More vacation reminiscing - gifts, singing, waterfalls

When Danae arrived, she had two fulll suitcases, and most of it was not hers! I don't know if I remember everything that came, but here's a start. Frisbees and jumpropes for school (mostly funded by my care group at church I think? - these have been a huuge hit with the kids!!); lots of licorice (one of my favourites); tupperware from my grandma (nice to have sealing containers with these insects!); duotangs (binders and such are hard to find here); small music items from my aunt (triangle, harmonicas, eggshakers, etc - very handy!); many books from my friends (which I read all too fast!); guitar strings; pencils and stickers; t-shirts (for me, I did not bring a lot of clothes when I came); salty dark chocolate (another big hit for my stomach); chocolate bars, raisins!, welches and other snacks; a journal from my brother and sister in law; a few letters which are maybe the best of all... and I'm sure there's more that I'm missing! Thank you SO much, everyone who sent something with! I appreciate the gifts so much, not just because of their usefulness here, but also because of the thought put into sending them, I feel very loved.

the stash!

To add to the hecticness, my worship team was scheduled to lead worship at church a few days after Danae arrived. At first I asked Danae if she wanted to help sing, but the Plaut Dietsch and Spanish barrier was a bit much! Instead, me and her pulled out an old favourite that we've sung a lot at a young adults group at home, Jesus Loves Me ~ Chris Tomlin. for a special number. It was really good to sing with her again. And yes, we sang it in English so few understood it.

Now onto July 6th.. we left the Animal Refuge and headed to Coroico by taxi. We arrived at the main plaza, our meeting point. We met by a couple guys a few minutes later. They didn't speak a lot of English and we were skeptical that this was all good, but they seemed to know what was going on so away we went! We drove for a while down and up a valley, and stopped at a lovely little home with coca leaves drying out front.

 This is the drying coca plants. I took the photo through the van window cuz I wasn't sure if it was a big deal or not. Coca is the main source of income in this valley, which I believe is one of the biggest sources of coca leaves for cocaine production in the world.

Now we went hiking downhill for about half an hour. Our guide was skipping along ahead of us while me and Danae were struggling along with our bad knees (as Danae had injured hers shortly before coming). However, it was a beautiful hike in the rainforest. We stop in a little river, at the top of a little canyon, which looked deceptively like nothing from above, but had 5 beautiful waterfalls in this narrow crevice. Here we took turns rappelling down, it was a lot of fun, and as always, very beautiful.

 The view straight up

 Me on the way down

 One rappel was not in a waterfall at all as the conditions were too rough, we just put a rope around a tree and went down the rock face for 60-100 ft (not sure exactly). The longest rappel I've ever done, that's for sure.

Danae on the way down

 

Us and our guide. While not speaking much, we did indeed have a great day with him!

Can't see them, but there's vines all around me, hanging from the trees

 

After rappelling, we walked through a river for a while, and came to a delightful little hidden nook. A cove and a canyon put together. Could've spent the day there! Our guide took to jumping off high points of the rocks, while Danae and I just went swimming around in the very cold water. 

We had a little lunch in the river, and then hiked uphill for 20 minutes. 2 minutes into this, Danae and I were done, it seemed impossible. We took many breaks to enjoy the view or take pictures! But really we were just trying to breathe. 

This adventure, just like the previous day on Death Road, was absolutely amazing. Again my only wish was that we could stop and just enjoy the outdoors rather than go-go-go.