The bus careens back and forth as the cold mountain breeze sifts its way though my hair. As the light spraying of mist coming filling the cabin awakens me when I doze off, I'm reminded that we are very high and the air is uncharacteristicly cold here. I keep thinking of Carnaval, and how it was a 24 hour blitz of craziness I was happy to partake in, but also happy to leave. Trash, more people than can comfortably fit in one place, loud music, and pick pocketers encompassed all that is the festivities. The bus stops and then goes slowly over a portion of the road that has been covered in mud falling from the adjacent hill. Sleep has been sparse these last couple days and any sleep on just a concrete floor with a shirt for a pillow is going to be rough. Hence, passing out on a constantly moving bus is now what I'm faced with.
Blur
Not only has the last couple days been a blur, but the last two weeks as well. I've been waist deep in my work and at times waist deep in water when my river flooded. I didn't drink more than two drinks at Carnaval and for good reason. I need to be thinking clear from here on out. In the states if I would tried to motivate myself for a project I would have most likely slacked off until the last minute. I've found that here I'm constantly on the move. Meetings, teaching classes, more meetings, designing graphics, even more meetings, and then the random hard labor. The thing is that I like it. I'm going in and out of consciousness, but I like it. And we live in exciting times here in the jungle.
These people have been waiting a long time for someone to come along and ignite a fire they didn't know how to find. It is now found and I'm lighting it. Our schedule of things to come might clue you in on what we have been doing and what we plan to do. Tomorrow our first full paying tourists arrive to take our full length 3 hour tour, after that I teach English for 1 and half hours, and after that I will be walking an hour to the community next to me where another volunteer has the brochures that I made and that they printed out for me. Thursday we will be working all day making the trail for the tour better and making doors where there is just barbed wire. After that we will have a meeting where I will introduce the idea of us having the official Peace Corps Technical Week here in our site where we will be training new volunteers about cacao. Then I go to the Island. Friday I will meet two people from my community on the island where we have 3 meetings about selling our packaged chocolate, selling our tour, and possibly selling both in the same place. Saturday I figure out the logistics for Tech Week including the budget and what I will be teaching. Sunday I'm going to Church. Yes, I said it. I'm going to Church. The Pastor here convinced me to do it even though I think he and his evangelical friends are crazy. I'm hoping I get a little more respect in the community for doing this and plan on trying to understand at least some of what is being said. The problem will be that the more I understand, the more I will not want to be there.
So the list goes on and next week will be even more hectic as we figure out logistics of our tour, I try to teach indigenous people how to make a website when they don't even have power, and we hopefully have our first free willing tourists come. One thing that I'm trying to get myself prepared for is the fact that I will have to be on the island a lot more from here on out. Our tour and chocolate sales will depend on it. I don't really like this idea as it is expensive and feels like a vacation.
Health Report
Since Carnaval I have been sleeping almost 10 hours a night. I might be playing catch up, but I'm tired throughout the day as well. I just feel really run down and tired which could mean that I have either parasites or some sickness. My foot started hurting again after walking around Carnaval and I'm guessing it is just never going to heal. I've started to gain some of my weight back and now have a daily exercise routine. I'm also trying to eat as much candy, starch, and carbs as possible to put back on some weight. Hiking all day in the sun tends to keep you slim...
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