Just a little something...

I have decided that each day of our stay I'm going to write about an interesting event that took place that day, because it always seems like there are so many things that happen that I forget about until reminiscing about them months or years later.

So, in order to tell this story I need to give you a little back ground information in order to fully grasp the situation. Each day I have been running (okay more like jogging) to the fishing village either in the morning or while the girls are napping. For those of you who know me well, you know that I almost loath running, but you also know that I feel this driving need to exercise everyday - which is probably part of my diagnosis (what diagnosis you may ask - well that is to be determined at this point). To me running is painful, rutile, and boring that often leaves me feeling like I'm going to pass out only yards into it. So, each day I have ran to this village and back and then rewarded myself with a rum/fruit drink.

Well, today I decided to run to the fishing village with my backpack on and a pile of small bills to try to get a workout in while seeing if they had any fish. Each day we kayak as family to the fishing village to get fish - they have been out for many days and their reason for this varies from: the sea is too rough or the fishermen are still out drinking to celebrate the New Year; from my experiences here so far I would say the latter is the more accurate rationale for the lack of fish in my belly. Therefore, today I set off with a backpack and barefoot. All of the native indian tribes around here walk around barefoot and my tennis shoes were soaked and smelled foul so I thought why not?

It was a completely different situation barefoot. It added a dimension of difficulty that I had not expected. It was also painful, but in a somewhat pleasant way. The first part of the run was on the beach and the second half is through the jungle. So, at first you are working against the resistance of the sand then you are avoiding obstacles in the jungle - such as roots, coconuts, and other vegetation. I arrived at the fishing village only to be turned down again for my request for fish and told to come back in the evening (so I guess another kayak trip will be in order this evening). I turn around to run back. On my run back I start to think about how this would be a great sport -running through the jungle then I start to think how sweet it would be to bike (which is my default) - I wipe this from my mind and go back to barefoot running on the beach and through the jungle as a sport. Then I pass the spot where we usually dock our kayaks and remember that just a couple of days before when we were there that this unusual creature tried to bore its way into Lance's foot before he let out a yelp and had me pull it out (some strange bug). Well today we were talking to a Peace Corp worker that is helping the indigenous indian tribe here learn English and he was telling us about a coworker that had this happen to her and the creature laid eggs under his skin- they had to wait for them to hatch then put duct tape over the site to suffocate these beasts so they would bore their way out - horrible! Anyway, this may be a risk of barefoot running through the rain forrest.

I run along a bit further between jungle and beach, kind of half way and in the middle of no where; when I come up upon two teenage boys - one with a machete. I smile and say hello as I run past. Then the thought comes back to me about a conversation that we had earlier today with a lady that manages a few of the beach properties here and she told us that these two boys broke into a tourist house while they were at the New Year's celebration down the beach and ate their food and stole their liquor - a harmless crime I was thinking when the lady told us about it earlier, but now here I was in the middle of no where with them and a machete. What is a girl to do, with the quirt of adrenaline that entered my system - at that point my strides became longer and my pace became quicker. "Don't turn, don't turn around, run faster, run faster" Then I come upon the next beach house with two children snorkeling in the ocean and I started to think "maybe my girls would like to play with them". Crazy how my life being in danger became an afterthought 3o strides down the beach and was now forgotten. I run up to our beach house and see Lance sitting on the porch reading a book and all I can think to say is "there was no fish again".

cheer until tomorrow...