The children are driving me CRAZY over the Internet. I finally got on my bicycle and rode to the local “resort” to find out how we could hang out there (Answer: buy something).

When I came back to get the kids, Dawson showed up and filleted the fish and chopped open the coconuts so we could have fresh coconut juice. He said he’d be back around 4 for supper.

Apparently he stopped by later, but I was out getting our car (THANK GOD! WHEELS!). He said he’d be back in 20 minutes and we never saw him again. Ha ha.

Cat and Alex rode bicycles to the resort while I walked behind. Cat hasn’t ridden a bicycle in so long that she fell off and landed in a ditch. A car of young men were passing, pausing just long enough to laugh at her.

The resort is nice for this area. Clean and respectful. However, to stay there more than two nights? I doubt it. Of course, I’m sure most people couldn’t stay HERE in the jungle house for more than one or two nights.

Cat announced that she is feeling relaxed and peaceful. Alex is adapting well with the exception of the Internet. Baby-steps.

It makes me laugh how much they worry about me. They fear for me…which I get. If anything happens to ME, what happens to THEM? Plus, I’m just a genuinely cool mom so…

But seriously, they act as though I’m feeble and meek. I try to tell them that they have me all wrong. When I was younger than Cat, my parents sent to me to Puerto Rico for 2-3 weeks during the summer…alone…to live with a family I didn’t know. When I was fifteen, they sent me with my cousin Teddy for 2-3 weeks to Switzerland, again during the summer. When other kids were sent to camps, I was sent abroad. At eighteen, I went to Alaska for six weeks, living in a tent on an archeological dig. At twenty, I traveled down to Argentina for 3+ months to work.

You cannot do that travel and be meek and feeble. You cannot do that travel and return without a better understanding of the world. When you travel, you remove your myopic glasses and start to see the world with compassion and appreciation…for what you left behind and for what you have discovered.

Think about it. These people can live on $5-10 US a day. They spend time with their families, live from the land, do not linger on the computer or watch television. They go to church, they work, and socialize. There are a few larger social gatherings each year but, for the most part, they simply live in that moment. No stress. No traffic. No squabbles over silly, ridiculous, sin-driven wants. They are giving to each other, welcoming to strangers, and genuinely kind.

And THESE are third-world people? Maybe not.

Anyway, I made the fish and breadfruit and a pumpkin squash. Served it with coconut rice. The kids DEVOURED IT. I’m in shock. If I made that at home, they’d refuse to eat and would certainly graze the pantry for hours! This trip has taught me how to cut back my food bill, that’s for certain!

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