Roomies continued...

Ok so this is my second post today because I had to scurry off to lunch before to say goodbye to some volunteers. First off, for those who do not know, Heather has a blog too and you should also read her point of view on our adventures because she tells them in a much more creative way.  Also, my blog is kind of like my journal... not organized in any particular order and definitely random.  I don´t believe in transitions on my blog hehe.

Throughout our stay here, we are given different presentations regarding different animals or projects we are doing.  We have been given one about spider monkeys, the history of Taricaya, and ants.  Now, it might sound strange but the ant talk was my favorite. Ants are fascinating!  There are these ants here called bullet ants that you can actually stitch up a cut with if you do not have medical supplies.  They have large pinchers so you put their head on the wound and they clamp down, then you break their body off so just their head is left.  You do this all along the cut for stitches.  When you do not need the stitches anymore then you take a hot stick from a fire and touch it to the back of their necks, it makes the ligaments in their head release the pinchers and pow! you are healed haha. Also, did you know that ants are 25% of the animal mass in the jungle.  25 PERCENT!!!! That is so many millions of ants I can´t even imagine.  There is also this type of ant that I currently can´t recall the name of but if you get stung then it feels like you were shot by a bullet.  If you get stung five times by this type of ant then you die.  No worries though:) haha.  Oh and army ants are terrifying.  They do not have a nest; they are always moving.  They move in a sort of octopus form.  They have the main colony in this ball in the middle and then legs (or tentacles) of ants swarming around the ball to get food.  These ants have moved through Taricaya before and I hope I don´t meet them.  Every insect is afraid of them so you get warned that they are coming by cockroaches, spiders, and every other insect crawling up your walls or flying off the ground.  About 20 minutes later, here comes the swarm of army ants.  They will eat anything and everything, even their own dead.   If army ants come, you move out, wait for them to be done with your place, and then enjoy your clean room because they eat all the dirty junk that was in it.

I believe I have forgotten to mention the fireflies! I have never seen fireflies before here and they are so cool to watch!

One of my new favorite activities here is swinging in a hammock.  We have about six bunched together and it is a nice place to chill with friends or to spend some alone time.  The other day I even swung in a hammock in the rain.  It was peaceful and perfect.

Another one of my favorite things to do is play in the rain.  We had our first rain and it was a siren call for Heather and I to go play in it.  We ran outside and twirled and jumped and went into the river.  It is strange because when it rains the river feels like a hottub... hottest water we will ever get here haha.  There are many sandbars in the river so we walked to the middle of it and kicked a ball around.  Since then we have played soccer in the rain and played in the big puddles that form in a hard rain.  Our roofs are made of tin so when it rains it is one of the loudest things I have ever heard.  Thank goodness for ear plugs at night.

Card games are rather common here.  One night we decided to play spoons.  Of course we decided that the loser got a letter written on their face with permanent marker.  For two days I had SP on my forehead.

For those that do not know... Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite movies.  One of the coolest things happened on one lazy Sunday.  I was laying in bed and reading and someone was watching TV when I hear "The French are glad to die for love..." It was the magestic voice of Nicole Kidman.  I got my chocos on and ran across the yard to find Dan and Ben watching futbol (soccer).  I asked about Moulin Rouge and they said it was on a different channel.  So I reluctantly went to the kitchen and told Heather about the incident, in which case she told me she has never seen all of Moulin Rouge.  Of course I was distraught by this statement.  Therefore, we went to the hangout room with our friend Yves and convinced Ben to change it to Moulin Rouge.  It made my heart sing to watch my movie down here!

Heather (or as the French people here say it Heazer) and I finally accomplished the mammoth task of cleaning our bungalow.  You see, the person before us did not exactly leave it in perfect condition.  When Daniel first showed us our room we thought someone was living there...nope.  She just left it a giant mess.  Now we can finally see our sink (its white! not brown now), not be completely grossed out in the shower, and sit on a clean toilet.  Oh, the little things in life.  Heather and I also scavenged the other empty room for any goods we could find.  We now have a bench and I switched my pillow and mattress for one that didn´t smell awful.  It is a good way to live:)

Heather and I have started a tradition of lighting candles to see by night rather then using our lights.  It is very peaceful and brightens my night (pun haha). 

One of the staff members I have not mentioned yet is Raul.  We did not get off on the best start... we were playing futbol the first day he was back and I nailed him in the quad with my knee and hurt him pretty bad.  Like I said, not the greatest first impression on my part.  However, now we are cool and he is hilarious.  He calls me mommy and i call him poppy.  I have no idea how that started but the nicknames have stuck.

One of my favorite activities is machetting.  I thought I was an amazon woman before, but now I really feel like one now.  This past week one of my first tasks in the morning was RCM (Rescue Center Maintenance).  The first thing Alejandro (Alej for short) did was take me to sharpen my machette.  Ok sooo cool.  I couldn´t believe I was sharpening this huge blade.  Sparks flew as I sharpened my new favorite tool.  Then Alej took me to a rather thick tree and told me to chop it down.  I asked if he was serious and he said he was so I went to work chopping down this tree with a machette.  Once I finished with that tree I thought I was done... I was wrong.  I spent 2 hours chopping down trees for the new parrot enclosure.  It was a great anger release haha. After this amazingly fun but tedious task I had 2 puncture wounds, 6 stratches, 2 blood blisters, and 6 regular blisters.  Now, I am an official amazon woman.

One thing I absolutely miss about the U.S. is CHEESE.  No one knows what pepperjack cheese is here.  I also bought a bunch of different packs of little chips in the search of the closest thing to Cheetoes.  It has gotten so bad that the other day I had a dream I opened one up and they were just like Cheezits.  In that same dream I ate a bacon cheeseburger and nachos.  Oh, how I miss thee!

This past weekend Heather and I were Hermits.  We did absolutely nothing and reclused on our bungalow to read, sleep, and write.  It was terrific!  I have really never needed alone time before...thanks for rubbing off on me Hanna;)

A couple nights ago I had the great honor to learn how to dance!  I am still awful but if you have a good leader then it is rather easy to dance.  I think the best dancer at Taricaya is the director, Stuart.  He is actually English but I still think he is the best dancer.  I could have danced all night and still have begged for more:)

There are so many things I haven´t mentioned and that are so hard to describe.  I wish everyone could see what I see and feel the love I have for this place.  It is beautiful in every way.  The experiences I have everyday are different and I´m learning so much about myself, others, and the jungle.

I forgot to mention it before but I wanted to say happy belated birthday to Hanna and Robby.  I thought of you on your day but did not have the means to say it.  If I am not in town much this month... then Happy Birthday to Ria (October 22nd) and Weston (October 30th).  I love you all.