AHH! The joys of camping! Last weekend we got to take a camping trip with three of our local friends and a team member. We took a bus to a fishing village about an hour and 1/2 outside of our city. When we arrived, we trekked to the campground with all our stuff only to find it was locked and closed for the season. We then had to locate another place where we could set up camp over night.

Quaint, quiet, and uncrowded-great for a weekend venture!

Behind this "outdoor cafe" was our camping site.

This is what it looked like. (This was after we took the tents down the next day because I forgot to take pictures before we set up camp)

Here's Mandi taking a break! (This was also after we broke camp-she's catching up on the night of sleep she lost)

The cliffs of insanity! It was pretty insane that I tried to climb over to the cave in this photo!

On the rocks! All of our crew -except for the one taking the photo. The next day this whole area was covered by crashing waves. The wind picked up during the evening, so the waves were significantly higher the next day. (The top 2 photos are of this same place in January). The ocean was Much more calm during this trip.

Under the "cave". Getting to this point was pretty challenging. Parts of the ledge were only a foot wide-sometimes less than that. We were only about 3 feet from the water (to the left of Brian) so I didn't think climbing up the ledge to get inside was really necessary.

Sleepy Sumer!

This is how they pulled the fishing boats from the water-with a farm tractor!

A beautiful sunset to end a beautiful day!

After a long day of traveling, setting up camp and swimming we were ready to eat and play a few games then hit the sack-literally. However, camping on the dirt in the back of a cafe with vacation rentals all around, has it's drawbacks. Mainly, people in this part of the world all sit on the porch to eat meals, and visit with family and friends. Normally, they do it until late at night. When they are at their vacation home, they do it until the weeeeeee hours of the morning! I think everybody decided to call it a night about 3 or 3:30 in the morning. Shortly after it got "quiet" the local mosque"s call to prayer went off. So, this is what we looked like the next morning. You know-I'd do it all over again tomorrow! (Only with ear plugs and an air mattress!)

Yet another month has past and still no current photos. We did do all the things we said we would but there is little time to tote around a camera when you're having so much FUN! I did manage to get a couple of shots from the beach trip with my tutor but that's about all! So, if you are a frequent blog checking fan (you might just be the only one), keep on checking. There will be more in the future as we anticipate the return of our university friends!