Today was another productive day! We had an interesting night before hand though. It began with a mutant, large, flying insect that attacked, or as some may put it, flew past Angela, skimming across her. This resulted in some screams, and crazy show of flashlights. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our hunt so we settled back to sleep. The peace was short lived as it attacked again, this time making the door the victim. As Abigail yelled for someone to open the door, my true colours in a crisis came out. Despite being the closest person to the door, I escaped inside my cocoon of a sleeping bag. When the door was finally opened, alas, we were too late. We decided to leave the door open for the night to encourage the bug to leave. This worked well except for the amazingly strong wind that came in the night slamming the door back and forth. I slowly piled things in front of the door to keep it closed and by the end had all of my belongings and a bench barricading us inside. From then on it was a glorious sleep.
Despite the eventful night we were excited for the day ahead. We again had a delicious breakfast and went out on the farm. We were very productive planting corn and beginning the orchard! Its amazing how well we are all working and learning together. Lunch came quickly and was a delicious typical meal here: beef, rice, noodles, beans and mixed vegetable salad. Yum!
In the afternoon some of the guys took us on their motorbikes to the jungle! The aim was to see monkeys. Though we didn’t see any, we heard howler monkeys in the distance as well as all the other sounds in the jungle. The only word I can really use to describe it is alive. God continues to blow my mind with the creativity of this Earth. It reminds you how much more there is in this life than the little we see.. Exploring the jungle was a spiritual experience for me, and I was so thankful for them taking us! Bonefasha (sp) said he also connects to God through the jungle and often goes on walks there to just be in His creation.
Finally, this afternoon we planted pineapples in the orchard and watched the locals put up a volleyball net! The game really brought everyone together, joking around, playing and it gave me a chance to show off my awful volleyball skills.
Overall, what a blessing of a day! Cannot believe we only have two more full days left!