And the List Grows

Things I can now do with a machete:

1. Cut firewood
2. Dig a hole
3. De-tar(not sure that is a word) a boat
4. Cultivate the yard (Cut grass!!)
5. Oh, and pose like a kung-fu fighter!!

There are examples of all these in my pictures from this trip and previous ones.

Okay, so I’ve been promising stories for a while now. It’s just so hard to get them started. I think ya’ll will enjoy some explanation of our Asheninka field day.
While in Puerto Burmudez for our Asheninka leadership training we had a field day, so to speak. It would have been a field day had it not rained the entire mourning, but with the rain came mud; therefore, the day turned into “mud day” for quite a few of us. Had we been in the states the slow rain probably would not have stopped us from getting out in the weather and getting completely drenched, but I AM NOT in the States. And when the weather gets down to oh 75 degrees Asheninka people freeze! And wet and 75 degrees and you’ve got people shriveling up on you. So instead of making them get in the rain we played most all activities under a thatched roof, but before we even get to the thatched roof we had to walk to the place. So how do you walk about a mile with 30 people without getting wet? Well, you buy a huge piece of plastic and walk under it, of course!!! So, that is what we did. When we arrived at the site we went under the thatched roof and began our series of relay races with a sack race. Please try to imagine Native Indians putting themselves into a Rice sack and jumping…trust me…it is hilarious! All of the relay games kept me laughing because they have never seen anyone do the things we were asking them to do. Now, the bow and arrows were a whole different story…they were the ones laughing when I attempted to shoot that thing. Now don’t get me wrong, my Daddy taught me how to shoot a bow and arrow and I never skipped out on archery class at camp, but those kind in the hunting magazines come with automatic release and all kinds of other conveniences. This bow was made of metal and string. The arrows were cane, feathers, and a metal arrow head—and there were no notches in the end of the arrow to hold it onto the bowstring! Hey, I’m just impressed I was able to get one to release…it went a good little distance after I finally stopped trying to hold the string while releasing the bow.
Other fun or should I say funny events were tree climbing and tug-of-war, both of which we had to go into the drizzle in order to participate. Tug-of-war was after lunch…not sure how good of an idea that was…but the ground was fully saturated by this point and there was plenty of mud. Just use your imagination on that one. Thankfully there was a river close by and Dena and I were able to rinse ourselves off!
After a fun-filled day of “deportes” we had a baptism at the same river. Two of our training participants had never been baptized and desired to be. It was a great ending to a great week.

Please see the links on my previous blog entry BELOW in order to view pictures from this day of recreation!