"I feel connected."

Luis said this in our daily debriefing and I think it sums up today perfectly. Today we survived the intense rain storms, fought valiantly against the flooding stream threatening the crops, and waged mud wars with mischievous-looking Aeta children who laughed as they smeared dirt on our biceps or hung from our arm hair (Guillermo). We learned the Filipino art of patience after our regular Jeepney driver made a last-minute cancelation and admired as our Superhero staff members took each new obstacle perfectly in stride. Once we arrived at the site, a couple of Aeta women from the community demonstrated how to grind, separate, and cook the rice. The women allowed us city-folk to try and patiently smiled when we kept spilling rice on the floor.  After our lesson on Rice-101, we helped collect rocks in order to build a dike that would prevent the rice from flooding. While the strong men in the group finished the dike, the rest of us picked up trash and began the epic task of clearing mud from the basketball court. At some point, as we were shoveling mud off the court with our hands and our make-shift shovels Chinie said “So do you still feel like tourists?” and we all answered with a resounding “no.”

Not only did we connect more with the Aetas today, we connected more with each other. A large group of us stayed up until the morning hours playing “never have I ever” and sipping on more than a few bottles of beer and rum. Everyone laughed as we divulged our secrets and learned more about each other (especially Nondas), but waking up the next morning was not nearly as enjoyable. 

-- Maya Abood (USA) and Guillermo Fernandez (Spain)