Two weeks at Mayapedal : woah. woosh. zoom. Something between a rampaging robotic rhinoceros and a dancing dinosaur. Unhinged relaxation, a cohort of unreasonably amazing people, and a headlong two-wheeled rush that has landed me right back in the same homestay in Antigua, this time with a feller named Myles Killar who I last saw nearly a year ago in San Francisco. One other important gentleman is on the plane right now – MY LITTLE BROTHER! Woah! Woosh! Zoom!
At Mayapedal, the first thing I learned was how to crochet. I’m making a second bright yellow headband at the moment, because my friend Morgan demanded my first yellow headband in exchange for the birthday gifts she gave me. (Thank you to everyone who sent me your love on my birthday – I didn’t have internet access that day, so I got to be adored twice!) I have a whole great bunch of photographs, sketches, and ideas about bike-powered machines now – MayaPEDAL, after all – which are just ingenious. They aren’t powered by generating electricity, which is what I imagined before : they’re set up so the movement of the wheel itself combines with gears and physics to create movement. We made entire blenders-full of hot sauces which somehow never made it through an entire day with the bici-licuadora (bike blender). We made jars of peanut butter with the bici-molino (bike grinder/mill). We washed our clothes with the bici-lavadora (this one had hot pink handles). We didn’t make any bread with the bici-batidora because we had no oven, but we sure talked about it.
Bici-Licuadora
Bici-Molino
Bici-Batidora
I also learned how to clear brush with a machete, how to make chuchitos (like mini tamales), and the best technique for lifting a bicycle up two floors using a pulley system with a hook.
Travel Maven, Large Jet 
I like how you just breeze through those last three items. I’m on the edge of my seat: How do you clear brush with a machete (how-to video perhaps)? How do you make chuchitos (so’s we can make some here at home and think of you)? And what is the best technique for lifting a bike up two floors with a hook-and-pulley system?
But seriously, no I’m serious. Also, it’s nice to read your stories and see your pictures; keep ’em coming.
I’ll go in reverse : lifting the bike is all about using the pendulum-effect to your advantage. Chuchitos are just like making tamales, then you put some veggies inside, fold ’em over, wrap it all up in a corn husk, and steam it. I’ll make a how-to video just as soon as someone teaches me how to swing a machete and hold a camera at the same time ; all I can really say is that machete work is a whole lot easier with harmonica music floating up from downhill.
This morning I had to convince my Spanish teacher that it really doesn’t snow in San Francisco. Really. Is it raining yet?
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