The Long View
From the state of Hidalgo, looking out from Grutas Xoxafi.
Don’t forget me.
One more soccer ball distribution trip. One more soccer ball distribution trip! Whew. The end is in sight. Actually, I will probably be more sad than glad that the project is coming to a close. It has been a lot of fun traveling around and visiting all the different Volunteer sites to cause chaos (with […]
From the “Why did it take me so long?” files
Why did it take me a year and a half to realize that the fruit salad I’ve been watching the juice lady across the street make is (1) awesome and (2) 15 pesos (US$1.20)? As lunch, this really helped pull my day together. Today was a fruit, yogurt, and amaranth day (but granola and honey […]
Nice to have a few days at home
After keeping my fridge mostly empty for the past month while I have been traveling every few days, it is nice to be able to go to the local market to restock. The scene can get a bit wild on the weekends, and I finally had the courage to sneak a bunch of photos with […]
2 days of flowers and work
I mean work and flowers. Definitely in that order. To work on the super-secret, super-awesome soccer ball project, I got to tag along on the practicum visit of a couple of trainees in the natural resource management program. The visit was to the Bosque La Primavera in Guadalajara, and it was definitely worth a second […]
85,000 birds in the sky – the River of Raptors
Or, more specifically, 85,591 including: 33,376 Turkey vultures 7 Swallow-tailed kites 1 Mississippi Kite 8 Norther Harriers 29 Sharp-shinned hawks 39 Cooper’s hawks 2 Gray hawks 5109 Broad-winged hawks 41,864 Swainson’s hawks 16 American kestrels 5 Peregrine falcons 5135 Unknown raptors Details here. See: All of this was in just one day observing the RÃo […]
2nd Marathon, way better than the first
I mean, I’m stuck on the couch now, but it is totally worth it since I achieved my goal of a sub 4h marathon. I finished right around 3h57m and a bit, and it was so satisfying. I felt great for almost the whole race. Kilometers 33-38 were kind of rough, but I had banked […]
My favorite type of day
Full of good people talking about good things over great food, and I have a new certificate of appreciation for the solar stove and efficient cookstove work.
How to build a combustion chamber
The trickiest portion of the efficient cookstove construction process is assembling the internal combustion chamber. It isn’t difficult, but requires a few sets of hands and understanding how the interior pieces fit together. Two women hold the pieces in place while a third filled in around them with the sand/gravel mixture. This was the fourth […]
Getting out more
From the Sierra Gorda de Guanajuato where I spent the last 2 days working, although it doesn’t feel like work when the setting is so beautiful.
Gotta get out more
Thank goodness I have secondary projects outside of the office so that I don’t miss when the wildflowers explode into bloom.
Before and After
The stove installations are actually almost all done. I saw 4 yesterday and 1 today, and I look forward to going back and taking all the “before” and “after” pictures. The installation is a quick process, except for configuring the chimney. The women typically have to drill holes in the walls of their kitchens or […]