Today was supposed to be a work day, but it is also Saturday. The villagers wanted to take the day to visit their family members that work in the fields. Many of the villagers that work in the rice and corn fields stay in a hut right by the field. They did not want us to work without them or without their supervision, so we decided to take the day to have fun.
Ra Pi packed each of us a lunch of fried rice wrapped in a banana leaf and tied with a bamboo string. A truck took us to a village across the mountain; we only got stuck in the mud once. The trail took us through the village passed stilted houses were residents peeked curiously out at us. Many of the onlookers hid when they saw us coming; the shyness of this culture continues to amaze me.
The trail continued down the mountain through tall bamboo, jungle vegetation, and thorny bushes.
After a good distance we crawled down a steep hill; I think each of us fell at least once.
But the treacherous path was worth the view out over squares of green rice paddies. Heads popped up and down among the rice as the farmers work. One little girl watched as we clumsily walked across the mud walls that dropped into pools of water and rice plants.
The thorny plants had ripped up our legs so much that we decided to walk right down the stream rather than taking the path. The river led us to a large cave where the water continued down into the darkness. The villagers had warned us that three anacondas had been sighted in the cave, so I decided to just go right into the entrance of the cave and not any farther.
After the cave we walked back up the river and dropped the guys off at one of the rice paddy huts. They had decided to camp out so they could have a guy’s night. A shorter trail took us on a steeper path up the mountain. The climb was tough, but the view of God’s creation was worth it. The Lord provided amazing weather for us today. This is one of the first sunny days we have had. The weather held out even as we rode on the back of the pick-up truck. As we pulled into Ban Din the clouds rolled in and the rain came down.
