mud, scorpions and leeches and the occasional cobra

The first few days here at Panya have been anything but dull. Besides the vibrant mix of people from all places and backgrounds we have been diving full force into amazing building projects. The best technique found here to endure the cycles of monsoon to hot and dry, and also to be put up in a efficient manner is adobe bricks. There is a small flock of chickens whom require the first bit of attention so we must build them a small chatue so they will lay plentiful eggs.
Let me back up a moment to the setting and layout of the farm. We are nestled in a small valley surrounded by misty mountains and jungle. When Christian first bought the property, it had been deforested and much of the top soil was washed away. So, fruit trees were planted and the sala was erected which is the open air kitchen and hang-out area. It has a thatched attic like roof, where many of us interns sleep on the second story. I prefer that vs. on the ground as snakes do not climb walls. You will here all about that a bit later....
Food gardens are in the works all around the sala mixed with fruit trees and other legumes which restore nitrogen to the soil. The whole point is to create a supportive ecosystem so things can support themselves without much human interference. Down many different winding paths are more buildings and little houses that other interns have built in previous courses. Those are fully enclosed and built mostly out of adobe bricks on a concrete foundation to prevent termite infestation. So, the bricks are made two weeks to a few months in advance by us, or a more efficient way is to hire some local thais who can bust up to two thousand bricks a day!!
The chicken house plans are to be round with 4 windows and roosting areas and egg laying areas. With half of us laying bricks in a alternating pattern, the others were in the mud pit stomping around making loads of mortar. Basically the same mixture as the bricks which is clay, sand and rice husk and a bit of water. We were charging right along, hauling bricks from the brick pile to the hut when the big event of the day took place....
Christian pulled down a stack of dried bricks to jump away to a VERY large snake nesting within. Well, the dear snake slithered more into the open and flared out its neck standing straight upright. Yes, we were lucky enough to see a cobra! A bit freaked out because of the area the dear thing decided to reside though. The next hour was spent by two brave men trying to noose the snake and drop it in a bag to be taken way away. Supposidly cobras are only found in the south of Thailand and are very rare in other places so it is not to likely to have a run in with another. We also encountered scorpions and crazy looking centipedes hiding within all of our building materials. Luckily there is a good hospital 1/2 hour away and snake bites are only fatal 45 min to an hour after being bitten.
Another somewhat annoying but harmless creature are the little leaches that live in the grass. They hop on, get their fill and fall off without to much of a bloody ordeal.
Moving onto the most important things.... We have two thai women helping out in the kitchen so I must say I am thrilled in getting my thai fill breakfast lunch and dinner. Shaved green papaya salad, fried noodles, masaman curry today with the most delicious potatos I have ever had. (sorry Idaho)
The days are full with classroom sessions and meetings in the morning, working in the day with a short siesta break, and then some kind of educational talk or movie in the nights. I am not yet having as much introspective time as hoped, but it is all a great experience.
I am going to try to upload the pics that are supposed to go with this post, but blogger has been a bit difficult to use. The satallite internet may not be strong enough for the uploading of photos... Which would be a huge bummer.
Tomorrow we are thatching the chicken hut and then onto grander plans... The sauna!!
I must run off to the local pond for a swim (basically our private lake) before the sun sets and it cools down. We have also been so fortunate not to have sweltering hot days yet... I hear those are yet to come
Farewell for now