A few weeks ago, the principal of the mission school asked me if I wanted to join the coming high school camping trip as a chaperone, and although I had no idea what I was about to do, I said yes anyway. The third weekend in March, about 30 of us spent 3 days and 2 nights in the raw jungle, at a new location for everyone. The chosen campsite turned out to be a nice sandy area about a 5 minute hike uphill from a beautiful lake where our boat was tied. It was an amazing adventure for me with lots of great memories - these are just the top ten. My only disappointment was that I never saw the gigantic alligators, hungry anacondas, or fierce jaguars that the other two “experienced chaperones” warned me would be living in or around the lake where we camped…
10. The one-hour boat ride down river from the school to our jungle camp and back again in the bright sunshine… also stopping along the way to push large floating islands of grass out of the pathway of the boat
9. Swimming for hours in the lake off the back of the school boat, with random currents of warm and cool water flowing by… even with heavy sunscreen most of us got sunburned, and mine has turned into a nice tan that I hope lasts for a while:)
8. Eating campfire food - my favorite part of any camping trip, this time with Brazilian foods like their BBQ meat called churrasco, beans, rice, and farofa, and also esfirras, which are buns with ham and cheese baked inside
7. Praise songs on guitars, bongos, and a ukulele with singing and sharing around the campfire at night – I was asked to give my testimony the first night and other high school students gave some great Bible insights too.
6. Finding the perfect location to set up our girls’ campsite by making paths through the jungle floor covered with balls of light green mossy-like fungus
5. Sleeping in a hammock for the first time- we tied three to a tree on top of each other like triple bunk beds with mine in the middle, and after the 3 of us got in and settled it was actually very comfortable
4. Being a favorite with the mosquitos and other biting bugs - despite using a mosquito net around my hammock, I found over 100 bites on my feet and legs below my knees alone… ok, maybe this doesn’t qualify as one of my best memories
The real #4. Coming back along the dark jungle path from a late night swim with the girls after a group of guys told us to watch out for a big snake they had just seen on the same path, which was a poisonous, people-chasing snake of course… well, there was movement in the bushes and suddenly all the girls started running. I was at the very end of the line and one of my trusty Old Navy flip-flops got stuck in a hole at the same time, so I made the life-saving decision to leave it behind rather than be alone with an attacking, poisonous snake, and I had the run through the jungle barefoot (like all the other kids) until I eventually found my flip-flip again the next morning… with no sign of any snake. Whether or not there really was a huge, people-chasing snake, the scare was a great shot of adrenaline, and all the girls stayed up talking and laughing until 3 or 4 in the morning. LOL.
3. Setting up a basic first aid station on the back of our boat to treat the foot wounds and scrapes/scratches that just “happen” in the jungle (maybe from being barefoot all the time?) and having the boat dubbed the Brazil Mercy Ship for me to serve on, providing free medical care for those campers in need
2. As the only female chaperone, the girls and I got to hang out together after midnight when the girls and guys separated to their own camps… we had so much fun into the early morning hours cooking pancakes/mancakes, Korean noodles, fried eggs, lemon grass -coconut-chicken soup and other random snacks around our own perfectly made girls campfire
1. Getting to know the High School students on a deeper level as just friends sharing the same great camping experiences
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