The ants! March 18th – 24th

First things first! Nothing has changed since my last post regarding coronavirus. I am just waiting until April 14th so I can fly back to bangkok, then on April 15th back to Bohol, Philippines. As long as Bangkok still allows people to leave, and Manila opens like they said I will be happy and can leave. There are around 200 cases of coronavirus in Thailand with a population of 70 million. I am isolated at the farm.. the chances of me getting it are pretty much zero. Everyone has been keeping me updated about everything happening back home and it sounds like a big mess. I really hope this all calms down in a few weeks, not months.

Onto the fun stuff!! I actually had a great time this week! Me and the girl who was staying here took the kayak and decided to make it all the way to the ocean and back! It was incredibly fun and I can’t wait to do it again. The creek runs through the farm and all you have to do is start paddling, after a mile it opens up to a river. There were alot of local boats and fisherman as well as monkeys throughout the mangroves. We also saw Gobi fish, they can breathe out of the water for short periods of time and scuttle accross the banks. It was super interesting watching them “walk” out of the water and bury themselves. It was 5 miles to the ocean and we made it in 2 hours. The view was breathtaking, there are small islands everywhere. It was surprisingly shallow coming out of the river to meet the ocean, we cruised around a giant sandbar and spotted some caves in the cliffs. We found a small alcove beach and stopped for lunch. Afterward we kayaked the 5 miles home and it was surprisingly easy. It took 5 hours roundtrip but I wasn’t sore or anything!

I worked alot in the garden this week, weeding everything inside and outside. The resident cat here is the absolute sweetest. He is always in the garden and always flops down at your feet demanding belly rubs. I picked chili’s, planted seedlings, and harvested asparagus, salad greens, onions, papayas, and butternut squash. I also learned how to make sun dried bananas, and bread! The bread wasn’t too difficult and actually turned out delicious, hopefully it doesn’t turn rock hard by tomorrow! I’ve been listening to my podcasts and keeping up writing in my journal to occupy my time since there is no TV here. Every night I usually go for a walk or bike ride. The only downside here is the fire ants. They live on anything green, the grass, bushes, trees, anything.. and they bite fast and hard. It leaves horrible red marks that are itchy and swollen. The bite marks go away after a couple weeks but they are annoying and painful, so I will be wearing boots for a while.

The otters are going through a growth spurt! They are always hungry and are getting very bitey. They are excellent climbers and will now climb up the door. Their fur is also getting really thick and dark. We have to seperate them when we feed them now because the others will get impatient and bite your feet or steal your shoes. They are on more solid food and learning how to chew and have been doing great! By next week I think we will be feeding them fish. We also have some new chicken hatchlings! Last but not least, the weather is always sunny and clear here, although very hot. Usually its 95° and 90-100% humidity.. even the shade is hot. Thats all for this week!

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