lets go eat a mango in a tree

Childhood has not left me yet. I arrived at KEDESH the boys’ orphanage in Beira yesterday and have already had so many adventures. Jon, the American who started KEDESH 17 years ago, has made this place a year-round camp. There are climbing walls, structures, obstacle courses, clay to play with, a bog to jump around, LOTS of places to run and play and climb. Great place for boys in general. This is where I will be for the 3-month African-school holidays. I am living in a mud-house with a girl named Heather. This is no ordinary mud house> we have a toilet, running water AND electricity and wireless!!!… and I have a giant waterbed by the way (which actually is FREEZING at night… which is pleasant in this HUMID / HOTT weather… so it balances out).

Today after breakfast, Heather and me went with some of the boys to dig up sweet potatoes. If you have ever done hot-yoga, you would know what I am expiriencing. It is a super humid make-you-sweat-everywhere sort of hot. It was great having conversations getting to know the boys as we worked in the sun digging up treasures in the dry earth. When it is wet we will be putting in rice patties!

So today I not only got to play in dirt, but I got in many water fights, and climbed the most AMAZING trees. I am trying to decide which kind was my favorite. To get into this huge mango tree, we had to climb a nearby tree and, like monkeys, switch branches onto the mango tree and climb up up up into the tall parts to pick off ripe mangos and eat them in this huge tree! It was ginormous… there were 8 of us in the tree… they were all much higher then I was, walking on tree limbs like they were just above the ground… and we all had our own sections of tree, not crowded at all. Some of the other great trees are cashew trees > they are lower to the ground and typically sprawl out their limbs so you can walk along them like a tight rope with other nearby branches in hand. The cashew fruit is very sweet and very juicy but some how puckers up your mouth like something dry or bitter. But excitement-wise, I find that the mango tree is more exhilarating, being SO high from the ground amongst massive leaves hiding quantities of mangos. The boys are very keen on teaching me more capoeira and tai-Kwan-do. I also went for a long walk in the machamba (vegetable crop) with Joldo the gardener who knows everything you need to know about African farming… we planted beans, then he showed me all the land and ended up sitting under cashew trees talking about plants, food, and life.

Heather and I were out to town today, and I told her how I love all the street-treats and discovering something new is always exiting and I always have to try it. She, being here almost 1 and half years has never had street food! So I bought some peanut-brittle-like bar and later some dried masanica berries, and she dared to by some peanuts. As we walked along the street we came along a vendor selling dried caterpillars. We both had never seen them before and she dared me to try one. Instead of buying a cup full, I asked to try just one. They are black, and about the size of a pinky finger. It almost tasted like dried, salted fish. We walked down the street, and Heather, being from England and very proper with a pretty accent, exclaims “You just ate a caterpillar…” and we laughed until the not understanding vendors were laughing as well. I did eat a caterpillar didn't I … perhaps again one day?
All I want to do all day is play… *sigh*- childhood is still with me ☺