Breakfast this morning was the usual - eggs, toast, rice porridge. The only new twist was some pineapple jam that was surprisingly good.
We departed early for our day out to the coast. Our driver was in downright crazy mode, creating his own lane and pushing everyone out of the way. Kind of fun and scary. After a few hours of driving we arrived at Kukum National Park for what would be a brief tour of a rainforest. We took a short walk through a pretty forest up to a "canopy walk" which involved a short walk across two wobbly rope bridges high up in the trees. It was scary but the view was pretty. We didn't see much in the way of wildlife - a crazy long worm, and a pretty butterfly or two, but none of the elephants or monkeys we were told were around.
From there we drove to a nearby hotel for lunch. The hotel restaurant was surrounded by water and there were a few crocodiles roaming around. The food was the usual rices and meats. The only new additions were some beans, which were very good, and some excellent sangria. They had a large screen on which they were projecting an Olympic basketball game in which the US was slaughtering Spain.
From there we went to Elmira Castle, which is a castle right on the coast built by the portugese in the 1400s as a trading outpost. It quickly became the center of the trans-atlantic slave trade, with slaves being held in horrible dungeons for months before being shipped out. Later the dutch took it over. Now it is a fairly well preserved reminder of our horrible past. A sobering, important experience.
From there it was time to make the long drive back to our hotel. Tonight is our last night in the hotel. Tomorrow we go to church and then we'll be parceled out to host families for our last 3 nights. I'm quite apprehensive about this. This may be the last time I'm able to blog before coming home, as I have no idea whether my host home will be internet capable, but am guessing probably not.
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