In today’s blog I, Athziry, will be talking about the wonderful hard working people in this rancho. Everyone is dedicated to their own roles of helping the community and maintaining this biodiverse ecosystem. The first person that comes to mind is a kind elder Felix. We have probably spoken about Felix before, but he is someone who simply can not be forgotten. He is a farmer who grew up in poverty in a small area on the other side of Costa Rica. Ever since he was a little boy, he has been working all his life to provide for his family. He explained to the group that he would go to school but didn’t own a pair of shoes. He moved to Rancho Quemado in the 1970’s and he hasn’t left since. He fell in love with this community and now he continues taking care of his family and teaches his grandson skills about how to farm just like he did when he was young.
I personally admire hardworking people and people who do physical labor such as agriculture. Today we spent 40 minutes planting tubers, just a small taste of what Felix does everyday for hours. I was telling the group how when we planting the tubers we were sweating with a purpose today. What I mean by that is that we were sweating because we were working hard as opposed to sweating sitting down simply because of the humid weather. That is significant to me because it’s a sign of doing something purposeful. As for Felix, instead of complaining about the heat and the sweat as most of us do, you would see him smiling and eager to tell everyone his stories such as the one I wrote about just now. He is just one prime example of someone in this community who fulfills his role in taking care of this beautiful place called Rancho Quemado. Everyone here is passionate about working to protect their community.