A bright morning with singing cicada’s greeted us when we woke. Speaking of cicada, I kid you not about 4:00PM they start their song and it is almost deafening. Crazy loud. It continues in waves all night long.

Today was Sue’s birthday- we had told the volunteer coordinators a couple days earlier and before our afternoon job they had gotten both she and another guest Simon cakes. They were beautifully done- Sue’s had an elephant on it and the cake was yummy too. Kind of like a mild sponge cake- not to sweet, really good.

Originally our schedule had said “elephant food” but by the time we met at 8 it had been changed to “elephant poo”. It actually wasn’t bad at all- we had 2 groups on the task which made the work go really fast. We had to pick up a huge pile of corn stalks at the end. They had been laying there for some time by the look of them.

I saw perfect home for snakes and rats. And, I was right. Of course Max was the 1st to find the snake. Actually it was Amy who spotted the snake 1st and she is DEATHLY afraid of snakes. Really practical since she lives in LA and all. Kind of like my thing with rats- super practical considering I live in a citrus grove which is home to MILLIONS of rats in AZ. Max found the baby rat just after the snake- he thought he was oh so funny when he mimed throwing it at me underhand at one point. Such a cute boy.

Think i’ve figured out the source of my rash- the corn. The lotion and pills have stopped it at my knee, but after the cleaning even while trying to not let the corn stalks touch my leg they were very red, angry and itchy after.

When we met at 1:00 for our group picture in the meeting area that is where Simon and Sue got their cakes. It was very sweet- well kind of mean. They pulled Rory and myself out of the group to a room behind where the cakes were hidden. In the mean time the V.C.’s had told Sue and Simon that they had done something really wrong when they had done the dogs the day before and that they, the V.C.’s, were in trouble. Then Rory and I got to come out carrying the cakes with the candles singing!

We then gathered in front of one of the elephants and took our group photo. We have all grown so much this week. Learned about the plight of these majestic beings and also about the strengths we all posses, physically after slinging all that poo.

The afternoon we had off. It was spent between the viewing platform watching the elephants and in bed napping and reading. It gets crazy hot here in the afternoons. No air movement at all- the rain never appeared to cool things off today. We did hear thunder in the distance but it never made it to our little valley. When the sun set we got some relief.

Dinner was held upstairs in the massage/blessing area. We all grabbed our plates and went upstairs where little low laying tables and pillows had been placed on the floor. While we ate the children from the school we visited had a little traditional dance performance. There were maybe 6 songs and girls from 5 to teens.

Rob and I got our usual evening massages. Such a great way to end a day. Neither of us have been sore at all, which we should have been given the level of physical activity we’ve had here.

Sometimes in dark you will hear the trumpet of an elephant- their presence is always felt. This valley we are in also houses about 6 other elephant camps. The others are the more traditional ride on elephant camps. We see them on the other side of the river almost daily. Foreigners swaying on the backs of these elephants.

Apparently one of the camps has a new baby they are breaking. The babies are taken from their mothers at a very young age in order to be trained to follow humans. In the wild a baby elephant will nurse for 4-5 years. In order to train the young elephant they must be taken away when they are 1 or younger.

A “crush” is built. It is a pen that just fits the body of the baby elephant. The baby remains in the crush for up to 3 days, or until it is “broken”. This was happening across the river from us- although we could not hear the baby’s cries the elephants at ENP could. One of the nursing moms and an auntie (other females in the families who help to raise the babies) tried repeated to cross the river to reach the distressed baby. The mahouts had a hard time keeping them on our side. All night long the mom and auntie were calling out to the baby. Not one of theirs by birth, but instinctually they wanted to help.

At a Renaissance Festival in Phoenix about 8-10 years ago, I remember being there with the kids and riding on a lone elephant that was there giving rides in a small corral. Absolutely no thought went into the act- except maybe “cool, an elephant”. I’ve also sat in the stands of a handful of circus shows with elephants performing. Now I know…………now you know.