Progress

Ah another week has begun and what a glorious week so far.  Sundays are honestly my favorite.  During my WWOOFing experiences I was able to read a prodigious amount of text and being worked from 630 to 4 does not allow such frivolous use of time but Sunday is free and with little to do out in the rainforest, as the bus does not run on Sunday, I curl up with some literature for the whole day and just learn…well and go to the library to use the internet and talk to my dad for the first time.  Breakfast was delicious, this time we had chocolate cake made from bean flour with intermittent coconut flakes.

This week was quiet fun, we got the greenhouse under construction finally.  We are making a timber frame with no nails only wood beams and wood pegs to tie them together.  This is an old style of building much like the original settlers of the united states.  It feels amazing to put my hands to such a delicate yet robust task.  The structure must be nearly perfectly square or the integrity will be severely and direly compromised, the stakes are high indeed.

Friday we made coconut milk which is so easy, simply crack open a coconut-my preferred method is with a machete-chop up the meat before dicing with a food processor with a bit of water then strain the pulp.  The oil is extracted by letting the cream ferment for a few days, this does make the milk sour and a bit unpalatable but the oil is delicious. 

Yesterday was likely my final day lifting stones for the dam at the waterfall, apparently I have piled up too many to continue but that is not my opinion-always bigger, fast and hard.  Its funny that as a kid I would pile stones up to dam up a drainage ditch as a kid and now only the scale has changed.  My habits stay the same before the internet and without access to it.  It is a great time to think and just get lost in the sound and rush of the water.  Nature is so relaxing I understand why I dislike civilization so much; we substitute the natural order for our own ‘better’ interpretation simply because its easy and cheap.  Nothing worth having is easy and cheap, life in the wilderness is harder perhaps but if you enjoy life then how can you not enjoy what it takes to sustain life? 

This week I read a couple books.  Bananas and The Alexander Technique were my reads of choice.  Noam and Anna have a diverse library that I am doing my best to power through before I leave.  The banana is really a symbol of capitalism, I am not sure of the exact toll but honestly I think as many people have suffered in the name of cheap bananas as in the name of God.  The acts United Fruit committed were abominable and it makes me think there can be no moral capitalism.  The alexander technique was developed at the turn of last century as a way to fix chronic physical and mental disorders by simply teaching proper use of our body.  It is at the heart of naturopathic medicine which I think I will pursue.  But allopathic medicine does not take into account habit, seeing every problem as a nail and the only hammer we have are drugs and surgery.  This philosophy cannot possibly cure the diseases of our age, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer-not that obesity is a disease so much as state of being unhealthy.  So whatever you think about the cook medicine the fact is things need to change and focusing on use and habit seems the most proper course.