This week I moved a lot more materials to different biodigester sites. But this time when I say "material" I mean bricks and cement, not manure. Within 5 days I transported 1200 bricks and 9 bags of cement to 3 different biodigester sites and visited 4 other sites. It's been a tiring, but productive week with continual adventures.

On Tuesday I went to the community of Boa Sorte to take a look at the biodigester there. On the way back to Monteiro, I gave a young mother and her two-year-old daughter a free ride to their home about a half an hour from Boa Sorte. Fifteen minutes after driving around on these bumpy roads, the little girl wasn't feeling too good, and decided to vomit all over the inside of the truck. Her mother promptly cleaned it up, but the girl vomited two more times in the truck before we reached her home.

Here's a picture of the truck I've been driving around all over the place. Vomit stains not visible. It's called a Toyota Bandeirante.

Wednesday we had our first real rain of the season here. It reminded me of a Kansas thunderstorm. Lightning and thunder preempted the heavy rains, which lasted for a couple of hours. It continued to rain lightly throughout the night. Since it hasn't rained this much since I've been to Brazil, I was in a really good mood. It was the day before my birthday, I'd just received a package from my parents, and I was playing with Bruno and David. But then I got a phone call from MCCer Julie who said that their housekeeper and cook Tiana, had lost her home because of the rain. Her house was flooded with six inches of water, and people helped her move her stuff from her house as the rains continued. They were able to salvage most of her belongings, but the foundation of the house is so unstable that she can't return. I talked to Tiana yesterday and she actually feels fortunate to still have some of her things.

On my birthday I decided to try to make some cookies, so I made no-bake cookies, which turned out pretty well. I also got a cake from my host parents, and it had candles with numbers on the top (to indicate my age). But apparently they couldn't get any "2" candles, so it appears that I turned 55.

Here's Cristina presenting my birthday cake. Happy 55th!

On Friday I went to get some bricks from the field where they make bricks and because of the recent rains, a couple of guys had their truck stuck in the mud. After some work, I was able to use the Bandeirante to pull the truck out, but not more than two minutes later I got the Bandeirante stuck in the mud as well. Fortunately, we were able to dig it out without much problem, but I think life could get really interesting when the real rainy season begins.

Also, when I got home on Friday all the kids in the street were trying to bat down some large flying ants and putting them in bags. Later my host dad fried them up and they were served for supper. I think I liked them more than anyone in my family, but it is a little bit odd when you realize you're eating an ant.

But that's just another week in Brazil.

This last Wednesday I went to Brejo da Madre da Deus, where MCCers Mike and Beth live, and climbed the Pedra do Carchorro peak with them and some others.

Pedra do Carchorro (literally "Rock of the Dog") is one of the largest peaks around Brejo, with an altitude of around 3500 feet. While this doesn't sound like much compared to some peaks, the elevation in Brejo is under 2000 feet, so it's a decent elevation climb.

We left Brejo around 3 pm and got to the base of peak around 4. Along with Beth and Mike were some of Beth's friends from Brejo and another city, Tacaimbo. Altogether the group numbered around 20 people.

The hike started out pretty easily, just some walking on flat land. After about fifteen minutes, Beth, who has climbed the Pedra do Carcho over 40 times in her 25 years with MCC in Brazil, said that we were about to start the climb. And she was right. Unlike some trails that I've hiked before, there were no switchbacks, the trail basically just went straight up the mountain. I quickly realized how out of shape I am. I was sucking air, and I couldn't blame it on the altitude, or even the heat, since it was actually cool in the shade of the trees, and the sun was going down.

We brought ropes along, and while the trail was steep, I didn't really see any purpose in using them. We got to what appeared to be the top, and then I realized that we still had a very steep climb to the top. We went through a small crevasce to and had to use the ropes several times. Once, we had to climb up the rope to a ledge about 10 feet above the rock we were standing on. Another time, we had to hold the rope while we scampered across a rock with an incline greater than 45 degrees. But everyone made it up without problems.

In the end, the hike only took about two hours, but because of the steepness of the climb, and the difficulty near the end, it was one of the hardest hikes I've done. (You do have to remember that I grew up in Kansas, where we're proud that our state is "Flatter than a Pancake.")

But it was great to be at the top. We quickly set up our tents as the sun was going down. In typical camping fashion, some of the pieces of our tent were missing, and we tried to improvise in the dark. I pulled out my rations: an apple, crackers, some bison jerky sent from Kansas for Christmas, and a granola bar or two. After I had eaten, the Brazilians broke out the feast. There had brough three different kinds of pop, bread, cheese, cake, and they even attempted a little barbecue with some meat they brought up. My thinking when I packed was that I didn't want to bring along any extra weight, but I think they really wanted to enjoy being on top of the mountain.

I headed for the tent about 10 pm, but because I'd only brought a sheet to sleep with, it was rather hard to fall asleep (pun intended). It also was rather cool on top of the peak, and it sprinkled a little during the night. I only got two or three hours of sleep, but I guess I didn't go there to sleep; I went for the adventure.

We left the next morning at about 6:30 and headed back down the peak. It was easier going down, but my body was still aching. As I was walking along the path, I noticed something moving ahead on the trail. Upon closer inspection I realized that it was a tarantula, about 6 inches wide. I'd never seen a tarantula in the wild before, and this guy seemed pretty big to me. Mike and I snapped as many pictures as we could, but when the other Brazilians saw it, they said, "Oh, that's just a little one. They can get up to 11 inches."

A view of another peak from the Pedra do Carchorro.

Some of the group posing for a photo near the bottom of the peak.

Mike's shoe near the tarantula.

So I was pretty exhausted after the two days of hiking, but it was definitely worth the experience.

While it's only been a little less than two weeks since Christmas, I feel like it happened over a year ago. Actually it did, but that's beside the point.

After Christmas I went with Ricardo and Cristina and the boys to the family farm they had lived at 3 years ago in Chã Grande. Cristina's brother Severino lives there currently with his wife Aninha and there four-year old son, Lucas. It was an absolutely gorgeous area, as you can see in the photo below.

Chã Grande landscape.

Chã Grande is located at the edge of what used to be rain forest, and there is still plenty of interesting flora and fauna around. One day while eating lunch my host dad called me out to the back porch. Not 20 feet from the house were a bunch of monkeys. So we got out some bananas, and attempted to feed them. They were a bit skittish, but I was able to get one to come take the banana out of my hand and begin eating it. It was pretty incredible.

We came back to Monteiro with an extra addition to the family. Severino had two puppies at the farm, and the kids convinced my parents that we needed to have an adorable little dog. In case things weren't wild enough before, we now have a little black lab puppy running around the house too.

When I got back to my house, my host mom gave me a large stack of letters that had been sent to me. I want to say thank you to all who sent letters, and that they meant a lot to me. It was like celebrating Christmas all over again.

But another Christmas present came late for me and for the family where we've built a biodigester. I went to the house of Serafim and Luzanetti today, and they said that they finally have been able to cook with the gas from their biodigester. They were so happy to finally use this gas; there were almost tears in their eyes. This is the first biodigester that I've worked with to begin producing gas, so it's a feeling a relief and accomplishment. I was beginning to wonder if this biodigester would ever produce gas, but they say they've had more than enough since they've been using it.

Luzanetti and Serafim demonstrate their stove using biogas.

One final thought about Christmas: This was the first Christmas in recent memory when someone has not sung "The First Noel" with my name inserted in the chorus. It's a bit ironic, since my name is pronounced as Jo-el here, so it actually rhymes with Noel. Maybe next year.