Saturday May 29, 2010

Camp 27: knee high cow poop camp

Camp 28: Cuba, New Mexico

The thunderstorms stuck around yesterday as we were surrounded by a brilliant lightning show.  Luckily we only had a few raindrops but were able to watch the storm spread before us, miles away.  We hiked atop the mesa as the sun went down.  The rays filtered through the clouds and the sky turned bright pink as the lightning danced.  Stunning.  As we neared the end of the day we were in desperate need of water.  We happened upon a windmill that was turning full force and beautiful crystal clear water was streaming directly from a pipe.  As we got closer we realized the trough was surrounded by mud and cow manure on all sides.  Seeing no other way, I put on my flip flops and made my way toward the water. Two steps in I began to sink and realized my flops were going to break so I threw them back to Eric.  I was already vested so I mushed on towards the pipe and filled our water bottles.  The manure invaded my nostrils and I was covered to my shins but I had cold, clear water in hand! I took a big gulp and wanted to vomit.  Turns out, Mr. Rancher man doesn't take great care of the windmill and there was a slight seepage problem.  The water tasted like, well, you know what the water tasted like.  What a let-down!  Anyways, we are now in Cuba, smelling of soap and full of Mexican food.  The locals have been great.  We met an interesting family (yes, an entire family) in the Laundromat.  They were Navajo and lived on a reservation nearby.  The man played country/western songs and had a CD, they told us their story and issues that their tribe faced.  The owner of the motel was awesome.  She let us use her laptop to email our family, she also had a hiker box and took our picture standing beside her son.  Later, we heard a knock on the door and opened it to find the boy with a plate of Korean Beef.  Amazing!