in the jungle, the mighty jungle...

what a day!
we had a 5.20 am wake up call, and from there we hiked to a hill tribe in the philippine jungle to do a service for a church there. the hike down (notice the word down) in to the village was not too hard, we were there in about an hour. the team did an amazing job! they performed their sign song and this awesome drama called everything, and matt gave a testimony and antti preached the sermon. it was his first sermon in english, and he did a fantastic job! from there, since we brought them rice, they took us to their sacred waterfalls. picture it. got it in your head? good. now...it was nothing like that! the hike itself wasn't hard, but i have never been hotter in my life! i know for a fact that that day was the hottest day in my personal history. have you ever been to the butterfly habitats in zoos? you know how its humid and warm? thats what it felt like, times 5! sweat was dripping down my face, and all i was doing was walking, my back was soaked from carrying my backpack, and my sunglasses kept fogging up so much that i had to take them off. yup, it was HOTT! after hiking UP the river (and i do mean up!) for about an hour, we came across these huge boulders, which no one in their sane mind would never think about traversing across, unless you were a professional. about halfway through i broke down and started crying, so frustrated and angry i was that we were doing this...climbing over rocks and across boulders, all of these thoughts kept flooding my mind, "what are we putting the students through, they are my responsibility, if anything happens theres no way we can move them! what would their parents say?" and many other thoughts not fit for typing as well :)
we finally made it to the top, i got furious! the stupid waterfall was more like a water trickle, and you couldn't even swim, it was so shallow! gary finally got me to wade in and sit in the few inches of water against the waterfall and let the water cascade down my back, and that was nice. in that moment i was so frustrated that i didn't care if it was some sacred ancient waterfall, i couldn't stop thinking about the hike back we still had in front of us! we stayed there for about an hour, and then started the hike back...they took us another way, and it was SO much easier! after the initial boulder climb, we went down a trail that was overall pretty flat and easy to walk. i was somewhere in the middle of everyone, alone except for my child guide (its true, we had one tiny old man and three CHILDREN guiding us down the path!), when it started to rain! and then it really started raining! and then, in an instant, the day just got better! i don't know what it was about the rain, but i just started to really enjoy myself! i mean really, what are you supposed to do in a situation like that? we were 3 miles deep in the philippine jungle, hiking around, swatting unknown bugs off of each other, praying they weren't poisonous and crossing rivers left and right (seriously, we crossed the river 5 times on the way back!), and it starts down pouring. you either laugh or cry. i chose to laugh :)
on one of the river crosses, the rock i stepped on decided to shift, and my foot slid down , carrying the rest of me with it, and all of the sudden i was sitting in the river, rather than walking across it. it was still raining at that point, so i was drenched anyway, it didn't make that much of a difference! gary saw that whole debacle, and ive never seen the man laugh so hard in my life! he says it was like a graceful pirouette, but im not so sure. the team did really well, sticking together and helping each other out when it got rough (roughER). when we were almost to the church (though we didn't know this at the time) we came across a watering hole where some locals were jumping off the rocks, and antti and i looked at each other with a gleam in our eyes...gary gave the okay, so we took off and jumped right in! after i was already in, i thought about praying that the water was not infested with leeches, bacteria, or other harmful toxins that would ruin our delicate american systems. we jumped off rocks, i dove off off a high one, and the whole team just had fun taking a break and swimming around! and there were no leeches. thank God. after that, and soaking wet in our clothes, we made the last leg of the hike back to the church. we prayed over the pastor, and then started the hike back. i was dreading this part most, because the whole way in i kept noticing we were going down a whole lot more than up, so i wasnt looking forward to hiking up after an entire day of hiking around. so before we cam to the rough part of the hike, we came into a village that had a jeep with a wooden sled thing on the back. im pretty sure our entire team was throwing up prayers that we would be able to ride in it, not seriously expecting anything other than a harsh hike uphill for a few hours. OH! did i mention that we did all of this in flip-flops? its true, our awesome filipino locals told us it would be no problem hiking in them! YEAH RIGHT. anyways...we passed the jeep and were trudging along when suddenly our guide said, "we ride." in the jeep! and it was SO much fun! it was such a relief to not have to be on our feet anymore, brittany, matt and i rode on the very back of the wooden sled part, with our feet dangling over the edge, letting them drag in the water when we drove across the river, and holding them up when we went over mud. they drove us all the way back into town! all the way to our house!! it was fantastic driving along the freeway in our jeep thing, with some of our team riding on top of it, and some of us riding on the back of it. we shouted mabuhay (hello in tagalog) to any local passerby, loving that the whole day had been redeemed by our swim in the watering hole and jeep ride home.
so somewhere on the hike gary had the bright idea that when we got back we should all go to dunkin' donuts and each order a dozen, buying out the store! so, we did! and we got it on film, each of us ordering a dozen donuts! thats 120 donuts! soooo sick! but really funny to watch!
overall, it was a wonderful day, and an experience i won't soon forget! that day will definitely be a highlight of this whole experience!