Wednesday, October 10, 2007

A New Day Dawns


Day 13
Weight: 218 lbs.
Food Intake:
  • Breakfast:
    • a bowl of grits (1/4 cup dry)
    • small cup of mango juice
    • a banana

  • Lunch:
    • thin slice of barley bread
    • 2 tbsp. mashed avocado
    • corn (2 cobs worth)
    • pineapple (5 chunks)
    • a banana

  • Dinner:
    • polenti cakes (squares of cold grits cooked a day later)
    • mandarins
    • banana juice
    • stewed squash

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise after a sound night's sleep and, after a breakfast of grits, a banana, and mango juice; decided to head south down the beach and explore a bit. After passing some heavy brush areas, I found another open area inland. I tracked into it and found another field of grain. This one was buckwheat. Mmmmm... pancakes. I collected as much buckwheat as I could carry and headed back toward the beach. On the way, I found a pineapple bush. I cut the big pineapple growing on top and carried it back to camp, glad to have another sweet fruit to add to the mix.

Back at camp I pounded the buckwheat into flour and stored it. For lunch I had my usual barley and avocado sandwich with corn, pineapple, and banana. After lunch I began dragging more mud bricks to camp. It was a long slow process. While resting between trips, I continued building my brick oven. It was a long, hot day.

I ended the day by cooking up some more stewed squash and also cutting some leftover breakfast grits into squares and cooking them into little polenti cakes. I ate these with banana juice and a mandarin. It was a good meal.

Just before dark, I was checking around camp when I saw something that changed everything. Over in the area where I had set up the fence for the cow there were tracks on the ground. Not cow tracks...human tracks, and not my tracks. The feet were thinner and longer than mine. I stopped short and quickly looked around. I didn't see anyone, but someone had been watching me it seems.

I climbed into my hammock and started thinking about the fields of cultivated grain and the domesticated animals. Of course there had to be people around. Had I been harvesting the work of others for my own needs? I could not sleep. I no longer felt safe. I laid awake listening carefully to each and every sound of the night.

1 comment:

peggy at the lake said...

Oh no---now we are in suspense about who those new foot-prints
belong to---do you think there may be a "tribe" around?? Let's hope
it is a very friendly tribe!!
Glad you found the pineapple &
buckwheat too--sounds grand!
Good luck on the island--your
photos on the blog are just superb!!
Thanks for sharing the beauty!!