immensely as the trees block out the refreshing breeze and lock in the hot
sticky air. Where is my water? Back at
the top?… yeah, back at the top. I just keep lugging that pipe along,
hoping over logs, ducking under branches and doing my best to keep my footing
all the while huming, ‘… cause every
little thing is going to be alright’. I wipe my brow and kneel down in a
stream and splash cool, refreshing water on my sweaty face as I hear Maleak
yell out, ‘Lunch time!’
Nordstrom to eat lunch that was prepared by the girls. Fresh lettuce and green
beans picked straight from our farm that were steamed with a curry seasoning,
and a side of rice. Delicious. Utensils in the jungle? Pffffft, ha! We use our hands.
to say, ‘So your… uh… Prime Minister…
he is negro’, in a matter of fact type statement. We all look at each other
and slowly let out a laugh and say, ‘Yes…
our President is black.’
‘Obama right?’
‘Yes, Obama.’
We continue to chit chat with Maleak, mostly trying to
describe what words are in English while he does the same with his native Bengla
dialect. Some of our girls that have been growing out their leg hair for months
(don’t worry about them, they’re… uh, just being all-natural) ask him if women
have leg hair in Bangladesh. With an
unfortunate look on his face he looks down and replies, ‘Yes.’
After lunch the dreaded food coma starts to set in. I get up
and wash the dishes in an effort to avoid falling asleep, only to be grumpy
when I am woken up to work in a few minutes. Hi ho, hi ho, back to the jungle we go. We clumsily carry a pipe to
its final (fingers crossed) resting place only to retrace our steps, grab
another pipe and drag it to where we left off.
The path of traveling pipeline cut right through another
farm while in route which offered a great view of the mountains off in the
distance. Every time I passed through I noticed a hazy cloud growing ever
closer. Sure enough, before long we are literally inside the hazy cloud getting pelted with
heavy raindrops. Ever been in a tropical
rainforest during a rainstorm? Quite a sight to see.
The once slippery rocks and wood below became even more
slick. Slabs of mud suction onto every yellow rain boot trespassing through its
midst creating a lovely smacking sound.
Leeches come out of hiding and slowly crawl towards your bare skin to feast on
your blood. Thick drops of rain pelt your body soaking you to the very core.
Best part of it all, the further along we ventured with the
pipeline, the rain picked up, the thicker the vegetation got and more difficult
trekking became. Maleak was leading the pack, and taking the absolute harshest
course possible, at least that is what
was going through my head. We follow the pipeline along, laughing and
soaking in the experience of following a pipe in the Malaysian jungle in a
torrential downpour when we see the pipe disappear underneath an impenetrable
mashed together pile of thorny branches. What
the heck Maleak?!
crawl through the mud it was. The crawl lasted for forty or so feet. As we inched on a
few comments came out along the lines of,
‘How about those poor saps sitting in their cozy houses right now? Pfffft yeah,
probably drinking coffee. Who’d wanna be
doing that right now?’ In the middle
of our rant we flop out onto a trail, muddy and flabbergasted. The trail was
running parallel to our path and it was only a few feet to the left. What the heck Maleak?! Following the
trail, we came upon the farm in only a few seconds to see Maleak laughing. We
embraced and couldn’t wipe the smiles off of our faces. The girls asked, ‘So how was it?’ In unison, Daniel, Craig
and I reply, ‘You have no idea.’
Hopping into the driver seat of the van I hightail it back
home so I can hop into shower. Heated shower… Ahhh yeah. Stripping down I look down and see circle shaped blood
marks on my legs and torso. LEECHES! I frantically check my crotch… and then
the rest of my body… and then my crotch again for more leeches. Clear. Thank
God.
Just another day in the jungle. I currently am setting the alarm on my watch.
Will I get up at the time I set it? Probably not. Only tomorrow will reveal what adventures lie
ahead. Until then…
