1st Day Interior

Our first day interior we were able to go out in the morning into the jungle and help clear a place for a garden.  These people use a slash and burn method of preparing their gardens.  First they chop down all the overgrowth and small trees and then when that has had time to dry they will set it on fire and let it burn.  After that they will plant their gardens, mostly consisting for dry rice.


Every time we took a break this man would take everyone’s knife and sharpen it, so the next time you went out you had a freshly sharpened knife.


Of course they fed up lunch which was cooked right there where we were working.  They made 2 different dishes, chicken with some kind of green leaves and wild jungle pig with another kind of green leaves and then of course it was eaten with rice.


This is how our morning went.  We got there and they were already taking a break so they served us VERY sweet coffee and we sat around “resting” for about 20 min.  Then everyone picked up their knives and headed and started slashing down the over brush.  We literally worked for about 20 min and then we took another break for about 30 min where we were given sugarcane to eat (pictured above).  After enjoying out sugarcane we went back out and worked for 20 min and then came in for another break, this one was probably 30-45 min.  After that the people told us not to come back out because they were afraid we would get too hot and exhausted, so we sat there and watched them work for about 20 min and then they came back to finish up lunch and eat.  Now I know this doesn’t sound super productive, but with a large group of people working we were actually able to get a lot done.


When cooking in the jungle one makes do with what one has.


This lady was striping reed things in order to make baskets.


Here I am modeling the traditional area hat . . . what do you think?


This little girl slept for a long time in the little makeshift reed shelter that had ben built, she was so cute, but a little scared when she woke up and her mom wasn’t there, but just a bunch of strange white girls.