(Almost) 20 things that we learned at El Chuzo:

• When you work hard all day long, it doesnt matter how hard your mattress is.
• It´s ok to wear the same clothes several days in a row.
• Salt tastes good.
• Cutting tall grass by hand is a lot of work. Watch out for black widows!
• Pigs are really not nice to each other. They just want food. Even a mother pig will aggressively shove her small babies out of the way to get it. Watch out when you feed them; shoes (not sandals) are highly recommended. Also, don`t try to fix a pig fence before you`ve given them pig food because otherwise they might try to eat the buttons on your pants.
• If the situation arises to camp on a farm, near the chickens and roosters is not ideal if you wish to sleep past sunrise.
• Baño seco: poop isn´t so gross once it has reached its second birthday
• Red ant bites hurt. In times of panic due to red ant attack, frantic removal of pants might be necessary.
• 40 kilos = 90 pound of pig meat!
• Grinding spices by hand is really tiring!
• Huitlacoche is a type of fungus that grows on ears of corn. Its pretty tasty when sauteed with chiles and onion (it turns into a black paste) and put into uncooked tortilla masa then fried into empanadas.
• You should turn off more lights! You don´t need them as much as you think!
• Nopales cactus will grow if you stick a piece of it in the ground with the spikes down. Scorpions are hard to catch in a cup to put outside. And it´s best they not be in your bedroom.
• Food doesn´t require as much refrigeration as you think.
• Potatoes are much easier to harvest when the above-ground part of the plant is still there.
• When giving people advice, it`s better to say "It works better for me when I..." than "You should...". Then they don`t have to feel bad if it doesn`t work for them.
• It`s ok to let your 2 yr old child walk around without a diaper or pants on. Don`t be surprised if they pee and/or poo unexpectedly.
• Eating real food is better than many of the food-like substances you find in stores. (Thanks Michael Pollan!)
• Farming in the desert means that the soil is rock-hard. Watering before helps when you´re turning over a garden bed. Unfortunately, water is also scarce in the desert so we didn`t get this luxury.
• You don´t need to shower as much as you think! You´ll just get sweaty and gross again tomorrow.