We had just finished our morning training and were standing around chatting, when I think it was Patri, pointed at something by the West coast.
As soon as I saw it I ran as fast as I could back to my cabin to snatch up my camera.
The view to the West was of a savannah of cloud high above the land below, with washes of pink glinting off them. The blue sky dotted around it contrasted beautifully, and set the scene perfectly for the rainbow rising vertically out of the clouds. It was a painting that could not ever be given justice by any human hand.
My pictures can only give a taste of what I saw, but the whole setting could never quite be captured.
So it was some start to the day as you can imagine.
And then after our second work period, fixing one of the electricity poles that had been bent out of shape by a falling branch, I found myself back very early.
Normally, if I was to get back at this sort of time, with two hours before lunch, I would go and maybe lend a hand to somebody else for a bit. But today I wanted a bit of alone time. It has rained a little more than usual lately, so I hadn’t been able to go for walks or sit outside, so this would be perfect.
Sitting on the bench outside our cabin was exactly what I needed and I was able to just sit there and just observe. Suddenly, though, I spotted something really worth while observing, two toucans!
With camera in hand I found myself effectively chasing them around the front area trying to get close enough for a decent picture, but I was always bested by the two colourful birds. With no really good photos to show for my hard work, I though I would walk down to the wind turbine (which was in the direction I last saw them go).
It seemed rather idyllic and thought that placing my posterior (after checking for any ant dwellings) on the side of the hill would be wonderful.
It was so serene sitting there, the clouds were low but not so thick as to block out the Sun, and I still had an amazing view of the primary forest on the opposite side of the valley. The fly catchers were busy leaping off the perches, pirouetting in mid air before dropping back onto their branch to swallow their catch.
I was sitting close to a tree that quickly became abundant with life. There must have been close to 20 different birds on this small tree. You had the yellows of the different types of flycatchers, you had the reds from the fiery coloured tanager and
the red tanager,(photo taken from the internet) there was the green of a woodpecker, very similar to the green woodpecker we see at home. There were also, pale blues as well as blacks and whites from the little birds searching the bark for grubs.It was stunning. I would usually have tried to creep forward to get some pictures, but for once, I just wanted to enjoy what I was seeing.
I must have been there for over half an hour, with no care in the world and just absorbing the best of what was around me.
It was funny because when I went to get up I realised my cheeks were really saw. I must have been smiling for the whole of the 30 minutes. This wasn’t just ordinary conditional happiness (I hadn’t just been given chocolate), this was just total bliss. I was just totally content with myself and my surroundings.
Well, I better go, lunch is being served and I don’t want to miss out on conditional happiness.
