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Today we got up early to get ready to leave for our new camp, there was a lot of rain in the night again. We had rice and bread for breakfast this morning. We were due to leave at 7am but the coach has become stuck in mud, so we are waiting in the eating area while the staff try to free it, well, its 10:30 and still no sign of the bus shifting. While we wait there is a huge centipede, by huge I mean about 30cm long and as thick as a hefty carrot, one of the cooks Esther kills it with a knife as they are poisonous.
We play a few games to pass the time, as it is getting on we have our lunch here. Derek discovers that the boys toilets are absolutely covered in poo, so we make all the boys go and have a look, we are fairly certain Rob is the culprit, so it is quite frustrating that the boys are being punished. Obviously Derek is upset as he has to clean it, and unlike in the UK doesn't have the luxury of rubber gloves or even hot water.
We finally leave after lunch, we had to stop the bus around every 30 minutes so Amy can have a wee by the side of the road, despite hating weeing in public she is constantly drinking on the bus. We stopped in Ranau so we could stock up on deet etc, Amy insisted her kids went with her so they were unable to go into the shops they wanted to go to as she put her needs first.
When we arrive at our new camp Luanti we were greeted by our camp manager Fabian, where we pull up there are some shops, one of them is owned by Alfonso who lives here and owns the buildings we are staying in. We go down a set of concrete steps and over a bridge made of two bamboo trunks, there is one large two storey longhouse that Alfonso built himself over a six month period, he is 64 and the chief of several villages.
The longhouse has a living room area on the ground floor with several bedrooms for the girls, upstairs there is one large room for the boys. It has clearly been decorated by Alfonsos wife as the floors have nicely patterned lino, curtains and some nice armchairs.
Here we have our own toilet block with two toilets and two showers. The staff housing is back over the bridge where Alfonsos house is, we are staying in a homestay, I am sharing a room with Amy, there is a double bed, mattress, dressing table and sofa, so I take the double bed for the first half of our stay. Up here we have a shower and toilet, which is nice.
After snack time which is lovely homemade doughnuts we go and have a look at our project work, it is merely metres from the longhouse, we are going to be removing and replacing a suspension bridge over a river that the villagers us to bring their fruit harvest in.
Tonight's meal is chicken and rice which was really nice, to the relief of some of the students it was bone free chicken. We continue to explore until bedtime, it is lovely, especially as we have camp to ourselves and we are being looked after by a very nice family.
The room is fairly cool to sleep, so I appreciate having a blanket, and a real bed.
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