So this week has actually been pretty interesting for a change. First let me say that the utilities here are crazy! Last week I went a week (speaking litterally here) without water. Now it is only coming late at night, and for the last two nights it hasn't come at all. Then last Thursday the power transformer down the road fell, not sure if it was hit or if it just fell from the wind, but also the power line at my house somehow got disconected and even though the transformer was fixed on Saturday, I just got power back at my house. My cell phone died on Monday, so I eventually had to send it to one of my co-workers houses to be charged because I was tired of not having a charged phone. Honestly my kindle was about to die, my phone was dead, my computer long dead; if it had not come back today I would have died from nothing left to do. Anyway, that aside, it has been an interesting week. I finally got the problem with the office sorted out, so I am allowed to go into the rural areas again. On Sunday I went on my first hike here and it was beautiful. I am going to try to upload some pictures, but even they don't nearly do it justice. As I think I have said, my town is situated on a gorge caused by the Wabe river, picture the grand canyon and that isn't that far off. So I hiked around the rim of the canyon for a few hours, the view was amazing, I even saw a few of the local deer. Then as I was sitting on the edge a hawk caught a thermal right in front of me and circled all the way from the bottom of the canyon to about a hundred feet over my head. It was really an awesome way to relax. I know it doesn't sound like I have much to relax from, but honestly sitting and doing nothing all day is probably more stressful than being crazy busy. Then on Tuesday I FINALLY got to go into the gorge. The Kabele is called Balle Habebe, and one of the two people who went with me family lives down there. It was about an hour walk down, originally we started on the road, but quickly veered off onto the locals trail. It was a switchback trail that ran down the side of the mountain. In some places it was a few feet wide only, and most areas were at least a thirty degree angle. On top of that it was mainly loose dirt with rocks so there was more than a little slipping and sliding. Still, it was a fun trip and the views of the valley were incredible. Sadly the whole area is beginning to be effected by erosion. The road was not planned well when it was constructed and now a large portion of the mountain has begun sliding into the valley, the wall of rocks runs for several hundred feet and is almost at the doorstep of the closest houses. But, the most shocking part to me was the change in environment as we walked. In just the few kilometers it would change from mountainous terrain and flora, to arid almost dessert in just a few steps. I litterally saw the local flaura one second, then the next it would be nothing but cactus and agave, just to switch from that to almost tropical with elephant ears and natuarl springs. Still, it wasn't all fun and games, well it was pretty much all fun for me, but we also went for a reason. The local famers mainly depend on fruit crops in the gorge. This included: banana, avacado, mango, guava, coffee, and a plant I still do not know what it is. However, some of the fruit crops are having diease problems that are threatening the livelihood of the farmers. So I took a look, some pictures, and got some ideas about how to go about finding out the source of the problems. Also the Wareda office is trying to start an improved bee keeping project, but with no expertise and only some small training the project is failing completely. As This is the project I am most interested in I was only a little sad that they were having such a hard time, because, they are more than happy for me to step in and try and make the project work. After all that was done, and we had spent a while at the springs, we went to my coworkers house for lunch, coffee, and to chew on some sugar cane while we waited for the heat to die down a little before the walk back. They gave us around twenty avacados they picked from the trees while we watched, and even tried to get us to stay the night and walk home in the morning. We decided to go home of course, but I will admit the walk back was HARD. I mean, I have hiked mountains before, but this was intense. It took over an hour and a half, compared to the hour to go down, and we had several breaks. I was breathing hard and exhaused by the time I got home. I drank two glasses of water, and laid in bed for a while before I would do anything else. Now I have to look forward to it again next week. I have been asked to return so I can see the changes they make to the bee hive site so we can work on getting the project up and running. I can't wait to see what I can get going there, and with all the trips down I am bound to make I will be getting more cardio than ever!
Wishing you all a happy fourth of July
Love, Trey
6/18
As usual I am not doing a lot. I have read two and a half books in the last two days, if that gives you an idea of how busy I am. I have decided to quit trying to tell you when I am going to the gorge. I can see it daily, but have still not been able to get down into it. I had a set plan with a coworker to go this Tuesday. But yesterday came and I met the person I was going with, only to find there was a problem. I am not sure how it came up, or how the office even realized I was here. But, it appears that the zonal agricultural office found out I was living in Gassera and had not been told I was here. They were apparently a little pissed at having been left out of the loop and my liason called PC to sort it out. From what I can understand, and that isn't a lot, there was a letter that was supposed to be delivered to the zonal office but either someone at my office or someone at the PC office forgot to deliver it. So now I have been told I am not allowed to go to any of the rural areas until it is sorted out. That means that the few breaks I got to go explore with someone are now on hold until this is over. So sitting at the office is the only thing I can do at the moment that is work related. So for now I wait. I do have faith that SOME DAY I will make it down there to see all the cool stuff I have been told is down there. Last weekend was pretty interesting though. I was in Robe to get some supplies and Devin and Jill were kind enough to let me get into their beehive just to get some experience. It was a really interesting experience to see how they work to protect their hive and the progress they had made in making new combs. Sadly we were not able to do a lot because they were too active from the relativly high afternoon temperature. But, it was still a really interesting experience and made me even more interested in getting a beekeeping project going while I am here. And hey, I only got stung twice, I am also sure I am not allergic!
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