ummm... Normal day...

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Time for another update I think.
I'm sitting here on the porh of the volunteer house beside Augusta (who was renamed Disgusta recently for her dirty work digging up rat burrows) and Kelsey is on another chair on the porch. She (Kelsey) arrived just the other day with another girl named Inge. They were travelling seperately beforehand but happened to come at the same time.
The lads are playing a game of CUNT (like DONKEY where ya pass the ball around) on the grass in front of the house and now Richard is in his boxers being hit by some sort of fruit by all the others... Now he is being rubbed down by Noah... I reckon he's wiping the juice off but who knows....
Those guys are an odd bunch. But they're all starting to feel a bit like family at this stage. It's great how although we all live in eah other's pockets, we all get on pretty damn well. I think it helps that there's so many of us. 10 living in the house now including Helen (who works here). It's a really great atmosphere most of the time. It does get slightly claustrophobic when there's a storm and we're all inside all day long but nothing major. We have watched films on days like that or played loads of games.
The other night the storm was soooo loud!! It actually shook the house at one point in the night. I though I had just been dreaming but everyone said it shook the house the next morning... Madness! Thunder and lightening galore! Was really cool though :-)
We have just named the resident American kestral 'George'. He likes to hang out by the house and has been seen quite a bit in the last few weeks. I have yet to meet Merdith, the resident tarantula that lives by the side of the house. There are also a few frogs that frequent our bathrooms. They're quite cool too!
I went to the forest today with Jonny and Inge. We got a good bit of machete-ing done but I think it was quite slow... Or at least my work was anyway. I was back of the line doing the clearing trying not to be anal about it. So I had gotten quite ocd about the trails and had to have them super neat with no sign of roots or anything. They look like roads... And I noticed myself being a bit over the top with them but told myself that they had to be so neat so that they wouldn't overgrow anytime soon... But then Jonny said to me that he wants to really push on with the trails so that we can start collecting actual data before I leave. If we collect any now without a proper trail system, our info will be bias. So basically now we're gonna cut trails fast and a long as we can walk them safely they'll do. It's def a good thing! But sightly disappointing because I have never been good or neat about anything in my life before and this one time I have to stop because it's wasting time. Ah well....
Yeah but machete-ing is usually really fun. Nothing more satisfying than getting a really thick root or branch in one go. Or just flying your way through some bamboo and brambles (even though that may sometimes lead to unwanted wasp attacks) I'm getting nice callases on my hands too from it. At the start I had loads of blisters and they were so feckin sore!! But soon they healed and now my hands are getting tough. It's a great feeling!
The weather is getting a lot cooler lately. When I first got here we had the fans on all night but we'd still be sweating in the beds with no covers... But now we don't use the fans at all and wrap up in blankets. Most people are saying it's cold but I haven't gone that far yet. Not out of Ireland long enough to think that. It's annoying though that I'm wrapping up more here than I would at home in this temperature because of the insects. The mosquitoes are so bad in the forest so I wear long sleeves and long pants (well they help for scratches from bushes and such too) and then the sand fleas try to lay eggs in any open cuts ya have so I try to cover up from them too... I really have to stop sratching my bites. They are all open now and taking ages to heal.
Kelsey gave me some afterbite stuff the other day with Ammonia in it. So I went ahead and put some on my fresh bites...and the stuff dripped down into open cuts and I then began to jump up and down screaming 'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah....ooooooow!! Fuck that hurts! FuckthathurtsFuckthathurtsFuckthathurtsFuckthathurts....' and then ran around the house hoping the pain would subside.... Then gave up and ran it under the tap whilst everyone was looking at me as if I had ten heads and Kelsey was in stitches laughing...
What did I expect to happen if ammonia went into a cut?! In my defense however I did not intend to do that..... I just should have known to take more care... Yes I am an idiot! Happy now!? :-P
So it's 3:45 here now and will b getting dark just after 5. I think I'll go for a run now and when I get back I'll do some muscle exercies and then juggle... (see if I write it down it'll motivate me to actually do it. I kinda have to do it now sure... )
Ok toodles for now!
This is all very strange because I am essentially just writing to myself... I have sent the link to this blog to 2 people that I remember... But anywho... yeah...bye future Ria. Hope ya don't even need this to remind ya of Laguna Blanca but noone can remember everyday details so this is why I am writing this for you....
Now I feel slightly insane.... Ok... I am going now..
lalla

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