Running to the Finish

As I´m currently locked INSIDE my office during lunch hour, I figure I´d try to do something productive, like take this opportunity to set aside my list of to do´s and reflect for a minute. After all, I haven´t had a chance to slow down over the last 10 days or so, as I´m trying to wrap up all the loose ends during my last days here in Cocha. This week, I have to print the final draft of my (20 pages in Spanish!) sistematization report, finish translating and turn in a proposal to the UN for my organization, do my tree planting, help with a museum field trip with the youth, cook a nice thank you lunch for family, attend a graduation, oh, and dancing on Friday night, of course;) It´s a whirlwind, yes, but everything has gone better than I ever could have imagined. I came down with tons of anxiety and uncertainties, and although I still have tons of questions about what this all has meant, I´m heading home a more well-rounded, confident, and capable Molly which is a priceless gain in just short of 4 months. I have to admit, I´m quite sad to leave this place - the meaningful work, generous friends and family, the Spanish conversation, and all the unexpected surprises that constantly arise everywhere I turn - but I´m trying to trust that the unknown holds something very special for me. I´m forever grateful for the support I´ve received from family and friends both here and up North. I´ll hope to see and or talk to you very, very soon.

OK, someone just opened the door downstairs. I´m gonna take this chance to escape and get something to eat!

The Greening of Maria Auxiliadora

After lots of prep, bumps in the road, and even tears on my part, we will be planting 17 beautiful, flowering Qucarda trees along the main road of the community where I´ve had the honor of doing most of my work, the cooperativa Maria Auxiliadora!!! And by we, I mean more than 12 youth from our youth group as well as the promotoras of family gardens in the community (bringing together the two groups I´ve been working with most intensely over the past few months). It was a dream of mine and several others to add some plants to this community plagued by dust and erosion to beautify and add shade where there isn´t much. Now, the holes are dug and the doubters have pretty much been convinced that trees are a good thing. I tell you, it´s an uphill battle when the culture of caring for the environment and volunteering hardly exists in any of the generations... But I´m thrilled that it´s gonna come through on my second last day of work thanks to the cooperation of so many. I only wish I had several more months to dedicate myself to building environmental consciousness here, but I´ll have to just carry that mission with me wherever I go and keep holding out hope... I´ll be sure to post photos after the event!

In Search of Snow

So, I was supposed to be burying myself in drafting my systematization report yesterday morning since I only have a week left of work to provide a finished copy, but instead I decided to leap at the offer to head to into the mountains with my family. I´m weak for anything that involves mountains and leaving computer work behind… After all, word had it that some of the peaks were snow-covered and my little host sister and her friend wanted to get to snow for the first time! How could I pass this up! You only live once, right?! All I know is that there´s nothing like a spontaneous Wednesday morning jaunt! Since I´m the only one in the fam that has a job or school at this point, Wednesday morning´s just as good an option at Saturday or Sunday anyway. Both Bubi and Susi told me separately that we´d be back NO LATER THAN 1PM, which perfectly fit with my need to get to the office in the afternoon to plan this weekend´s tree planting with my co-worker, so off we went!

I should have known better than to think that things would go as planned since they rarely ever seem to here. The first sign that something was up should have been the road littered with BIG rocks from a landslide just on the outskirts of the city. 6 of the 7 of us climbed out to move the boulders to the side so we could pass and keep climbing up the muddy trail of a road. Ends up that was just the first of many times we´d have to get out of the car whether it be to push or just to lighten the load so that poor car could get up the next hill. There were beautiful waterfalls flowing over the road at different points (from all of the melted snow) and llamas grazing all over the place.

Only 20 miles or so outside of Cocha...

LLAMAS! LLAMAS! LLAMAS!

For all that effort, other than the craggy peaks who had there fair share of unreachable snow, we only came across two or three patches of the white stuff each smaller than your mattress or bedroom window. Although the girls were disappointed at first, I´m proud to say that we used ALL the snow we could scrape off the ground for quite the Midwestern style snowball fight. There was a lot of giggling and cold hands. Bubi topped it off by busting out his parachute which we did more of a photo shoot with rather than actual flying (which was alright by me).

Us and our snow!

After finding some snow at last, we got lost a few times on entirely unmarked roads in the middle of nowhere before coasting without any gas for the last 45 minutes – it was a damn good thing we had a mountain to descend! After we were lucky enough to find a (natural) gas station for a fill up at the bottom of the mountain, we got home just short of 6PM. Surviving 8 hours in a tiny car on bread, bananas, and coffee sure made us ready for some dinner when we got home. I love unexpected adventures!

All I know is that I´ll be really glad I went as long as we can still plant trees this weekend, as long as finish my report on time, and as long as my co-worker forgives me for being a no-call, no-show, not so dependable staff member… Good thing I don´t have a paycheck riding on the line:)