Day 11- Mr. Pringles

I was still pretty down about not having enough supplies and losing that item of deepest importance, but, we went to the field again and it was sunny and nice.  We ate breakfast at Mrs. Chocs and went to the field with our pack lunches.  I began my day by looking over Andrew's dissertation again and finding, again, maps of what he had done and the orientation of the maps.  Cleofo, I and our kidnapped accomplice, Steve, took off for the jungle in search of the transect point that Andrew had used to position his transect and the one that I had used to make my 20m circle from yesterday.  Steve mapped 150m (using my 30m reel tape) and I felt sorry for him.  We did another plant survey, until around 10:30 when it started to rain fairly hard.  We sat under a tree and then Cleofo and Steve took off to retrieve their backpacks and I used Reed (my pet walking stick made from scrap palm material) to create a good resting spot for myself.

Juan Antonio and Ernesto built a shelter from palm leaves and Steve and I joined them, right before it started pouring.  We ate our lunches standing up and watched the water swirl around our boots.  We were at the bottom of a hill, so, there was no escape.  I kept the paper copy of Andrew's dissertation safely tucked away in my backpack along with other valuable, such as my notes.  After a long time of pouring madness, we were called to go home.  So, we all loaded up in the trucks for our long and, for those of us in the back of the truck, soaking wet, ride home.  I forced my backpack upon the people sitting inside the truck and entrusted them with my supplies and fond goods.  At one point, the rain was coming in like hail (very biting drops), so, I helped shield Molly's face with my raincoat. 

We got home in time to start laundry.  The washing machines fill from the outside (aka we fill them up with water from little hoses).  It is a very interesting process.  They also stop when they reach the spin cycle so you have to fill them up again with water and restart them.  Most of the group have been hanging their clothes up to dry.  But, with the frequent downpours, our laundry group (Molly, Elle and me) opted for the $5 US laundry.  It is very expensive, but, at least they are dry!

Off to press today's finds and try to work the straps on my press!  I also probably need to check on those washer machines soon........