A New Adventure

So I’m back in the wilderness with AmeriCorps. Montana is a vastly different ecosystem than the Tropics in Saint Lucia. It’s been awesome to socialize and meet so many new people interested in the outdoors. I’m hoping that my time here will afford me the opportunity to share some history and experience on historically Native land and cultures, but also some of the management things i get to learn along the way.   I’ll be doing Wildland Restoration which will be dealing with managing invasive plants in several ways but predominantly hack and spray due to time and resource restraints. It’s kind of interesting that both here and Saint Lucia have high cost of living but wildly different social and cultural differences. Montana is growing at a rate that they haven’t necessarily prepared for and that leads to building decisions that affect both human and wildlife. Should be a great time once we make it through winter 😂

Ps. I’m learning to use this blog tool from my phone so the formatting might be off until I figure out the ins and outs (if I ever do)

"It's not my job"

Keeping Busy and Networking

It's been a busy and hectic month or so.  I have been super involved with everything environmental on the island.  From, Green Fete an environmental fair put on by a school environmental club to organizing Clean Up campaigns and prepping for the upcoming school year with a teacher training. Even with all this to keep us busy there are some other fun things sprinkled in like Carnival and the Caribbean SEA youth environmental summer camp.  On top of all this I felt under the weather for about 2 weeks.

The Green Fete was an awesome opportunity to network with tons of environmentally conscient people and organizations.  This was put on by the local Lorax Club in Dennery and was highly publicized.  We came to find out The Lorax Club and some of these other types of projects were helped by past Peace Corps volunteers so it was really a cool learning experience and to see some of these things persist in one form or another. All this was great BUT I got to the Saint Lucia Boa and Iguana ( Didn't get to hold them tho). 

Saint Lucia Boa

Saint Lucia Iguana

Dennery Beach with Sargassum

Hill above Dennery

Dennery schools from above

The following weekend I went to several Carnival Events. First up was the Panorama.  Steel orchestras were playing and it was very cool.  Sunday There was the Soca Monarch competition where artists competed with different types of music meant to be able to dance too.  Monday and Tuesday was the Carnival Parade where everyone basically got dressed up in costumes and partied.  

Pan "orama" 

Carnival Float

Carnival Costume

More Costumes

The week after Carnival we had our monthly Clean Up campaign and it was pretty well attended.  As we were trying to spread the word and even during the clean up many of the sentiments from people were "It's not my job."  It is a shame that people feel this way and that they are not getting paid to keep their community clean.  If taxes went up to pay people to clean up more often because of the sheer amount of trash produced would they feel differently?  The local grocery store put a price of 25 cents on their plastic bags and there was all the outrage, but people switched to alternatives so they wouldn't have to pay the extra cost.  We have been trying to transition them into communities so that they will take responsibility for their waste.  There will be many challenges in this plan.  I remember hearing a radio interview where they were talking about the plastic problem, and a caller called in concerned about the job of the person producing plastic. Everything comes down to cost. 

TO BE CONTINUED!!!!!! ( Since I am so far behind)

Civilization, Society, and Nature

I have been pondering how to make this post captivating.   Several events have occurred that fit too perfectly with some of the ideas in a book I am reading about the history of ecological ideas "Nature's Economy."  Many of the ideas following are quotes from the book or ideas that sparked from the combination of everything happening. 

So there is lots of calls for people to be civilized.  Many people have different ideas of what civilization and civility look like.  In the Victorian age, they tried to find virtue in conquering  savage Nature and be more civilized than primitive peoples.   Humans are not born civilized but learn civility.  The association between primitiveness in savagery seems to only loosely fit.  Many of the early naturalists believed that industrialization would lead to the deterioration of society.  There is some evidence that this could be true due to all the manufactured single use plastics, electronic addictions, and drug abuse/problems.  Its interesting that many of the problems of today arise from issues originating from industrialization.  People have become less civil especially due to increased connectivity without consequences.  The world is connected like never before yet somehow so disconnected (I probably have stated this before).  The novelty of convenience has also added to this issue while adding the destruction of our homes, communities, and environments.  One of the quotes that stuck with me and led to this introspection follows:

"The civilized man, Darwin was saying, cannot sever his ties with his biological past.  Nor need he be ashamed to own up to his kinfolk, like some city slicker anxious to forget his uncouth country cousins; the despised relations are worthy of love and respect for what they are, though it may not be much by another's standards.  But it is only the fully civilized human who can rise sufficiently far above the struggle for existence as to learn to love all beings and recognize their right to exist in their own way.  Ultimately, that is what it means to be civilized and humane: not belligerently chauvinistic about one's own kind, but tolerant, gentle, and sympathetic toward the earth and all that lives."

Long quote but worth every word.

How does this apply to my Peace Corps service? 

Well, there is always the way everyone treats each other no matter if they are from a different community, state, country, continent.   Sometimes it is hard to be empathetic to one who thinks differently than you even tho they were raised completely different. Industrialization and sustainable development is always a hot button issue in all country especially developing countries.  Plastics are a problem all over the world and no matter where I go or hike I always feel its a responsibility to pick up trash whenever I can.  Its the beginning of the rainy season and trash starts to build up down in gutters from a lot higher in the watershed so there a lot more flies, bad smells, and nasty water. (I would like to point out that this was also a problem in Austin and San Marcos to a certain extent). Picked up some trash on my hike up Mt. Pimard, and around my neighborhood. Even though I didn't really do any of the cleaning for recognition or praise, several community members gave me fist bumps, said there need to be more people like me (wow that was praise I wasn't ready for....I suck haha),  and some even helped me out or said they would help next time.  It was a better feeling than I would have expected.

Beach Outside Windjammer hiking Mt. Pimard

Pool on Mt. Pimard

Pigeon Island from atop Mt Pimard

Rodney Bay from atop Mt. Pimard

Drain after a huge rain storm

Trash bags collected from around my neighborhood

The take home message: despite everyone's struggle to survive, compete, and find their place in society and/or the world, there is a niche for everyone and everyone deserves compassion.  It can be difficult sometimes with all that is going on and the pre-built social constructs, however life is a journey with stumbles and we should always strive to better ourselves even through the stumbles.  Let's be open to new adventures and not stuck in preconceived notions about people or individuals.  

(I'll try to have a less philosophical and more hey look at all the stuff post next time)

And Now For Something Completely Different....

I am going to start off the post recapping a few things going on and then divert to more of a personal note.

The Weekish (ok probably 2) in Review

We have been staying very busy both with work and leisure.  The clubs are up and running and have had elections and even started a few activities.  It was awesome seeing everyone so excited (One Primary school has 60 members in the club and more want to join!!!!)  The kids are excited and it is very refreshing to see. Unfortunately they are entering testing season (The dreaded time of year that every teacher and student hates).  These test determine passing to next grades and even an entrance exam to determine which Secondary school they are allowed to choose.  The Secondary schools are separated in part by academic achievement.  Being a teacher who has worked with kids all the way from AP top of the class students to "Special Ed" classes, (grossly mislabeled but slowly things are changing),  it is a little disheartening and knowing how every kid has the capability of learning and achieving great things, but everyone learns differently.  Take me for example.....I was never in AP English classes because I hate reading.  Well hate is a strong word.....I just do not like sitting still to read.  I have been forcing myself to read at home, and even going to the beach to read which has been extremely rewarding and therapeutic.

But I digress....

The clubs have started litter campaigns and trash sorting in the schools, we have done initial surveys to try and get to know the students and some of them have really been enlightening. One thing we noticed across the survey and schools was that the students typically have the same needs when it comes to conservation.  Many know some about litter and environmental issues, but they do not know exactly what role they play and how they can communicate the issues to family and community.  Opportunity abound just by this little revelation.  This week is Global Environmental Week and tons of "End Plastic Pollution" events are going on.  Listening to the students relay what they have learned and their excitement is encouraging and puts a little lump in your throat.  We are even helping get the word out about a monthly clean up campaign a friend we made in JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) has been heading up.

Presenting Watersheds and how to reduce litter

In my spare time we did a Turtle Watching Camp and beach clean up on Grand Anse Beach.  This beach is located on the East side of the Island and pretty secluded.  However, even this beach was not untouched by humans as plastic pollution had washed up from the Atlantic and from other sources.  I was tired and did not attempt to stay up all night walking the beach looking for a Leatherback turtle so I slept under the stars.  It turned out to be a good decision as the turtles eluded us, but we did see some tracks of turtles that may have been before the weekend or some other time.  This was a truly amazing trip that I really needed away from the city.  I am so close to everything that sometimes I really miss hiking trails and bugs.  We did see a couple of mongooses running across the road the other day tho. 

Driving down to Grand Anse

Grand Anse covered in Seagassum (huge bloom right now)

Sunset and Sand Dunes (I was really excited about the Sand Dunes)

Waking up early to see the Sunrise

June marks the start of Carnival season.  It is filled with fetes, limes, SoCa music,  Extempo (kind of a rap battle...also not sure if I spelled it right), Carnival Queens, and Jumping (dancing with bands).  It was amazing seeing all the colors and dancing and excitement of the kick off event on Epic Wednesday.  I plan on going to a few beach parties, fetes, and maybe some SoCa concerts where they throw that dry paint at you.  My camera is not waterproof so you will probably have to take my word on how fun some of these are. haha

Epic Wednesday Carnival Preview May 30th

The Carnival Bands costumes and dancing

The other things I have been doing is continuing karate trying to get the rust off and get back in shape, and I am starting to get back in nature more.  I bought some mesh fabric to make a butterfly net, and some trash bags to walk around and pick up litter in my neighborhood.  I am dying to just be outside. I love nature so much and it is so relaxing.  I sat in a Derek Walcott Square where two Nobel Lauretes are honored and marveled at this huge tree that is huge for being in the center of the capital of Castries.  I am looking forward to hiking the rain forest soon and maybe doing some zip lining. Lots of adventures still to have.  As for new food and drink tasted.....Cane Juice squeezed from sugar cane is great and way better than coconut water.  Probably less healthy too, but I love food.

Look at this Huge Tree (Derek Walcott Square, Castries Saint Lucia)

Now for the Reflection

I have now been here for about 3 months.  I've grown to love this island and feel fairly at home.  Even being over here I have to see the news back home.  It makes me sad because being away from all of it makes the divisiveness and bigotry so much more apparent.  It made me contemplate what makes someone a great leader.  Different people will answer that question differently.  I know a few people who I have worked with that I would follow through even the worst situations.  Leading by example, uniting people, being encouraging.  So many traits.  Then there is the news about the Education Council doing research on what is causing so much gun violence in schools without looking at guns.  It seems ridiculous, but there are also other issues besides the guns themselves.  There is also the topics of mental health, which is also a big issue here with the health care system the way it is.  This leads to the question of why is mental health such a big issue nowadays?  Why is it so much more prevalent than before?  Obviously one of many reasons is that we are able to diagnose it better.  However, I have been reading a lot of ecological philosophy books and just environment books in general and there seems to be some interesting ideas there too.  Today's society mostly lives in cities and is stuck in front of screens both things that contribute to stress and coritisol.  Nature is a natural stress reliever.  Everyone pretty much agrees when you go on vacation you go for the environment.  This is not a new idea either.  Nature heals us, its in our DNA, we are born loving the outdoors, and being scared of some animals for reasons we don't quite understand because we picked up those fears so young.  A healthy environment is absolutely vital for the health of humans in so many different facets. We put plants in offices and around our houses, we have pets, we go to beaches and mountains, and so many of these things relax us.  Nature is part of who we are even if we are completely disconnected with it and try and destroy it either knowingly or not.  All this to say Nature is so diverse, beautiful, exotic, and therapeutic.  There is something alluring about it no matter what philosophy you accept.  Whether you try to relate to nature with personal experiences or accept the spiritual connection in all things, whether you look at nature mechanistically or just enjoy the beautifully unexplainable nuances there is always something for everyone.  

Nature is always waiting for you, and is resilient, but not unchanging.  Mother Earth will always be here, but the living conditions may not be favorable.

I ranted enough and probably a little unintelligibly. Nature is so cool though!

Long Over Due

Welcome to the whoops too much is going on post.  (Also there was a period where my internet was out)
Very eventful few weeks.  We started meeting with the students the past two weeks and everything has been very exciting.  Many of the kids are excited to go out in the environment and work on some sort of project!  The clubs are still in their infancy stage, but there are tons of great projects already in the works.  The weekend of May 12th we went down to Soufriere and hiked Gros Piton.  It was quite a ways up there and lots of heat to make you tired.   I drank 3 liters of water and it took us 4 and a half hours to go up and down, but once we reached the beach at the bottom to cool off the hard work and beautiful views were definitely worth it.

Southern Coast of Saint Lucia

Petit Piton from the top of Gros Piton

Success!

View of the peak from the beach

Anse L'Ivorgne Beach @ the base of Gros Piton

The following week we sat on Point Seraphine and enjoyed some craft beer from Antillia Brewery in Castries and enjoyed the sunset.  Definitely some of the better beer I have had on Island because most people drink Heineken or some form of Piton.  They also have Guiness which doesn't seem to be hugely popular.

Sunset on the Castries Waterfront

This past Monday was Whit Monday so we had a long weekend.  We definitely took advantage.  Sunday we did a beach restoration where they had a few sea turtles nest at Pigeon Island.  It was hard work, but we were rewarded with a nice beach and some good food!  Monday we did touristy stuff and took a snorkeling tour down to Chastanet, Soufriere.  We saw a lot of cool things even tho we noticed the coral was not as colorful as it could be due to lots of silt runoff.  We saw sea urchins (sea eggs), pufferfish, Lobsters, flounder, sea crabs, angel fish, several species of parrot fish and many many more.  It was very awesome.  Next thing on the list of sea adventures is to get scuba certified.

The past few weeks I've also joined a karate class to stay active.  It has been very exhausting every Tuesday and Thursday but very rewarding.  We meet at the local sports complex and have done a lot of technique and self defense.  It is taking me some time to get back and shape and change styles yet again.  It is more of a street fighting style and we do a lot of close combat stuff and trade punches and kicks.  It is slowly getting easier and shaking some of the rust off.  Now I just need to get back into the routine of running again! Almost forgot that finally in my free time I went to the cinema on island and finally watched Avengers.  It was .....interesting even after all the spoilers everyone put on Facebook.  Staying busy and active and hopefully I will remember to record more things.  Some of the things I do on Island are just second nature to me now and even though they are extremely exciting I just enjoy every moment.  Continue to enjoy life and take joy in even the small things.  Sometimes the small things are the things most cherished! 

So long for now!

Everything is Irie!

After finishing up our initial school meetings and enjoying Labor Day off on May 1st, our work week consisted of trying to schedule the planning meeting.  All the fun of trying to plan around busy people with busy schedules.  I cooked a nice Turkey Chili on my day off and had a great week.  Thursday I joined a local karate class and it was quite a bit of cardio.  All the exercise I had hoped for!!!!  Friday we enjoyed the Friday Night Fish Fry in Gros Islet.  The night was filled with lots of partying and dancing.....(yes I danced...well sorta)  Because this area is between a lot of hotels it was quite the crowd.  Saturday I recouped and enjoyed a little beach time....because the beach is amazing and I walk everywhere.   One thing I am not used to is the fact that everyone is surprised at the amount I walk.  If it wasn't always a beautiful 80 degrees here I would literally walk everywhere as long as I had the time.  Saturday night I stumbled upon a street Party in Castries that they are trying to start back up.  It was a little slow, but always get to meet some fun people and enjoy time with my friends that I made here. Today, My wild guy buddy invited me over for lunch.  Had some nice curry goat and all the fixins.  I definitely will not get used to how everyone keeps telling me I won't stay single long here.   Definitely a culture shock on that account. This week is kicking off the jazz festival before Calypso.  Should have a lot of stories. 

I didn't really take any pictures this week. So I will have to do better on that account next week.  Lots of fun being a Lucian.  Gotta keep on exploring!!!

Week 7

After a long week preparing for school visits the end of the week went very quickly.  Friday we visited three schools in the North and on Monday we finished up with our final two schools further South.  All five of our schools are a combination of primary and secondary schools with a wide range of previous involvement with environmental type activities.  The one thing they all share is a group of staff very enthusiastic about the "Conservation Clubs."  This first meeting was just an introduction and we are scheduling the follow up structuring meetings the coming weeks.  The more we actually meet with the stakeholders the more this project will gain some momentum.  The weekend was spent hiking down a nature trail maintained by the Forestry Department where they keep a few animals in a mini zoo on Saturday and visiting our fellow volunteer more in the center of the Island.  I did finally find some hot peppers that grow on the island and am excited to make some good sauces with them.  Unfortunately, the day after my stomach was a little upset.  Going to have to be a little more careful what food I ingest for a bit. The comings weeks are going to be full of excitement and more exploring..... I even found a martial arts class to join!  Stay tuned Peeps!

Towards the end of our Hike on the Union Nature Trail

Anse La Raye Beach (a small fishing village)