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)