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Kim Chinh writes......about her experiences while volunteering in Vietnam.1 October 2004 I am settled into my placement in the city of Tam Ky. I live with 4 other volunteers who are really cool. There are 5 of us all together: 2 of us are from the US, 2 from New Zealand, and 1 from Australia. We live on the 2nd floor of a guesthouse, and there are 2 people who will be preparing our meals for us each day. We have had a great orientation to the city, the restaurants, food, markets, internet cafes as well as the language and culture. We'll have 3 more days' orientation, and then we'll begin working at the orphanages on Tuesday. Today we went to the beach, about 10 km away. It rained most of the time we were there, but that didn't stop us from going swimming and walking along the beach! (okay, I didn't swim, just waded in.) It was beautiful - the rain, the palm trees, the huts along the beach. We drank hot tea and watched the rain come down. The best thing about being injured is that I don't have to roll my own spring rolls! It's really not bad. I keep thinking one of these days I'll wake up really pissed off that I broke my hand at the beginning of this adventure, but so far, it's been kind of fun, like a game. I'm fascinated by my cast and today I bought some pretty material for a sling. The medications they prescribed are more like vitamin supplements to help the bone repair itself. It's fun dressing myself, peeling fruit, writing w/ my left hand, and typing, too! I have been brushing my teeth w/ my left hand for the past year just for fun, and I find it really comes in handy during times like these. The thing I feel I must brag about most is my ability to use chopsticks with my left hand. Either that or starve! 3 October 2004 This morning, we have walked to a nearby internet cafe. I'm very frustrated because for the past 3 days, I have been unable to access my email! So, for now this is my only way to be in contact. It will have to do. A phone card is not very good - to call the US costs about $1.00 per minute. I'll keep looking for other options though. In Ho Chi Minh City, you could call people pretty cheaply over the internet, using a computer. Tomorrow, we start our placements at various orphanages. We visited the different sites yesterday and met some of the kids. They are all so beautiful! It will be really fun once we settle into a routine. Since Oct. 1st, it has rained like crazy! I LOVE it when the rain comes down so hard you can't hear yourself speak! So far, we haven't been caught in a downpour, but we all have rain ponchos with us just in case. It has stayed pretty overcast for the last few days. At all times during the day and night, it will just come down in buckets! It's lovely to listen to the drops falling on the tin roof that houses the motorbikes on the ground floor. It's especially nice when it's time for bed. I know most Vietnamese people get annoyed with the rain after awhile. For me, for now, I want to relish being able to live in such a lush climate. 11 October 2004 This entry will be more of a description of what we're doing here in Tam Ky. Now that the first week is finished, I have a much better orientation of the city, the orphanages, and music center and the volunteers' roles there. The baby orphanage is my favorite place so far. We are the first group of volunteers to be placed here, so these kids have had very little contact with the outside world, except some of the older children who attend school. As our car approaches the building, you can see these little heads peering out of the windows. When our car drives up, they run around screaming something to each other, which is probably something like, "they're here! they're here!" the other volunteers and I feel very loved. The kids range in age from a few months to probably 10 years old, but the majority of them are toddlers. We don't deal with the infants, but if the baby can walk, then he or she can become a part of a class. Last week, we taught them the hokey-pokey, which they seem to like a lot. Amanda had the great idea to bring balls and incorporate them into the classes. We're still working out the details of splitting the kids up, because the younger ones are still learning Vietnamese, and we think it would be too confusing to teach much English. The best part is that we play with them, get to know them, pick them up, let them crawl on us and play with our hair. I think the kids were checking Amanda's hair for lice the other day! (she's clear, by the way). We also get to help feed the little ones lunch, and that's really relaxed and easy. The kids are all so well-behaved and eat well. We're quite attached to them because we visit the baby orphanage in the morning as well as the afternoon on some days. The home of affection has older children, and whenever I've been there, most of the kids are still in school. The older kids don't get home till 5 or 6pm. a group of 2 or 3 of us go every afternoon and sometimes in the evenings. So, the classes have been small. Like only 10 or 12 kids, and they learn quickly. Again, they're well-behaved and it's nice just to go there, get to know their names, and practice speaking English with them. The music center is the 3rd place we visit, and we go 3 times a week to teach English, piano, and arts & crafts respectively. The kids there come from families who live here in Tam Ky. they aren't orphans, but since we're the only native English speakers in town, we offer classes to the kids in the community. These kids are all very bright, very good students. I've only been to the music center once, but I'll be helping to teach English class there tonight. So those are the details. Life in Tam Ky is relaxed, pleasant. this past weekend, our translator took us all to a port city called Hoi An. the city is full of tailor shops and although I didn't think I'd be interested in shopping, I was lured by the pull of tailor-made clothes at an extremely low cost. I did buy some clothes, and I have to admit that it was so much fun to have clothes made to fit me exactly. They do it all within a few hours! but it was too much running around in a city with many tourists. It was similar to Ho Chi Minh in that no matter where you are, people want you to buy something. It was a huge relief to come back to Tam Ky last night and just get back to a more peaceful existence. 12 October 2004 Hello! I feel so happy having found an internet cafe that really does have DSL! (they all claim to have it, but I think this is the only one that really does.) I wanted to tell you about the bus trip to and from Hoi An. A van pulls up packed with people and there are 6 of us who need to get on. We tell the driver we'll wait for the next bus, but that's nonsense they say. They have plenty of room. So they squish the people in the back even tighter and proceed to fit all 6 of us in. It's an hour ride to our stop. The way home is similar except, it's a big silver school bus. A guy yells at us to enter in the back and we cram in with 10 other men sitting on seats, boxes, carrying bags of groceries, boxes of furniture. More people pile in as we head home. At one point it looks as though 3 men hanging onto the outside of the bus will fall off. There's some yelling, but we just pack in a little tighter. It's really hot because we're sitting on the engine. The back is bumpy and fumy and Charlotte feels ill, but she makes it home without barfing! The cast on my hand really is a great conversation starter. Everybody wants to know what happened. I say "xe may" which means moped, I think. Or sometimes I just make the vroom vroom sound. I can say only the very basics, but it works. And I learn new words everyday. 1 November 2004 We volunteer at two different orphanages in the province of Quang Nam. one is the Baby Orphanage (children aged 0-8) and they have about 30 kids, the other is the Home of Affection (ages 4-17)- they also take care of about 25 kids, but are getting more in a week because another nearby orphanage is closing down. This week, a few other volunteers and I interviewed the directors of each of the orphanages. We had a lot of questions about how the kids arrive there, if they get government donations, if any of the kids have relatives they stay in contact with, etc. i got most of it on film, so I'll be sharing these answers with you later. But one of the most important questions we asked was: what are your most dire needs for these kids? as volunteers, we provide them with school supplies, art supplies, maybe some games and stuff, but we were surprised to find out that at the Baby Orphanage, what they are in desperate need of is baby formula. The government gives them a little bit of money for each infant, but they need more than twice the money that the government gives allocates. They also really need clothes. Each of the kids there has 2 sets of clothes to last them the year. At the Home of Affection, where the kids are a little older, the director says the many of the kids are being trained for vocational work, so when they turn 17, they are able to support themselves upon leaving the orphanage. What they need most are books, clothes, reference books, books in English are GREAT (and they are looking for people to donate computers, sewing machines, mechanics tools so they can work as seamstresses/tailors or fix motorbikes.) Both orphanages are always in need of clothes and food. There's no pressure here, but maybe if you think of it the next time you're at the grocery store, you could pick up some powdered baby formula, or dry beans, or legumes (stuff with protein is good!) or if you have some kids clothes to give away (summer clothes mainly and sandals!), you could box it up and bring it to the post office. I'm not sure how much it costs to send packages to Vietnam, or the legality of sending food by post, but it'll be our little experiment! Then, I can know for the future if I want to send things here when I'm back in New York. It might be cheaper to ship it. I know it's not as easy as dropping off things at the Salvation Army, but people here could really use it. Of course, in Vietnam the mail system can be unreliable. However, my absentee ballot arrived just fine, and another volunteer received a package from Japan, no problem. But if it never gets to me, at least someone got something they needed. 2 November 2004 I just finished teaching a class at the Home of Affection. Those kids are so cool. I found out that most of them are street kids rounded up from local markets where they were begging. They don't have any family. When they turn 17, they have to leave the orphanage and an effort is made to locate family members. If no one is found, the Home will help them to find a job and then they're on their own. My mom used to work in Foster Care and adoptions in the U.S. and I know there aren't any orphanages there anymore, more like temporary shelters, and foster homes. The idea of an orphanage seemed primitive to me before I got here, but it actually is a good system. For one thing, the kids don't get moved around. Once they get there, they're there for good. It's true that they get less individual attention from adults, but the kids have a lot of love for each other. It's like having 30 brothers and sisters. The older ones help take care of the younger ones, just like in a real family. It's definitely a more rough and tumble world, they are rowdier than the local kids we teach who come from families in the town. Those kids are very well-behaved and obedient, but I prefer the orphanage because the kids there are so spunky, more excited. For example, they go crazy over the games we play with them - simple stuff like BINGO they love. That's something I can say for Vietnamese people in general, they appreciate the smallest things. Their possessions are simple; they don't have any more than they need. 11 November 2004 Good evening! I wanted to put in a few words about this past weekend. Myself and the other volunteers in Tam Ky met up with all the other GVN volunteers in Vietnam at China Beach, which is just a few minutes west of Da Nang. There is a program right there in China Beach and we stayed at the hotel where 3 of the volunteers live. We arrived, had lunch at this place who claimed to serve the World's Best Spring Rolls. Well...they were! Ummmm, so good. Then it was to the beach. There were black flags up right where a few people were swimming and the locals told us to steer clear of certain areas. There were some really nasty rip tides happening. The New Zealanders explained in detail what rip tides are and how to spot them. I know in Galveston, you sometimes had to watch out for an undertow, but a riptide kind of takes hold of you, doesn't allow you to swim back to shore (or if you struggle, you tire quick and drown!), and takes you right out to sea! None of us went out very far, but you had to be vigilant not to get pulled too close to where the riptide was headed out to sea. There was a French woman who got caught, and one of our new volunteers was close by and heard her call for help, so she went after her to try and grab her. Luckily, by this time, the locals had noticed the French woman and headed out right into the riptide with a lifesaver. They got the French woman, but were struggling to get out of the deep water, then Rosemary got separated from the group and she herself was caught. More local Vietnamese men came in with 2 more lifesavers and grabbed Rosemary. The locals were excellent swimmers, and really quick. They must have to do rescues like that all the time. There were no lifeguards. That was enough excitement for the day. We left the beach and walked up the street to climb the marble mountains, which are mountains made entirely of marble and you pass about 100 marble shops selling all sorts of beautiful marbleware. Lots of jewelry, mortars and pestles, vases, huge carved lions, buddhas, Jesus. There were steps that wound around the mountain and took you to the top. From there, you could explore massive caverns, and some local boys showed us how to climb through a few tight passages to get to the top. From there, you have a 360 view of the area. The beach, enormous in front of you, more marble mountains to the back, the river that flows by Da Nang. The sun had just set - Darn! But the sky was still pastel and calm. The next morning a few of us decided to get up for the sunrise. But we weren't sure what time that was, so we got to the beach at 5:15am. It was still very dark, and as we approached the beach, you could see 5 small points of orange glow lining the shore. As we got closer, I could see it was 5 bunches of lit incense and it made the beach seem so sacred, meditative. The shore was full of local men and women doing their morning calisthenics, older people doing Tai Chi, men doing push-ups, there were lots of young men playing volleyball and rough housing in the water. Far away, there were round fishing boats being paddled out towards the horizon. The 3 of us sat on the shore, and watched the sky lighten gradually. There were big grey clouds in the east, so we just watched the clouds beyond turn colors, and then, the sun peeked out big and orange and glowing for a few moments before pulling the blankets back over its head and catching some more zzzz's. We headed into the water for some wave jumping; there was no real swimming because of the riptides. There is an Australian who lives there; he teaches English and surfs every morning. I read an article that Vietnam has really good waves, and nobody knows about it, so every spot is a secret spot. The waves were breaking pretty curly, and the water was so warm. I would have liked to surf if there were more expert surfers around. Maybe next time... 11 November 2004 It's been an emotionally trying couple of days. At the Home of Affection Orphanage on Tuesday night after class, the kids brought in a tiny little kitten, really skinny and scrawny. It had been attacked by the dog, and the kids said it had a broken neck. They had taped a small piece of cardboard around its neck, as a neck brace. It was just lying there on the desk, it was having trouble moving. It seemed like it was dying, and the kids were sort of handling it a lot, so I asked them if it would be okay if I brought it home. They agreed, and I walked back home with the kitten wrapped inside my shirt. It collapsed on my bed as soon as I set it down. I thought it had died until a dog barked in the street and its eyes popped wide open. It lapped up a little of the milk I gave it, and it seemed hungry but I had absolutely nothing to give it. I looked in the trash, but nothing! Its head was sort of kinked to the left and couldn't use its back legs very well. I put it in a box with some material. It kept crying, so I finally took the box into the kitchen. But then I couldn't sleep or I had weird kitten dreams and kept waking up to go check on it. The next day, the other volunteers took good care of the kitten and the woman who cooks for us, Ms. Tan, gently force-fed it the way only a Vietnamese mother can! I let the kitty sleep next to me last night because it didn't like the box and kept crying. It kept crawling under my neck to sleep. Amanda had been asking around to see if anybody knew of a good vet. The kitten still wasn't walking and didn't seem to have good use of its left limbs. People just laughed. Animals aren't very highly regarded here. There are lots of stray dogs, cats, puppies, kittens everywhere. I've seen people kick kittens, hit them with brooms, and dog meat is a very popular dish around these parts. It's just a very different mindset than in the States, where people treat their pets better than their children sometimes! Today, though, we found out where there's one vet in town and Amanda, Charlotte, and I took the kitten there after lunch with our taxi driver and interpreter. We walked into a room where 2 men and 2 women sat having tea. We showed the cat, explaining it had been attacked by a dog, and they put some newspaper across the table and asked us to set it down. They proceeded to poke and prod the little thing. The women were laughing that we cared so much. The kitten is not much bigger than a rat and very ugly. They seemed to be wondering why we were so concerned about such a small matter. Our interpreter, Phuong, told us the doctor said the cat had been severely injured and had nerve damage, and that it would never walk again. I felt so sad. But we knew that euthanasia was more humane. We asked them about putting the cat to sleep. The vet left the room. We kept asking if they were absolutely certain that the cat wouldn't recover. We pointed out that it had been eating and drinking. They said, they had no x-ray machines like we have in the states, and that there was no way to be sure. At this point the vet took out his needle and reached for the cat. I said, "Wait! We just want to ask that maybe if the swelling around his head goes down, if he might be able to walk again?" They said, "We can't be sure, and reached for the cat again." I still had my hands cupped over the cat; the women pulled my hands away. The vet said, "this is a painkiller," and injected the cat in the back. It screamed and cried, and that's when Charlotte and I started crying. The cat seemed to be convulsing. It seemed like they were laughing at us, and our interpreter was embarrassed at our lack of reserve. They pulled out a second needle and injected the cat in the neck. This time it roared in pain, and I was crying so hard I couldn't see straight. The women kept yelling at me not to touch the cat. But I wanted to comfort it, I expected it to close its eyes and stop breathing. It was a horrible moment. The taxi driver kept saying, we're late, let's go. After a minute or so, I heard the doctor say "sua" which means milk. Phuong said, "Now they say you can take it home and give it some milk." WHAT? I stopped crying and looked at Charlotte. What was in the 2nd needle? we asked. Phuong asked the doctor..."he says it was a health serum, and to come back tomorrow to get a second one." I couldn't believe it. I thought "pain relief" was a euphemism for death serum! We had been crying so hard, now we were still crying, but laughing at the same time. It was great! It was horrible. To go from one emotion to the exact opposite so quick was so strange. So the cat is back at home, sleeping and seems to be walking a little better. Phew! Thanks for reading. 18 November 2004 Sorry to keep you in suspense about the little kitten. Loc, Ms. Tan's son, named him MiLo. And MiLo stopped eating soon after we took him to the friendly neighborhood vet. Amanda, Charlotte, and I were gonna take him to the vet after the weekend, but right before we left for Danang, Amanda found a little orange kitten whose leg had been gnawed off by a dog, we think. (Excuse the graphicness, please.) So we loaded both kittens into the car and drove to Danang to see a vet right away. The vet in Danang was so nice and actually looked like she felt sorry for the little kittens. We asked her to please euthanize them if she couldn't do anything because the orange kitten must have been in a lot of pain. She said she would do her best and to call her in a few days. She refused to take any money for them, she said, only if she could save them would she accept money. ??? Well, we called her on Monday and she told our interpreter that they had both died that morning. Neither one would eat or drink. Boo- hoo...so sad. I was really getting attached to MiLo. At least they were together, they slept curled up together on the way to Danang, probably on the way to Kitty Heaven, too. Hope you like cats. I had to tell the kids at the Home of Affection that MiLo had died. They were pretty sad. I felt I had let them down. It's a hard life for orphaned kittens. I've been a little depressed lately because my hand is still recovering. There's a big bump on my hand where the bone is broken. I have been doing some research on line and it seems that it's hard to get the bone to line up properly without pins or screws. They say to ice the hand after the injury, but that was impossible with the cast on. I've been doing some exercises and massage lately, so it's feeling a little better. Now that my cast is off, I've been riding the bikes that the program provides for us. The other volunteers and I have been riding around the town. Yep, I'm back on a bike. But you won't catch me driving my own motorbike for quite awhile. Tonight, it's raining and it feels so good to bike in the rain. The Vietnamese people in Tam Ky say it's freezing, but it's probably about 65 degrees fahrenheit! To them, though, it's COLD. They wear jackets and hats outside. To me, it feels just right. I have just one week left here. It went SO fast! 22 November 2004 It's Monday morning, cold and rainy. Even I'm cold! But it's a welcome change from the heat. I guess this is autumn in Vietnam. Amanda left on Tuesday morning last week, so it's just been Charlotte, Chelsea, and I. This was the first weekend we didn't travel out of town and so we had a chance to kind of just relax in our "hometown" of Tam Ky. A few women friends from the Music Center took us out for a Pho dinner, and then out to another place to order Che for dessert. Yum! It is my FAVORITE. Che is a bean drink made with coconut milk, and tapioca balls, or gelatin. It's the Original Bubble Tea as far as I'm concerned. Saturday morning, the same women came over to take us out for "brunch," except we had to be ready by 7:30! We went to a restaurant that serves a special dish called Banh Cuon, which is almost like rice noodle lasagna. There are mushrooms inside, and it's served with pork roll and sausage, also basil and mint. Then you put a little fish sauce with peppers on top. Afterwards, we went to a huge cafe for coffee and tea. We could hardly find a table for 7. It was packed at 9am! Throughout Vietnam, there are these beautiful outdoor cafes, where people sit for hours and have Vietnamese coffee (condensed milk and espresso- so good!), or different types of tea. Usually, you have bright red-dyed watermelon seeds to munch on. And be sure to throw the casings onto the floor - it's good luck, sort of. They sweep after each table leaves. When we left at 10am, the place was empty. Vietnam starts the day much earlier. But they also have a siesta from about 11am - 1:30 or 2pm. It was the perfect sunny, yet cool day, and Charlotte, Chelsea, and I took a bike ride to the river, then circled around to the market to buy our lunch. Wherever we go, we attract a lot of attention because there are so few Westerners in this area. Charlotte has long, shiny blond hair so we usually draw a crowd pretty quickly. I blend in more so when I'm alone, I don't get quite as much attention, but people still know I'm not from these parts. I've gotten really good at explaining in Vietnamese that my father is from Vietnam. And people always light up when they hear that. They always want to know where he was born and where he lives now. They also want to know what I think about Vietnam, and I tell them that I love it here. It kind of feels like home. It took some persuading, but the administrators at the Home of Affection agreed to let us take the kids out for the afternoon. We REALLY wanted to take them to the beach, but they said no, the beach was too dangerous. Also, it's fall, so people believe it's too cold to go to the beach. But to me, some of these fall days feel just like summer - really hot and sunny. Oh well. A Vietnamese volunteer from Tam Ky who interprets for us during classes was instrumental in pulling it all off. Her name is Yen (but it's pronounced like Ian) and we LOVE her. She knows where all the good Che places are! Yesterday after lunch, we picked the kids up in a big van we had rented for a few hours. All 13 of them, plus 6 adults piled into the car. It was a 12-seater, but the kids are so small, we still had room for more people if we had wanted. They were SO excited. They don't have a lot of chances to ride in a car or travel very far from the orphanage. We took them first to an amusement park in the center of town. They got to ride in bumper cars, play video games and foosball, and they had one of those ball pits where you swim around in plastic balls, and also little rides like a mini-Ferris wheel. We paid for all of them to stay there for half an hour - it was sort of expensive, but after 20 minutes, the owners of the park said not to worry about time, that the kids could stay as long as they wanted! I find Vietnamese people to be some of the most generous people I've ever met. We piled into the van again and headed up to Phu Nin Lake at the suggestion of our taxi driver. The kids were mesmerized as we climbed up the narrow road to get to the top of this bill hill that looks over the lake. The kids threw rocks in the water and then we went to the restaurant to have a coca-cola. We then took them to a small place to eat Banh Xeo which is a dish where you put an omelet with shrimp and bean sprouts inside rice paper and dip it in this special sauce. We ate way too many, and then it was back into the van to take them over to our place. We had cleaned and put down mats in my room. We brought out lots of tangerines and bananas and taught them how to play spoons. They were just getting the hang of it when some of the littler kids got restless. They wanted to go home. So we made some hot chocolate and brought out cookies to eat before we took them back to the orphanage. It was fun to be able to share a day like that with these kids who we usually only see in a classroom setting. They are so helpful, so polite and they really thrive despite their lives without parents or much individual attention. These kids are so beautiful, I hope to visit again in a few years and see how they're doing. 25 November 2004 Well, my email isn't working again. Today is Thursday, and here it's been raining for 4 days straight. All the rice paddies in and around the town are completely flooded. I washed laundry yesterday afternoon, and hung it on a rack to dry. When the sun's out, clothes will dry in just a few hours. Without sunshine, after too long, you know what happens...moldy smelling clothes - Yuck! Oh well, I'll be lucky if they dry enough to be wearable. Tomorrow is my last day at the placements. It sucks to say goodbye. Right when you get to know a place and its people is always when you have to leave. But I'm so glad I stayed 2 months because the first month was really just figuring out the program and the schedule. This month, I've had more opportunities to go out with a few of the friends we've made here, and been introduced to more culture and especially FOOD! Also, I know the kids better, what works in class and what doesn't, etc. We got pictures back from our outing on Sunday, and they came out so nice. I can't wait to show the kids at the Home of Affection! Charlotte made friends with a guy from Uganda who plays for the Quang Nam football (soccer) team, and we've been having coffee with him and a few of his teammates this week. We've asked them if we could bring the kids to watch a soccer scrimmage tomorrow afternoon, and they said Yes! So it'll be a surprise for the kids. Instead of a lesson, we'll bring a van to take them to the stadium. I think the kids know some of these guys from watching soccer on TV. The best part is knowing that I've made a connection with these kids. We're friends, I teach them English, they help me with my Vietnamese. For a little while, I was a regular part of their lives and they were a part of mine. I looked forward to spending time with them. Without a doubt, I'll be back in a year or two to visit and see how they're doing. And I'd also like to keep in touch with our interpreters and Vietnamese friends. It will be fun to have pen pals in Vietnam! 28 November 2004 We took the kids from Home of Affection to watch the Quang Nam "football" team practice on Friday. It was awesome. The kids were excited to see the stadium and meet some of the team members. We got some great pictures of the kids with the players. Friday, the new student volunteers from Sydney arrived and were just settling into their guesthouse that day, so they joined us at the soccer stadium and met the players, too. Friday was my last night in Tam Ky, so we asked our friend Martin to bring his stereo, and we headed over to where the 9 new volunteers are staying while they do some utilities construction at the Home of Affection. We had DANCING! There is one discotheque in Tam Ky, but no one I know has ever been there. We had music from the all over the world and we DANCED! We even convinced some of our Vietnamese buddies to dance with us. It felt like a real party, and it was fun to have so many countries represented: the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Brasil, Uganda, Vietnam. Did I tell you it rained for 4 straight days? Well, the whole region flooded, and on Sat morning, we were to leave for Danang. Charlotte and I were catching a flight to Hanoi in the afternoon. Our taxi driver, Dong, showed up early that morning to say, "We have to leave now! The water is rising and we won't be able to get to Danang!" So we finished packing quick and jumped into the car. On the highway, on either side of us, we could see homes and rice fields completely flooded. People were in boats rowing around where there used to be land. An hour into the trip, our small car had to traverse a part of the highway that looked like a waterfall. I thought for sure we would be washed away downstream. We traveled a good 100 meters through water that almost covered the tires. We thought we were home free, but just a few kilometers up the road, there was an even bigger section of flooded highway to cross and they weren't letting any cars or motorbikes through whatsoever. Only buses. So we said goodbye to our taxi driver and hopped on the next bus that came along. This one wasn't overpacked, but there were about 30 live chickens on the floor by our feet! Driving through the floodwaters took forever. We traveled probably a whole kilometer and I kept thinking about what I would do if the bus got swept into the raging current. Luckily, the bus was fine. No one else on the bus seemed to be noticing how high or fast the waters were moving. Maybe it was because I was sitting next to the open doorway? Ah, it was quite an adventure. We made it to the airport in plenty of time. |
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Feature Fundraiser: Machu PicchuIn August 2006 we will be hiking to Machu Picchu in Peru to raise funds for endangered rainforest in Ecuador, among the most threatened pristine forest eco-systems on the planet. Funds raised in the climb will go towards buying and protecting land in two of our Ecuadorian reserves.more >> |
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