sembrando

for the past two days, I have set aside my encuestas and gone out to plant corn, beans, and squash with my supervisor Nacho and his family. I was a little worried that I wouldn{t get the opportunity to do this, and was really happy to get out there in the soil. and get dirty I sure did.. the people in Amatlan mainly plant the seeds by hand. first one of the two tractors in the town comes through to churn up the soil (barbechar) and then a second time to create furrows (surcar). then people walk up and down the rows, dropping 4 grains of corn and a squash or bean seed as well, and then cover cover them up. this is best done in bare feet, because the soil sticks to your shoes and makes it really hard to walk. so, many things happened to my feet, including taking a mud bath and getting bitten by red ants. the first day we planted it had rained the night before, and no joke, we were pretty much planting in mud. it felt good to walk in (if you didn't slip too badly) but I didn't realize until the next day when the soil was drier how much harder it is to plant in mud. the soil just doesn't want to cover up the seeds. the next day was beautiful, the soil more easy to manage, but I also stepped in a few ant hills. it actually hurt less than I thought. once we were done in our fields, we saw some friends planting across the street, and went to help out. and this is an example of why I really love Amatlan.. people will help each other out, because it is a community and the lands are communal, even if they are not going to reap the gains of that field. in exchange, they gave us some beer and pop after the sun went down. all in all, a pretty good day.

also, the dog here that had become my favorite, Duma, we think is pregnant. ! they had her operated on so she wouldn't have be able to have puppies, but i guess it didn't work..? everyone is like, want to take a cat home? want to take a dog home? want to buy my dog? because there are so many dogs and cats here. really Duma, we don't need more puppies!