4th April- trail clearing

4th April- trail clearing…

We have been so well fed today, it's a wonder any of us could move! 

Breakfast was spectacular, with several choices, including Elsa's fabulously fluffy pancakes & pineapple jam. 

We needed it though, at least the boys did, as spent the morning clearing one of the trails with machete's. I, on the other hand, was given a rake…now normally my feminist side would be incensed that the only female in today's group was given the "cleaning up after the blokes" task, however, they were all soaked in sweat in no time, whilst I dawdled along at the back, marvelling at the colours, the sun through the trees & how stunningly beautiful it all is. I reckon I definitely got the best deal here. I even came across a stick insect, and I would never have noticed it if I'd been doing the same task as the men. I think there's a good possibility that Elsa or Nancy have told Charlie I am a grandma ( I showed them photos of my family yesterday), so he has given a bit of thought to what he gets me to do now. Or maybe he just remembered how rubbish I am with a machete, who knows! Every time we hit a particularly steep or slippery bit of the path, he appeared from the front of the group ( there was a good gap between each of us for safety) to offer me a hand. Graeme and Danny started off with full gusto, but soon slowed down in the heat. Graeme commented on how fit Charlie is & I reminded him that so was he 30 years ago. There's no point being hard on yourself for not being as strong as you were in your 20's, we are at a different stage now, & our strengths lie in different areas. We do as much as we can. And let's be honest, we still do a lot more than some. 

Lunch was spectacular with soup, followed by roast chicken, vegetable rice, cauliflower & a stunning spicy chilli salsa. There was a spiced tofu ratatouille for Emily. She has been in University lectures again today, so didn't join us for the tasks ( although I bet she would have been given a machete…).

In the afternoon we were tasked with fence maintenance. That basically meant pulling nails ( some of the buggers had been super glued in, I am sure), and then winding up lengths of barbed wire! Graeme was digging out rotten fence posts and then digging new holes ( in a different spot) for the new posts to go in. He was also meant to be cutting bamboo to make the posts, but the chainsaw blade broke. We completed half a fence, and then went to see to the animals, cleaning out the pens, giving them minerals and fresh water. Bernie the big male sheep appears to be back to normal, which is good to see. We fed the chickens, but one of them is still so sad. Some weeks ago, a previous volunteer took all of the eggs, not realising she had been sitting on a clutch of eggs for 15 days. The eggs went cold, so none of the chicks survived. The staff were annoyed at this, but the poor chicken was distraught. Emily said she had previously been a happy chicken, often spending time around the house. She had been given 3 rescued eggs to sit on, but there is not much hope they will hatch. The poor chicken has stayed in the hen house since, won't leave ,& has even stopped eating. She looks so sad. As we were leaving the animals the heavens opened and the thunder started crashing, directly followed by lightning. We dashed in the torrential rain back to the house. I ran straight into the loo, while the others took off their boots. I had literally just sat down when, boom! An almighty crash of thunder and a bright flash of lightning hit the house! I was definitely in the right place as I nearly…gotta big fright!. The lads were still taking their boots off, and said the lightning had been yellow, blue & orange. It had hit right were we had just been. The shock knocked off all of the electricity and WiFi. Well, I grew up in the 70's, so power cuts are no big deal, as they happened a lot. Elsa the cook clearly doesn't like thunder and was straight out next to us. She still managed to produce a fabulous dinner, which was very romantic by candle light. Elsa has now started sitting with us for dinner, which is lovely. I just wish I'd learnt Spanish before we came away, so could converse with everyone. 

The night time trips to the bathroom pushed me out of my comfort zone a bit. It is so dark here. Because of the cloud, there's also no stars that can be seen. In fact, I don't think I've seen the moon either. There's no distant street lights, nothing. Just pitch darkness. I use a torch to go to the bathroom, but the shadows it throws out has me jumping out of my skin at absolutely nothing. Maybe it's the combination of the jungle sounds, not having a clue what is out there and the total darkness. Anyway, the term "frightened of her own shadow", is pretty apt. 

Sleep tight,

Caroline