11. Walking poop

Today, as I was shovelling manure from the wheelbarrow onto the pile of compost, I discovered something that was so funny I laughed out loud (even though I was alone). One of the pieces of poop was slowly but surely moving towards my shovel! It was as if it wanted to be thrown into the compost pile as quickly as possible! It looked very strange, but I soon realised what it really was. When I pick the manure up from the ground, I often see these small holes in the soil underneath. I have realised that these were from small black beetles who lived in the manure. So underneath the moving poop there were one or two of these beetles. All the same, the sight of this piece moving towards my shovel made my day. I still smile when I think of it.

When we (me and my friend who is also a working student here) were done with shovelling the manure, we decided to take a walk with the two lead horses, Darling and Jack, because they had been out eating on the lawn all day and needed variety (and we had been told to do it). As we were loosening their ropes and had got their attention, they both stopped and stared really hard inland. That was when we saw it. Two solid sheets of rain coming towards us. It was as if the horses were saying: "Do you really want to take us for a walk in that?"

We decided we wanted to, and agreed that rain was really quite refreshing here (as it is almost never cold), and it doesn't hurt getting wet. So we headed out. After about two minutes, the rain started pouring. It doesn't rain as heavily here as it does on pacific islands or in the rainforest, where the sun makes the water evaporate and then it rains down heavily later. Here, the weather comes in from the Atlantic Ocean, crosses the mountains and falls down on us, on the leeward side of the island. So it rains like it does in Norway, nice and easy, not raining cats and dogs so that you can't keep your eyes open. But even so, the rain was quite heavy on our walk. I got lots of water in my eyes, and it was dripping from my nose. After a short while, my T-shirt was soaked through and had started dripping too. The water flowed down my legs into my sandals, which were still wet from Saturday's hike. So I squelched on, blinking furiously, trying to get the fresh water out of my eyes so that my contact lenses would be all right.

It rained on and off our whole walk, and when we finally made it back, I was soaked to the skin (at least in the front). It had also stopped raining. When we had tied the horses again, suddenly my friend cried out: "Rainbow!" There it was: a beautiful and clear rainbow behind the house. We could make out an extra colour below purple, and it was yellowish. It was also double (but not all the way, for those of you who appreciate the reference). The rainbow was a wonderful ending to our not too pleasant walk, and it brightened my mood considerably.

Books read: 17
Pages read: 4649

2. Donkeys

I went on a walk with the donkeys today. I hope you can believe me when I say that donkeys aren't only stubborn, they're also really smart! With donkeys, you only have to convey the message (for example 'don't eat while walking') a few times, and then they get it. And they remember it the whole walk! With other animals, you have to constantly keep watch and remind them, but the donkeys just understood it really quickly. But then, since they are so smart, they also have a lot of opinions. That is why they are so stubborn, I think. Once they have decided something, they stand by it, and nothing you can do can change it (except use far too much force for it to be called humane or even normal).

Today I shovelled more poop. But that is what I will do every day, so there is no use repeating it. It's hard to clear the area we were working on today, because along the ground there are these long root-like things, and they make everything you try to put on your shovel fall off. We are currently clearing an out of use banana field, so there are also all the dead banana leaves on the ground. It makes a simple but disgusting job just that much more frustrating.

I realise I am complaining, and I shouldn't, because it is so wonderful here. I thought I would just give you some facts about the place I am living so that you can imagine it somehow. There are 7 horses here: one gelding and 6 mares. They have a relatively large pasture, which consists of two relatively flat parts with a hilly part between. On one of the flat parts is the shelter where you can find the hammock and the water for the horses. They also have 3 donkeys, 2 chickens, 1 rooster, 14 pigs (6 of them only days old...soooo cute!), some (I don't know how many...maybe 15 - 20) sheep. Five of the sheep are constantly breaking out of the enclosure, they just walk straight through the electric fence (at least that is what it is generally thought they do). There is also a vegetable/fruit garden, fields of banana trees, and also other fruit trees (like guava, which is soo good). The building complex is quite large, but we are only approximately 30 people living here at the moment.

That is all for now, in this abnormally long blog post (for it to be part of BEDA...now I probably won't have anything to write tomorrow) about (at least) three different themes.

Books read: 16
Pages read: 4504

1. Pictures and poop

The beginning of BEDA! I really hope I will manage this. Today I feel that I am slowly but surely adapting to the climate and the tasks here. The day has consisted mainly of shovelling poop, pushing a wheelbarrow full of poop and shovelling more poop. Of course, the poop is really manure, but it's still a shitty job. When I wasn't shovelling poop, I was taking a break in the hammock and enjoying the view of the sea.

When we were finished for the day, I took some photographs. I captured the closing of the tiny green growths, and I hope to make a tiny video (a GIF) out of it soon. I also photographed my new blog backgound, and I met this guy.

There are lots of these small lizards around, and I find them really cute, even though they are not geckos. This one sat very quietly. It's like it was born to be a model!




These pictures (and more) were just taken in the garden and the pastures of the horses. I strongly suspect that more will come your way.

Books read: 16
Pages read: 4494