Day 6

This morning the group of 14 that are visiting decided to go to the bakery. They walked to the one just down the street. All 14 of them. So Betsy being the thinker that she is gave me her car keys and sent me to a different bakery to get breakfast, score! The fantastic 14 returned with stories of the never ending line and how long it took for them all to get sandwiches. Don't worry I was punished later for my lack of misfortune. The VBS plan requires plants. The 14 asked me to collect jungle plants for them. An so the story of my punishment begins. Betsy and I dug up a few small banana trees without too much trouble. A lady from the 14 asked me to get some "bamboo or something". She really should have wondered why my left eye twitched when she asked that because the only bamboo near by is past the barbed wire and into the jungle. Never the less I sharpened my machete and set off.  I'm sure they expected me to be gone for ten minutes and come back with a load of bamboo no problem. It is so hot in the rainforest and I was out there for and hour and a half. Hacking down a stock of bamboo with an old machete wasn't even the hardest part. The bamboo is across this creek that hasn't had fresh water added to it for a month so it is full of mosquitoes and cow pies. So I jumped across it to get out there but I couldn't jump back with bamboo stocks in my hand so the first stock I cut down had to be cut into pieces and used as a bridge. At this point I am dripping with sweat my shirt is off and tucked in my belt and I am covered in dirt. After I got a stock cut I began the trip back. Of coarse as I was crossing my makeshift bridge I lost my balance and had to step into the creek were I went up to my knee in thick, foot sucking mud. After the long battle to retrieve my flip flop from the deep mud I continued on. Eventually I did get all the bamboo I needed out of there. So an hour and a half after they asked me to get bamboo I show up. Dripping with sweat and covered in dirt I approached the school, mud from the knees down, Shirt hanging from one hip machete from the other, three long stocks of freshly cut bamboo on my shoulders, the lady who asked me to get bamboo now realized what it would take for me to get "bamboo or something". You know what though? It was kind of awesome. Later in the afternoon I was installing a dead bolt and I heard a familiar sound that reminded me all at once why I love this place so much, it was the chest pounding crack of thunder I had been without these six months. Quickly followed by the smooth sound of rain starting. The kind of rain you hear coming; starts in the distance and just as you realize what it is, you're in it. I love it! I stood in it until I was drenched. The power was out before long and the familiar beep beep beep of the computer's power supply complaining brought a smile to my face. This is the Puerto Rico I remember. As fast as it began it was over and I was at the beach watching the sun set through the distant storm clouds. I used to call this home.