Ah, Wildlife

November 2, 2012

My first night’s sleep at Nada would have been surprisingly restful had it not been for the coyote posse that chose to hang out by my window sometime around 2am. If you’ve ever heard a coyote, you can imagine how alarming it would be to wake up to that shriek while sleeping in a strange bed, in a strange hut, in a strange valley. I was sure they would jump right through the glass and bite off my face.

However, I must have been very tired or the pack must have wandered off, because I fell sound asleep again until morning. And here’s what my eyes opened up to with the dawn:

So, as you may know, there’s no cost to this retreat. Some Jesuit-types asked me why I wasn’t doing a 30-day Ignatian retreat. Well, how can I put this simply… Oh, right: $2000.  That’s about how much most Ignatian retreats cost these days at insufferable places like Gloucester and Cohasset, MA! (That’s a joke, dear New England friends. I know of few places as beautiful as the Northern Atlantic coast.) But seriously, I’m thrifty if nothing else. So the opportunity for a free retreat, despite its landlocked location, was convincing. But free is a bit of a misnomer; there is no payment required, but the retreatants do give 15 hours of week of manual labor- along with the Carmelites- to help keep up the retreat center. My sisters and I speculated about what such “manual labor” might include: Laundry? Yes, on Wednesdays. Cooking? Yep, Tuesday & Friday evenings. Cleaning? Saturday mornings.

And Thursdays? Well, that’s when our “special project” takes place. Each group of young adult retreatants (as opposed to private retreatants) takes on a new project, depending on the needs of the community. For example, in Ireland last spring the group built a stone wall. Possibly expecting a group of city slickers this time around, our project will be organizing the library. Apparently their system of categorization has seen better days, so we’ll be restoring it to some semblance of order over the next month for the ease of inquiring retreatants and community members. If we complete the project early, there may be some construction awaiting us…though Fr. Eric expressed some concern about our physical ability-levels while looking directly at me. I’d be offended if it weren’t somewhat accurate. He then asked me outright: “Have you done much construction, Jessica?” I proudly shared my experience building a house in Jamaica, while leaving out the part about the crew of Jamaicans who did most of the work.