36 (or turbopower.)

The last organized, whole group field trip we had at MVI was at the end of March, to the Tilaran Windmills. This trip was my highlight of the semester, I think, or the one I was most excited for. In Nicaragua I had my breath taken away by that windmill, and it was an indescribable feeling of me, small and human, against this massive, majestic wind turbine, in the middle of an expansive grassland and empty blue sky. We stopped at a farm along the way and had lunch.
































After that trip we were on our own. Most of us had a lot of work to do on our final projects for Environmental Sustainability and Topics in Ecology. For Environmental Sustainability, we were working with local farms who used a biodigester and lombricomposting to produce methane gas to use (or sell) the leftover as fertilizer. SO we visited two farms, Gaudy's and Carlos's. I don't think I could have picked a better project, working with them. Our team produced a 9-minute documentary on biodigestion (IN SPANISH!) and I'm super proud of our work. Hopefully I can get a copy of it. In the meantime, here are some snapshots!






















Mid-April was Semana Santa, or Easter week. Originally, week was supposed to be a bit of breather. NOPE. Almost all of us ended up working straight through it. Way bummer. At least I got one day off. Maribel, Ariel, and I went to Mari's family's farm out in Turin:






































On Easter Sunday, Janelle, the director of the institute, had us over for a picnic. We made Easter eggs and hid them for the little kids, and took a little trek down to the river:




















After Semana Santa it was the final crackdown on work. We were at the Institute 10-12 hours a day, even spending most of our weekends there, so we had to also come up with small activities to happily get us through the day. Like hiking to the fig tree or baking.


















The last in the series, but certainly not least, the final weekend and goodbyes.