Monday I had the opportunity to go to Erpar, one of MEDA’s projects in San Pedro, with one of my co-workers. Erpar is a large area of land where sugar cane and mandioca is grown that will later be turned into starch and ethanol. They also have a young stock of cattle. It was a two and a half hour drive and we left a little after five in the morning. I was pretty nervous for what we were going to be doing, but looking forward to it.
Shortly after arriving at Erpar we started with the castrating. We had about fifteen bulls that needed to have their ability to reproduce taken away from them. Using lariats me and two of the workers lassoed the bulls at their heads and feet and then held them down while my co-worker used his knife to castrate the bulls.
At times I was pretty scared because the bulls didn’t really appreciate what we were doing and often kicked angrily, sometimes getting a little close for my comfort. By the time all of the toro’s were finished my hands were pretty raw from the rope sliding through my hands quickly and had quite a few splinters. Overall, it was a very fun and experience filled day, especially because I had never worked with animals in such a personal way.
After lunch, to end a good day at Erpar, I was able to go on a horseback ride. I was given the property boundaries and set free to ride where I wanted. It was very nice to have some time to explore and admire the beauty of the
It took a little longer to get home because during one of the frequent stops by the police they asked to see my identification. The police man gave us a bit of a hard time since I wasn’t carrying my original passport with me, only a bank stamped copy, but eventually he let us pass. When I finally walked into my house at nine o’clock that night I was very exhausted but happy that I got to spend a little time out of the office and get my hands a little dirty.
