Mea Cupa, Mea Maxima Cupa

I have been so bad on the blog front, sorry.  The internet at base got even worse than it was when we first arrived and now there are more people here trying to access it!  I thought I could get a bunch done when we went to the nice hotel in Port Salut (more about that later) but shortly after getting there, their internet went down and wasn't restored before we left!

So, through the magic of modern electronics, I am going to try and catch up over several posts.

Three Sundays ago, saw us get into a tap-tap with 19 other people (one of them being the driver).  A tap-tap is a Toyota truck (the small ones) that have been modified to have 2 benches that run the length of the box on either side.  Some also have little benches to go down the middle to fit more people in.  Ours had a roof - thank god because several people rode up there leaving a smidge more room for the rest of us.  It also rained on the way home so those of us inside only got slightly damp.

You may ask how we got a total of 19 people into this...........creatively!!!!!!!  There were 2 people on top, 2 in the front seat (with the driver) and 15 people in the back in various contorted poses.  It does not make for a comfortable ride.  We were off to Bassins Bleu..........only 3 hours away!!!!!  And we, of course, had to get back after our visit, so that is 6 hours squeezed into the truck.  My butt still hurts.

However, the trip was sooooo worth it.  We even had to cross a river (going there....in the truck......coming back......we had to walk through the river). Once we got to the head of the trail, it was about a 20 minute walk to get to the water falls.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

This is the lower pool.  It was quite slippery coming down the
stone steps (you can see Adriana coming down them in the
 middle of the pic) to get to the middle pool.

This is what you see of the middle pool when you enter it.

And an aerial view - yes, it is stunning.  Brian gained
his senses and did not jump from this perch.  There were several
lower perches to jump from and several of the kids did - not me,
I am in the water somewhere below.

On the following Monday, we started rendering the inside of School 16 and 17.  I was going to post pictures of the rendering process but I think I will save them for a separate post when we finish the school.  Today, we started painting the inside of the schools.  There is going to be a celebration this upcoming Saturday to mark the opening and I am not sure we will have the outside painted!!!  I hope they add some volunteers to our crew.  I am very excited to see these schools through to completion and am thrilled that I get to go to the celebration.
Here are some of the students that will be attending Schools 16 and 17.  They generally come visit us on their breaks to see the "blancs" and what we are doing. Today, Veve spent most of our lunch break making paper airplanes for many of the kids.

The following Tuesday and Wednesday were national holidays so we headed up to PAP via bus.  It is amazing, a bus ride to PAP cost us the equivalent of $1.25.  However, we hired a driver to bring us back on Thursday morning for 7am, that cost us $60.  We visited with Tante Mary to just relax, however, I got a migraine so I was in bed most of the time we were there.

The following weekend, we only had Sunday off and since rendering really took it out of us, we just hung out at base, did laundry and went to the local market and made dinner.  I have a new respect for frontier women cause at base we wash our clothes in a basin with a washboard - yes, an actual washboard.  I have to say that I can handle many of the daily issues here but I absolutely hate doing laundry - I can't wait to get back to civilization!!!!!!!