Video Editing, Seeds, and Animals

This past week was mostly spent editing the video for the Lingerie company (Dorina), which I talked about in my last blog. I have made an important realization: whatever I end up doing with my life, it will NOT be editing videos. It is one of the most tedious tasks I have ever done. I will diplomatically decline to do any further video editing while I am here, if and when I am asked to do so again.

Friday morning, however, I spent in the "seed lab" with Deivid (the nursery manager) and two other volunteers. We were identifying, labeling, and sorting seeds which we will plant starting tomorrow. Much of next week will be spent in the nursery planting seeds, transplanting seedlings, weeding, and getting ready to plant the trees in areas set aside for reforestation. Hopefully we will also make a few trips to actually plant some of the trees.

In my free time, I have begun making bamboo flutes! I have made two so far. The first one worked decently, and the second one was a complete flop. I will continue to make them and hopefully learn a lot in the process.

There is an amazing amount of animals here, and I have seen many birds and insects especially, and quite a few frogs! Please comment if you recognize any of the species of animals, I have not had a chance to identify any!

Mia, the cat, caught a lizard today. At first I was quite sad, but then she sat down and ate the entire lizard in less than a minute in front of me. I can appreciate the fact that she hunts to eat and doesn't torture the animals and waste the food.

This hammock is my favorite places to sit and work, read, nap, or talk on the phone. However, having a high number of insects here means that there are more insects that antagonize humans. I took a two hour nap in the hammock yesterday, and over the last day or so have ended up with over 50 itchy bites all over my body. I counted 20 on my left forearm and hand alone. I have been diligent about not scratching them, but it can be quite the struggle. From now on, I will be more careful about insect protection, including wearing the head/face protection in the picture, putting on insect repellent, and if I'm going to sleep out here, putting socks on my hands.

Itchily yours,

Ronja