Fri 30 October

Today I conquered my fear of heights. When I arrived at work, Cilia told me that the men had left to go collect seeds and if I wanted to go, I would have to bike up the main road of EARTH to catch up with them. I caught up with them and we went to a tree called Blanco Colorado or something and it was about 12 meters high. Minor got his climbing gear all set up while the other men and I set up this huge tarp at the bottom of the tree to catch what ever Minor was going to do. Minor first threw a small string with small weights tied to the end of it over a branch of the tree. Then he sent the bigger climbing rope over. Then he tied the end of the rope to the trunk of the tree. The tools he used for climbing were the exact same tools that Charlie’s Angels used in the first movie at the end when they were climbing the helicopter. They were like pullers that move when you push up but lock if you pull down on them. They were both connected to his harness and he was safe and ready to climb. They first pulley was used to pull the top half of your body up, then the second one had rope to go around your shoes to pull up your legs. So first you would pull your top half up, then your legs. It almost looked like a caterpillar. Once he was up in the tree, he cut huge branches and let them drop down on the tarp without giving us any warning! We almost got killed from these branches falling straight for us. After the noise of the trees hit the ground, you could hear Minor laughing because he thought it was funny not to tell us! Everyone was laughing too and calling him loco so I guess he does this a lot. Once we thought it was safe to go onto the tarp, we started picked the seed pods and putting them into sacks. Once and a while, while we were picking seeds, Minor would cut a branch or two with the machete but we were ready know. We knew the sound of the machete and knew to drop everything and get out of the way before another huge branch came crashing down. After we finished picking all the seeds and cleaning up, the men asked me if I wanted to climb the tree. I said yes and was amazed that they would even ask me since it was prohibited. Once I got all suited up, they showed me how to climb. I got the hang of it in no time and got up to the top faster than I thought I would. When I got there, it was the first time I looked down. My fear of heights kicked in and I couldn’t believe that I actually would climb so high without checking. Now I was stuck in a tree 40ft high and I didn’t know what to do. The men told me that I could either repel down the tree or they could lower me. I thought the second one would be easier so I told them to lower me. I got down safely and thanked god for it. After work I chilled at the house and then ate dinner at the cafeteria. I talked to Robin and Malea my two new friends who I met; they asked me if I wanted to go dancing. We went dancing from 10pm to 230am and I had a blast. The only problem was I had work the next day in 3 hours.