At the start of my second day I learned that
roosters don’t really start crowing at dawn. They start well before 5 a.m.
After trying several times to ignore it I finally got up. As I got dressed I
thought about how even though I’ve been a vegetarian for the last few years I
might make an exception for the rooster outside my window…
At breakfast I met the other volunteers as well
as the elephants. It is incredibly interesting to hear the variety of noises
that the elephants make and to see the bonds between them. Afterwards I was
given a more thorough tour of the village and the Elephant Study Center.During the day I helped teach English to community members as well as feed the elephants. At
5:30 that night we had a welcoming ceremony. A shaman performed it. All the
volunteers sat in a half circle facing the shaman and the ceremony tree. A
string is run from the tree, around all the volunteers and back to the tree.
The shaman chants, asking the gods for bad things not to happen to us during our
stay (illness, snake bites, etc.) At one point he light candles and dribbled
the wax into a bowl of water. Then he dipped some ceremony sticks into the
water and flung droplets at everyone. He prayed some more and then the mahouts
(elephant care takers) and other local villagers threw leaves at the
volunteers. Then, the elders of the village tied bracelets onto the wrists of
each volunteer. These can't be removed for at least three days and cannot be
cut off. After this, a local girl named Apple gave everyone a shot of
rice whiskey. It is pretty disgusting. That was the end of the
ceremony, and we went to dinner.
Total HR: 19
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