People

I've realized something:  I love people.  I don't think I'm as loud/talkative as I used to be, especially around strangers (is it weird to get more shy as you grow up?), but I love people.  Especially when I'm walking somewhere or out for my morning run, I love to watch the people.  I always wonder what their lives are like.  Where are they going?  What is their family like?  Are they having a good day?

It makes me appreciate people more to think about stuff like that.  I'm not good at recognizing need or hardships in others' lives, and I complain way too much about the ones in mine; but when I'm constantly wondering about others, I think it's easier to stop thinking about myself so much.

That's a rambly start, but on Tuesday we got to meet a few families.  Both have been helped by Diaconia, which is why we went to go see their farms, and they were both so very nice.  I love the things I have seen, but I am fairly certain that the things I will remember most about this trip are the people.

The first farm had this amazing contraption:

 So, I only got the gist of how it works, but basically, you put cow poop in the thing on the right, and then the thing on the left captures the natural gases released, and they are able to use the gas for cooking.  They don't have to buy any.  Talk about efficient!

They had this cool thing as well:

These aren't great pictures, but basically they put a bunch of dirt (as well as some dead plants, etc, but no household garbage) into these containers with a bunch of worms.  The worms process the dirt, making it much more fertile.  They can sort of direct the worms using water distribution (push them to one side by only putting water in certain places), but they also have the sifter thing (far right) to get the worms out as well, so they can use the dirt in their garden.

They had tons of cute animals!  These cows, a turkey, some crazy duck that literally flew straight at my head (I ducked, but he still hit my shoulder), super cute donkeys, etc.  It was fantastic.

 This is a juicer.  Their main source of income is juice.  They have TONS of fruit trees, and they process the juice then package and sell it for 3 reais per pack.  Here's a picture of their guava juice, packed, frozen, and ready to sell:

 First time eating passionfruit!  I've had it in juice and ice cream and so many other delicious forms, but let me tell you--the fresh fruit is delicious.  I am in love with it.

I am continuously amazed at how wonderful people are.  As we toured the farm, they let us take fruit right off the trees to try.  In case you missed the part where I said it before, this is how he makes his living.  And he was still willing to let a group of 20 Americans wander around his yard, eating his fruit. THEN, to top it all off, they gave us an amazing lunch.  It seriously was so good.  And probably made even better because it was all fresh from their yard; including this acerola juice.  (Another fruit I had never eaten before, but now love.)

 What a great family.

The second house was cool, too.  I don't have as many pictures from that one, but their main product is sugar cane.  Man, I love that stuff.  They run it through a machine to get the sugar/juice out, then basically cook it until it can be set and hardened into blocks of sugar.

These people work so hard.  The man at the second house typically sleeps from 8pm-3am.  3am!  In college, anything before about 9am is early...and he gets up at 3, so he can beat the heat of the day.

There are so many words that could be used to describe these people.  Hardworking.  Dedicated.  Kind. Generous.  And so many more.  They are simply wonderful.