From Deep, Down Under

I have got to tell you all how hard we have worked to make this blog possible--

I got to go on a mountain hiking adventure with Mark and Bekah on Monday. We drove back to the mountains on a "scooter" (motorcycle), riding 3 deep (which is totally normal, I even saw 5 on one today including an infant!). I took pictures on the way back because the mountain area seems like a totally different way of life than down in Pandan by the water.

So we hiked up to this huge mountain side that had 3 levels of waterfalls that we could climb up next to. The first hill was pretty much completely vertical for about 50 feet with tree roots to climb on and no safety harness! After the first level, there is a pool is completely clear water! Then there's a next level of rocks and tree limbs to hold onto, then another waterfall that you have to wade through... and then a vine you have to swing across!!! It was QUITE the adventure/workout to the top waterfall. At the top waterfall, there is a large pond of water that isn't crystal clear and is about 12 feet deep. At first we just messed around doing flips into the water and what not, but then we decided to be daring and climb up a completely vertical cliff. On the way back down, I jumped from half way down the cliff into the water. In the picture of Mark, you can see where we jumped from!! TERRIFYING and so wonderful for this adrenaline junky that I am! :) Anyways, my wonderful waterproof (but not floatable) camera fell to the bottom of this pond. We dove for it for literally 2 hours that day. Keep in mind that this is the filipino version of okie noodling, we were diving down 12-14 feet and sticking our hands in blind crevices. It was gross/scary/creepy/ every other scary word. We never found it. We headed back down the mountain with the decision to come back the next morning with some extra help! So the next morning we came back up at 6 am with Raymond and Sean. We carried a car battery up the mountain (yes, my legs are exhausted from this), and attached the car battery to a lightbulb inside of a whiskey bottle and continued to lower this homemade device into the water to dive in with it!! Like i have said, safety is not a big concern here. Don't worry mom and dad, i wasn't the first one in the water with this device. I observed first ;)  We dove for another 2 hours and found nothing. I figured that God just didn't mean for us to find it! :)  I came home, went to basketball practice and came back to the house to find that Mark had hired a local fisherman who is really good at diving to go back and find it. Find it he did!!! And it still works and had all my pictures!!! Kodak deserves a thank you letter from me for their quality camera!!!

Going up the root part of the mountain

Yes, swinging from the vine. i made the tarzan noise!

Yes, i also jumped from that point. terrifying! 

On another note, let me give you a little preview of a night at the Kennys house. After beach time, we drag all the beach play toys back to the house and tramp through the bamboo hut with all our wet, filth and sand. Meanwhile, Miss Patti and her medical assistants were unloading some medical supplies recently donated. At the same time, we were preparing some chicken and rice for dinner. Two patients came in to get a BP check, a pregnant Mimay having a fetal heart tone check, a wound care cleaning for a cut on a foot, and a baby to use the nebulizer. Yes, this all happened in their living room/kitchen at the same time. And everyone had a smile on their face and everyone was helping where they could. Oh, and tons of little kids were peaking their heads in from the front door to say hi to us. It was one of those beautiful disaster moments :)

Another side story- I got to use my Texas football knowledge yesterday at beach ;)) I am not a football expert by any means, but i do know how to teach the guys how to throw a spiral. They were tossing the football around in a circle and i showed them how to run a route to catch the ball. THEN we got really crazy and added some defense. You could see the lights just go on in their eyes! A whole new world was opened up :)