The Beginning of Carnaval

Teo, January 23, 2015

Yesterday we went to a parade that marked the starting of Carnaval.  There were lots of floats with musicians on them and clowns being very funny.  Ambulances and taxis escorted important people in the parade.  Men were standing around selling potato chips.  It was very crowded and noisy.  There were lots police officers.

There were some Antel people that were driving down the street and giving out little packs of confetti.  Some women in front of us were yelling at the guys and telling them to give some to us.  We managed to get some and we threw it up in the air and our mom got it all in her hair.

There were lots of advertisements.  On the cars that were driving past us, there were signs advertising Antel, the phone company.  There were people waving flags around advertising beer.  A penguin who was dancing around advertised ice cream.

We left a little bit before the parade was over because it was loud and noisy.  We came home and got ready for bed and when we woke up this morning, we found a lot of confetti around our apartment!

A Few of My Favorite Things...

Javy,  January 22, 2015

We finished our stay at Ecoparque Uruguay on Tuesday, January 20.  There were some fun things we did there.  Here are ten things that we did that I liked.

1. Teo and I got to drive the tractor.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. We got to swim in the river.
   
3. Teo and I rode (not rowed) a boat to an island and made a fort out of sticks and leaves and some trash.
   
   
   
4. The work was kind of fun, like weeding and mowing the grass, and raking.
5. There was an air gun and our host, Steve, would put in a golf ball and pump in lots of air and he would try to hit parrot nests.  They are big nests made of thorns so predators cannot get them.  Some of their predators are hawks, little owls, and eagles.
6. There were huge lizards called tegus.  They are like  Komodo dragons.  Imagine me standing up.  My leg would be the size of a tegu.
   
7. We liked going to our little shop to have a snack.  We got there by walking and biking.  When we walked, it was very hot.
8. There were some campers with two boys and they showed us how to catch little minnows to use to catch fish.  They would have an old bottle, say an old Coke bottle.  They would cut a little hole in the bottle and take a cracker and crumble it up into the bottle and set it in the water and wait for a couple minutes.  Then they would lift it back out and they probably caught more than twenty minnows.  Then they would have a big bottle and they would pour the minnows into it and bring it back to their little camp.  To catch fish, they used a trot line.  A trot line is a long rope with hooks.  You would put the minnows on the hooks and wait a night or two.  Then you would go out with your boat and lift the rope up and get your meal.
9. Another thing that was nice was that you could see the stars.  You could see Orion's Belt, Venus, and Mars.
10. Most of what was fun was being with my family.  We got to spend a lot more time with our dad than usual.

Our Favorite Photos

Teo, January 16, 2015

A couple of days ago we decided to have a little contest to see who could take the best pictures.  Whoever won would get a little prize.  We each had a camera to use and we went around taking pictures of the farm that we are staying at.  We went into the woods and around the yard to photograph the wildlife.  Here are some of the things I found:  some butterflies, some flowers, some plants, some trees, some buildings.

We went back to our little cabin and our dad put the pictures on his computer.  We looked at them and chose our favorites.  No one really won the contest because everyone's pictures were good!  My favorite was the one of the moss underneath the leaves that my dad took.

Here are some of our favorite pictures.

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Leaf-cutter ants

Javy, January 12, 2015

I saw something pretty cool on our stone walkway here at Ecoparque Uruguay.  Leaf-cutter ants are a type of ant that cut leaves off little plants and they carry the leaves to their nest.  They chew the leaves and make they make a pulp.  Then they poop on it and then it sits there for awhile and it grows fungus.  They eat the fungus.  They are farmers because they grow their own food.  Don't you think that's pretty cool?

I took some videos of the ants marching with their leaves on their backs.  They hold them by their mandibles.  A mandible is a jaw.  But the amazing thing about that is that they carry ten times more weight than themselves.  That would be like Dad carrying a truck.

Here is my video of the leaf-cutter ants.  

More Ecoparque Magic

Marilyn, January 13, 2015

We've been at Ecoparque Uruguay for a week now. I'm feeling kind of ridiculously like I belong here, and I'm already starting to be a little sad about leaving a week from today. So much magic here!

 The evenings are particularly special times, and the beautiful sunsets with accompanying frog chorus continue to fill me with awe. The other night the sky was beyond extraordinary. A bank of tall pinkish clouds was spread across the western horizon, and an apparent lightning storm filled it with flashes of light. Explosions like fireworks lit up a portion of the clouds every few seconds, and every once in awhile, a jagged bolt of lightning cut through from top to bottom. I sat outside and watched until the mosquitos drove me inside; a couple hours later as I was walking back from the boys' bedroom, it was still going on. I've never seen anything like it, but Steve, our host here, says such a display happens from time to time.

 Last night, we decided to let the boys stay up later than usual so they could see the magnificent night sky. It's not getting completely dark until after 11 p.m., so we had awhile to wait. The boys and I started out in a hammock pleasantly reading together, and after the sun set, we traded our reading for star gazing. We could easily identify Orion, and with the help of Gene's on-line, interactive night sky map, we could pick out other stars and planets. It was quite a display, but almost as grand was the show the fireflies were putting on for us lower to the ground. The lawn and woods were full of the little blinking lights, and the boys could identify three or four different colors. Also, once, we saw a slightly larger, continuous light that moved much more quickly, though clumsily, and up higher than the fireflies. Gene and Teo had seen something similar the night before, and of course Gene is dying to know what creature can do such a trick. His best guess is that it's a bat with its belly full of fireflies.

 Speaking of bats, we have one that has taken up residence in our kitchen. Yesterday morning I was getting breakfast ready and heard something banging around in the sink, and there it was, and not looking any too happy finding itself amongst dirty dishes. Gene removed it on a stick and placed it on the trunk of a tree outside the kitchen, where it staggered around for a few minutes before spreading its batty wings and flying off. Today, again as I was preparing breakfast, it flew past my head and did a crash landing on the table, where it lay all limp and exhausted. Teo later found it hanging from the thatched ceiling, and it again got relocated to the tree outside and flew off. I'm hoping it gets the message that it's not welcome. Most of the other wildlife has been more respectful of our space, with the exception of a large toad that came into our bedroom uninvited. We continue to enjoy seeing the large variety of birds, and love watching the huge lizards plod across the lawn. We're still hoping to get a good glimpse of a fox. Insects haven't been as plentiful as we expected, but we've seen ladybugs in a kaleidoscope of colors. Gene was happy to discover a mole cricket in the garden, and Javy was fascinated by a parade of leaf-cutter ants outside the bedroom door.

 Our work here has in its own way had a touch of magic as well. A morning of non-stop raking in the hot sun leaves me bone weary in a way I don't often experience, but it's a good, honest kind of weariness that tells me my body is still capable of pushing itself. Today we weeded the garden in the rain, grateful for the break in the heat and for the chance to share a rainy-day peace with the birds who came in looking for a worm or two. As I weed, I enjoy thinking about the volunteers who came before and did the planting, and the ones who will follow us and bring in the harvest. It's been a long time since I've done any serious gardening, and I am very much appreciating the chance to get my hands dirty and feel the satisfaction of a row well-weeded. Keeping the boys engaged in the work is more of a challenge, but singing songs ("The Garden Song" and "All God's Critters" top the list) and listening to stories from Gene's college days help.

 Also high on the list of magical encounters have been those with the people whose paths have crossed ours here. Steve's girlfriend Diana, who is Uruguayan, joined us earlier in the week. She is an English teacher who is very patient and encouraging with my Spanish. Sunday, Steve and Diana invited us and seven friends for a potluck lunch that turned into a delightful all-afternoon affair. Including our two young Guatemalans, the thirteen of us represented seven different nationalities and were conversant in probably a dozen languages. One man had worked all over the world and had built a hotel out of shipping containers near the pyramids in Egypt. Another grew up in French Guiana and spent part of his life guiding tours through the Amazon rain forest. Gene quickly bonded with a Dutch biologist and the two of them set off like a pair of little boys to explore the woods together.

After lunch, dessert, and more talk around the table, someone suggested we move down to the riverbank. Javy, Teo, and the Dutch biologist were interested in taking a swim, and talked Gene and me into it as well. From Steve's boat ramp, it was about 30 yards across the river to a sandy bank, much of the way too deep for me to touch bottom. Although we had to keep ducking underwater to avoid the horseflies, it was a lovely way to cool off. Other local folks were also enjoying the water, with canoes and kayaks and the occasional motor boat. We swam for close to an hour and were just coming back to join the others on the bank when Steve showed up with his boat and two oars. He let Javy and Teo climb in the boat, and, surprisingly to them and to Gene and me, just pushed them out into the current on their own. They struggled a bit but eventually figured out how to more or less navigate the thing. I was watching from high up on the riverbank, wondering if someone would be able to get to them in time if there was a problem, but also appreciating the great Huck Finnian experience that this was for them. Gene made his way closer to them just in case, and so was on hand to intercede, as much as his limited Spanish would allow, when a young local man asked if they'd like to kayak with him. He gave them turns riding in front of him on the kayak and paddled them around, much to their delight. Meanwhile, his sisters and Gene did their best to converse, and they asked him all the usual questions, where are we from, where are the boys from, etc., and Gene was able to stumble and gesture his way through adequate answers. Then the sisters told Gene what Steve, up on the riverbank, was also explaining to me: that the young man who was spending his afternoon paddling my boys around on the Santa Lucia River is a world champion kayaker. Teo and Javy were appropriately impressed by that fact, as well as by their new friend's incredible, rippling muscles. I'm pretty impressed by his kindness toward a couple of strange kids who showed up out of nowhere on his river.

Gene's laptop is in need of some magic right now -- the humidity or something less definable has disabled it. When he gets it up and running, we'll post some pictures of these adventures. Thanks for reading!

Next stop, Ecoparque Uruguay

Marilyn, January 8, 2015

The next phase of our adventure began Tuesday morning when Teo, Javy, Gene and I packed up our eleven (small) bags and backpacks, handed over the key to our AirBnB apartment in Montevideo, and set out to find a taxi to the bus station.  It was pouring rain, and no one answered our call to the taxi dispatcher.  The concierge of the building we were staying in came to our rescue, went and knocked on the door of a guy named Raul, and arranged for him to drive us.  Besides being willing to get out in the rain and haul us across town, the other great thing about Raul was that he didn't mind speaking to me in very slow, clear Spanish the whole way there.  Turns out he has a daughter whose family lived in Atlanta for thirteen years.  Most of the rest of our conversation was about vaccinating cattle.

The bus station where he delivered us is next to Montevideo's port, and is not the same station as the one we had been to before, on the lower level of a fairly classy shopping mall.  It is perhaps the least appealing place I've been to so far in Uruguay.  Javy had his first encounter with a squat toilet, which he declined to use.  After an hour wait at the station, it was nice to get on the bus and head away from there.  Our two-hour ride took us to the small town of Aguas Corrientes.  I had been instructed to ask the driver to let us out at the bus stop next to the bust of General Artigas, and he did, a few minutes ahead of schedule.  After a brief wait, we were met by Steve Scott, the owner of Ecoparque Uruguay, which will be our home for the next two weeks as we serve as WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) volunteers.

Ecoparque Uruguay is a short drive outside of Aguas Corrientes.  It is a large and lovely expanse of land with an interesting history.  A hundred years ago, it was owned by European engineers who had come to the area to build a water purification plant.  They had a prefabricated stone house, which is still standing on the property, shipped over from England.  Somewhere along the line, someone else bought the land and built some other structures, including a hall to be used for meetings and events.  Steve has owned the property for four years now, and I had gathered from his website that he wanted to turn it into both a model farm for experimenting with and teaching organic farming methods, and a conference or retreat center.  The reality is, though, seems more to be that he's just trying to keep one step ahead of the forces of nature that cause weeds to sprout in the garden, grass to grow to tall in the lawn, and humidity to peel paint off walls.  It's more than he can manage on his own, and that's where WWOOFers come in, exchanging 20 hours of work per week for food and lodging.

Our home at Ecoparque Uruguay

Our kitchen

Steve works hard to live as much at peace with the wildlife around him as possible.  No pets or domesticated animals are allowed, and one of the first and only rules that Steve taught Teo and Javy was that they are not to chase any birds or animals.  The animals have rewarded Steve's efforts by being surprisingly comfortable around humans.  A falcon stayed perched on his tree while we approached, and Steve says there are lots of foxes that will come visit from time to time.  (Teo spotted one in the shadows last night.)  We frequently see large tegu lizards strolling through the grass on their way to their holes under the swimming pool.  The trees are full of noisy cotorras and their amazing nests.  These little green parrots, which we first saw in a Montevideo park, live communally, and they work together to build huge nests out of spiny branches.  One chunk of an oversized nest fell to the ground here, and we got to inspect it up close.  There are multiple tunnels built into the mass of thorns, where the eggs are laid and the young are protected from predators.  It's astonishing to think how something like this could be constructed with just beaks and claws.

Tegu lizard

Teo next to a fallen cotorra nest

Tunnel inside nest

After showing us all around, Steve invited us to have lunch with him.  He served us a wonderful meal out under an enormous century-old eucalyptus tree, and told us a bit of his story.  He came to Uruguay in the late 1960s from Salt Lake City as a Mormon missionary and grew to know the language and the people.  Although he left the church shortly after his two-year assignment here, the experience set him on a course to work in Latin America as a distributor for Crocs shoes.  When this property became available at a price he couldn't refuse, he embarked on the Ecoparque project.  He lives here about nine months out of the year.  His experiences and insights fueled great conversation over lunch, and left us looking forward to more during our time here.

Unexpectedly, two carloads of guests appeared before we finished our meal.  They were three French couples who had driven over from Santa Lucia, the closest town of any size.  One of the women was an acquaintance of Steve's who he had met at a local market.  She is an artist and told me she has done several murals locally, which I am eager to see.  Her husband had come with her to talk to Steve about some work that Steve needs done on the swimming pool.  Also with her were her sister and brother-in-law, who are visiting from Réunion, an island near Madagascar, and her brother and sister-in-law, who are visiting from France.  After they had explored the property, we all gathered in Steve's house for drinks and conversation, which switched between French and Spanish, with a few words of English mixed in.  It was fascinating to me.  At one point, Steve and the artist's husband became engaged in a drawn-out disagreement about the work that Steve had asked him to do, and while Steve had to struggle to remain patient, I appreciated the exchange because both of them kept repeating the same words and phrases over and over, and it was wonderful comprehension practice for me.  I also noticed that all of these guests practice the two-cheek air-kissing ritual for greeting and saying goodbye, unlike all the Uruguayans I've met who are satisfied with one "kiss" on the right cheek.  I guess it's a French thing.

Around 9 p.m., we were treated to one more surprise of the farm, an amazingly beautiful sunset.  Pinks and purples filled the whole western sky, and the peace of the evening, so different from twilight on the beautiful but busy beach in Montevideo, enveloped us.

The next morning, we began our farm work.  Steve showed us how to weed and thin plants in the garden and set the boys to work cutting dead flowers from the beautiful flower beds.  The major task, however, was raking and hauling grass clippings from the lawn after Steve mowed.  Gene and I got a strenuous workout, and Teo and Javy had a chance to hear me expound on the subject of developing a good work ethic.  I also had plenty of time to contemplate and question John Holt's theory, which I recently read, that when children see their parents doing real, meaningful work, they naturally want to be part of that work.

After our four hour work shift, lunch, and some reading time, the boys and I walked into town to get some treats.  As this will probably be one of the few chances we have to practice Spanish while we're here, it's something I want to make part of our daily routine.  Hopefully we will become more successful with it the more times we do it.  The long walk in the hot sun apparently baked every Spanish word I ever knew out of my brain, and the guy at the little tienda probably thought I was an idiot.  I've always said that in order to learn a foreign language, you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself.  I suppose I should be glad that I've got that requirement met, in spades.

Dinner (the first I've cooked in five weeks) and a rousing game of baseball in the yard with the boys rounded out our day nicely.  So far, it seems that our experience here at Ecoparque will be full of opportunities for rich learning experiences, restful enjoyment of nature, and meaningful family time.  I am feeling very grateful that we have the chance to be here.

The Awesome Park

Teo, January 4, 2015

Yesterday we went with our brother Luke and our mom and our dad to a park that had a zip line and horses and swimming.  There were people swimming in the river and there was a waterfall.  You could camp there if you wanted.  

It was fun to do the zip line.  First I put on a harness and a helmet.  Next, the guys who were helping me hooked carabiners onto my trolly and I got some gloves.  Then we walked up to a high wooden platform.  When we got to the top, the guy attached my trolly to the cable and I zipped down to another platform about 300 meters away.  My belly kind of felt like it was missing a little bit.  Then I waited for Javy and Luke and Dad to zip to the platform.  And then we went on another zip line.  It went right through some trees.  I was kind of scared at first, but then I got used to it.  It was so much fun that we went again.  

After the zip line, we went to get something to eat.  The restaurant looked over the waterfall and the view was awesome.  I want to go back to this park for my birthday!