Living With The Wild Boys…

Our trips usually starts with mayhem. No matter how much I plan ahead of time, no matter how on top of things I think I am, things always fall apart in the last couple of hours when we are trying to leave – that’s when the mayhem comes in. This time it was different. The boys had all of their things ready at least two days before, and I only had a few incidentals that needed to be done. I even had time to make 132 latkes the day before we were leaving to take in to Noam and Teva’s classes. And, I cleaned my fish tank – a job I had neglected for MONTHS. Something felt wrong. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop – I must be forgetting something, something big.

Our plan was to sleep in this morning, get up, work as a team to clean the house and pack the car. I was going to go to my physio to get my foot taped up before the trip, and we would leave between 2 and 2:30. Aubrey even considered going to the office for two hours. And then, it happened. 

We got a call last evening that Bev (Aubrey’s Mom) broke her ankle and would be having surgery around noon. We would try to leave by 9 so we could see her before she went in for surgery. We got up at 7 and then the mayhem started, in spite of all our preparations, we were running around like maniacs – again. We didn’t manage to leave until almost 10:30 and then I had to go to the pharmacy because my pair of compression socks I had bought for the plane was missing one of the socks.

Good news is, we made it to the hospital in time to see Bev before surgery. She is in good spirits and we found out later she got through the surgery fine. I made the boys all wear masks in her room because they were coughing, and didn’t think Bev or her roommates would appreciate their germs. They actually got a kick out of it and didn’t take the masks off, even in the parking lot, until they got back to the car.

We went back to Bev’s apartment to have some lunch and rest up for a couple of hours before we had to meet Maxine and Michelle at the airport. We picked up my brother and after we got to the airport he took our car home.

The trip otherwise so far has been uneventful. Travelling with 4 boys who are tired and hungry is no picnic at times, there are many personalities to referee, but we all made it onto the plane intact. We will be stopping in Keflavik, Iceland for about 7 hours and will take the opportunity to rest in a nearby hotel which Michelle booked for us. The Aurora forecast is pretty dismal, which is disappointing, but at least we can focus on resting, and not chasing the Northern Lights.

P.S. Have safely landed in Keflavik, now in an old army base hotel to nap for three hours before heading back… 

Mountain Biking in Whistler

August 10, 2018

When talking to my friend Charlene about our trip, she mentioned they were going to bring their mountain bikes and suggested maybe we could look into renting some. My family likes to bike, but we are by no means serious cyclists. We always have good intentions, but don’t seem to get out for rides as a family often. We have predominantly road bikes, but we are up for trying anything.

Mark did some research and we decided to rent bikes at Lost Lake and explore the trails between Lost Lake, Green Lake and Alta Lake. The trails were breathtaking, pedalling through old growth forests amongst the towering trees. We had been a little concerned about everyone being able to keep up and stay together so Mark set some ground rules. We established a leader and a sweep; whomever was the leader had to stop at every crossroads and wait till everyone caught up. We figured it might be challenging for Teva to keep up with the older kids, so I stayed at the back, to make sure Teva did not feel left behind, Aubrey took the position of sweep in case anyone got into trouble. I was loving every minute of it, until we started climbing up the hills.

First of all, I needn’t have worried about Teva: I was eating his dust. He was definitely able to mostly keep up with the older kids. I was the one who was not able to keep up. It was oppressively hot and I was not coping well with the heat, even in the shade of the trails. As we were climbing the hill, me looking like a tomato, I was seriously considering turning around, coasting down to the lake, jumping in and then waiting in the shade for the rest of the group to meet up with me later in the day.

Aubrey being the sweep, patiently climbed the hill with me, cheering me on the whole way. I told him the Plan B that I had formulated in my head. At least three times I told him that I couldn’t go on, and he would not let me give up. Somehow, I managed to climb the hill, recover, and then continue on for many more hours of riding. We stopped for about an hour and a half to eat lunch and swim. I chose not to swim at this junction, even though I was hot, because I was not crazy about the idea of riding with a wet bottom, while already suffering from some soreness from my bike saddle. I rested in the shade, had a delicious frozen fruit bar, and got back on the bike. All in all, we rented the bike for 5 and a half hours, including our lunch break. We biked through so many beautiful places. It was truly wonderful, even though I was definitely starting to feel my age. 

We were sad to leave Whistler and our friends, but adventure was calling, and I definitely needed a little bit of recovery time before we would be embarking on our 4 day kayak trip off northern Vancouver Island.

The River of Broken Dreams

Alta Lake to Green Lake, Whistler BC

August 9, 2018

There is something truly amazing about connecting with a soul sister. I met my friend Charlene on a group hike in Japan 23 years ago and we instantly had a connection. In spite of our relationship having some potential awkwardness (we dated the same guy, whom neither of us keep in touch with anymore), we became fast friends, spending time together whenever we could. 

After my year in Japan, we kept in touch, she came to Toronto for our wedding, and I visited her in Seattle a few times including her wedding where I had the honour of being in her wedding party. Then we started having kids, life got busy and although I thought about her often, we weren’t in as close touch as we once were. About a year and a half ago, we got back in touch again and it was as if no time had passed. We had this plan to come to BC, so I asked if she might want to meet up with us while we were here – which brings us to today.

We met Charlene, her husband Mark, and two of her three kids for a few days in Whistler as part of our great BC adventure. As soon as I pulled into the driveway and opened the car door, before I even got out, Charlene practically tackled me! I was so happy to finally see her, I almost cried.

We unloaded our stuff into the condo and our kids immediately started playing cards together. They connected instantly.  Their older son is 18 and wasn’t able to come on the family vacation, but they brought their younger son who is 15 and their daughter who is 13 – it was a great fit. 

The weather was hot. Almost 34 degrees celsius. We decided that instead of mountain biking, we should float down the “River of Golden Dreams”. It was billed as a lazy river you can blissfully float down over a period of 2 – 4 hours. Considering the heat, this seemed like the perfect choice. Charlene’s family drove from Seattle with everything they could possible need in the car, including one Kayak, all of their mountain bikes, and 5 inner tubes to float down the river.

I got up early that day to try and procure some inner tubes for our family as well. After visiting a few different stores as soon as they opened, I ended up at an auto parts shop that started carrying “floaties” specifically for tourists like me that kept showing up looking for a way to float down the river.  It was going to cost almost $80 each to rent kayaks or canoes, so we figured this would be the cheaper way to go. I ended up buying 5 dinghy rafts for $42 each, with only 4 oars (that’s all they had). We packed a couple of cooler bags full of snacks and  lunch, and my waterproof ukulele so we could sing songs as we floated down the lazy river. It was shaping up to be a great bonding day on the water.

We started at Alta Lake, in Rainbow Park, a gorgeous lakefront park surrounded by mountain peaks. Aubrey and Mark dropped one of our cars off at the other end of the river while Charlene and I organized the kids and supervised the inflation of the “floaties”. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the kids tossed around a disc and we waiting until the men came back from the car drop off.

We started off in Alta lake.

It was quite windy and there were lots of waves. We struggled to make our way part way across the lake to the mouth of the lazy river. Luckily, Mark had brought one Kayak and spent much time herding all of our floaties as we got swept away by the wind, towing us to safety when necessary – Our hero!

Finally we reached the mouth of the river, and we slowed right down. Now all we had to do was float – or so we thought.  Because of the lack of rainfall (note current significant issues with out of control forest fires in BC, Ontario and California), the water levels in the river were very low. There was practically no current. We had to paddle ourselves along the river. Our oars quickly proved themselves to be of little help, causing many of us to spin round and round awkwardly. Some of the inner tubes were too large to paddle with our arms. It was quite comical watching everyone trying to make their way down the river, sometimes being grounded completely, having to get up and trudge through deep muck at times to pull our floatation devices along.  We alternated between different paddling positions and propelled ourselves mostly with our ams. it was a good workout! 

We encountered many beaver dams along on the way, and had to pick up our floaties and carry them precariously over the piles of sharp sticks.

Typically, Charlene and I were at the back of the pack, Mark shepherding the group with his kayak, making sure everyone was ok.  Charlene and I reached one of the beaver dams to find our group stopped to repair 3 of our 5 rafts, as all 3 had been punctured by the sticks in the dam. Lucky for us, we had decided to bring the patch kits with us, just in case.  We also were smart enough to bring a foot pump so we could re-inflate the rafts when necessary. None of these obstacles dampened our spirits. We were still all having a blast – it was all part of the adventure.

We were not the only ones on the river. We were passed by several kayaks and canoes who definitely not struggling the same way we were, but they didn’t seem to be having nearly as much fun. At one point I realized that my Waterman (waterproof ukulele) was serving as a much more effective paddle than the oars that came with the dinghy.  For at least twenty minutes, I lay on my stomach on my dinghy like a beached whale, pasty white legs sticking out the back of the boat, paddling with my ukulele, laughing all the way. This picture in my mind’s eye seemed so absurd that I had a laugh attack that didn’t cease for at least 10 minutes. What a great release!

There were a few other parties on the river on at the same time as ours. One group was a family of Eastern European background. Many of them lived in the Vancouver area, and some were visiting from overseas. One of them bought a Zodiac from Costco (no outboard motor on it though) which they paddled through the river, and then there were other assorted floating devices as well: a swan with a crown, a doughnut, and a poop emoji floating raft. They were a hilarious group, with several little kids in tow. One of the women sprung a slow leak in her doughnut, so every time we met up with them, she would borrow our pump to top her up. 

Sometime later, we encountered another beaver dam, and my dinghy was punctured, probably because I had been feeling smug earlier when the kids’ rafts were punctured, and I was thinking to myself that they “needed to be more careful” with their rafts. Another repair was needed, and another break. Unfortunately, we didn’t wait long enough for the glue to make a proper seal, and now I was the one stopping every now and then to top up my dinghy with the foot pump.

There was another interesting group floating down the river, made up of young people from many different places: a couple of Aussies, Brits, Kiwis, one guy from Ireland, two women from Saskatchewan and a couple women from BC and Alberta. They were the party float. They had an assortment of floating rafts, many coolers of drinks and were clearly drunk and having a great time.

I was chatting with the European group when I realized Charlene had fallen quite a bit behind. I said goodbye to them and waited for her on a river bank.  After they rounded the corner, they came face to face with a 300 pound bear. They started banging their paddles and making noise, scaring the bear up into a tree. I saw the bear in the tree and decided I should alert the party group and wait for Charlene. I paddled over to the international party group and let them know about the bear in the tree and some of them (clearly intoxicated) immediately started panicking and trying to swim up river, dragging their rafts behind them. I told them all to calm down and we made a plan. At this point, I had no idea what kind of bear it was (it looked brown from where I was sitting), so I suggested we wait for Charlene, raft together, and float down past the bear and hope for the best. I had seen the other group float by with no problem. I figured were were safer in numbers.

So that is what we did. We paddled by the bear, the party group freaking out while taking lots of photos and some video. Once the bear was out of sight, Charlene and I headed out on our own to catch up to everyone else.

When we finally arrived at the put out point, we noticed two conservation officer cars in the parking lot. Apparently, after we saw it, the bear had come down out of the tree and ripped a backpack off of someone in the park. They were called to hunt the bear and redirect it with rubber bullets. Crazy.

The parking lot in the late afternoon was still hot in the sun. But the entire time we swam and floated and paddled our way along the river, we were pleasantly cool and comfortable in the sun, soothed by the glacier-fed river.

The River of Golden Dreams was only 4.5 km long (plus our lake crossing) and it took us over 5 hours to “float down”. We definitely could have walked faster, but it was never about the destination, or the timing, but about the journey. We all made lots of memories that day.

photo credit: Charlene Li

Reflections on Travelling Light….

This week I had many experiences I have never had before. When my older three boys were all away, I wanted to make sure that Teva would have an adventure of his own to share when reunited with his brothers. Unfortunately Aubrey was working like a maniac for most of the time that the boys were away. A plan was hatched for Teva and I to go on a 5 day trip with no plans…

We decided to fly to Quebec City, and then see where the wind took us from there. The weather forecast wasn’t looking promising – there was a potential for thunderstorms every day we were there. I didn’t want to book anything because of the possibility of cancellation. This actually turned out to be a perfect decision.

We stayed in an Air Bnb with a lovely family with 2 girls aged 6 and 9. This gave Teva all sorts of opportunity to practice his French language skills as they spoke next to no English. I on the other hand, had the opportunity to fully appreciate how much my French language skills had depreciated over the years. Hard to believe I was practically fluent when I left Ottawa in 1990. And although my Hebrew skills are also not what they used to be, they still managed to get in the way of my French.

Teva and I travelled light – each with a backpack and we brought my guitalele (or ukeguitar). Every morning we would wake up whenever we felt like it, Teva was usually up before me, reading quietly in his bed. We would eat breakfast and take the bus downtown. The family lived about a 25 minute ride on the city bus to the downtown core. Often, whatever we planned to do when we left the house, would change as soon as we got off the bus. For example, Wednesday we had a plan to go back to the Petit Champlain area for lunch, but we were a bit late, and the buses stopped going right into the Old City because of road closures. There were a a few temporary stops set up, and the new stop was right in front of the Farmer’s Market. We went there to pick up lunch items instead and had a picnic by the water. That is also when we discovered the Tall Ships Regatta (the reason for the road closures). We hung around there for several hours instead. It did rain, but it did not dampen our spirits – we ate well, saw lots of public art and public performances, and even got to tour a bunch of the Tall Ships. We were really never in a rush, and often took the time to stop in a shady spot, or a cafe, to people-watch or read from one of Teva’s new books.

Because we had left our plans open and flexible, we were able to fully enjoy every moment we were there. Because we were not tied to a schedule, we made spilt second decisions that almost always turned out to be better than we had imagined. We were free and open to take advantage of any opportunity that presented itself. It forced us to be present in the moment, every moment. It was truly liberating.

It felt very strange travelling alone with Teva. I kept feeling as though I was forgetting something. Even Aubrey and I have not done any travelling just the two of us for a long while. I had almost forgotten how to travel as a duo rather than in a pack.

I was very lucky that I had such a great travel partner. He was open to anything. I am sure it was empowering for him too. I encouraged him to make most of the decisions, and I also pushed him outside his comfort zone. I noticed that he did a lot less yelling than usual because he didn’t have to strain his voice to be heard. I enjoyed the time we spent together immensely, really getting to appreciate his personality even more than usual. Also, without brothers around to amuse him, he has finally settled into solo reading for pleasure. I will always be grateful for this time I had just the two of us, because as I already know too well, time passes in the blink of an eye. We saw an adorable 6 week-old baby in the airport. This underscored the fact that my baby is now 8!!! I am enjoying this next phase in our lives, when I get to see our boys’ unique personalities develop.

I fell in love with Quebec City, and am now looking forward to returning someday with our whole pack…

July 24
San Rafael Falls

As promised, Sandra and a driver picked us up at 630 am. We grabbed leftover cake for breakfast and said goodbye to our last minute host, Alicia. In the light, it was clear how beautiful her home was, and similar in size to a modern large house in Canada.

As the six of us had slept in two singles and a double, there was a lot of tossing and turning. No one admitted to it, but everyone was tired. During the day, Aubrey read most of the first Harry Potter book out loud. Teva, who has decided he would be in Hufflepuff due to his loyalty, was quite the trooper despite feeling quite unwell from the start. Early on, we had to make a couple of sudden vomit pit stops, but he managed to participate in the whole day, with a lot of lying down, crackers, and fluids.

After spending a week with Sandra, a multi-talented young woman who was our facilitator through the jungle, we had discussed with her visiting two beautiful waterfalls near her home. We could also visit her llamas and her mama. We were excited about taking the city bus, but the four hour drive and a few destinations led to her arranging a more efficient mode of transport via minivan and driver. Plus we could give her a lift home as well.

So the drive into the cloud forest near Baesa was beautiful again. We could clearly see many volcanoes and mountains around Quito, and the vistas and waterfalls as we climbed into the mountains and back down on the other side were numerous and natural.

We hiked 1.5 km to see the powerful force of the 160 metre drop of the San Rafael Falls. The water shot off the surface of the river like an explosion and became mist part way to dropping to the ground around. The hills and forest around were spectacular. Unfortunately, a new hydroelectric project (to replace dependence on oil revenue) plans to divert forty percent of the water from upstream to a place far away from the nearby active volcano. Very soon this waterfall may never look the same again.

We stopped for lunch a roadside truck stop where the menu is chicken with rice, chicken soup, or rice with egg and potato. She sold out with our eight meals. It was plentiful, tasty, and the total was thirty dollars. And the food went a long way towards minimizing the ridiculous car conflicts between a few of the boys.

The Magic Falls was a shorter waterfall with a shorter hike. We were prepared to get wet, as this time, instead of a lookout from above and across the valley, we were able to walk right up the base of the falls. Or at least as close as felt safe. The water was falling with such power that a strong wind was created, jettisoning the water droplets outwards along the ground. It was hard to get close due to the winds, but even within 100 metres, it was cold and wet. We were prepared and the boys much enjoyed getting soaked and then swimming against the river flow a few hundred metres downstream.

It was getting late, so we drove Sandra, who had all day been a great source of information, back to her home. We briefly played with her four llamas and met her mother, before Milton drove us home to our apartment again.

Even though it started as a horrible day for Teva, by the end of the drive, even he felt we had had an awesome day. Tomorrow night we fly home. If only we can get Teva’s stomach settled first.

July 23

We got up earlier than usual to make sure we were packed and ready to go before breakfast. Sandra and Koren before breakfast finally played and sang the Ecuadorian song learned and practiced diligently daily at Minga Lodge. We said our last thank yous and goodbyes to the great support staff and headed for our 90 minute canoe ride downriver to catch our plane back to Quito.

We glided (in our motorized gargantuan canoe) past mostly secondary forest and tiny communities along this previously isolated river and jungle region, until we reached the large city of Coca, apparently still deep in the Amazon. Reflecting on our week in the Amazon, we learned so much from the community we worked with, both in the village and as a group of travellers. We really enjoyed meeting the other two families and working with them as a team. It was difficult to say goodbye to everyone, but we believe our connection will not end here.

After the short flight to Quito, immediately feeling the head and breathing pressure of the high altitude again, our group took a walking tour around a few important churches and Squares in Old Town of Quito, the first city to be designated a world heritage site. We got to hear not only about the Spanish Catholic building wonders, but also about the manner in which the street of the seven crosses actually used the Native peoples’ road from the sacred Sun God vista to the Moon God vista and placed churches all along the route as part of the conversion coercion. We viewed an active church and monastery, complete with a huge religious art collection, many courtyards, prisoner parrots with clipped wings to prevent flight, and a gilded cathedral with a ceiling made with thousands of interlocking wood pieces (no nails or glue used). They had to decommission the organs to keep the ceiling intact. Outside, a metro is being built, ensuring the buildings and bricks are preserved. So, the bricks of the old market, over 300 years old, were numbered prior to their temporary removal for the construction.

Koren checked email around 4:30pm to find out that our accommodation was no longer available for that night, and we were suddenly scrambling to figure out where we were going to sleep. After a lot of back and forth, the people who were originally renting the apartment to us found us another accommodation (a computer glitch on their end was responsible for the error, sparing you the details). Finally, we arranged for transportation to take us to the new mystery location after a nice local dinner, as it was on the outskirts of town.

Our driver had a little difficulty finding the place, but we made it. The owner of the house immediately welcomed us with open arms, even though she did not speak any English. Somehow we understood she was in the middle of a baptism party and we were welcome to join them. They were celebrating the baptism of their 10 month old granddaughter, Sol. Their house was full of people dressed in fancy clothes. We had come directly from the Amazon, and were feeling a bit tired and dishevelled, but she insisted we come and join the party.

There was a tent set up in the backyard, there were two family members playing beautiful Spanish guitar and people were singing along. Everyone was in a great mood and welcomed us warmly, offering us food and drink. After we were introduced to a few dozen people, Aubrey excused himself to start putting kids to bed while Koren attempted to make conversation in Spanish with some of the family. Koren joined the party by pulling out the music to the one Ecuadorian song she had just learned. When she picked up the guitar and started to play, a relative recognized the song and sang along, and then others joined in as well. Practicing that song all week came in handy. To say that the family was surprised is an understatement. They were disappointed she did not know any other Spanish songs but then requested Father and Son by Cat Stevens. After that, we sat back and listened to the wonderful Spanish Music, and sang along with the English songs they played and sang.

It turns out some of the family members were in an alternative rock back that has quite a following in Ecuador. In fact, the father of the baby baptized was one of the founding members, but he is taking a break because his three kids are so young. His brother-in-law is still in the band, called “Nonmind”. You should check them out on YouTube and iTunes. In the family sing-a-long, English selections included Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Guns N Roses, Tracy Chapman, and an eclectic mix of other songs. It was a lot of fun. The skill in the room was quite evident, even with so much alcohol flowing.

Koren reluctantly went to bed around 11:15 (Aubrey had excused himself earlier to ensure kids were asleep as we had already planned a 630 am pick-up), but the party went on long afterwards with raucous singing. The warmth and hospitality of this wonderful family was really special, especially as we were invited to crash their family party. The magic of travel is often most evident when things do not work out as planned but often work out better than planned.

July 22

This morning we woke up with a lot of mixed emotions. We had requested to leave earlier than usual for Bellavista so we could get more done on our last day. We were excited and eager to work, but we were feeling sad knowing it was our last day. It’s hard to believe that we leave Minga Lodge tomorrow. One bonus was that we got to go back to Bellavista in the afternoon to visit their women’s group.

We arrived at the build site very motivated. It was hot and humid, but we were determined to finish some of the tasks we started. Instead of working with rebar, we were assigned a new task of sawing boards and nailing them together to make a mold for the concrete pillars which will hold up the computer lab. Koren was a bit over enthusiastic and bent one of their saws. She did learn the error of her ways and modified her sawing technique.

Aubrey was back on the cement crew, mixing over two loads of concrete. Once mixed, the concrete was then hauled over to and poured into the foundation. Once several loads of rocks were added and the foundation smoothed and pressed, another foot of the foundation was complete. Last, we poured a wetter concrete into the freshly cut and nailed into place wooden box surrounding the rebar towers. When the concrete reached the top of the box, the first concrete pillar was wet but completed. A few small goals and milestones were reached for our group during our week here, all of which is a small but essential part of the bigger project of the computer lab. We all contribute essential or important pieces of a larger puzzle.

Everyone, including the kids, took turns hauling bags and wheelbarrows of sand from the pile by the water. By the end of the day, except for a layer covering the grass, the load from the two canoes had been moved to the build site.

When our work shift was over, all of us, and the community members in the Minga, stood in a circle and exchanged thoughts through a translator of what this week meant to all of us. We, the voluntourists, were totally inspired by the community members and their commitment to making changes to help the children in their community thrive. They had to sacrifice a lot of time, energy and materials to join in this partnership with Free the Children, but they knew it was going to be worth it. They welcomed us, were patient with our lack of skills and knowledge, and let us be a part of their Minga, their team. This work together is something we will always treasure.

After lunch, we returned to Bellavista to meet the women in the alternative income project group. They showed us how they extract the fibres from local pineapple-like plants and turn them into thread. The dried and dyed thread is used with natural seeds to make jewelry, baskets and other handmade items. We were invited to make our own macrame bracelets, with their help. When we finished the two activities, they presented a traditional dance and then invited us to join them. We all had a great time dancing to the Kichwa music with the community members, some of whom we had been working with on the build site all week.

Getting back in the canoe was hard because we knew it was the last time we would see everyone. When we returned to Minga, we visited the brand new (air-conditioned) store filled with Ecuadorian handicrafts, including those made in Bellavista.

After dinner we were treated to a dynamic show put on by a local family. They dressed in traditional Amazonian costumes and explained some of their ancient traditions through music and dance. The dancing was incredibly lively and the costumes and makeup were quite elaborate. The performers were all in the same family, the grandparents and even one of the granddaughters was in the show. At the end, we all joined them, and had another big dance party. It was hot and humid, and it was hard to believe they were able to keep up that level of dynamic dancing for an hour and a half. We were all exhausted after just one song.

Every day, we share in a ritual of relating our own highlights of the day. Tonight we also shared our highlight of the trip. Much was said of the impact of working with the Bellavista community and with each other.

We ended the day with a “Happy” song with new camp-style lyrics directed at Sandra, Kristin, and Miguel. We said some goodbyes and looked forward to our long canoe ride down river to the airport in the morning.

July 21

This morning we stopped at the local Thursday market in Los Rios. We arrived close to 10am so many of the stalls had already closed or were closing up. There was an interesting selection of fruits, vegetables, handicrafts, clothes, shoes and other things useful for the house. After listening to a few of the tracks, we bought a CD of Kichwa pop music recommended by our build site coordinator, Ismael, ostensibly based on her appearance on the cover.

Then we headed back to Bellavista. The kids played a long game of soccer with the local kids. Unfortunately, the North American kids were wearing rubber boots, which resulted in a couple of nasty blisters for Erez. The adults got right to work, Koren carrying bags and wheelbarrows of sand, Aubrey trying almost all of the jobs. Rebar was cut, bent, tied, then the rebar pillars were cemented into place for the foundation. We have all gotten a bit of a rhythm going and look forward to the work. After the soccer game, the kids joined the work team once again. It was hot, and we all felt as though we had earned our showers and lunch.

Today was a bit of a rough day for Teva, who was feeling under the weather almost the entire day. He took a shower and a nap over lunch hour, and luckily was able to join the group for our afternoon activities. Water and sleep seemed to help him back to himself by dinner.

We took a short canoe ride down river to visit the home of Jose, a local community member who serves as a part-time traditional healer. He was chosen to succeed his father-in-law, who was a healer and a Shaman. He was very reluctant, but at thirty-five finally committed to studying the ancient knowledge of traditional plants in the jungle so it would not be lost completely. For forty years, he was a reluctant healer and only treated his family. Three years ago he healed two ill village children and word got out that he possessed this knowledge. He then began to function as a healer for the community. He also shared his knowledge with tourists who visit two of the local lodges, including Minga where we staying.

Jose is very soft spoken and patiently answered all of our questions. He then did a cleansing ceremony for everyone in our group, in small groups. He lit a tube made of dried banana leaves stuffed with dried tobacco leaves, puffed on it, and blew the smoke all over the person he was “treating”. Then he blew some smoke into a bunch of two types of fresh leaves and waved them methodically around the head and body of each person. When he was finished, he shook the “bad air” away from the person before he moved on to the next patient. Each person took around 4-5 minutes.

It was mesmerizing. Our four boys went first, and we were amazed by how still and calm they were throughout the whole ceremony, sitting upright, eyes closed, palms up, for a full 20 minutes while the whole group was treated. It was a very interesting experience. After his treatment, Teva whispered to me that he no longer felt even a little bit sick.

After the ceremony, we went to Jose’s backyard, and Sandra explained some of the hunting methods used in the Amazon rainforest, including letting us use a blow gun. Chicken and a rooster crowed and raced around the yard.Only one person in our whole group, Mike, managed to hit the target (a small papaya), but everyone did a great job blowing the “curare” blow darts.

The Minga and Free the Children (involving a fair bit of our own child labour) portion of our trip is nearly over. The three families are getting along great and break time is now spent socializing as a group. Tomorrow is our last day in the Amazon.