June 29, 2007
One of the things I have been looking forward to most about going back to PA for a short visit (other than seeing family and friends) is being able to drive at night on back country roads with the windows down. I rarely go anywhere around here at night. Yet last night I left the city later than usual and so as I was returning to camp it was practically dark. (The Williamsons were also returning from the city in another vehicle so I had back up should the vehicle have broken down.) There was a storm brewing too so occasionally I would pass through a rain shower. The sky ahead of me frequently lit up with streaks of lightning that sometimes headed straight for the ground and other times went sideways from one cloud to another. I enjoyed being on the road at night but because of security issues, it is not as wise to do around here.
Over the past week, I have witnessed -- what to me and my North American mentality of public lands – does not make sense. The land immediately alongside of the roads is public property hence people can use it for whatever they want. There has been a large truck moving farther and farther down the road the camp is on digging out soil from areas where the ground has eroded and trucking it out. Currently he is now directly across from camp. Steep banks eroded away, creating patches of bare soil and from here people come and take what they want – thereby causing the banks to erode even further. I think that soil erosion is definitely an issue that I want to address in the Outdoor Education program. I am designing a short program for some children in about 2 weeks and I think I will be tying in the topic of erosion.
A positive change that has been coming about at camp is the return of the iguanas. In the past they were hunted and so had pretty much disappeared. Last week I saw an adult iguana run across a path in the jungle and when I looked further into the brush where it had disappeared I saw a young iguana too. An exciting find.
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