“You work that you may keep pace with the Earth
and the soul of the Earth.
For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons,
and to step out of life’s procession.”
-Kahlil Gibran
Greetings all readers!
Our first week here at Palugo flew by just as quickly as the long-tailed hummingbirds that we often see. We finally got back into our regular routines, even though the rhythm of expedition and the songs we learned in the jungle still echo in our hearts.
One of the things we’ve really been enjoying is our kitchen and having easy access to a variety of foods. Erica made two amazing lasagnas, Trina whipped up an unforgettable banana cream pie, she and Joey made really tasty donuts, Geoff and Bryson served some rich brownies, Tupac made some traditional mashed potato onion pancakes stuffed with cheese. In addition he and I also made some French toast served with some of my yogurt, Tobias and Hannah M. baked a delectable coffee cake, and, well, the list goes on. So it’s been a week of celebrating food!
We also had our Noche Chozonera which went really well. The pizzas that we made were the best yet, and we used some of the fresh pesto that Marcea made. The number of guests was around 20, and we were the presenters of the night! We worked with Marcela and Damian before hand to fine tune our presentation using our puppets. The curtains were pulled and the audience could only see hands holding puppets. The presentation commenced with a lively introduction to Kroka, which was followed by new hands and puppets acting-out our experiences in New Hampshire. For this part of the performance, Tobias and Bryson went full out with their rapping and beat boxing. It was very amusing. Next came our time in Palugo before the expedition, with special effects like paper clouds, grass, a wooden spoon, knife, carrot and sun screen all being packed into a backpack. This was to express us getting prepared for and leaving on expedition. Then came the expedition part of the show. To demonstrate our time in San Clemente, Tupac, Roberto and I played and sang a song in Quichua that Tupac’s parents wrote. The expedition group also showed our puppets going from village to village, mountain to mountain. To end, a group gave a closing, saying what we’re up to now and where we’re going on our next expedition. We then watched a slideshow that Jackson put together, showing selected photos from our expedition. It was a very nice night.
Saturday was dedicated to academic work and having our parent calls! We were all so happy to talk with our parents, and walked back to the chozon with a bounce in our steps, but also shocked to realize how quickly the end of the semester is coming. Our daily work included, finishing main lesson pages, journal entries, sharpening knives and machetes, knitting or embroidering shirts. A very accomplishing day it was. In the evening we even learned how to make healing herbal salves from Marcea. Those of us who attended the class got to keep our very own 1 oz. containers of the salve. We used beeswax, lavender oil, sweet geranium oil, eucalyptus oil, calendula oil, olive oil, and plantain oil. Such lovely ingredients!
Sunday was exciting because we had our second cooking lesson with Adela, Thomas’s mother. After lunch, she came with her two sisters Irene and Veronica. We learned how to make Colada Morada, a thick purple healing drink made with juices and a bunch of special herbs. We then made Huahuas de Pan, which were sweet breads that we baked with walnuts, chocolate, coffee, cinnamon and brown sugar. It was a fun process and such a treat to eat them for dinner. We learned to make these particular foods because they are made during this time of year in celebration of the Day of the Dead.
During breakfast on Monday morning, Hannah C’s 19th birthday, Thomas and Marcea told us that half of the group were going to go on individual vision quests for the day and night. The other half would leave the next morning. All we had for the vision quest was warm clothing, knives, water bottles and rain jackets. That’s it! So Marcea and Lily took us to individual spots around the farm and dropped us off. We were told to just stay in one spot, create a circle and not move. It was a time to be introspective and self reflective. We didn’t have any food for the rest of the day, so it was also time to fast and cleanse our bodies. The next morning, after a freezing night without our sleeping bags, just us, the earth, the hum of sleeping hummingbirds, the shining stars and the far off barking of dogs, Marcea and Ross came around to each of our spots and told us we were going to go for another day and night. They brought fresh water with them to refill our water bottles and a banana. I’m telling you, a banana never tasted so sweet and rich before. It was amazing. Marcea asked if we would need anything else for the upcoming night, and I believe that most of us requested another pair of socks and our puff jackets. These items really helped to maintain us for the next night. Many of us slept a lot better. That evening though, the sky darkened rapidly with heavy thunderous clouds, and sure enough, it started raining. So we had to individually gather grass or whatever we could find to make shelters. Luckily the rain only fell for around a half an hour, so we didn’t get too soaked. It was a good experience though!
It is interesting how being out in nature with very little protection and so vulnerable to the elements, makes one appreciate things on a scale much larger than usual, for instance, food or the sun. For me personally, I felt the sun was the element most important for my comfort level. I would wake up at various moments through the night hoping to see the sun rising to save me from being cold. Then in the morning, when the sky was changing color, the clouds were being illuminated and the dewy grass was sparkling, I felt like it was worth a whole night of being super cold. It was like a meditation.
This morning Marcea picked up those of us who were in the first group, and we headed back to the chozon for a delightful light breakfast made for us by Ross. It felt wonderful and a little odd to have food in our bellies again, it was great to be back. We met with Thomas and Ross, cleaned up, did laundry and read a reading that Thomas gave us to ponder over. Then after lunch, we worked on the garden house, squaring, making rafters and notching. We also received a lot of mail! So thank you to all our friends and family for sending us so many nice letters and little gifts.
I don’t feel like I have much more to say. We had a hardy delicious beef veggie stew for dinner, and then people stayed in the kitchen preparing various foods. Geoff is working on beef jerky for the next expedition and I made some yogurt with Naty. Hannah M. got started on her meal planning for the expedition, and Bryson started cooking up some English muffins. Francisco, Thomas’s dad delivered our sleeping bags, all clean and with an intense perfume smell. It reminds me of a perfume shop. I wonder what kind of dreams we’ll have tonight!
Well, my fellow readers, what more can I say? Tomorrow the other half of our group will arrive from their vision quest, and we’ll have a hardy breakfast waiting for them. We’ll then do some work on the garden house, and will get started on felting hats or making drums. Thus, our week will continue until we leave on next Wednesday for our next expedition!
Thank you for all your support and encouragement,
Wishes of warmth, peace and humbleness,
Melodia
Jackson would like to wish his little sister Zoe a happy 34th birthday. He would like to acknowledge how fast she’s growing up and how every time he blinks his eyes she seems older. He thinks that this is truly a miracle.
Marcea would like to send all her love to a dear friend who has embarked on a journey. Please take care Dan and know I will always love you and forever miss you.
I would like to wish my sweet Oma a very happy birthday. Know that I’m thinking about you and look forward to giving you a big hug when I return. Also a very happy birthday to Lili! Lots of hugs.
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