We did it!

10 Oct 2010 5 Comments

by Becca in Normal Blog Entries Tags: bees, friends, music, paraguay, peace corps, training

Today was our first day in the beehives, and I have to confess there wasn’t a huge difference between these Africanized killer bees and my bees in Michigan. A little bit, yes:

1. The bees here are constantly divebombing your head. It’s kind of nice, incidentally, since it creates a breeze around your face, but if any part of your face is pressing against your veil/screen it seems you WILL get stung. This happened immediately to the nose of a fellow beekeeper.

2. These bees follow you out of the hive area and DO NOT STOP for a really really long way. Probably about 150 yards or more!

We were so lucky, though. Perfect tempreatures, sunny skies, and a light breeze. I learned how to take comb from wild hives (since our boss had capturd a swarm) and put them into standard frames/hive bodies. Wicked. My fellow beekeepers were so enthusiastic. We only had four stings total between us which isn’t so bad (especially I was not one of the lucky recipients of a sting).

The Peace Corps provided a hive tool for us, a smoker, a jacket with bee hood and straw hat, and rubber dish-washing gloves! They’re really cheap and actually do work… until they rip. I’m going to have to buy some goatskin ones just as soon as I can find them… Unless my beautiful bee queen of a mother sends me some!

I have to learn bee words in two languages, Spanish and Guarani (wah rah NEE) which is a bit hard. We have sooooo much to do! But I feel lucky that I have a pretty strong base in Spanish already since some people in our group don’t have any at all.

Right now the weather is just perfect. We had an enormous thunderstorm a few nights ago that knocked out the power for a few days, but also cooled down the countryside pretty effectively. Every day is different so far but studying and walking really far remain constant.

Time passes strangely so far! I’ve only been here ten days, yet it feels like a lifetime ago I was in The States. Of course, I miss everyone so much, and love you all.

Our day was completed with a party for a fellow beekeeper who turned 23 yesterday. One of the host families makes its living baking pastries, so we got together at the birthday person’s house with a fresh salad from a local garden and a delicious cake from the pastry chefs and had a fantastic time. There were lots of Paraguayans and Americans interacting and sharing some birthday customs.

We were really lucky to have some talented guitar players who sang traditional songs for us to dance to. The stars were out, our spirits were high from our day of work, the tea and beer were cold, the food was hot, the air was warm… This is definitely a day I’m going to remember positively for a long time.