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Published: April 6th 2007
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Kids here
You want to buy them stuff when they look like this! I return to you now at the beginning of a new chapter in my journey. The time I commited to working for the better of others has run dry, and with an emotional departure beneath both a full moon and the flashes of lightening on the horizon, I set off in the same old pick-up truck that arrived at 9 to steal away all the other volunteers that departed over the weeks I have been here. Watching the bodies of the families I have come to know well, fade away as the red glow from our tail lights could no longer touch them, was the last line in the last chapter of my journey. Now I must mould my own adventure alone.
I didn't wake up this final morning, until the sound of eight little feet came rumbling up the stairs, whilst work had long since begun for Vicente, whom was somewhere on the far side of the shrimp ponds constructing a sort of shelter for the hens that reside there. I had spent some moments last night contemplating wether or not I should have been over there working with him amongst the many blood-thirsty mosquitos, under a
walking
whilst still waiting big, hot, yellow sun, but after those moments of consideration I found myself very comfortable with my decission to sit my final day at Congal out. Instead I would pack up all of my belongings that had slowly scattered themselves across my room over the past two months, and observe my final damp peices of clothing dry on the line, settling back into my hammock to climb past the 60 page mark in my spanish novel. The plan seemed to match my early morning mood perfectly, but how often do things go as planned?
That rumbling of little feet that had woken me was the very eliment that I had stupidly forgotten to factor into my plan. A four child wrecker team lead by 8 year-old Jose, vice-captained by 7 year-old Valentina, and comprising the two formidable 5 year-old demolition brothers of Javi and Joselo would soon send gapping cracks through the morning peace that I had prematurely counted on. I had to act now or I would lose my morning to this havoc squad!
But being rather inactive at this early hour I decided to simply remain in the energetic state of a vegetable and observe what happened from
Candlelight Characters
Javi and Jose were always playing with me, regardless of how interested I was in playing with them a higher spiritual plane of jedi-like enlightenment. It was only 3 minutes into having been used as a human jungle gym that it occured to me that I had no meditative skills whatsoever, and that every tug on my hair, and fist in my ribs was as plainly painful as it would be for me at any other time of the day. Only with an epidural and a generous dose of morpheen could I imagine meeting lunch-time with a smile. Ofcourse it was also my last days with these little guys, so I surrended myself to the many joys and tortures of playing with them, and actually found myself rather fulfilled at lunch, both by the ceviche we ate, and by the morning I had.
In the afternoon I took my final walk to the beach along the dirt road, with whom I have long sinced resolved all my problems with mud and puddles, to take one last final swim in the warm water of the Pacific. After two hours of soaking, swimming, and getting out of the water to cool down I returned to hang for a final time in my favourite hammock, completely satisfied with my day,
Humming Bird
You go little Fella and ready to carry on my journey into the Mountains.
But first I would need to eat the dinner that had been especially prepared for me. Including cake, my favourite dish, and cool sweet lemonade. It was a grand farewell dinner that I shall not soon forget.
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Well enough of those laughless words, that lack what the rest of my time there in Congal offered me.
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I stepped over a deadly snake in the dark, and I slept with bats fighting over my net, I offered my fingers to crabs, and was half eaten by ants, I drank juices with unpronouncable names, and ate foods that I would not normally touch with a stick, I fished shrimp just like Gump, and waded through mud, I spoke in spanish on a bus, I walked on a titanium beach, I looked up at howler monkeys, and ran from angry wasps, I macheted a track, I built a roof out of bamboo and leaves, I was laughed at, marvelled at, and accused of not being able to speak english properly, I drank coconut and ate coconut flesh, picked up fruit off the path that tasted great,
Ecuadorian Whanua
This is the group I have lived with for two months I carried bananas through the jungle, and walked between a red sea of red crabs, I karate chopped a barb-wire fence, I watched the sun set in the middle of the world, and listened to thunder crack the night.
I actually did alot of what most people would call 'Crazy', and now having finished I feel exactly like I always have, just with a few more freckles, and thoughts about they way the world really is.
I can't really begin to cover one month of experiences in this blog, as I am well aware of how bored you are already, but I will resume my weekly updates now, and hopfully satisfy some of my audience (assuming that its not only mum reading these) with my next edition.
Right now I am off to buy some new less-smelly socks, and a T-shirt or two, before heading off into the hills to the lakes volcanoes, and the mighty amazon!
I look forward to some more props.
If you really like some of the photos they are probably not mine! Andy and Claire also contributed their wonderful photography skills to this blog.
Adios for a week,
Cassels
Thats the moon
looking over a sunset
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Dad
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Wonderful
You're a wonderful critter and a gift to thr world - x