Civet coffee anyone?

so i am entering into my second week of field research - still working on selecting the sites. 27 sites is going to be a lot, but i think i can do it. this picture is of the coffee berries in the drying area of one of the farmer's houses.

when i was planning the research, i measured the distance from one end of the watershed to other as 25 miles - so i though that i would be staying at my apartment in ponnampet and doing the field research during the day...apparently that is not the case. it is 25 miles across as the crow flies, but in reality, the terrain is quite hilly and the roads are full of potholes and barely one lane, if that --so it can take over 2 hours to reach some of the sites. therefore, the field team and i will be staying at farmer's houses or in other accommodations for the week of research.

this is one of the farmers that was showing us his farm - i call him the pirate farmer - i wouldn't mess with him. he showed us around on his farm and pointed out where a group of flying foxes settled. i think i counted about 27 of them!

for the research, we leaving very early on monday morning and getting back on saturday late afternoon...i have a feeling that i am going to be wiped out by the time this research is done. i have been mentally saving all the really difficult, steep, or densely vegetated sites for my advisor and the undergraduate group when they come mid-may :)

i have been watching the process of repairing the roadways in this area. a group of laborers are hired for repairs who stay in tents at clearings along the roadway if there are any - or in lines along the roadway themselves. the entire family stays there during the work. tar is melted by putting a clump of tar at the end of a stick the size of a small tree by placing it over a fire in between 2 huge metal drums. i guess once the tar is melted, they spread it over gravel in the potholes. the only piece of equipment though that i have seen is a small roller. i have seen some of them bathing and washing clothes in small streams - which i'm sure that most are contaminated.

i have been thinking about the issue of water a lot lately - as i am trying to be very careful to only drink filtered or bottled water and not eat raw vegetables that have been washed with unfiltered water. i have probably insulted a couple of farmers by not drinking the juice mixed with water that they have been so nice to give us, but i do not want to get sick. water is a resource that is given to us freely, pure, and uncontaminated. and then we pollute it with chemicals and waste. so it has to be treated with more chemicals and processes so that we can drink it with it out getting sick. it just seems like a senseless cycle - couldn't we just not pollute it in the first place? we might be far beyond that point. ok - that's all for my hippy thoughts for the day. anyway, in my new apartment (pictures to come soon), i found out by asking around that all the waste water -- from the sinks and toilet (or hole in the bathroom floor) -- is washed directly into the rice paddy field next door. nice. i was a little jealous of the next door neighbors that they had a view of the open fields and trees, but not so much anymore...

speaking of waste...here is a picture of civet coffee. it goes for a high premium and is known for its "earthy and musky flavor". basically, civet cats eat coffee berries and the seeds are fermented during the internal digestion process. then after the coffee is...done being processed - it is harvested by people who them clean it (obviously), roast it, and sell it...it is definitely not on my list of things to try anytime in the near future :)