So the first week of the program began the day after our second waterfall trip that I wrote about. The eight of us that were here for Bioconstruindo went from super intense, packed schedules with lots of Brazilian social interactions, to very mellow, introductory course layout. We recapped for the new people, taking a tour of the Ecocentre property, going over the community rules and ethics, and, of course, over the curriculum we were going to be involved and responsiblr for completing. We started off with some lectures on zoning, different bioremediation techniques, soil compositions, forest and tree dynamics; those of us that were her for the extra course we a little ready to get dirty again =:) We went into town to check out Amazen, a cool little restaurant, bar, cafe, grocer that sells healthy stuffs and would remind a lot of people of back home. They have a hookah, a little lounge area with paper lanterns, sand and pillows on the floor, cute outfits, recycled goods, washable diapers, seriously everything. It's a good place for the people in rural Brazil to have some other options anyway. We had gone there during Bio as well for a book-signing opening deal for one of the professors. She has written another book, this one on seeds and preserving and saving them. Then we hit a Brazilian house party. Bob Marley is really popular here =:)

     Now we are near the end of our second week and I don't know how that happened. I feel so behind!!!! I did, however, manage to get my application in for spring semester and pay for fall semester. I am also working on a couple scholarship essays in the wee hours of the morning when everyone is sleeptime. Oh yeah, and I am still sleeping in my tent. We had the option during Bio to get a room or camp, so I camped. For the Living Routes program, we have dorm rooms (made of superadobe here by volunteers), but three of us have decided to continue tent city by ourselves. During Bio there were like 75 tents in a relatively small area (and at least 15 snorers); now there are seven tents set up, three of them occupied, by us. The others are for anyone who wants to relinquish the creature comforts of their dorm.

     The second week here in the program has picked up a bit. We are doing more lectures, of course, on designing and zoning, as well as more sustainable technologies, energy flows, and plants (what to grow near what , various medicinal properties, soil contributers, etc. . ). We also learned how to survey the land using both the modern survey equipment, as well as the original A-frame used by the Romans when they built the aquaducts. This is to help us in site layouts and measuring for creating swales. We made a few tinctures and juices as well using some cool things from the gardens here.

     Earlier in the week, we broke up into design groups (4 people per group). We will stay with them for the duration of the program to create our design tasks together. I got lucky; I think my group is full of people who are not afraid to take on a challenge. This is definitely a good thing because we have a couple serious projects to get through. I posted in a differnet journal about what the Community Design Task is and what it entails. We went to the school at the beginning of the week and then worked to create a new Permaculture Playground for the kids there. Yesterday, we spent the whole morning at the school, starting the new project. Tough work, or rather, tough soil. I worked on the superadobe bench all day; this meant breaking up some very tough, compacted clay soil and digging a trench about 40 cm across and 7 cm deep. The bench is about 3 ½ meters long. We fill bags full of soil, seal it with the pressure of itself, and then beat the hell out of each layer on the tops and sides of the bag, and then repeat. The bench is 4 bags high, each bag is the dimensions already stated. We also dug up the garden, filled the color bottles for the border, and began the murals.

     Today, we kicked some serious butt. We finished the bench (we had only finished 2 bags long by the time we left yesterday), started and finished the superadobe sandbox (same conditions for working it as the bench), finished the garden, the murals, and most of the mosiac tables, set up the trellis, added an unplanned living roof to one of the kids little houses, and recycled some stumps we found on the property, turning them into more shaded sitting areas under the ficus tree. I couldn't believe how much we got done! It's amazing what people can do when they work together and focus. I guess that's why | get so frustrated so often; I never doubt potential, only perseverance.