Chris and I and a new friend, Monika, a Brazilian nurse now living in Maine, spent the past two days trekking through the jungle. I don't think I can adequately describe the experience. We walked on a tiny dirt path often very steep and pitted and came to many Karen hill tribe villages. They cooked meals (mostly noodles and vegetables or rice and vegetables. Not enough meat for Chris' standards) for us and we ate them in bamboo huts raised on stilts in smoky and dark rooms. Babies, clad in colorful homemade clothes, puppies, chicks,and piglets run about everywhere. We got drunk with our guide, Mr. Salawin, and his uncle and wandered down to the schoolyard where a beauty pageant was being held. Spectators would run balloons up to the contestant that answered the questions best.
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