Day 2: Plans for Construction

We started our day at 7am with a breakfast that Juan and Joanna once again prepared for us. It consisted of coffee, starfruit juice, rice, beans, scrambled eggs, queso, sausage, and one of the best slices of watermelon I think I've ever eaten. After breakfast, we visited the sites where we will be installing the bio-garden and the retaining wall and were told more about each project. Half our group went to start work on the retaining wall, and I went with the other half to work on the bio-garden.

The bio-garden will filter greywater from the house belonging to Doña Flora and Don Francisco. Most of our time today was spent discussing what we thought would be the best plan for construction because the land we are building on is next to a steep slope and is topped with non-native soil that is loose and more susceptible to erosion. Our options were either to dig at the top of the slope where it is flatter and hope to hit more densely packed native soil, or to dig out a flat area in the middle of the slope which we know is all native soil. Some of our concerns with the second option were that it would take a lot of digging to make flat considering how steep it is there -- which could also lead to erosion from the top of the slope -- and that it would be hard for the owners to get to for maintenance. For these reasons we decided to start digging at the top of the slope. Unfortunately, we did not hit native soil in today. Tomorrow we will have to keep digging and discuss our options for if we don't get to native soil soon.

After work, we packed our stuff at Tami Lodge and went to have lunch with our host families, who we would move in with afterwards. Then we had some downtime before going to another meeting with David who talked to us about Community Development and how our work, and the work of other volunteers like us, is important in improving sustainability in this community.

My home-stay group and I finished our day by enjoying a home cooked dinner made by us by Teresita, the grandmother we are staying with. Rice with pasta and a variety of cooked vegetables, and blackberry juice. Tomorrow we wake up early for more construction!

--Autumn

At the bioswale sight

View from where we are building the retaining wall