Day 11: No more ants? And team building??

I volunteer for mora cutting but it turns out to be machete tree cutting. I don´t mind either way - both are very rewarding.

It rains for most of the morning but that doesn´t stop us working. I hope the ants have already been washed out of the canopy but sadly this is not the case. I am cutting next to one girl who hasn´t machetéd trees before and she hasn´t got the knack yet. Each time she taps rather than chops, the vibrations knock down rubbish down on me. I soon realise I need to work further away from her!

I have got into my stride and have become quite proficient at chopping down trees with the minimum damage to me. Irina is quite impressed at how many I did "in one"! Hah!

We are called back to the station for a 30 minute break at 10 am but as I´ve said before it´s a long hike back up the hill and when it´s wet (did I mention it was raining?) the ground surface is very slippery either with mud or slippery sticks.

After the break it´s a long way there and back again and after a morning of wielding a machete I´m pretty tired but I´m quite impressed, if I say so myself at how much I have cleared this morning.

After lunch, Steph, the volunteer co-ordinator said we are to do team-building - football at the bar - there is a playing "field" next to the building that houses the bar. I negotiate that it´s best I don´t actually play but agree to be a cheer-leader. In the end I become the team photographer and a good time was had by all including Jesse who somehow managed to totally rip both legs on his trousers.

After supper we don´t do anything so we go to bed early after an incident involving a rat - someone saw one, someone else screamed (not me on either counts) and I got a cockroach crawl along the back on my neck before I scared it and it flew away. Not terribly pleasant though I´m not freaked out by rats, roaches or spiders (which occupy both toilets full-time scaring the pants off some female volunteers!)