Ahh, Freedom in Adventure!

That is exactly right. There is something about going on an adventure that is tiring for the body and yet revitalizing for your spirit. You may have seen a large hill (mountain for us in Indiana) in some of our past pictures. It is covered in trees and can be seen from our apartment window. Since we´ve been here, Ruth and I have wanted to walk to and climb to the top where you can see out all around the area; and also visit a fairly old church located on the very top. Since we had a holiday on Thursday Ruth, Novinho, and I all took that challenge. It was winding roads for about 30 minutes and then we hit the countryside. There are rolling hills of sugar cane fields absolutely everywhere. It looks like Northwest Indiana or Southern Illinois, but instead of corn it´s sugar cane. For the majority of the time we found ourselves walking down large dirt roads eyeing our destination. During this time we got to build upon our friendship with Novinho. It is always interesting playing charades, randomly looking up words in Portuguese, and spitting out what little Portuguese (English for Novinho) we know; it was also really fun.

One of the best parts was being away from people. For three months, there has been nothing but people, cars, trucks, motorcycles, kids, and animals everywhere. We are constantly at the Alcance, or in Carpina. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this, but there was such a sense of peace and freedom being out away from people in the glory of God´s creation. This was really felt when we made it to the bottom of the tree line or the top of the fields: if you will. Around the middle of the hill top there is a road and fence line that encircles the hill. After a quick rest, we took a walk around. It was so cool being able to see all the surrounding hill country, the local towns, and different plants and insects that inhabit the countryside. The view was definitely picturesque. Plus it was quiet! No honking cars or blaring music, but only peace and quiet.

Then, we decided to be dangerous. (Not really) Novinho seemed to be a bit dramatic in thinking there was going to be men with guns guarding the church and cell phone tower beyond the locked gate.(ugly) Despite the possibly unwarranted fears, we jumped the fence and up we went. This walk wasn´t bad but the foliage was gorgeous. We saw a giant bamboo tree, of which neither one of us had ever seen before. There were large fruit trees and bushes and plants everywhere. It was so overgrown that we actually couldn´t see out to the surrounding area. What we could see was the church. It seemed to be a classic old church, but nothing too awe inspiring. What really caught our attention was the ENORMOUS birds staring down at us. Big giant black birds watching always reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock´s ``Birds``. (Thanks Hitchcock) They may have been watching because we were taking some of their food. Beside the church was a fruit tree. It was so ripe that fruit was dropping from the sky. They looked like little apricots and are called caja. We gathered a large bag of it in order to make juice later. Like most fruit here, it was so sweet that it was almost too tart. (if that makes sense?) None-the-less, it was delicious.

After we gathered the fruit the descent began. Like most long walks, the way back was much more silent. We were pretty tired by the end but refreshed at the same time. All in all, we were gone for only 4 1/2 hours. Again, it was just so nice to be outside in the country and enjoying nature. It makes us look forward to the next time we get to go climb a mountain in Colorado!! Who wants to join? :-)