Cranking up the Worksites

1.10.19

We forgot to tell you something REALLY important yesterday!  We started up a long time DIRT tradition and began to award the Purple Bike to individual DIRT members.  Back in 2009 in the Brazilian Amazon, the DIRT team got around by buying all of the bikes in the main store in our Amazon town, all of which were red except for one, which was purple.  Because everyone wanted to ride the purple bike, we started the tradition of choosing one special person each day who won the honor of riding the purple bike, and as each person got their turn, they joined the entirely made up Order of the Purple Bike (Ordem de Bicicleta Violeta in Portuguese). In the following years, we continued to induct new members into the Order, even though there were no longer any actual purple bikes in sight.

So last night, we inducted TWO new members, one from our travel day and arrival and one from our first work day. The first winner of the purple bike for DIRT 2019 is the sweet and sunny Lauren Soares.  Lauren has been a force of positivity in everything we have done so far.  When we were in the San Francisco airport, one of the TSA guys was barking at everyone in the security line and Lauren responded with disarming warmth and kindness that we all noticed.  She responds to everything she encounters with that level of genuine happiness and we all benefit from the uplifting boost that she brings to our little community.  She is always listening, always caring, always paying attention to the needs of everyone around her, and always the first to volunteer to dig through the collective bags to find the items that we know we have but can't yet locate.  Lucky us.  And yay, Lauren!!

Our second purple biker is Stillman student Alex Brunson.  As you are aware, Jesse (one of the two instructors of this and many other DIRT courses) is now a faculty member at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and two Stillman students are with us for our entire Puerto Rican journey.  Alex is quiet and unassuming, but amidst all of his impressive calmness, he is also an excellent craftsman and hard worker.  When the workers at his house yesterday were scraping paint from the security bars of the house, they all stopped and stared in awe at the sheer perfection of Alex's work.  He was getting all the way to bare metal much more efficiently than any of the rest of the workers who were doing the same job.  We wonder if his art major in any way helps him to produce visual perfection, even when doing manual labor.  In any case, we are honored to have him in our presence and celebrate his new membership in the Order of the Purple Bike!

_____

Okay, now on with Thursday.  We had a hectic morning where it looked like we were about to have a breakfast disaster. But then the complete opposite result occurred: breakfast was FABULOUS!  We scrambled four dozen eggs, mixed some canned seasoned tomatoes in, and let a bowl of cheese be a personal add-in for some of the greatest breakfast burritos of all time.

That was a perfect way to start our first full work day at our house sites.  Because we had all gotten a feel for the projects yesterday, we could just show up and hit the ground running.  And run we did.  Even though this is only our second day on our sites, things felt a lot more comfortable, including the fact that the families at the houses interacted with us more and we just generally felt more like we knew what to do.

We painted at one house, prepped and primed for painting at another and did a little bit of light construction in the form of ceiling panels at another house. We didn't take a full lunch break, as our lunches were delivered by our San Isidro partners so we just stopped and ate and kept on working.  It was hot and sunny today and we could really feel the absence of the cloud cover that has given us some relief the last couple of days.  We kept reminding each other to drink water and to reapply sunscreen and insect repellent.

Speaking of insects, we encountered quite a few of those today.  We haven't had many bites so far but today a bunch of us got our first (and second and third and fourth and . . .).  So now we have to remind each other to use our various itch relief products so that we don't scratch our bites into states of infection.  We're also busting out some extra insect fighting strategies, like taking B Complex vitamins, wearing those little citronella bracelets, and actually using the mosquito nets that we brought along.

We all came to a stopping point at pretty similar times, so we got to get back to our PR home in the daylight.  We quickly switched into swimsuits or running gear or football-tossing clothes and headed toward the beach to pursue some non-work interests.  The waves were powerful but fun and a few of the California beach bums taught the others how to body surf and how to keep from getting knocked off your feet even in hip high water.  We frolicked in the sand for quite awhile until the sky started turning toward dusk.  We caught the last bits of sunlight on the edges of the palms and exclaimed over how lucky we are to be here in this lovely place together, doing things that feel meaningful and important, and learning actual life skills along the way.

We tried to keep from dragging tons of sand into our house by using the outdoor showers in the way that they were intended.  It made a big difference in our bathtubs to NOT have a pound or two of sand in there after we had each taken our turn.  In general, we haven't quite gotten the hang of how to manage our house, but we are right on the verge of locking down a good set of systems.

Tomorrow morning we have a visit from another professor from the university.  This one is an economist and we are eager to get answers to many of the questions we have been asking each other since we arrived.  We are also happy that some of the boxes we shipped to our friend Jessica will arrive when she joins us for our morning meeting.  Our beloved hot sauces are in there so we really can't wait for them to arrive.

And we inducted another member into the Order of the Purple Bike tonight.  Nils had a rough day that was made even rougher by the fact that his team stayed up until about 2am to finish its video.  With this sleep deprived beginning, he embarked on a day of hard labor in the hot sun.  His work group noticed that he was starting to droop and urged him to drink some water and take a break.  He didn't let himself take much of a break and just kept on working.  He really drove himself down and came home exhausted.  We pumped him full of electrolytes and urged him to take a nap.  He rallied and confessed that he hadn't really observed our agreement to recognize our limits and to make wise choices about how to proceed.  Sometimes the purple bike is awarded because of heroism, sometimes because of overcoming challenges. Nils is always in that first category and today was his turn in the second.  We are grateful to have him along for the ride!

Beautiful shot of Puerto Rico’s bright blue sky’s with local colorful plants at the work site. 

Baby chicks that were just born at our worksite.  These little chicks are the definition of cute! 

Horse that these boys were riding around the calles (streets).

Delicious platanos (plantains) that are a staple in Puerto Rico food. 

Lovely welcome and game plan illustrated by one of the project leaders, Catia, at one of our worksites! 

These are examples damaged infrastructures in the San Isidro community where we will be volunteering in the next weeks. This area has received little help from FEMA due to the presence of Dominican Republic refugees (who aren’t considered “Puerto Rican.”)

This is a glorious view of the dense vegetation that surrounds the lagoon behind our home. We are lucky to have hit the jackpot with this vibey hammock area.

This was a snapshot of the environment as we drove from the airport to Loiza. 

We took a walk through San Isidro with our community partners, Patricia and Jessica. This is just one example of the colorful pallets used for the housing.

This is the beach that is minute walk from our house in Loiza. Our home for the month is along the Northeast coast of Puerto Rico.