¨Do you have to let it linger? Do you have to, do you have to, do you have to pull my finger?¨
We are now official members of Team Biodiesel!!! I have no idea what day of the week it is or on what day we met up with them but I am pretty sure it was a few days ago and that we are here today wherever here is.
Ok so now for some actual information. We are in Xela, Guatemala, a town with more Pollo Camperos (KFC central american style) per capita than presumably any place on earth. We are staying in a hostel called Casa Argentina where some freakin gringo assholes keep stealing our food. An entire block of mozarella cheese, two things of yogurt, an entire loaf of bread, jar of jam and can of olive oil. God knows what else was stolen that we haven´t even noticed yet. Some suspect the campesina ladies that keep doing our dishes behind our back. I know better. Upon discovering a complete lack of skill for anything related to construction of alternative energy sources, Meg and I have decided to do what women do best…cook and ask for money. So we´ve been going to the market everyday and buying food and then we cook meals for 8 with one pot, one knife and occasionally 3 forks, while sneaky little gringos dart in and eat whatever they can get their grubby hands on. It rains every night around the same time and gets super cold and I have no jacket other than a knit pink zip up which up until yesterday had duck poo on it….will explain.
Before we talk about ducks. Let´s talk about biodiesel and more importantly our biodiesel buddies. So the crew was driving down in a school bus fitted with beds but a couple of them are foreign so they couldnt get accross the border so 3 of them flew down to get started. They all either go to school in oregon or washington or are from oregon or washington or something. We´ve got Ben who likes to shove incredible quantities of food in his mouth at any given time and at lightning speed, Curt, who is a lingerer and whose flip flop we found in the duck box last night for some reason, and Joe, the most aryan looking Jew I´ve ever seen. They are really great and nice but GOD do they love biodiesel. Speaking of. I should mention something about the project. So they are building small scale biodiesel processors to be given to small indigenous communities to help them assert their autonomy in producing their own energy. Right now Amit and this guy Tanner who we randomly met who had tons of blueprints for solar technology in his pockets are building a solar box to heat the oil so that even the production can be done purely with renewable energies. By the way, biodiesel is diesel fuel made from veggie oil, and the processors modify the oil so that it can be used in any diesel oil without congealing and stuff. They are also writing a book on how to make/use/love biodiesel etc. Soon we will go to Honduras in the bus where a conference will be held for people and communinities interested in and working on biodiesel to come together and share wisdom and drink a lot. Their project is truly amazing. It is the most comprehensive, well put together thing I´ve ever been a part of and it freaks me out that they are all the same age as me except Tanner the solar dude who is 19! Ah! What the hell am I doing with my life. So I´ve been fundraising, translating, cooking, and trying to get the biodiesel kids out of internet cafe for two seconds a day. They work so hard allllll the time. I think its time for a vacation. We might also work on some vocab lessons to help them build off of the 4 words they know…duuuuuuuuude…….niiiiiiiice……siiiiiiiick………………fur suuuuuuuuuure. Maddening.
Oh yea. Ya thought the 3 gallon jar of pickles at the sack and save was the best impulse buy ever, try two baby ducklings! So we went to a market called San Fransisco Del Alto or something like that and after enjoying hours of walking around in the first gringo free (i said gringo free not mormon free) market I´ve ever seen, we happened upon the livestock market at which time we encountered baby ducks. Naturally, we bought some. We grappled with the idea of buying a duck for a good 15 minutes, and then bought two. Their names are Dada Tinamit and Dada Hernandez Javier Loka mitrananda. They are of course Margies. They are named for the hospitable and the intriguing. We bought some food, and a ducky traveling case and then got home to do some research on our new pals only to discover the total inadequacy of our ability to provide care for them. But we are trying our best. Amit is gonna download a duckling playlist I wrote for them last night because they really love music. I think Tinamit actually shed a tear when I played Freebird. I´m really excited to have my first pets! They are gonna live with Amit when we get back on his farm. Yet, for some reason, it didnt occur to us until a day or two in that at some point THEY ARE GONNA GROW INTO FULL DUCKS! CRAP! How the heck are we gonna travel around Honduras with two full grown ducks? We´re gonna need a bigger carrying case. Anywho, they are doing well, pooping a ton as I believe they should.
The rest of the lake was excellent. We met some hilarious israeli dudes and went for a 6am swim…not with the israeli dudes, and stayed in Panajachel for a night where we ate some uruguayan food, aka pasta, tofu parmesan and a veggie burger. We also read aloud from the Alchemist in an attempt to discover our destiny which I guess Meg will never find cuz she doesn´t seem that interested and completed our complete list of countries by letter of the alphabet after realizing around J that we ommitted Brazil, Egypt and some other crucial countries. Oh how I long for the good old days before biodiesel. The bus with the rest of the group is supposed to roll in today but I am skeptical, and also very excited to see what new souls Fortuna has brought Meg and I for our evening discussions. As for my thesis….nothing to report.
2.5 Jamie….2.5 good as can be expected.
Proud mother of 2,
NandieBee
