#I also ate raw pancake batter... how did I not get sick???

[mylifeiscomics]

If Nappa Lived. (Pt. 131)

Okay! Here we go!

I post this series daily. You can read all the previous parts easily here.

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[jessaadventures-blog]

Week Nine: The Final Week!

My painted volunteer rock going under the sign!

My last week in Lobitos was very chill and I spent a lot of time finishing up my work and preparing for Patagonia while I enjoyed some final traditions and experiences! These last few days had their ups and downs (I got sick again), but now I’m on to a new adventure and I couldn’t be more excited :)

The EcoHouse

Yummm mango :)

We said goodbye to Chris on Tuesday, and Michael left for vacation on Tuesday as well, so I said farewell to him before he left on his adventure. That only left Ale, Joris, Anthony, and I with Diego and Nai Ana; a big change from having eleven people in the house last week! The house was pretty chill all week, we all did a lot of reading and sleeping but had some fun nights as well!

On Monday we decided to make breakfast for dinner on Monday with our leftover food (we still had a lot because of the number of people that had just left). We made a whole spread with pancakes with honey, a potato and onion hash, avocado and tomato toast, and eggs; it was wonderful! Taco Tuesday happened for the ninth consecutive week (every Tuesday since I arrived) and it was sad to have my last one, though I hope the guys keep it going. On Wednesday we had a bunch of leftover chickpeas from lunch and the guys decided to create some falafels with homemade tortillas. They were very tasty in a deep-fried way, and the guys got creative with the batter by throwing a bunch of other veggies and leftovers in there, but I’m pretty sure the falafels made me sick. 

It might’ve been the large amount of oil that my stomach wasn’t used to or eating some raw flour, I’m not sure, but both Nai Ana and I got quite sick later that night. I had absolutely no appetite for the next two and a half days, though I tried to eat some delicious tomato soup that Anthony made for us sickies (it didn’t stay down). On Friday I managed a banana and some cornflakes, but it wasn’t until Saturday morning that I felt mostly back to normal. I’m extremely relieved that I got (mostly) better by the time I left; traveling while sick would not be fun! I ended up spending a few evenings of my last week lying in bed watching movies and feeling pretty horrible, which was sad, but the end of the week took an upturn!

I made some yummy avocado toast for lunch after a breakfast of cornflakes on Saturday, and ate a super sweet mango for snack (I’m gonna miss the tropical fruit)! For my last dinner I had to cook something good, so I whipped up one last veggie pot pie! I think it was my best yet, and the comfort food felt right before heading into the Patagonian winter. I also baked a really yummy  vegan vanilla cake that we ate with fried sweet plantains on top; the combination worked beautifully!

The last veggie pot pie with biscuit dough crust topping!

For my last night, now that everyone was recovered, we drank some delicious homemade maracuya sours made by Diego and played a few rounds of King of Tokyo, a new board game that was really fun and nerdy! Overall it was a really great last night, I’ll definitely miss the EcoSwell pisco and game nights. 

My last maracuya (passionfruit) sour! I’m going to miss pisco.

Otherwise, I spent Sunday morning packing everything up (shoving everything in my backpack always takes some time), painting a rock to leave by the sign (a recently-begun tradition), and writing my most famous recipes in the EcoSwell recipe book. It was a chill last morning, and it was nice to not be in a rush to get packed and out the door!

Work 

Planting day at the school!

My last week of work was really successful! I finished the manual I was making for the next volunteer, who will be building a new (and better) solar distiller and we fixed and tested the current distiller for the last time and it made more water than any of the other tests (about 15 liters in three days)!! Joris and I also launched a crowdfunding campaign on Friday to raise money to build the next solar distiller, and last time I checked (Sunday morning) we only needed $30 to reach our goal of $1000! That’s way quicker than we expected (thanks to all of you who donated or tried to donate)!! It felt so good to end on a huge high note after my nine weeks of effort at EcoSwell; I managed to finish a whole big segment of the solar distiller project and I feel pretty proud of all I learned.

One of the highlights of the work week was spending planting day at the Lobitos primary school planting native trees and vetiver! Diego had gotten in touch with the school, and they had a small plot that they wanted to plant with some eco friendly plants, so we headed to the school at 8am on Wednesday with some seedlings from our nursery and all of our tools. While we didn’t get to interact the kids much (they were in classes), we had quite a few run up to watch what we were doing and we got to see their PE class that was near where we were planting. It was a fun morning and it was so nice to see a bunch of curious little kids playing around outside; it’s been a while since I’ve been in that environment and it made me miss my little sisters even more than I already do! After planting some trees and vetiver, fertilizing the soil, and setting up protection around the seedlings so the wind doesn’t knock them over, we talked to the teachers for a bit, took some pictures, and headed back to the EcoHouse. It was a wonderful last planting day (and we didn’t have to get up as early as normal)!

Adventures 

I’m a surfer girl now, look at that massive wave !! ;)

Because of my stomach bug, I didn’t get out of the house much this week, but I did make sure to do some of the things I’ll miss in Lobitos. I watched the sunset on my last night; I’ll miss walking the beach in the golden glow of the sun or hiking to the water tower to watch the sun go down over the fishing boats. 

I also managed to get out surfing for the last time on Saturday, and it was a ton of fun! We went to Piscinas to surf, and though the waves were small there were a lot to catch and I managed to stand up more times than I ever have in one surfing session! I’m definitely thankful I was over my sickness enough to hit the waves, because it really was a highlight (and Joris got some pictures of me surfing)! I wish I had gone surfing more while I was in Lobitos, but I’m definitely planning on heading to Santa Cruz to surf while I’m at school and up to Tofino hopefully next time I’m home (and it’s warm enough)! 

One of my last sunsets over the Lobitos pier.

These nine weeks have been an incredible experience, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve learned so much about the reality of working to encourage sustainable development in small communities (it’s difficult but I’m passionate about it and definitely what I want to continue to do in the future, especially at the beginning of my career), how to go about finding (and building) solutions to community issues and running a non-profit, and how to have patience and include all stakeholders and perspectives when developing these projects. I’ve gone on so many amazing adventures (and managed to survive living in a desert-like environment for two months - I didn’t feel a drop of rain the whole time I lived in Lobitos), and met so many incredible people. During my time at EcoSwell, I’ve met twenty people, and those are just the ones that were living in the house. I’ve made a list, in roughly chronological order: Kyler, Sean, Isa, Dion (I already knew him but we’ll count it), Javi, Ale, Brady, Joris, Jenny, Jack, Orianna, Seth, Claudia, Chris, Anthony, Alejandro, Diego, Andres, Michael, and Nai Ana. I also met and interacted with a lot of Lobitos locals and made friends with some of the travelers that came in and out of the nearby hostels! 

I’ll remember this experience forever, and EcoSwell will always have a place in my heart. 

And now I’m heading off on another unforgettable adventure: Patagonia! I’m currently sitting in the Lima airport (after almost not making it onto my flight from Talara to Lima because the flight was overbooked) waiting to board the plane to Santiago and then to Punta Arenas, Chile to meet up with my professors and the fourteen other students in the class!

We’ll be in Punta Arenas from September 3rd to the 5th, then Puerto Natales, Chile from the 5th to the 17th, then El Chalten, Argentina from the 17th to the 20th, and finally El Calafate, Argentina from the 20th to the 22nd, when I fly home and get back to campus on Sunday, September 23rd, twenty-one hours before my first class! Woooo, I’m ready!!

I’m going to try to continue posting roughly every weekend while I’m down there, but I’m not sure of the internet situation, so bear with me! I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories to tell when I do manage to post :) As always, I love and miss everyone and hope the end of your summers are going well!