Lost day

Have you ever lost a whole day out of a week? I did once, and I wasn’t on drugs or anything, either. It happened the first week we were at Advanced Base during our Jungle Camp experience. We had traveled by mule from Main Base out into the jungle to set up Advanced Base. Two single ladies took turns riding a mule with our daughter, Jean. Ed preferred to walk. That left Danny and me with a mule to ourselves. Such luxury, no slogging over muddy trails on foot. When it came nap time, I simply slung Danny in a comfortable position in front of me with the reboso and the rhythm of the mule’s walk lulled him to sleep.

We arrived late in the day with jungle hammocks to hang and duffle bags to unpack. No cozy hut awaiting us here. In case you’re not familiar with army surplus, I should explain that jungle hammocks have a roof that is supposed to keep out the rain and netting on the sides to protect against mosquitoes. For the time being, our jungle hammocks had to double as beds and closets. Staff members had come a few days earlier and set up a bodega (storeroom). They issued us rudimentary cooking and eating utensils and food to last our family for one week. Ed built a campfire and I cooked our meals. I felt privileged each morning to be the first wife in camp to have a cooking fire going for her. Having grown up with a wood stove, Ed knew the art of banking the coals at night so there was something to start with the next day.

That first morning in camp, we awoke to steady drizzle. Soon everything that wasn’t covered was wet. Mud everywhere we walked. I found myself complaining, It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just Ed and I, but why do we have to drag our kids through this muddy mess? The Lord convicted me and once he got my attitude straightened out, the rest of the week wasn’t so bad. In fact, it turned out to be quite an adventure.

We had one week before classes began to pick a home site, build a house, make what furniture we needed, and get settled. Our resources? A machete for each of us--and the jungle. Well, I don’t know that you could exactly call the shelter we built a house, but we lived in it for six weeks.

Advanced Base was located in a partial clearing. There were trees, but not like in the nearby jungle. A river ran along one edge of camp. We picked a spot next to a cane patch and planted four corner posts, the two at the front taller than the two at the back. Then we brought in saplings from the jungle and cut them to reach from corner post to corner post, forming a rectangular frame. We laid smaller saplings side by side across the top of the frame. All of this material, including the sturdy corner posts, was hacked out of the jungle with machetes.

Going from the semi openness of our camp into the semi darkness of the jungle felt like entering another world, a dripping canopy overhead, and a cushion of dank leaves underfoot. The smell of leaf mold permeated the air. In the dim light we saw flits of color through the trees and heard strange screeches, exotic birds we’d never seen before. Vines hung from the trees, some big and strong, the kind Tarzan swung from. Others were more like small rope or cord. We pulled the smaller ones and dragged them back to camp to tie our “house” together. Then we were ready to cut cane from the nearby patch and thatch the roof. When we finished, the thatch reached to the ground at the rear of the house, the cane patch gave us privacy on one side, and we hung our jungle hammocks, which would serve as closets, along the other side. Only the front of our shelter, which served as the kitchen/dining area, was exposed to the view of passers-by.

Ed built a sand table for our cooking fire. After a week of squatting and bending over a fire on the ground, this was a luxury. He built a dining table and benches, and shelves beside the fire table for our food and dishes. At the rear of our “house,” he built frames for our air mattresses and sleeping bags. I arranged our clothes in the jungle hammocks and stored our food and dishes on the shelves in the kitchen. We felt we were making good progress. One more day and our cozy “vacation” cottage in the jungle would be complete.

What a shock when we were told that the next day was Sunday. We would gather for worship, and classes would begin on Monday. I recovered and enjoyed the rest of the Jungle Camp experience, but I’ll never know where that missing day went—and we never did finish our bungalow!