Still Kickin!

So it´s been a hell of a good long while since I put anything up on this page, but not to worry, Iºm still alive and kicking, and have even managed top get rid of the foot worms. There´s way too much in the last month or so to try to summarize everything, and Iºm paying out the wazoo for internet right now, so Iºll be real brief.

I did make it to help train the new volunteers oin Praia...barely. The night BEFORE I was supposed to leave, I woke to the sounds of rain and knocking on my door to find Banana, a driver from my town, on my doorstep. He had come at 3AM to my house to tell me that if I intended to gert out of Cha dÍgreja anytime in the next few WEEKS, IU needed to leave right that instant, as the rains were growing heavier and, according to him, the road was likely to be washed completely away. So, I left in a hurry and spent the night in Garça, sleeping in his van.

Then on to Praia for the PST training. The new group of volunteers was a good one, lots of enthusiasm and idealism. PC put me up in a great hotel with AC, hot water, pretty receptionists, clean sheets every day, and free breakfast every morning. Three weeks of spectacular comfort, with the exception of the nasty oozing, puss filled lacerations that were growing on my feet. (Those seem tyo be all better now Mom.)

At the end of PST, PC had me escort the new volunteers who are posted on my island and on Sao Vicente to their houses and make sure they all got settled in OK, only to have me returnming all the way to Preaia to do MY OWN training just 4 days later. Lotsa travelling. LOTSA travelling.

WhenI tried to get to Cha dÍgreja, I only made it to Garça, the town about an hour´s walk up the mountain from my vilage. After that, the road was, true to Banana´s word, completely obliterated...as in , nonexistant...as if there had never ever been a road there. A volcano might as well have errupted there. The rains that were falling three weeks before continued to fall for four days, and all of that water formed a confluence just above Cha dÍgreja, and ran like a herd of buffallo strait to the sea...taking the road to my town, and the power lines, with it. So, I put my enormous bag (I had three weeks of clothes with me, plus a million other things that PC gave me to deliver to the other V´s on my island) on top of my head and sdtarted what turned out to be a three hour walk through a fairly rushing river (water was up to my knees) that eventually turned into a two foot thick soup of mud, gravel rocks and slop. In my town (remember they had already gone three weeks with no power and no road to connect them to the outside world) there was no chicken, no milk, no rice, no flour, no veggies (there usually aren´t)...basically the shelves of the three mini markets in my town were completely bare. I lived off PBJ sandwhiches and water. There were people praying daily in the church for the kamera to come fix the road and the power before things got REALLY bad.

So I stayed for 3 days, then turnmed around and trekked back up the ribeira through the mud and the muck and the running water (which had receeded to about 8 inches deep) and was happy top find a giant bulldozer shoving rocks and boulders into the ribeira to divert the water so that they could try to repair the road.

Back in PRaia for three days of training. Then back to my town. (That´s three cars, two hiaces, one boat, one plane, three taxis and a three hour walk, each way, twice in one month. I´m TIRED.)

Getting back to Cha d´Igreja, the road was STILL not done, and there was still no power. A group of six women had hiked 6 hours over the mountain to Povoçon and six hours back to buy 20 Kg bags of rice, onions, and dried milk. They sold all of it on the street in less than an hour.

Anyway, as of two days ago the road is passable (but by no means good, or even safe for the cars to go on, as the driversw make everybody get out at one point where the slope is tilted and the hiaces are dangerously close to tipping over into the ribeira) but there is still no power. Rumors are going around that it´ll ber back on this week. We´ll see.

All that to say that Iºve been pretty busy and am ready for a nice rest. I´ve got lots of good stories about some other little adventures over the past month and Iºll get to them as soon as electricity permits. For now, please enjoy a few pictures that I´ve taken since last we spoke.

ALSO, I MUST mention that a HUMONGOUS care package arrived from the Culprits, which will require an blog entry all its own. Until Iºm able to post that, please accept my most sincere thanks...it made all the trials of the previous minth well worth it. I miss everyone and expect a ton of e-mails in the next few days with updates on everyone at home.

Take Care,

LUV, Caley