Firefighting and Fish Farming

Wednesday February 10th 2010 6:00pm

When I asked Marisela what we would be doing in Talanga, she replied, "Mostly just checking out the facilities to make sure they are adequate for the groups. We will spend the afternoon doing that, and then probably spend the night and then drive back to the office the next morning."

So I packed a change of jeans, and a button up shirt because it sounded to me like I was coming back to the office.

As we were getting ready to leave for Talanga, Freddy told me that he was bringing his Playstation. Apparently, Freddy was coming too. And Elmer. And Alfreddy. And Nancy. I knew it didn't take all of us to check out the facilities, and was curious as to what we would actually be doing in Talanga.

By the time we got there, it was mid afternoon, and Marisela and I went to work checking the sleeping quarters, the kitchen, etc. The rest of the group got ready to put a roof up on a chicken coup. I was eager to head over and help, but when I finally made my way over to the chicken coup, I found all of my co workers lounging around in the grass. Why? Because the hardware store had forgotten about the order, and wouldn't be delivering it until tomorrow morning.

Freddy and I headed back to the one building with a TV and tried fruitlessly to set up the Playstation. Just as we were giving up, Elmer ran in and asked if we had any buckets. Why? Because the neighbor's property was on fire and we needed to help put it out or at least keep it out of our property.

Now this was no small campfire that was slightly out of control. This was a raging flame that was devouring the dried grass and creeping up the trees that were in its way. The smoke lifted high into the air, and when we tried to call the firefighters, they informed us that they were already busy with one and to call back later.

Most of the afternoon was spent running buckets back and forth between the tilapia pond and the fence that marked off our property from the neighbors. Surprisingly, we were able to beat back the edges of the fire, and contain it to the neighbor's property. This was, of course, wonderful news to us, and terrible news to the neighbor who now has a very scorched backyard.

In the middle of the firefighting, Marisela felt it appropriate to pick up a turtle and show it to me. She wanted to know if I wanted to keep it as a pet. I did not, and was slightly preoccupied with the flames that were about to engulf the area where we were standing. I didn't think much of the turtle incident, but one of the helpers in Talanga, Alfonso definitely noticed Marisela handing me a turtle in the middle of a firefight.

We all ate dinner together after that, and with the power out, there was little left to do but sit around and talk outside. One by one we headed off to our little houses where we slept in a small bedroom with one other member of our team. Freddy and I were paired together, and when we headed to bed, he gave me fair warning that he snored "like a lion," and with that, was out like a light, and began his long, nasal chorus that lasted the entire night.

Between that, and the beds that were two sizes too small for me, I decided to move my mattress out to the main room and sleep on the floor. It wasn't until the next morning that I was informed that I shouldn't sleep on the floor due to the creepy, crawly bugs that occupy Talanga.

This morning, we were up at 7:00am, and Nancy told us not to bother with showering. I expected us to work on the roof and head home when the project was finished. This was, however, not the case, as it was fish farming time for the Tilapia project. So, I suited up in my decent brown shoes, my work jeans, and my pajama shirt to get ready to harvest the fish.

Initially, I was careful with untangling the fish from the net, but as the morning wore on, the value I placed on the cleanliness and the cut-freeness of my hands was thrown out the window, and I began wrestling with Tilapia left and right. We worked until around noon, and then took a quick break for lunch before the buyer showed up, and we needed to head back to work.

We all laughed and joked throughout the morning as we tossed the fish up on to the bank into buckets for cleaning. Alfonso still had not forgotten about the turtle, and was apparently under the impression that I couldn't speak much Spanish, because every time he pulled the net in, he made a point of saying "Hey, Alan" and then giving me several handmotions signaling that he was either a turtle, or that he found a turtle and wanted me to check it out. I laughed for a while, but after the fifth time he told me he was a turtle, I had to let him know that I was not a 10 year old at a zoo, who only cared about my turtles because they were my favorite animal. He gave me a look that said, "woah...you know Spanish," and everyone laughed.

It was a long day of a lot of hard work. We continued casting our nets out until around 3:00, when the buyer told us that his truck was full. It was full with 600lbs of Tilapia at 15 lempiras per pound. We had expected to harvest around 2000 lbs of fish, and with market price at close to 40 lempiras, we were expecting at least 20 lempiras per pound.

We felt very defeated. Some people had been working on the project for the last seven months, and had pushed the last of their efforts through the 8 hours spent that morning gathering the fish up for the last time. Our hands were cut and bleeding, mud was caked all over our bodies, and the buyer drove away slowly in the truck, while we were left with hundreds of fish that were "too small" to sell.

None of us said much for the rest of the day. We loaded up into the cars without cleaning up, bid the caretaker, Oscar, and his helpers goodbye, and drove in silence for two hours back to Tegucigalpa. My heart broke for Oscar, his helpers, and the CCD.