – DEAL!
My phone died on this day, as Allysio wasn’t here I couldn’t give him my power bank to charge…. AND WHAT A DAY IT WAS. I loved not having my phone, I sunbathed and read ALL of the Hunger Games, I am amazed, my mind wasn’t thinking of any other thoughts, so I didn’t have to re read any of it like usual – AM I ZEN NOW?! I experimented with making cinnamon cookies in the frying pan, we made a fire, and a yummy Spaghetti Bolognese. WHAT A DAY.
The next day we did go up the hill to work, and were rejuvenated, and I was really going for it on the roots that were determined to stay in the ground. I realised that I wasn’t thinking about home, about people I miss, or food…. I was just focused on the work at hand… I REALLY MUST BE ZEN NOW!!!
The zenness wore off when Paul joined us on the hill and reported that Allysio had rowed over to drop us off bananas and pineapples, and was still sick so went home. Firstly bless him for rowing all that way just do delivery those 2 items, but secondly why were we being denied vegetables! That is all we work for…. so that called for another strike, so just like the rest of the UK, we packed in our job for the day and stood up for what is right.
It is kind of ironic really, because on this day, we didn’t go hungry due to the lack of food. Hollie made a cake on the hob by means of steaming it – it was TASTY!
Then later we made a chilli using lotsssss of yummy tomatoes, onions, black beans, lentils and 1 carrot. The pot was honestly huge and it fed us from Thursday to Saturday. So we really didn’t starve due to the lack of vegetables, but it was the principle!
By Friday we had finished the work on the hill – REJOICE! So now we are working at cutting up the tree that fell down! Allysio made it look like light work with the machete, but it took us a fair few chops to get the branches off. All the machete work called for a sit down and some cuddles with Mirpa.
After work I copied Hollie ( I needed more sugary cake in my life) so I made a steamed cake too! IT WAS SO GOOD!!! Ingredients:
1 and a half mugs of flour
1 mug water
1 Banana
Cinnamon
Grated panela (unrefined whole cane sugar) – LOTS OF IT
A splash of oil
A pinch of salt
1 aand a half teaspoons of bicarbonate soda
Then the mix went into a saucepan, which sat on a colander with a handful of beans (used as a heat conductor) inside a big saucepan with a couple of inches of water. Lid on to steam for 20-30 minutes! It really is amazing what you can make on a hob!
Hollie and I retired to the tent earlier than usual, and played some card games. We then heard a very sad Mirpa outside the tent, She has been dying to get in, and we had agreed that on our last night we would let her in (because she is so dusty) – however, we couldn’t resist her sad face and so invited her in for cuddles. Mirpa enjoyed her stay with us for about 20 minutes, then she headed back outside, and we wet wiped my roll mat… so I imagine we will be seeing more of her in our last week!
This week I have felt SO MUCH BETTER – I guess I just took some time to adjust to such a huge change. I am embracing every moment, as I know that I am so lucky and blessed to be in such a beautiful place. We are eating a very natural diet (apart from the bbq sauce), I am getting about 10 hours sleep a night, I get to wake up listening to the glorious, rhythmic bird song, and sleep listening to the jungle hum of the crickets and the toads. I really really am soooo soo happy to be here, despite if Jaz Delorean is playing at a local pub today -I’ll get to see him again, but I won’t get to do this again in a hurry! As my good friend Barry told me “you will be going home again one day soon, it’s not going anywhere”.
(UNLESS OF COURSE THERE IS SOME NATURAL DISASTER AND THANET SLIDES INTO THE SEA).
