June 19th

Today we woke up to a overcast but sweltering day at Los Colibris Hotel. There was a little bit of sadness in the air because we would be leaving our hotel but many were quickly excited for the day during breakfast, because Bernardo had mentioned that we would be participating in a beach cleanup similar to a Big Sunday service event. We took a pit stop at a beach during our drive up to the northern parts of Baja. We met with Pablo, who ran Rescatando Nuestros Arrecifes y Manglares, and  talked to us about the beach cleanup organization he and his friends had recently formed. Each person grabbed a black trash bag for non recyclables and a clear for recyclable trash, split into two separate boats, and traveled to a secluded and uninhabited island that was surrounded by stakes and now old and useless piles of plastic netting. Many shorebirds have been using this tiny island as a home for many generations, so as soon as we pulled up on our boats, we could see tons of birds circling the land and protecting this young.

After just a few minutes of picking up trash, Stephanie immediately realized that we might have been doing more harm than good. Our presence on the island during their nursing period had caused many mothers to take flight, leaving their babies alone in the sand to overheat. Some babies had started to take shelter in the shade of our empty trash bags or the abandoned netting. The kids and adults all worked together to get rid of as much netting as possible without interfering with the babies too much and loaded as much as we could onto the bow of each boat. Stephanie said she would take some groups back in a few weeks when the babies will have grown up to get rid of the rest of the netting and trash.

We then piled back into the van to travel through the desert and all the way up to La Paz for a quick one-night stay at an Eco-retreat center called Rancho La Duna. We were greeted by our hostess Gabriela and her kids Rebecca and Nathan, who made sure our lunch was ready at our arrival. After chowing down on a mango coconut soup and triggerfish ceviche, we relaxed in the main palapa with three other university students and learned about some of the ocean creatures we might encounter later that day during our snorkeling session.

Stephanie had invited three separate professors to talk to all of us about algae and turtles. She also personally talked about the types of fish we would be seeing and showed us a way to participate in biological counting and studies as citizens.
Soon enough, we drove down to the beach, strapped on our snorkeling gear, and dove into the ocean and identified and counted hundreds of sergeant majors, two balloonfish, rainbow wrasse, graytail grunt, and barberfish.  Some kids also collected some samples of the red, green, and brown algae that had we learned about an hour earlier.

When we returned back to La Duna, the wind had picked up so some installed drapes on the sides of the palapa for us. Some of us then identified each species of the algae we had collected and others worked together with some of the university students to find some tiny invertebrates in a sample of ocean water we collected.

Once the wind died down, Alan and Bernardo showed us where we would be setting up our tents in the sand amongst spiny cactuses and scary choyas. We spent the night enjoying the cool air and exploring the sand dunes with Rebecca.
Robyn

Loading the netting onto the boats

Tuesday June 21st

Today was really great. First, we woke up and had a yummy breakfast of yogurt, fruit and hot beverages. Then, we went snorkeling with some sea lions. The babies played with us while the alphas guarded their territory. It was wonderful to swim so close to these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat. After that, we returned to camp and had some delicious tuna salad and coconut cakes. Then, we split into two groups. The first group went kayaking and paddle-boarding in the ocean near our camp. We reenacted World War II in the water with Alan, one of our guides. Afterwards, we went back to camp. Everyone was telling neat stories and talking about their childhoods. While we did this, the second group went out with Stephanie and Bernardo and snorkeled with turtles. Once everyone was back, we ate chips and guacamole on the beach and watched the tide slowly rise. Afterwards, we talked some more until dinner was ready. We had chicken and beans, served with tortillas and salsa. After dinner, everybody, including one of our boat captains, gathered up for a counsel session. We discussed many things, such as our favorite things about our guides and some of the times where we felt most safe. Everyone contributed a great deal to the conversation, and it was an incredibly thoughtful session. After our counsel, we went off to sleep. Many of us opted to sleep outside, as it was both our last night on the island and our last night of camping for the trip.
-Liam

June 21, 2016

Today was a day of snorkeling. We started with a quick breakfast that would fill us up until we got back for lunch. We then got on the boats and headed toward the northernmost point of Espiritu Santo. On the way there, we saw really cool rock for,actions and we were able to go into a cave that looked like rocks were almost floating from the ceiling. We then arrived at the spot where we would go snorkeling. We saw a colony of sea lions and we were able to swim with them almost nose to nose! We headed back to the beach for lunch and a couple of the group decided to stay back and hang out on the beach. Eventually, Katie, Mrs. Larios, and I went paddle boarding after another group had gone and apparently re-enacted World War II. The group that went out to snorkel came back and we had a delicious dinner and set up for a council meeting. We sat in a circle and made our dedications and talked about our joys and our moments of safety and uncertainty as the sun set. We closed after talking about what we had heard in the circle and went off to sleep after a long, productive day.
I apologize for the lack of pictures. Dr. Stogdill sent them to me, but I have not received them yet.
Erica

Monday, May 20th

Monday June 20th
Today a new adventure starts for our little group. The day started at around 7 for most of us with the tearing down of the camp we had made the night prior.  At around 8 we had breakfast, packed the cars and said our goodbyes. Before leaving, however, we took a final group picture at La Duna. After, we departed the ranch and headed for a port near La Paz. When we arrived we saw the boats. They were small but sturdy enough for our gear and luggage. We loaded up the boats and headed for the island. On the way though, we saw a pod of dolphins that were absolutely amazing. They were incredibly elegant and graceful with their swimming and some even jumped out of the water. When we finally got to the island and I was surprised how nice it was. Our camp site was a rocky beach filled with shells in front of a mountain and all of this was located is a sort of bay. We set up camp and hung out for a while. At this point some of the boys thought it would be a fun idea to have hermit crab races. A ring was made and the whole camp gathered to watch as the crabs scrambled for freedom. After that we headed out for snorkeling. While out, we were able to see multiple rare sea turtles and fish. The  one I personally saw was called a green turtle and is commonly eaten by the local population despite its endangered status. When we got back from snorkeling we had another surprise. Stephanie, our resident turtle expert, had located a turtle nest near our campsite. She marked the nest and began talking to another group of campers next to us. We would come to learn that these two men were also biologist researching the endemic rodents on the island. Later that night the biologists came and gave us an impromptu talk on the rodent populations on the island and the risks associated with introducing new species to isolated ecosystems. Everybody listened attentively and they even allowed us to ask questions about their organization at the end.

Saturday, June 18th

This morning started at 8:00am for our group. We ate. Breakfast of toast, yogurt and oats, great for the stomach. :) We headed out to the community center here in Todos Santos. When we arrived, the center leaders asked for volunteers to mix the pseudo concrete we'd be using to build walls for a bathroom. Tom, Betsy and I eagerly took the job, as we would be mixing with our feet. And so we stomped. For about three hours the three of us were ankle deep in clay, sand, water and alfalfa. While we flipped and churned, the others were picking up a handful and forming them into sausages like shapes. Using a modernized ancient technique, a chain link fence was already in place and was used as the foundation for the wall. The sausages in between the spaces of the fence, then bent downward like scales to build up the wall. Lively debates sprouted as we worked, from grass vs. leaves (which is better?), pencils vs. pens, to just playing would you rather. It was around noon when we finished with our contribution to the bathroom shelter. We ate sack lunches at the community center before stopping back at the hotel. Then we hit the beach again to test our surfing skills, and I only wiped out like 5 times. The ocean here is slightly, yet noticeably warmer than back at home. When the water if roughly up to your waist, the water looks like it has flakes of gold in it, everywhere. As the waves roll in they upset the sand creating a golden Vortex. Later on we viewed colossal waves bashing so against rocks  near some great tide pools. There's nothing like the spray of ocean mist as you inspect the water for sea urchins. Since this was to be our last night in Todos Santos at the casitas, we went out to dinner at the Hotel California. We sampled delicious soups and cake. And that concluded our last night in Todos Santos.
Sincerely, Kara


"Que to producción sea tu medicina, que tu medicina sea tu alimento."

Luna and Rowan (6/17)

Luna and Rowan (3/17/16)

Today we woke up to Bernardo pounding on our door because the time change had us confused, even though this was our fifth day. For breakfast we had black beans, eggs and fresh squeezed orange juice. Today was our guide Alan's birthday! The night before we had gone to Oxxo to purchase snacks and some people pooled their money to buy Alan a nice tiara. We wanted to make sure we wouldn't forget about his birthday, but in the morning we came to breakfast without the tiara and completely forgot to congratulate him. Thankfully, Dr. Stogdill reminded us. We ran back, got him his tiara and sang to him. He wore it for the rest of the day on top of his hat.

After breakfast we were lucky enough to get a tour from Omar, a shaman in training. He walked us around the hotel garden and pointed out which plants had medicinal uses and what they were.  First, we tried a leaf that was incredibly bitter. Omar explained that when one has a sickness in their stomach the plants that are the most bitter and foul tasting are the ones most likely to help you.  We also learned about the different types of cacti and how they all have similar benefits but differ in intensities. We were glad to hear Omar say this because the night before we found ourselves desperate for some aloe for our sunburns and ended up using one of the cacti. It was refreshing to hear Omar mention some plants that we were familiar with. Some of these plants included lemongrass (for stomach aches, high cholesterol), orange leaves(relives anxiety), pitaya(type of cactus, used commonly in smoothies)

After our tour we returned to the dinningroom, where Omar gave us a presentation on the different chakras. The first chakra was the first root chakra, represented by the color red. It dealt with connectivity to the earth. Next was the sacral chakra, represented by the color orange. This chakra helped with feelings of sexuality and self worth. The third chakra was the solar plexus chakra which helped with confidence and feeling control of your life. The fourth was the heart chakra which was represented but the color green. This chakra was used for expressing love and compassion. The fifth was the throat chakra, represented by the color blue. This was used for communication and helped with self expression. The next one is the third eye chakra used for broadening perspectives and keeping an open mind. Omar told us this chakra has deep cultural meaning in India. He said in India they put bindis where the third eye is believed to be. The last chakra is the crown chakra, represented by the color white. This chakra is supposed to help with the ability to be fully emotionally, physically, and spiritually connected with ourselves and the outside world.

After hearing about the different chakras, we got to try tinctures that affected each of the different chakras. For many of the people in our group, this was a particularly moving experience. The medicines we were given brought up old emotions and memories and even reduced some people to tears. It was surprising how each tincture we tried really did affect the area the chakra was associated with. After this experience, we used the tinctures to create micro-doses of each medicine. In all, we had 7 micro-doses, one for each chakra. We also learned how to make gels and balms. We are taking home with us the micro-doses, a balm for dry skin, and a gel for inflammation and sunburns.

Our workshop ended at 2:30 and we were all ready for lunch! We ate rice with a chicken soup and guacamole. It was delicious! After lunch we took a brief siesta and put our medicinal kits away in our rooms. We took this opportunity to relax and play cards on a balcony with a beautiful view of the ocean.

After the down time, we drove out to a community center to learn about sustainable living. There we met a woman named Inez who talked to us about all of the workshops and programs the center has to offer. She gave us a tour of the center and all of its facilities. We learned about how they teach people to garden, cook, and reuse materials sustainably. The highlight of our tour was their compostable bathroom which uses heating to transform waste into rich, nutrient-filled soil. Tomorrow we will be helping Inez to finish building the bathroom next door. We also learned how to mix alfalfa, clay, and water to create a mixture we could use to fill in the walls and keep the sun out. Tomorrow we will be using this technique to build a wall for the main office.

After our time at the community center we returned to our hotel for some relaxation. A few of us went swimming in the beautiful pool. Then we got dressed for dinner and headed out to eat at La Casita, a restaurant that provided a mix of many different cuisines. We had warm bread, an Asian salad, a pesto brushetta, and then finally some sushi. After dinner we returned to our hotel and hung out for a little while longer before going to sleep!

Adios!

Luna y Rowan

Day 4 - 6/16/2016

             Today we all woke up early and packed up all of our bags to head out of camp. Just prior to eating breakfast loaded all of our gear onto the van so that after we ate we could head out as soon as possible. We had eggs, tortillas, zucchini, and beans for breakfast. After we said goodbye to Rojellio and his friends and family, we headed out to a famous surfing beach near Todos Santos. As we slathered ourselves and each other is sunscreen, we were all mesmerized by the ocean and this incredible beach that was in front of us, we couldn't wait to take a dip.

Then, the surf instructors gave us a quick tutorial on how to stand up on a surfboard successfully. We were split into two groups, one group went surfing first, and the other group would wait for them to come back. Given the uneven ratio of students to instructors only half of us could go at a time. After some surfing failures and successes we enjoyed a lunch of ceviche, mixed fruits, fried chicken tacos, fig bars, and Mexican candy. Done with surfing, we piled back in the vans and started our journey towards Todos Santos. The hotel that we are staying at is incredible. It has incredible views and amenities, such as an infinity pool overlooking the ocean. After an afternoon siesta and overall relaxation time we hopped back in the vans and started towards our next destination for the day, the Todos Santos Boarding House. Here we played, interacted, and ate with about 15 kids not much younger than us from the boarding house. Half of us played soccer and volleyball, while the other half played a very competitive game of ultimate frisbee. After we all got very sweaty and tired we had a delicious meal of tamales and beans that we picked up from a vendor sitting outside of a gas station. They were delicious! Much to our dismay we had to say adios to the kids not long after lunch had ended. On our way back from the boarding house Ms. Larios offered to buy everyone a snack and a drink to keep in their hotel rooms, she was thanked many times for this generous offering. Now we are all going to bed.

Adios,

Tom

Day 3: 6/15/16

This morning a group got up early and went to do some activities. We milked and fed cows, fed pigs and goats and chopped and harvested sugarcane, papaya, and grapes. Afterwards we briefly played with THE CUTEST PUPPIES EVER. After that we ate delicious soup, papayas, and limeade for breakfast. After sipping some limeade, Liam observed and shared his opinion on limeade and lemonade. He said, "I prefer limeade, but lemonade is better."  This led to a lively debate of limeade v. lemonade. Currently we are "chillin'" on a hammock and reading and talking. More later. :)To finish off the morning, we split into little groups to do activities like gathering firewood for candy making, chopping mangoes, scrubbing the cauldron which would later be used for candy making, and working on the palapa.

The candy making began with a cauldron of sugar cane and water over a fire. It was set to boil and after it had been boiling and being stirred on and off for thirty minutes, a solid block of sugar was added. The water boiled for another long time period and the oil/ bubbles that rose to the top needed to be skimmed out. After that, fresh cut mangoes were added and stirred frequently. Eventually, the "stew" had thickened and mangoes had decomposed into some sort of sweet jam/compote that tasted delicious. T'was fun.

For lunch we ate enchiladas and soup with mango water. After that we had a rest period where many of us took naps, read, chatted, and rested. We had some snacks and coffe, and began our leather making session.

Don Cata showed us his work area and explained the long process of making leather: collection, cleaning, dying, cleaning again, drying- a weeks-long process. He showed us some pieces he had made including a saddle and purse. After that, Rogelio briefly spoke to us about our options for leather work including belts and bracelets and wallets. Creativity took over and resulted in many beautiful (and functional!) art pieces. Later we will make tortillas. ¡Adios!

10:38 pm. Tortilla making was a hit! The key was to use the air and gravity to stretch the tortillas to the perfect circle. Doña Luz and Rogelio were pros at tortilla making. I also returned to our first water destination with Stephanie and Mrs.  Ladies for some meditation and cooling off.

Dinner was beans and quesadillas with more mango water followed by the literal fruit of our labor, the beloved mango marmalade with tortillas.

Finally, closing council was a wonderful way to reflect and share about our experiences   With the group. We discussed sustainability and compared our experience here to a cactus: with roots for how we've grown, spines symbolizing something shocking or difficult or that sparked something in us and the flower which was a positive we have experienced on the ranch. We concluded by the thread activity, where we chose a person to say one thing we appreciate about and we created a web of new friendships that we all got to keep a part of. All in all, a new and amazing experience on El Refugio and I know that I will miss the mangoes, animals, scenery and people here.

¡Hasta luego, bitaches! (wasps)

Sounds of El Campo 
At night I lay in my tent, as still as the warm night air, my eyes lids heavy with the fullness of the day. The bright desert moon casts a blue shadow on everything save the dark trees, but in the monochrome night blooms to full color when I close my eyes and listen. A dog howls from the ravine below and another echoes with a low bark to the left of my tent. A trickle of water sounds on my right as it passes all the way from the natural river, up to the storage pool, through the a pipe to our camping area and then out a leak into a tiny pool. Crickets hold a constant bass line of chirping to which the other insects add their tunes: a slower high pitched chirping, a long strung out shrill of a tree bound insect, a yelp from what sounds like an amphibious baby goat. Leaves rustle under foot, paw, hoof and claw. The muffled talk in tents and intermittent snore are the only sounds I can assign a specific meaning, but tonight as I drift to sleep in El Rancho Refugio in Baja California Sur, I try to unwind hundreds of thousands of years of DNA that tells my ear to focus in on my own species and instead open my ears to the complete cascade of calling creatures.

The avian symphony rules the morning. Half a dozen doves coo lowly amoung the trees. A rooster flies down from a tree flapping its wings and lands on the ground to cry a morning call. Little birds sing out their cheerful notes: some sudden and high pitched, others low and gargling. A string of harmonica tunes from a camper greets the morning along with the birds. From across the campo a mother cow let out a long

Cali

Second half of day 2 - Betsy

After finishing a good amount of work on the Palapas roof, we all took a rest break for siestas and sugar canes.  We rested for at least an hour, and when we were all recharged, we took vans to a swimming hole. The vans took us to another ranch, where we then got off and hiked down and across the mountain to our refreshing destination. To get in the water, one had to jump down a 5-6 meter drop into the lake. It was impressive that every single one of us jumped down as opposed to sliding down a less steep slope. Once in, we all swam around exploring the outer reaches of the lake. Some climbed up rocks and slid down the waterfall, while some floated peacefully in the cool calm water. It was an amazing and beautiful place, which made it awfully hard to leave. Upon returning, we split into groups: some chopped fruit for tomorrows workshop while some continued working on the palapa roof.
A witness recounts that they had a lot of fun. Specifically, she enjoyed the element of peace she experienced and the joy of swimming after a long and tiring hike. Another  student said that it took a bit of courage to jump, but it was easy due to the encouragement of classmates and the promise of cool water below.

Later that evening, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of tamale, beans, salsa, and hot chocolate.  Mrs. Larios mentioned how it was like a Christmas dinner. Some tamales were just plain, while some had cheese and a pepper. Both were delicious. As always, the orange salsa was incredible. After dinner, we talked bout the plan for tomorrow: workshops for makings candy and leather, tortilla making, and finishing the palapa roof.

-Betsy
PS I'm very sorry I was unable to add photos- I will work on it then add then I can.

Day 2 - 6/14/16 morning
          We awoke to the sound of the ranch... At three in the morning. Though the sounds of the birds singing and the goats screaming kept some awake, others caught up on their sleep. We got up slowly, not knowing exactly what the day had in store for us quite yet. Liam for example awoke to the news that a chicken had pooped inside his shoe.
           Our project for the morning was building the palapa, a sunshade made from palmfronds. We started by collecting palm fronds and placing them In a large pile, so that we could easily soak them in water in the next step.

          We used a hose connected to a nearby reservoir/pool to soak the leaves so they would be easier to work with, and then we left them out to dry for an hour or so.
After our short siesta we began prepping the palm fronds for use as shingles on the roof.

         We poked holes near the base of the frond and threaded a piece of yucca to use as cordage to tie it to the roof.

Liam cut the palm fronds to size while the rest of us assembled the final products

         We continued this process until we ran out of yucca pieces at which point we stopped to have lunch, farm fresh chicken and beans, as well as handmade tortillas.

This is the barebones palapa, from this point Don Cata climbed up onto the roof and began tying the palm fronds to the long bamboo poles.

Day 1: June 13th

It's our first day on our GIP trip and everyone is extremely excited to be here! We arrived at LAX at 7:15 am; once we were done checking in, we went through security where we all went through TSA Pre-Check, except Tom and Cali, who claimed that "Pre-Check is stupid." We arrived at the gate almost 2 hours early and so many of us went to go look around the terminal until it was time to take off.

We touched down at the international airport in Cabo where we learned that there had been a miscommunication and we ended up waiting for a while for our tour guides to arrive. Some of us played cards, others talked, and some looked at pictures on a camera.

 When they finally arrived, we loaded up all of the luggage on top of a van and split into two different groups to finally get to the reach where we will stay for the next three nights. On the way there, we listened to some music that some of us sang along to. There were a couple of crosses on the side of the roads which we learned were set up to honor those who had died on the road. As we arrived to our camp for the next few days, Rancho El Refugio, we were greeted by a horse and her foal, a ton of goats, and flocks of chickens. The second we stepped out of the cars we noticed the bunches of mango trees.  Some students were quick to take to the trees ravaging them for ripe mangos. 

We were given a quick tour of our camping area which was flat and surrounded by hammocks. After we got to rest from our strenuous travels, we were given some delicious plum water as we waited to individually sign our names in El Refugio's guest book. After we did this and listened to a quick lecture on the rules, we helped our guides Stephanie, Alan, and Bernardo unpack our stuff from the vans with an efficient assembly line. We set up our tents with our tent partners and made sure we were well protected from the mosquitoes although we haven't seen any yet. On the ranch there are a couple dogs, one is a momma dog who just recently had a litter of 14 puppies. We were told a cautionary tale about he wildlife on the ranch in context with the puppies. When the mama dog had her litter of puppies, a rattlesnake slithered in to actually cuddle with her puppies for warmth because it had sensed the heat of the puppies and their mom. Next we chilled in our tents until we were called to gather up before dinner to play the name game! The creative names that we came up with to help our guides remember are below. Our guidelines was that it could be in any language as long as it exists in Baja and starts with the same sound or letter as our name:
Mariano Mango. Erica Eggplant. Cali Chupacabra. Rattlesnake Rowan. Renee Radish. Esteban Eagle. Robyn Rana. Katie Krill. Luna Laguna. Alexa Ant. Nathan Naranja. Tarantula Tom. Liam Limon. Betsy Bee. Kara Cara Cara.

For dinner, we had tortillas, beans, cheese, shredded beef, and salad with beet root juice; everyone enjoyed our first meal in Baja! After dinner, we decided to take a hike to a nearby mini waterfall. On the way there, we learned about multiple plants and animals and what they are, including barrel cacti, deer grass, lizards, and so on. We eventually made it to the waterfall: a beautiful space filled with smooth rocks, a small waterhole, and a beautiful view of the nearby mountains. We stayed there for a while, looking at the snails and fish in the water that we learned would eat your dead skin cells if you stayed still for long enough. After splashing around in the water, we rested on the boulders nearby until the sun started to set and decided to hike back to the main camp site.

Once we got back from our adventure to the waterfall and pools, we gathered around a campfire despite it being relatively hot aside and were able to learn stories about how the ranch came to be and got its name "El Refugio". Our guide Stephanie was able to catch a toad that was burrowing outside her tent and she came over with it to teach us about the differences between a frog and a toad. Apparently there are 2 glands on the side of the toad that releases a toxin that travels throughout the whole body which is why we only eat frog legs not toad legs despite them being similar creatures.


With love from Baja,
Katie and Erica