I have just taken my first hot shower since I left Philadelphia over a month ago, and we have had two full meals, a clean fresh bed, and it is everything I can do to resist putting that voluminous hotel towel into my back pack.
One of the features of our weekend was a visit to a site where there are cave paintings. From what I could understand from our guide, these paintings were a means of communication by the SAN people to others who might visit the site. They would use the blood from the slain animals to paint the figures on the wall. They are faint as there has been some washing of the paintings by locals who feared that they brought evil spirits. Fortunately, the community as tried to preserve the area and has recently built a building where the images are reproduced.
Training is rolling along. There are some good times but as is the case for most of us, it can be long and laborious. There is a shop with an outside bar where some of us stop for a quick libation after a long day of language and educational philosophy training. At the beginning of our training, I stayed away from the bar since it is frowned upon for women - in particular, for those of us more advanced in age - to drink any alcohol at all. But when I noticed my M'e distributing snuff, I decided that it was just fine for me to enjoy our stay just as all the others were doing. Furthermore, we have now been here for one month and have about one month left to go before we are sent out to our sites where we may not see these new training friends for quite some time. I have decided to choose to spend time with them in a relaxed environment where we can be ourselves and enjoy one another's company before we take off.
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