I am sitting down in the Casa Grande which has a beautiful white porch and I am eating a snack called “Coronita Galapaguitos” which are just animal crackers of animals from the Galapagos Islands that are dipped in chocolate and sprinkles. I am having a hard time figuring out which animals from the Galapagos these crackers are, they all just look like blobs. Any way Friday was an incredible dia.
It started for some of us (Kacie, Brenmarie, Mary, Christian, Israel, Bolt and myself) at 6:15 for our morning hike. Usually we treck up the pathways in the mountains, but today we took a walk on the road. We usually take the road to the left, which involves passing a bunch of children looking and laughing at us, sweet old women saying Hola, a bunch of dogs barking at us, and colorful painted houses. Today, however, we walked to the right. It was more spacious and more farms than houses. We saw a lot of cows and Bolt ran along with us (Bolt is the guard dog of El Refugio along with Brissa and we love them a lot and they love us a lot, so the relationship is mutual). We made it to a church and on the right of the road was a school. We saw kids riding bikes to school in their uniforms which looked like green adidas jumpsuits……take note PBU…………. Israel told us that the teacher of that school travels about three hours each way to teach there.
We made it back for breakfast which again was incredible. The two chefs at el Refugio are amazing and their nombres (names) are Angelica and Anita. They always greet you with a smile and an HOLA! On the menu was FRENCH TOAST CASEROLE…..bet you never thought about pairing those two words together…it changed my life it was that good. Brenmarie was a champ and got thirds and ate the last serving in one bite….talk about legends being made.
So unlike all the other days where we did work, Friday was the day we had off and got to go to………………..A RAINFOREST WITH A WATERFALL!!!! So we all get our swimwear on and head to the cabs for the 30 minute drive there. The cabs in Cala Cali are like mini flatbed trucks and you can sit in the back. The weather was beautiful and Christian and I (Harry) shard the back of the cab and stood up the whole drive. It was a gamechanger, one of the biggest in my life. JackJack, the missionary’s 3 year old son chose to ride with me the whole way there. The drive was one a long twisty road on mountains and the views were crazy. So many trenches and lush plants and sunshine. Standing up and being blasted by the wind only added to it.
We arrive at the place where we hike to get to the waterfall and there is a restaurant there. We hike and start to embark into the rain forest. There were bridges we had to cross which were questionable. Like really questionable. They were breaking so someone just threw pieces of plywood over the weak parts that were breaking and even then those plywood slabs were rotting……and then one of the bridges broke while we all were on it and were all held on as we dangled over a raging river that was very shallow and then we all fell in….nah I’m just kidding. None of the bridges broke and we all made it to the water fall. The walk through the rain forest was crazy too! Palm trees and some huts and plants everywhere, with a stream running through the center.
We made it to the waterfall and we all were scratching our head because the water was WAY TOO shallow to even go swimming. I mean if sitting in a puddle is what you’re into you would have fun. Then this awesome guy appeared out of nowhere (his name was Renee) and he asked “You want to swim, yes?” we all said “CLARO” (of course) and where there was a break in this small rock way for the stream to continue on he took a slab of metal and jammed it in there and then we all smiled as we realized the water in the area we were standing began to rise and we could swim.
Some of us swam, but Brenmarie, Christian, and Mary did their own little hike to some repealing wall that ended into another waterfall. Allie, Kacie, Kat, and myself stayed and I was the first to approach the waterfall. This was most likely one of the most incredible experiences of my life. First off the water was FREEZING and only got colder the closer to the waterfall. It also created wind that blew mist into your face. I went under the water and it blasted me, but it was all so refreshing. The water level now was overflowing the rock wall Kat was now standing on dipping her feet. I stayed in the water as Allie and Kacie then took their turns in the waterfall. It was so hard to stay in one place because the force of the waterfall was so strong. The waterfall itself was probably around 120 feet high. Campbell-Farrell and Anna (who is our facilitator at El Refugio who is a boss and an awesome leader) took a small hike. Eventually Brenmarie, Christian, and Mary made their way back to the waterfall and took their turns going under the waterfall. We all went as a group and went under the water which was a rush because of how freezing it was. It got so numb it felt warm. Paul and Beth (leaders at El Refugio) were there with their two young children Jack and Karleigh. We said goodbye to the waterfall as we each found individual moments to embrace our scenery and I stood in front of that waterfall one last time as the mist blew into me.
While all this was going on Campbell-Farrell had an experience that we cannot stop laughing about. She made it back to the restaurant earlier than anyone else and wanted to order a drink. She is not very good at speaking Spanish, so she looked at the menu and saw “fritter” and wanted a drink on the menu. She went up to the lady working and said “fritter” and made a rolling motion and the lady and said she wanted the drink as well. (Even as I type this up she is giving me crap, oh man). So Campbell-Farrell makes her way to the sitting area and the lady eventually carries her order up to her, but it is not a fritter with a drink. Instead it is a whole meal with a roasted trout with the head, yuka, rice, and platanos. She had no clue what to say, so she decided to go with the flow and eat the fish, but she wanted it cooked more, so she took it to the lady and pointed to the fire and said “more, more, more” and the lady miraculously understood her.
We made it back to the restaurant (which was outdoors) to eat out lunch Paul brought which was ham and cheese sandwiches, and we all laughed so hard when hearing what had happened to Campbell-Farrell. Brenmarie was interested, so she bought the fish as well and we all got to eat the trout and it was so good. As we left the lady prepared us sugar cane and gave us enough to last the month, but we all destroyed it later that night. The guy Renee continued to work, but was so nice and stopped to talk to us and patted our backs.
Sadly we left and we couldn’t even stand up in the back of the cabs on the drive home because it was raining and tarps were on the back. All of the girls in the back of my (Kacie’s) truck fell asleep… We had chill time when we made it back for 2 hours and most of us just slept or showered. The girls all piled onto Kat in her bed and ordered me to take a picture of it by screaming my name through the walls. 2 other people that have been awesome the whole time are other volunteers at El Refugio. First is Lydia, who also has worked at a Lutheran summer camp like me and spear heads the rock wall projects. She is funny and encouraging and is really good at playing Yaoola. Then there is Mike who is from Canada and has served in the military. The staff is a gamechanger. Then before dinner we practiced our skit one last time before we perform Saturday. After that it was Kacie and Mary’s turn to do devotionals and in this time Mary shared her testimony with us, which only brought the team even closer together. Mary was a last minute edition to the team, but has such an impact on this team. She’s a baller.
Then was dinner. Okay here’s what we ate, so you all can imagine it as I tell you how amazing it was, so you can be envious: roasted chicken, rice, and some weird pea salad casserole monster thing??? I was actually not a big fan of it, but the chicken was good. The store at El Refugio is open everyday at dinner. I got everyone cokes (which taste different) to pay them back for worrying/searching for me when I was lost in the mountains. After dinner Christian, Israel, Mary, Brenmarie, Kacie, and myself got packed to go camping at the high point campsite. We did not have to hike the whole way (thank God), but it was still intense. Being in this altitude is no joke. My lungs really hated me on this hike. Christian carried my bag so I only had to carry my sleeping bag and mat. I still had to stop a lot and I felt bad that I was slowing them down. But: We made it there and we were above clouds, but underneath some, like in some weird in between. We made the tents under the instruction of Israel and Bolt and Breeza followed the whole way. The sky was amazing. Just full of millions of stars. We made a small fire and we wanted to hear a bedtime story from Christian like he tells his children. First he told one that was seemed super serious until he yelled a part and made us jump and Bren scream. Then He told one about some kid with bunnies watching his whole life and a magic ball. Then I created a sequel that was not as endearing as Christian’s. Harry called it Labor Day…there was mutant bunnies involved. Kat, Allie, and Campbell-Farrell stayed back and chatted with the Santos brothers. They even sang together in different languages. Talk about cultural emersion.
Then we all went to bed (With Bolt and Brissa guarding our tents like the awesome guard dogs they are)!!!!! Sweet dreams errbody back in the U.S. or where ever you are and thanks for everything you’ve ever done for us. Special shout out to Chik-Fila for that fundraiser we got to do and because your food is awesome and the PBU special is almost a sin it is so good. Sorry to say that we only have 3 days left, but God will continue to do incredible this through and for us
Buenos Noches!
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