No Fun in the Sun

Written By: Neal Niedecker

So our first full day in the rain forest was a rough one. We only worked for four hours but I'm guessing that for me (and possibly others) it was the most physically demanding thing I've ever done. I wrestled when I was younger and I'm a frequent visitor to the gym so I'm no stranger to physical effort but this was different.

Our task was simple repair a weather worn dirt road.  Much easier said than done. Most students started off in one of two jobs. One was taking a sack of dirt from a hillside to a section of road about 500 feet or so away. The other was spreading the dirt that had been brought in evenly across the road. I had a different job however. Our tour guide and I filled wheel barrows full of large rocks and dumped the rocks into the larger divots along the road. I was filling the wheel barrow until it was nearly impossible to push up the hill, only because I thought I could finish faster that way. I soon figured out however that the holes in the road were so large that there was no point in burning myself out quickly. Still it was hard work and it wore me out after only a little more than an hour. So I traded jobs with another student. Now I was one of the sack carriers. It was a short walk to the other piece of the road where the dirt was going normally, but not with two 30 pound sacks slung over your shoulder.

As the sun came out and the humidity rose it became increasingly harder to work. The sun was burning my pale skin and the humidity is so high in the rain forest you can practically drown from breathing the air. Still finally the end came, it was time for lunch. One of my classmates, Mike, told a teacher he felt as though he was freezing, a pretty bad sign considering how hot it was outside. While everyone  walked back towards our cabins, I stayed in the back with the teachers and Mike. I was attempting to guide him back to the cabins , however he was steadily losing consciousness and coordination. Walking with my arm wrapped around him  eventually his body turned to dead weight and flopped onto Mr. Z's back in front of him. We managed to get him upright and semi-conscious again. At this point both Mr. Z and I half carried him the rest of the way. We laid him down in bed and the the other students moved in to care for him. They changed his clothes and brought him food and water. Only a hour or two later however Mike was up and okay. He said he couldn't remember any of what happened. I was just glad he was okay.

Every night in the rain forest we played cards. One game in particular Euchre was played by a large part of the group. We played game after game after game. I'd guess that I played on average four games a night. I never knew cards were so much fun. It's a hobby I'm certainly taking back to the States.