But from afar in one of those trees that happened to be closer to the road, I could see something in the tree a good 20-25 feet off of the ground, and the tree shaking and some of the branches bouncing up and down. As I peered closer, I noticed that it was two young boys that had climbed up the tree. And as we approached, I could see one of the boys, the younger one, balancing within two pretty thick branches and breaking smaller branches by hand. The older of the two was stomping on a larger extension off of the trunk and trying to break it off by foot. And then as we drove by, I noticed that under the tree was a woman looking up, watching the two boys.
In a quick moment, I had a feeling of wonderment, and out loud, said to myself... "What the..." - and before I could even speak any more, Heather, without even skipping a beat just cut me off and said "Firewood." Amazing. The woman was collecting the branches that came down.
Which reminded me, a few weeks back we got this photo - this is an image we see everyday. Often it is so incredible to see first hand, but in a quickly moving car, tough to capture on photo. There are moments that we all have when we're taking photos of crazy sights or occurrences here, where we second guess if we should take them, as if it's exploiting culture or a way of life... where our mental pictures and memories should do the trick. And I've seen many things, had no camera in hand or just decided it was best for my own memories. Though, this particular image and part of life here is so unbelievable that it has to be shared. It speaks on so many levels - and demonstrates an unbelievable mark of strength and labor in the people, as well as a lifestyle and a culture well built on an adaptation to the nature and means around them.
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