A dry and extremely hot area in the summer, Extremadura is a very dangerous place for forrest fires. Cañamero is one of several towns that has been affected by forrest fires in recent years. Particularly during the summer of 2003, when the amount of forrest fires in the region was completely devastating.
The ADENEX organization runs several environmental programs and the one that we helped with is called "Plantabosques." Literally, "plant a forrest." Since 2004, the Plantabosques program has taken volunteers out to affected areas to plant trees every weekend from February to April.
Here are a few pictures I took of the beautiful area surrounding Cañamero:
Although a large portion of the weekend's volunteers were high school students, workers of all shapes and sizes are welcome. Volunteers include, families, church groups, businesses and even children:
The program provided us with food and housing for the weekend. As you can imagine, sharing a hostel with 30 fifteen-year-olds can get a little hectic...
I like to call him Justin Beiber (which of course he hates):
Group picture in the hostel, please don't try to find me in this one:
Both Saturday and Sunday we woke up at 8:00, were hauled out to as far as the buses could take us, and then walked four miles to our designated planting area. Given the gorgeous weather and scenery, it wasn't much of a chore but I'm sure some of the students would say otherwise.
One of the English teachers, Isabel, is the person who organizes this entire feat. I have to admire her patience and dedication to this program! Here she is workin hard:
More tree planting:
And to wrap it up, a final group photo taken during our last day. What a fun weekend!
