Roomies

If you have not seen the SNL skit Roomies with Taylor Swift you must… essentially this is what me and Heather are like now. We first experienced this wonder the day I had last written in my blog.  I spent all day in Puerto while Heather was at Taricaya and on the boat ride back I got this happy feeling knowing I was going to get to see Heather. Later I found out that she had missed me, too.  Then one day she went into Puerto and I was at Taricaya. I told a fellow volunteer, Duncan,  that when she got off the boat I was going to run and attack her with a hug.  Then I was in the middle of a game of chess when Duncan yelled “Vicki she´s here!” and I lept out of my seat and left my very confused opponent, Nicolas, as I sprinted out of the dining room.  We both screamed when we saw each other and hugged and jumped up and down.  Just watch Roomies and you will understandJ

The day after I had written my last blog I started getting sick.  It was NOT fun.  Heather took good care of me though haha. Volunteers usually get sick at least once in the first two weeks.  I´m over it now but I missed my sick spot on our oh so comfy couch at home.

I was finally assigned to do an assignment on our canopy!  The canopy at Taricaya is the highest in South America.  Some other company tried to beat our canopy and got a loan for half a million dollars and failed.  Ours only took $2000 to build (that fact is a little disconcerting sometimes as you are on the canopy).  I do not really have a fear of heights but my heart rate increases everytime I walk up there.  You have to wear a harness and attach yourself to this rope in case the canopy collapses.  Yesterday, Ben and I decided to be dare devils and shake the whole canopy as we walked down it.  One of the other volunteers got so scared he started yelling at us hahahah.  The canopy is 42 meters high and is made of this rickety metal that looks like it is ready to break in some places. I got the task of painting the platform at the top yesterday.  It was fun but terrifying carrying supplies on the canopy and not having both hands to steady myself.

Saying goodbye to other volunteers is a common but unhappy event.  Today we are saying goodbye to Tina and Tine from Denmark.  It truly hurts.  We get so close here and it´s strange when people leave.  We call ourselves the Taricaya family.  On the other side of the spectrum it is great to get new volunteers. It brings a new life to Taricaya.  We just got 7 new volunteers from France, Belgium, Australia, and England.  Charles is from France and is teaching me some French words.  For example, the word for snap is claquement de doigt.  I say it wrong everytime but I tryJ

I have never made as good a cake as I did here in my life.  It was the most delicious thing I have ever made and guess what... it wasn´t burnt! Haha.  Duncan, Rachel, and I were making a cake for John and Anne because they were leaving.  It was a chocolate, banana, and raisin cake.  We guestimated on a lot of the  measurements and Rachel, who is absolutely hilarious, would just throw random stuff in and say “some for good measure.”  To squish the bananas i would just squeeze them until they oozed out of my hands.  I pretended I was angry while I was doing it so we called it anger cake. When the cake was done we covered it with this delicious chocolate, rum sauce.  It was moist and perfect.  I don´t think I can ever recreate it haha.