Day 10: Dancing through a Hurricane

Oh man, oh man, what a day!

Unfortunately the Oaxacan sun has not been kind and while our overheated bodies require lots of water, food, and sleep, we’re still trecking along with a smile on our faces. Luckily, I got to spend the day in the shade working on communication activities and a lesson plan for tomorrow’s meeting with a local elementary school while Team Wood continued to build perfectly- measured drying racks and Team Base continued to solidify our PSD structure since the initial greenhouse wasn’t stable on its own. With our final workday nearing quickly (next Tuesday), there’s still a lot to get done, but we’re no strangers to quick turnarounds and I’m confident that the smart and diligent workers that make up our Texas/Oaxacan group can get it all done (and do it well)!

I don’t want to bore you all with the details of measuring wood and silicon caulking panels into place, but there were two events from the workday that are worth mentioning. First, after lunch we all sat down to discuss how we plan to execute the last few projects that need to be completed before we leave. We sat around the table, mapped out individual ideas, and then presented them to one another one by one. It was a wonderful moment of creativity and communication and it seems like that brainstorming session will greatly influence how we go about working these next few days. Second, when we headed back to work after our brainstorming session, we saw that our PSD had reached a whopping 124 degrees inside (our new record since putting up the structure)! With the modifications we plan to make— painting the floor black, changing the location of the fan, silicon caulking everything, etc.— we hope that we can reach the Xuchil team’s desired temperature of 140 degrees.

Today we were scheduled to meet with two more of the DCC/D-Lab groups (reference our old blogs if you don’t remember what that means) so we split into two groups. While I know that the second group met with a team that constructed an irrigation system, that is the extent of my knowledge on their meeting (my apologies). The group that I was a part of (which took place at a house on a hill with a glorious view of the mountains) met with two women who constructed a nifty compost bin. The two women were very excited about their project and were eager to improve the health of Suchil’s people and environment through composting. While they had already made changes to their design since the workshops ended about three weeks ago, they still had a number of future changes they wanted to make and they were extremely open to Ryan and Hannah M’s recommendations. Overall it was an extremely interesting meeting and a nice end to our long workday.

As the day finally started to wind down and everyone was enjoying their dinner, Gaby and Sarahi decided that it was finally time to make karaoke happen (we’ve been talking about doing it for a while). With the help of Ryan’s speaker, my umbrella (which served as the microphone), and the internet, we started the night off on the right note (pun intended). As Ryan and Archik learned how to Salsa with Sarahi and Gaby slowly coaxed Hannah and I out of our chairs, it began to rain and hail like crazy. By the time the storm reached its peak and the pavilion that we were sitting under began to flood, we were already belting Queen and choreographing dance routines to Abba so we barely even noticed the leaks in the roof or the slow increase in water around the periphery. While the night started out as a group dance party, slowly the others began to drop off and by the end it was just me and my team dancing until the rain stopped (me as the lead dancer and them as backup dancers- it was glorious).

As Edward Sharp put it, “Home is wherever I’m with you” (I apologize for stealing these words but as I listen to my team sing this song highly off key I can’t help but include it). It may sound cheesy, but I really do feel like these words reflect a feeling I’ve had since the beginning of our work together and has only grown stronger over time. I’ve truly never felt so connected to a group of people so fast. They’re hard workers (which if you know me, is a value I don’t take lightly) but they can also be the most goofy, fun, and authentic people I’ve ever met. We can go from a long, hard work day of work, to singing Abba during a rainstorm, and then talking about anything under the sun until Ryan’s bedtime at 11:30pm. If any of you are Archik, Gaby, Hannah M, or Ryan’s parents, then thank you for raising such amazing children. If you’re not any of their parents, then no worries, but I encourage you to find your Archiks, Gabys, Hannah Ms, and Ryans because they will truly change your life.

Alrighty, that’s all for tonight.

Peace, love, sunscreen,

- Hannah I. y Team Mexico

Beautiful sunset before dancing in the rain!