7/14/17

Wow, I'm blowing through this. Already on the third day. Hope I'm not leaving too much out. We woke up at 6 or 6:30 so I got about 6 hours of sleep. I NEED at least 7.5 or more. We left for our tour pretty early but we spent a little time prepping for the feast before we left though. We stopped somewhere about fifteen minutes away by a river and then went down closer and happened upon one of the fisheries guys. He's very involved in his culture which I appreciate. I thought it was really cool that Wynex invited him to our dinner. Everyone seems to know everyone. Christy and Mike talked with her about their connections to her. 

Then we spent an hour driving into the abyss. We didn't realize it would be an hour so we hesitated to sleep-- or at least I did, Jose falls asleep in seconds. It's crazy! I was talking to him and I swear he like fell asleep right after he said whatever he was saying. I fell asleep too though. Once we got onto the mountain road though it was too bumpy for sleep. It was like an earthquake that never ended. Wynex took us up off the trail just a tiny bit and told us about old huckleberry traditions and fire danger and control. We then went up the road a few more minutes to a lake. Of course I jumped in. We'll get to that in a second though because I have to tell you about the deer. I was walking to the bathroom to change into my suit. And I saw two deer. And I think if I'd acted like a human I would've scared them. I didn't stop and stare though. I didn't start to talk to them. I kept my pace even and walked by. I got so close. I was at most 20 feet away. I left them and changed then came back. And followed them. They were aware of me and I was walking with them. They stopped at some brush and I stood on the other side from them. I swear, I was so close. I left them and jumped into the water.

You'd think that I would've noticed them standing shin deep where I was about to jump but someone was saying "Be the first one!" "Don't be afraid!" "Be a leader!" Ouch. It didn't occur to me until I hit the ground. There was no regret until I felt the pain of gravel on my butt. I reached down to access the damage and found rocks in my suit and small tears. I swam it off.. everyone was watching... there really was no playing it off. Everyone laughed, I held in the tears ;) lol I laughed with them. I do this kind of thing all the time. I raced Christy again, she won. When we got back I went to change and on my way back a deer almost ran into me. Trying to avoid crazy people with phones. 

I slept on the way back. We got to the yoga place and worked for an hour and a half and I loved every second. She pushed my body to its limits but it was like a dance. It was beautiful and I appreciated it so much. My body was exhausted after that. The work out was great though. I sweat like I haven't in I don't know how long. Dripping sweat onto the mat. I loved it! I want to do that way more often. It's good for my body. It's good for my mind. 

We showered quickly after that and hurried back to prepare for the feast. We didn't have dinner until 8 at the earliest. I was confused. I couldn't find people. While eating, I sat with Sadonia and Judy. I asked what White Swan was like and Sadonia really went deep into her circumstances, I found out that she, Judy, and Joel all attend the same church back home. She left when we were done eating and I came back to Judy sitting alone. She had left while Sadonia was talking and so I apologized for possibly interfering with a nice dinner. She confided that she wanted to talk but people didn't listen or there were always interuptions so I took her somewhere away from the group and asked Jessica to let us skip the laser show. She told me so much and my heart really goes out to her. I aim to encourage above all else. I want everyone on this trip to know just how loved they really are. 

I tried sleeping on the hammock and then on the swinging bench but a sort of guilt came over me like I was trying to get attention in the morning so even though the bench would have been so much more comfortable than my tent, I went back to the tent around 1 last night.