Bamboo Shoots and Reptiland - 10/24/12

View of Reception

Weeds feed chickens, chickens poop, soil is eventually created

GABBY - This morning we woke up, unsure of what the day had in store for us.  Corinne showed us the ropes of reception, which was self-explanatory.  Basically, we had to take calls, which occurred about 3 times a day, record what they request, and show the backpackers around the hostel.  The most important tip being, do NOT drink the tap water.  There is only one spicket that you can use to drink out of and it’s located in the kitchen.  You will get sick off the tap water if you drink it since it is taken directly from the river.  After our brief reception tutorial, we headed over to visit Hazel and Randy in the garden.  Upon arrival in the restaurant, Hazel gave us a tour of her garden.  She instructed us a bit and put us to work weeding, planting arugula, mixing natural, composted fertilizer with the existing soil, and securing fences that were blown over by the wind and failing to support stalks of bamboo.  There is a white, domed structure sitting in the garden that is home to 7 chickens.  The theory behind this cage being, weeds and other compost go into the cage from the flaps up top, the chickens eat the food and then produce waste.  After a few weeks, that waste transforms into soil and the dome can be moved to another part of the garden, to create more soil in a different location.  The soil is then used for planting, which produce weeds, which then help to feed the chickens.  What a cycle!  After we finished our work, we sat inside and chatted for awhile with Hazel and Randy.  To our surprise, they began to confide in us and admitted that they needed to have a conversation with John.  They had received an offer that they could not refuse from a restaurant located within walking distance from where they are now.  The new restaurant provides a kitchen 5 times the size of their current one and sounds like Hazel’s dream job.  In order to commit to this new offer, Hazel would need to break her lease agreement with John and subsequently sever ties with the backpackers.  Shit is going down in Addo, folks!  Just as we were talking, Randy broke the sentence and ended the conversation with, “and that’s why permaculture is the way to go” indicating that John had just walked into the restaurant.  I sensed a perfect scenario for Hazel to break the news, so Ben and I went to work out back.  Ben took the saw and we carefully selected bamboo that was wide in diameter and tall.  He sawed while I approved the shoots and placed them in a pile.  We were going to use the bamboo to make a fence that would support the tomato plants that usually bend under the weight of the fat fruit.  As we were finishing up with our bamboo, we heard Randy’s booming voice calling us for lunch.  Hazel had whipped up some Portuguese chicken stir fry wraps.  All of the veggies, she takes from her garden, so they taste fresher than ever.  Ben wolfed his food down in less than two minutes.  I tried to savor it, but the wrap still managed to vanish in a flash.  Our sense to leave when John showed up in the restaurant proved to be correct, because they broke the news to him then.  They said that he didn’t exactly take the news well, but justified their decision with the phrase, “business is business”.  When our gardening had sufficiently impressed Hazel, we made our way back to the backpackers, which is only about 50 yards from the restaurant.  Our flat is located smack dab in the middle of the restaurant and backpackers.  Ben and I have begun to emotionally feel as in the middle as we were placed physically.

We asked Corinne if it would be a good idea to check out the reptile center.  We were told that we would be working there once a week, cleaning out cages and feeding some of the animals.  The reptile center is located just down the road; about an 8 minute walk from the backpackers.  We walked in and met a girl named Angie in her late 20’s with fire engine red hair.  She was friendly, but seemed busy so Corinne gave us the tour.  We viewed some love birds while Corinne explained how to feed them.  She opened a door and without any warning, we were inside of a cage.  Ben narrowly avoided stepping on a tortoise who was notorious for escaping if the door wasn’t closed properly.  I was OK with being in a cage with tortoises, but then I saw the giant black eagles perched in the far corner.  I couldn’t believe we were standing in the same cage as dangerous birds of prey.  We knelt down along one of the cage walls to play with two hooligan monkeys.  All they wanted to do was steal the rings off my fingers.  They had tiny hands and nails, but were strong little buggers.  We left the tortoise/eagle cage and moved into another cage, which I hoped would put me more at ease.  The next one was occupied by three jackals.  Are you freaking kidding me?!  Jackals are wild dogs that I would not want to cross paths with in the wild.  Now I was trapped inside of a cage with three of them.  There were 3 of them and 3 of us… one for each of them sounds like the right math.  They happened to be more scared  of us, but they are still wild animals, and all wild animals can be unpredictable even if they’re tamed.  Just think back to Siegfried and Roy... yikes.  Anyway, we moved farther into the cage and saw 2 lynxes.  They were hissing at each other and in the next cage over.  Sometimes the cats are in the mood to be handled, but today the female pregnant cat was cranky and pissy.  Finally we entered the most feared and dreaded section:  Snakes.  They had a wide variety of venomous as well as harmless snakes.  Some were tiny, and could be mistaken for a lizard.  Then there were anacondas, boa constrictors, puff adders, rattlesnakes, and pythons.  If I volunteer there, I can tell you right now that I will be nowhere near those slimy, reptiles.  We concluded the tour by hanging out with some meerkats.  Thanking Angie and meeting another employee Darrel, we said goodbye to the animals having no real sense of what we would be doing there.  It was a nice tour, but I would not feel comfortable or confident just walking into a cage with wild animals.  Arriving back, we were consumed by the smell of soup being brewed in the kitchen.  We were able to experience Kate’s cooking for the first time.  She is going to school to be pastry chef, but her cauliflower soup kicked ass.  John got a text from the restaurant requesting Ben to go over and help out with the bar.  I was a little jealous because I really want to help waitress, bartend, or even cook.  Hopefully I’ll get a chance in the weeks to come.  Corinne is their head waitress and Hazel never seems to need much help on that front.  Ben came back raking in a whopping 30 rand from tips!  It’s about 4 dollars, but it’s better than nothing.