Day 11 - Dodge ball

Remember dodge ball in school? Trying to avoid those round,red,rubber missiles aimed at various body parts that no one had a right to be aiming things at, while trying to stay upright? We got to experience that again. An animal of some sort up one of the nearby mountains set loose a rock-slide as we were passing by.

Jake's not as light on his feet as he leads people to believe. Hopping all over the place, he managed to not be killed only by sheer luck. Well, luck and Todd who caught him when he tripped over a tumbling rock. C.K. and Janice did all right, managing to side-step them all gracefully. I did not do as well, managing to twist my ankle when I went down with a particularly sizeable boulder. (Jake is correcting me here - he says he was a *pebble*. Jake has no idea what he's talking about. That was a boulder of the magnitude of a .... of a.... a really BIG boulder.) Everyone else came away with minor scrapes and bruises.

The incident has me laid up now , and able to write more since we'd been too busy for that.
Bonus to it - managed to get back at Todd. Amazing what you can do with a ball of string, a half-eaten MRE , toothpaste, 2 neck-ties(Frank's - wonder where he thought he'd need those?) and 4 idiots just itching to play a joke. Todd will be deathly afraid of potatoes for a long time.

Ankle's starting to throb - so will add more later. We won't be moving on for a day or so, should I should be able to catch up on what's been happening.

Day 8 - Tierra del Cafeina

Carrie and Sean spent the day writing out the details of the blurred manuscripts as best they could. Sean is determined to redeem himself after the fiascoes of the last day or so. He's ready to lead the team in the morning to a new location. According to the interpretations, J.V. had a favorite spot he wouldn't allow anyone else to follow him into. It was where he harvested rarer beans we think. We were less than a days journey away.

Todd dropped by my tent to say how much he missed some of the things he'd left behind. Toothbrush, razor, soap..... I tried not to stand too close. I had packed extra toiletries in case Janice forgot hers, and miracle of miracles, she remembered her stuff (usually she epitomizes the absent-minded professor). So I took pity on Todd, and was more than willing to share the extras with the poor sap. Until I found the gummy spiders and worms he'd snuck into the bottom of my sleeping bag soaked in ... well some un-pleasant smelling liquid shall we say. Once my feet hit those slimy slick little creatures- {shudder}. Oh yeah. Woke the whole camp.

I'd probably be more upset if I didn't have plans for revenge already well under way....

Day 7 – evening - Tierra del Cafeina

Lost another day. Poor Sean - it's not his fault. After all, with the water damage, anyone could have read “walk 40 yards to the north past the old bridge" as "take 90 guards to the fort and pasture old Tridge". 'Tridge' assumed to be an affectionate name for one of J.V.’s mules that he must have tearfully recorded as having to put out to pasture. Right.
Still not sure exactly why Sean thought taking 90 guards to a fort made sense either, but he's a little sensitive right now, so we don't mention it. Will try again tomorrow with the proper directions. For now the camp is content in enjoying a special ration of coffee. A blend referred to only as "Little of This, Little of That” by our resident chef C.K. It's good. Hope she can remember it to make again.

~2 a.m. ~
Bug got into C.K's supplies. Freaked out and woke the whole camp. We thought she'd been bit, or worse, by something. Turned out she spotted what she thought was a hissing cockroach, and it was indeed hissing at her. Jake being the unofficial “animal tamer" rushed to her rescue. He stared it down, and hissing back, flicked whatever it was off into a nearby bush. C.K. wouldn't rest until Jake went after it though - said she had to know *exactly* where it was, for fear it might come back after her. If it does, I want her chocolate stash.

Day 6- afternoon, Tierra del Cafeina

We lost a day, having to recover a lot of our supplies after the rainstorm the other night. While we recovered most of our things, pages of the J.V. manuscript were damaged.. Carrie is trying to dry out and piece together some of it. Sean's busy trying to interpret some of the blurry text and copy it in his notebook.

~
Uneventful day as we spent a lot of it doing laundry. Still must smell 'spring-time' fresh. Wouldn't want to scare off J.V. The wait is killing me. Not good with waiting.

Day 5 - Tierra del Cafeina

The lush landscape of the area can be very deceiving. While beautiful it can still be a very dangerous place to stay long. Last night, after making it to Tierra del Cafeina, and getting everything setup, a torrential rainfall nearly flooded out our camp. Frightened animals seeking shelter would suddenly pop up and Todd nearly went into a fit when a lizard climbed up his back and hid under his shirt. I told him to be grateful that at least it wasn't going for a more southern locale. We have since nicknamed him Zippy, after the sudden frantic efforts in unzipping his pants to keep the lizard from 'nesting' or whatever it does anywhere south of the border. Too much to do today to keep our camp together to even think about J.V.

Day 3 - Columbia

We're heading for a mountainous region called ‘Tierra del Cafeina'. Mosquitoes and other annoying creepy-crawly things have feasted on us throughout our journey, and one of the team has already had to go back as he proved to be allergic to something. The rest of us made due with our skin protected and coated in various anti-itch creams and bug repellent. Deep Woods Off has never been this deep before. No sign of Juan yet We have enough food and water to continue though, and spirits remain high as we are convinced that we are on the right track. We are certain that a book found in a library archive holds the key to Juan's whereabouts. The group has been busy interpreting various landmarks in the landscape to match those found in the book. So far so good. Tomorrow will tell though, as we are due to arrive in the Tierra del Cafeina region, and if the book is right...... well we'll see.
~
Being St. Valentine's day - Todd thought he'd be sweet and give all the 'ladies in his life' homemade cards. Which means all of the women got little pieces of cardboard he tore off his notebook, with berry juice smeared all over it in the vague shape of hearts. Here's what mine looks like:

....So it was that I found myself in the lush landscape of Columbia within a week after discovering the conspiracy surrounding Juan Valdez.

DAY 2 - Columbia, airport
Just a quick note to remind myself to never, EVER sit next to Roland on a plane again. We haven't even reached the heat and humidity of the jungle yet, and already the man is sweating like... well, like something that sweats A LOT. Enough said I think.

Did I ever tell you the story about my search for Juan Valdez?

It started innocently enough. I had a thought. And yes, based on previous experience, anyone would have the right to be a little suspicious of this. Heck, for safety measures one should be required to be cautious at this point. But, I went ahead and had the thought anyway, heedless of the danger. Just a little question niggling at the back of my brain about the nature of the man who adorned the containers of my favorite beverage. Who was he? Where did he come from? Where does he live now? Is that moustache real? How does he grow Irish creme coffee beans? If nothing comes after 'Z', how do you spell 'zebra'? These are questions that were plaguing me, as I sat and sipped my double tall hazelnut espresso with a dusting of cinnamon.

{sigh}

Where was I? Oh yeah, yeah. Juan.

Anxious to begin my quest, I decided to start with the address given on the label. Addressing things to "Juan Valdez c/o Columbia" did not seem to be in my best interest of obtaining quick results, however. So I tried another address. Here I hit my first obstacle. Repeated attempts at information using various guises and pseudonyms via phone and mail resulted in the same answer. "Uh… Sorry, he doesn't exist." Even claiming to be his long lost sister and speaking in Spanish did nothing to loosen their tongues. That was the first inkling I had to the conspiracy surrounding the mysterious man of mountain grown flavors.

But what possible secret could they be covering up? Why deny the man's very existence when his photo plastered all over obviously proves he does exist? The implications were astounding to my less than nimble mind. Freak accident involving his overburdened pack mule and some stray coffee beans? Some terrible knowledge that cause the 'Powers that Be' to make him disappear and strike his existence from all records? I had to find out. And so began my search......