After blindly tossing H‘s camera into the vast ocean, it was time that we got me away from the water and somewhere else where I could (hopefully) do less damage. We went to Mastatal, which is nestled in the mountains that hang over the central pacific coast. It’s a small town that only volunteers ever really see, which is too bad because the beauty there is ridiculous!
But nearly every farm up there has learned from an American couple at Rancho Mastatal that it is profitable to have volunteers come and help out at the farm. The volunteers pay a small daily room and board stipend rather than the farms having to hire seasonal help when there is only a small population in the area to hire to begin with. So there are quite a few like-minded travelers jammed into a 5 mile stretch of road, all working and learning (mostly organic) farming during the day. It makes for an interesting atmosphere for sure, especially at the one bar in town!
We volunteered at La Iguana Chocolates (because if I was going to be getting up with the sun every day, there had better be chocolates at the end of the day!), which was a quick jaunt outside the town of Mastatal. We stayed with the family who owned the farm, and they provided the (much-needed) mosquito nets and beds, three meals a day (which we helped prepare), and not only chocolates but some days we had some of the best cookies EVER!
Work was from 7 to noon, and it ranged from learning A-frame planting of very aggressive pineapple heads (you can totally plant the green leafy top from a pineapple and get another plant, who knew? But those little ends are SHARP and cut our arms to pieces), to hiking to the finca to climb trees and battle ants for the cacao fruit; mulching, mulching, mulching (really, so much mulching!); crossing into nearby farms to collect cow poo; grinding cacao beans; literally running with bamboo poles up steep hills to construct rain gutters; making chocolates for sale at the other volunteer locations; and most excitedly, poo-ing ovens for future pizza enjoyment.
We were busy working Monday through Saturday, and we had the most wonderful group of volunteers to chat with that made the days go by so quickly! Neither H or I had spent much time with that many females, and it was (if we are going to be honest, quite) surprisingly wonderful! We stayed for two weeks; there were some people who shuffled in and out after a few days and some who had stayed for months or longer. We had endless conversations, shared hikes to waterfalls and across swollen rivers in only our knickers, tried to build a fire in a random piece of metal, enjoyed some pretty wonderful crafternoon projects, and had one epic night of King’s Cup (which is apparently played all across North America and Europe?). These girls were FANTASTIC!
The host family is hilarious and musical; the parents are very much caring and helpful, and since the local dialect of Spanish is quite mumbled, the fact that father would often sing about what we were meant to be doing was incredibly helpful (and just overall amazing) for comprehension. The mother is a ridiculous inventive cook, and we picked up a few tips for our own cuisine. The oldest son held the group together and taught us a lot about farming, how to approach life, and cow poo (he is an expert on each subject). There is, of course, more members of the family, including a sweet and (overly?) friendly quirky uncle, who is the resident expert on cows, horses and mangos, and provided us with the latter until we ate so much that we made ourselves sick (not a single one of us could stop eating, they were just too good!).
These two weeks were maybe the best time we had so far on our travels, and if it hadn’t been for G‘s upcoming epic 30rdy Brdy, we most likely would not have left so quickly. But we had a sister to meet! And now we are caught up to the current trip:
H and G are making their way down the east coast to Panama while I am in Seattle, Washington making sure two of my close friends get joined in marriage. Next week all three of us will be together in Panama City for some serious shopping!
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Rule #2: Don't Die. 