EARTH & US: Beauty of Barichara
Visiting Rio Pescadito
On Wednesday and Thursday, Joe, Jessica and Elise were off on a long hike down into the Chicamocha Canyon. The weather looked promising and Margarita suggested a trip to Rio Pescadito. She kindly drove a carload of us, including her son Luca, age 6; Shona (from England 3 years ago, living at Margarita’s); Audi, the Venezuelan woman who helps with cleaning and cooking; Chimu, the dog; and me. In another car came Margarita’s friends Sergio and Lyda, visiting from Bucaramanga, their 2 dogs, and Rafa (who lives at Margarita’s and does handyman work). I had made hummus from scratch, and packed carrots and tomatoes and bread; someone else brought a chicken salad, and we were off to the river. We stopped in the small town of Curiti, to pick up more snacks (mostly sweets) and I admired the humorous and colorful sculptures in the town square, depicting cartoon-like characters such as a woman gazing at a crystal ball, a workman, and a giant century plant with a woman, a mouse, a squirrel and two hummingbirds in it. The roads were rough and winding, and people pass in unsafe ways at times. Some dark threatening clouds appeared and we feared rain after all.
Finally we arrived, parked, and started walking upstream until we came to two large pools, with spectacular clear water flowing among large rocks. A mountain rose beyond the river, the sun was out and we were blessed with blue sky. There, we hung out, swam, played, and had our picnic. Audi and I took turns taking pictures of one another, at her suggestion. There was certainly some smoking going on, and Rafa looked at me approvingly as I lit up too. Later he gave me some lovely hugs and even a little kiss. What a sweetie! I call him my “hermanito,” or little brother. I almost lost my water bottle, but he ran downstream and retrieved it for me.
This glorious cold clear water, rivaling any in Western NC, was such a treat. It was clean, coming from the high mountains. The water was over my head in several spots, and I could sit in a current for a back massage or put my head under a small waterfall to receive the water’s blessing. Lying out on the warm rocks my body relaxed totally. I felt so at home with my friends sharing food, it was gratifying that people ate and expressed appreciation for what I had prepared. I am learning more “prosocial” behaviors, such as experiencing the joy of feeding people.
On our way back, Rafa suggested he and I take a shortcut and cross the river in a shallow and narrow area. I was nervous because of Alejandra’s fall, saying “Tengo miedo!” (I’m afraid!) But Rafa reassured me, held my hand firmly and I was fine, did not slip at all. He was so patient and supportive and encouraging.
When we stopped for gas, I enjoyed paying. Margarita hinted that the ice cream at the store next door was very good, and we bought some (she insisted on treating me). I was in heaven with a half-half combination of maracuya (passion fruit) and guayaba (guava) ice cream. I have lapsed from my vegan ways!
Everyone was in a great mood from the lovely day, and gave me credit for having suggested the river trip! Marga declared that she wants to go once a week to a fun place like that. Maybe the waterfall named for Juan Curi, which is closer, will be our next trip!
Back at Marga’s, the three dogs collapsed, completely exhausted, and slept at our feet.
Regeneration Work
Besides the constant activity of digging up invasive grass from the Bioparque, and stacking rocks to stop erosion at Origen del Agua, there are several other projects. Joe bought hardware to attach two large cisterns which are there to collect rainwater; right now they are often uncovered since it rains at least briefly most days. There will be a water-catchment roof built above them to increase the supply. I’m wondering about planting a cover crop on the bare soil where the invasive grass has been removed. Joe believes in using only native plants; maybe tarwi (a nitrogen-fixing cover crop used in the Andes) will qualify.
Sometimes we pile up fallen wood and grass to compost, and sometimes transplant small trees or shrubs from the Vivero (plant nursery) and then tend them in their new site. At the household, I took initiative to get a supply of dry leaves to balance Margarita’s compost.
It seems a shame that so much rainwater goes uncaptured even as the aquifer drops and there are water shortages. The problem, Joe says, is that so many Barichara homes are owned by rich people who rent them out and don’t care to invest in water collection systems, while most renters are somewhat temporary.
The Advisory Council met to discuss eight proposals related to regeneration (including both earth and human regeneration), submitted by local folks applying for small grants of about $300 each. These grants, made possible by Joe’s fundraising from followers around the world, are an ingenious way to get more involvement from local people. The group decided to fund all of the proposals, usually with a recommendation or two. One was a proposal from a restaurant to make compost for growing forests. Another called for a “minga” or community workday. There was one for promoting mental health for women.
Meanwhile, Joe continues to inspire many folks through his online webinars; the current one is called “Living the Design Pathway” and we are exploring themes like becoming “cultural scaffolds” for one another, learning from indigenous ways, awakening from the collective dream, and seeing the shadow of “wetiko” (greedy overconsumption).
Slow food
Grocery shopping is different here. For example, what is promoted as tomato sauce is really ketchup and comes in a plastic squeeze tube. If you want spaghetti sauce, you make your own from tomatoes.
Margarita has a particularly well-stocked kitchen since she makes and sells cold-pressed oils from various seeds and pits, ground moringa seeds, and a special granola with dehydrated fruits and carrots in it. The smell of baking granola is quite nice!
I was jonesing for some pizza and we went out for dinner on Stefan’s last night in town before he takes off for film making in Syria. (He filmed interviews with Joe and me in the Bioparque the afternoon before.) The pizza was pretty good, with bits of basil atop the slices of tomatoes and cheese. Tall, cold juices mixed with milk were delicious, and the little girls had white mustaches. The next day I ate my leftover pizza for lunch, only to learn that Shona (from England) had decided to make pizza that night in the horno (clay oven). So we went shopping and bought flour, olive oil, and cheese. Shona had already prepared a sauce using tomatoes and carrot, pureed in the blender along with some herbs…sweet and delicious. I sauteed a pepper, some eggplant and garlic for a topping, and Shona caramelized some onions. With the help of 6-year-old Luca, she made a yeastless crust, which turned out thin, crispy and tasty, while Rafa fired up the horno with wood. We made 2 pizzas and feasted on them with beer. YUM!
And if my desire for pizza hadn’t been sated yet, Joe bought takeout pizza the next evening for a meeting of the Advisory Council to which I was invited. Not quite as delicious as Shona’s pizza.
Another noteworthy meal was curried lentils Shona made, with veggies and freshly ground cumin, coriander, cardamom and ginger, plus jackfruit prepared to taste a little like chicken.
I made a middle eastern meal of falafel with tzatziki sauce and tahini sauce and a large salad, and Jessica brought roasted eggplant baba ganoush with black sesame seeds, which was the star of the meal. Another evening, after all Margarita’s sweet potatoes were dug up, I experimented with cooking the sweet potato greens, selecting only the youngest, thinnest leaves. After tossing away the water from boiling, and then sauteeing in garlic and oil, they tasted rather like spinach. With onion, eggs and cheese, we had a meal! This was followed by a Santander regional favorite: hot chocolate served with a slice of cheese dropped in, and some bread to spread the melted cheese on. Que rico!
Vignettes
· Joe and Jessica doing vigorous, graceful Capoeira to Brazilian music, outside the ancient church, after sweeping off the plaza.
· Fragrance of a night-blooming plant (jasmine?) in Margarita’s courtyard garden
· Porcupine up a tree in the courtyard set three dogs to barking on a full moon night
· Fresh homemade pizza we baked in the clay oven
Rain
During this, the rainy season, nearly every day it rains around 3:30 or 4pm — sometimes just for an hour, sometimes longer. Joe helped Elise into her “Muddy buddy” rainsuit. She was exuberant as we walked up wet streets, splashing in brown puddles deep enough that the water went over the tops of her boots. Joe good-humoredly dumped them out.
At the Bioparque Joe showed me huge numbers of diversion channels, some filled with silt in places, and how they drain into either ponds or fields with trees. These channels are designed to keep water from eroding the well-used bare-earth paths. The fog was thick in the valley after the rain. Then we went to the Vivero (nursery) and gathered up about 12 native plants including some small trees, even a volunteer papaya tree, and planted them into the food forest where we’ve been removing invasive grass. Very satisfying. Jessica pointed out that some seeds only seem to grow where birds drop them, while some are so hardy they poke up between paving stones or through the packed clay paths.
It rains into the courtyard at Margarita’s. She has several rain cisterns and I haven’t yet learned how they are all set up or used. Between the guest rooms and guest kitchen is an open-sky area with paving stones and gravel, and the rain drains down through the gravel. The little girls (Elise and Soriah) love to run underneath the roof-spout and get wet, especially without clothes on. I usually catch some water from the spout for flushing the toilet. A comical sight was Rafa dancing under the rain and spout, with a huge black umbrella!
Evidence that I’ve died and gone to heaven:
· My first or second night, I had a dream in which I wrote in black marker on a whiteboard: M Free. I thought at first it was someone’s name with a first initial, that was meant to refer to me. Then I realized: M Free, I M free, I am free!
· The taste of freshly baked white sweet potatoes from the garden, with butter
· Elise asking me to play
· Tasting three different local honeys
· Ecstatic dance on cool, stone floors at a beautiful home with trumpet-flowers in the courtyard, to all-enveloping music in the gathering dusk. Feeling so much light coming into my crown, temporarily blinded.
· A free picnic at a coffee cooperativa, with Gringo Mike’s delicious bread, local artisanal goat cheese, fantastic homemade guava jam, white wine, honey and tastes of coffee…free because one of the guests was making a promo film. One guest entertained us on guitar, we were singing and I actually got invited to dance!
· Being offered freshly picked, wild-harvested magic mushrooms and watching the bark of a tree transform itself, while a moth completely blended into it; cloud formations telling me stories of change
· Dancing at Margarita’s, “hermanito” Rafa holding my hands
· Getting and giving touch and hugs
· Group meals, frequently, of up to 7 adults and 3 kids
· True sharing and cooperation
· Elise and I singing to the land at her altar of stones, Origen del Agua
· Stunning views of the canyon from the Mirador and the Bioparque
· Being thanked for bringing in light energy