Well, Season II is now in the can, as they (who?) say. And I´m happy to report that after six days with a head cold, I´m finally feeling better today. Last night, I gave in and accepted and ingested any and all medicines that were thrust in my direction. I´m not sure what they all were, and I´m still feeling a little woozy, as if my head had spent a few minutes inside of a wachine machine. But, I think whatever was clogging up my head has been excorsised.
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| Williams and Joriel planting a manzanilla tree |
In any event, today was a marvelous finish to the camp. Over the weekend, Dona Yolanda was able to procure about 20 saplings of fruit trees that are very rare on the island these days: manzana de oro, mamon,granadillo, guanabana, mandarina. And today we planted them. After the mysterious disappearance of the plants that we planted two years ago, we decided that this year we would plant the trees at people´s houses. So, a couple of days ago Yasira led a group of campers going door to door around the neighborhood looking for nice and caring homes for the treees. And today, we followed Don Tilo and his pickaxe around, retracing Yasira´s footsteps, and planted about 20 trees in gardens around the school. Not to get too worked up about it all, but there´s something about planting trees that really hits me deep inside. I don´t know what it is exactly, but putting something into the Earth that will provide nourishment for both people and the Earth itself satisfies some primal need. When Don Montilla came to speak to us last week, he said something that struck a chord in me; that to live a fully realized life one should do three things: have a child, plant a tree, and write a book. So, now I´ve got two out of the three. And if you count this blog as a book, then I´m all set.
After finishing the planting we returned to the school and prepared for the end of camp celebration that we had planned. The campers´parents came and we had a little picadera. Then we presented the campers with a diploma and a gift of school supplies and seeds. Get it? The school supplies so that they can continue growing as learners and thinkers and the seeds so that they can grow trees. Then the campers read the poems they had written last week and it was over. I´ve got a lot going through my head right now about this experience. But I´m also hungry. So it´ll have to wait until I can process everything. Buen provecho.
