Sad day to be a snake

I can’t believe that it has been eight years since the attacks on the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon and the plane in Pennsylvania. It’s strange to be in a place where people don’t have any idea about 9/11. That day turned America’s world upside down while the folks in Balama were spraying beans with pesticides.

I spent the morning with A and the men up at the mill. They ran a bunch of beans through the shaft and sprayed them with bug juice to prepare them for distribution in Mavala next week. It was quite the process. And the men are worst camera hams than all of the children combined! They all wanted their photos taken next to the mill and on the bags of beans and with the bags on their heads. It was hilarious! Today was filled with first’s for me; first time with the workers at the mill, first time carrying something on my head (I was horrible and got laughed at!) and… FIRST SNAKE!! We were in the dining room preparing for lunch when everyone began yelling, ‘COBRA, COBRA!’ (snake in Portuguese) B called me outside to see what was happening. A three foot mamba had made its way into the dog pen with the puppies! We could see it’s trail in the sand, like someone had written a message to us in cursive. And there it was, in the corner of the pen, just waiting to do its thing! Thankfully, A and S spotted it before the puppies did and with one swift ‘THWACK!’ it was dead. Sad day to be a snake.

We’re spending the rest of the afternoon making little ‘houses’ for the tomato plants. The grasshoppers and birds have been devouring them and it’s up to us to offer some protection! Off we go to save the day! B seriously needs a super hero outfit. The things this woman deals with! And she is almost all better after her bout with malaria.