Earth Rose Farm AKA Earth Scabies Farm

I have no idea how to even start this post. I guess I´ll just recap what´s been going down on the farm the "Earth Rose Farm" or as we like to call it... the Earth Scabies Farm.

Everything has actually been going pretty well. Since we don´t have a caretaker or any definite projects to work on, we´ve all been just doing our own thing. There really is no schedule or structure to our days other than eating and sleeping. I think that this part is probably the biggest culture shock for both Lydia and I. It´s extremely difficult to be motivated to do anything productive.

There really hasn´t been any obvious signs of scabies. We are all aware that we could possibly have them, but we are taking precautions to make sure we get rid of them and don´t spread them anywhere else. We are all planning on leaving the farm by the end of the week. Before we leave we will all have to boil all of our clothes, take more medicine, and sanitize our backpacks. The last thing that we want to do is spread this to anyone else. Lydia and I aren´t sure as to exactly where we´re going, but we have several different options and people that are willing to help us out. The amount of help that we have been offered is extremely encouraging. We feel very blessed and loved.

It´s actually been extremely nice not having a caretaker or advisor. There´s no one around to tell us what to do. It´s really quite liberating. We´ve really been enjoying our time with the other WWOOFers. It´s interesting to see how we´ve all have lived in such different environments our whole lives, and yet, we are all coming to similar conclusions about life. We are both relieved and disappointd that we haven´t really learned anything about farming yet. We are relieved because our bodies desperately needed to rest and slow down after the first day that we experienced that never seemed to end. We are obviously disappointed because learning about farming was one of our primary reasons for coming here. There are a couple of other farms that we might be able to work on for a little while and maybe actually learn something about farming.

The past couple of days have been really fun and relaxing. Within our group of WWOOFers we´ve all cooked some pretty incredible meals. Lydia, myself, and Liz (the girl from Canada) had a little dance party the other night after dinner. We thought about inviting the rest of the WWOOFers to join us, but then we realized that if too many people were dancing in the same room the floor would probably collapse because there are termites eating away at the floor. Yesterday we all just sort of took over the farm and did whatever we wanted. Some of the other WWOOFers decided to paint on the house. One of the guys decided that since we are now a pirate camp that we needed to have a pirate flag painted on the front of the house. Most of the other paintings were done on the walls in the house and on the doors. I wish I could post pictures of it, but there isn´t a USB port on this computer.

The other night after dinner I was sitting at the table when my fellow WWOOFer Liz told me to hold very still. I turned around to discover that there was a cockroach/beetle bug about the size of my hand just hanging out having a good ol´ time on my back. If this had been a few weeks ago, I would´ve probably flailed about, possbily hurting someone. This time... I didn´t even flinch or really think anything of it. I just shrugged and said hi to the little guy. Well... maybe not so little guy. It really is amazing how easy it is to become desensitized by things that would normally be terrifying.

As we were returning to the farm on Friday after being in San Isidro we had a pretty interesting experience. After we get off the 1 1/2 hour bus ride we still have a treacherous hike up the big hill. It had been raining earlier in the day and it still was raining spiratically. As we started to trudge up the hill with the two girls from Germany we realized how ridiculous this situation was going to be. It was hard to even take one step up the hill without almost falling on your face into the mud. We were all sliding and falling and laughing a lot all the way back to the farm. Lydia and I pretty much ruined the shoes that we were wearing. After this, Lydia and I decided that it would probably be a good idea to take a shower for the first time. The shower in itself is quite the experience. Quite the amazing experience that is. Just insert yourself into a herbal essence commercial and you have the shower experience at the farm. I´m pretty sure that was the first time I have taken a shower with tropical flowers surrounding me with a view of the sun setting over a mountainous rainforest.

Probably one of the biggest struggles Lydia and I have dealt with is not through the physical part, but through the emotional. It has been really hard to try to adjust from a life where almost every minute of the day is filled with something to do or somewhere to go to just doing pretty much whatever we want. I´m sure that this sounds amazing, but it really is difficult. It leaves a lot of time to think about life... and overthink about life. Lydia and I have had to have pretty intense conversations everyday with each other to make sure that we keep our sanity in check and that we try to make the best out of this situation. It has been particularly hard for me because this whole past semester/year I have been wanting an adventure almost exactly like this one, and now that I have it I don´t know what to do with myself. I think that we both have been too hard on ourselves these first few days. We have expected ourselves to adjust quickly and are disappointed when we don´t feel adjusted. But the fact of the matter is that the situation we are in should take awhile to adjust to. Almost every element of our lives are completely different. We just need to remember that and not become irrational.

All of this has been a good bonding experience. Supposedly, Lydia woke up early this morning to discover that we were sleeping with our faces smashed together. How cute. This is just one of many moments that Lydia and I have experienced where we feel all to similar to babies. We are just constantly being reminded of everything new around us that we don´t know how to handle yet. It´s hard not to be fussy sometimes. Luckily, there have been no tantrums or dirty diapers yet. Well, actually, I take that back. Lydia had something pretty close to a dirty diaper. We were walking down a hill the other day and it had just finished raining. Lydia got a little too hasty walking down the hill and fell in the mud. Needless to say, Lydia had to change her pantalones. Yesterday Lydia and I were also feeling pretty creative. We drew pictures of parrots together. Amazing pieces of artwork. There is a good chance for more animal drawing sessions in the future. Maybe when we get back we´ll have a gallery opening or something.

That´s all the news that we have for now. Thanks to everyone who has been thinking about us and praying for us. It´s really nice to know that we have such a solid group of people suppporting us.