Our second week at the Madre Selva Biological Station totally flew by as we continued our work on the medicinal herb garden. This week we finished laying the bricks for the plant beds and leveling the soil where it was needed, a task that took us longer than we anticipated and involved transporting more than 100 bricks from the field station to the clinic. Once the beds were complete we were able to start planting. First, we created several maps of the project site prior to planting and determined the location of each medicinal plant based on information gathered throughout interviews with the Santo Tomas community on plant height and shade/sun preferences.
Once our map was finalized, we went on a small hike through the rainforest with Julio to gather some of the species needed for our garden so we could begin planting. In addition to medicinal herbs, we also gathered ornamental plants to be planted in front of the clinic for aesthetic appeal, as well as to discourage children from running up and down the hill in front of the clinic, which could be dangerous and would cause erosion. In addition to the plants found in the rainforest around the field station, we also received some plants from community members Dona Filomena and Dona Alissia.
This week was also full of work-boot incidents. One morning we decided to kayak to the clinic, and upon getting out of her kayak Maja got both of her boots stuck under the deep river mud. It took 2 people and about 20 minutes of digging to get the boots out! Earlier in the week a group of us decided to try to get cell service, which involved kayaking to a buffalo pasture and climbing a hill to the highest point in the surrounding area. Little did we know, the mud at the pasture was extremely flooded, and even stepping on what seemed like solid ground had our legs sinking knee-deep into mud. Suffice to say it was a bit of a disaster. It took us over and hour to get to the top of the hill, but it ended up being totally worth the muddy mess because we all got to talk to our families!