February 25 – Day 56

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REPORT FROM THE WALK:

Closing in on 14,000 miles!

WHERE IN THE WORLD?

Yesterday we crossed the Congo River. It was huge and really flowing strong – what with all the rain we’ve been having. Now today was the first day without much rain in over a week. We’ve been making our way up the Busira River basin and stopped outside a small village here. It’s been hot and humid, it gets in the 90’s during the day, but the humidity makes it feel higher.

One building in this village struck us. It had a concrete floor, the walls were made of bricks using material from termite hills and it had a metal roof. We asked Mostassa, who lived there and he said it was build by Habitat for Humanity. He and his family and friends who live there make $13 a month payments to pay for it. As it got later in the day, more of his family and friends showed up and we got to meet them all. Were we surprised when who walks through the door about dusk. It was none other than Carmen San Diego! I would have never recognized her, but Catherine, who played the game all the time when she was younger, couldn’t help herself and had to yell out, “It’s Carmen San Diego!” Carmen was as shocked as we were. “How did you possibly find me?” she asked.

It turns out Carmen had been living here since the civil war ended in 2003. As we talked with her, she shared with us the most amazing story. She had come to Zaire (the former name of The Democratic Republic of Congo) to steal some diamonds and had succeeded, but had to leave them in the trusted care of a friend of hers when the war blew away her exit plans. When the ceasefire was signed in late 2002, she returned and tracked down her partner to this area. One day while resting in the forest, really beat from the heat, someone came up from behind her and started massaging her shoulders. She thought it was one of the porters and that was unusual to say the least, but it felt so good, she didn’t even turn around or look up. The massage put her in some sort of la-la land but she happened to catch a glimpse of the fingers massaging her and it snapped her to total awake immediately. It was a bonobo! There weren’t suppose to be any right around here and there are probably only about 20,000 in all of the world (all in the Congo). The porters had all fled. Carmen started talking a blue streak – totally out of nervousness – and at one point asked him his name. She didn’t realize they don’t talk, but this bonobo said his name was Paw-paw.

He was from a nearby community and he took Carmen to meet them. They all seemed quite friendly. There were probably 25-30 of them. They had nests of sorts fairly high up in the trees where they spent the night and Paw-paw helped Carmen up the tree and she spent a wonderful night in the comfort of that tree nest. In the morning she woke up to Paw-paw massaging her again with his fingers which are much longer than humans. Along with Chimpanzees, Bonobo’s are our closest relatives. We share 98% of the same genetic material. It is believed that 6 million years ago we actually were about the same. Carmen realized that this community was a whole lot different than a community of chimpanzees. These guys got along pretty darn well and it looked like the females ran the place more than the males.

Carmen decided to stay a while to learn more, Paw-paw helped her by gathering most of the fruit they ate. Well, to make a long story a bit shorter, she’s been living partly with them and partly with Mostassa for the past three years. She said she rarely thinks about the lost diamonds anymore. She seemed really happy, really relaxed. She still gets massages at least every day and she said they are the best in the world!

FROM EARTHWALK COSMIC HEADQUARTERS IN OMAHAHA

Well it’s been quite a week here. We’re being audited by the Cosmic Transnabulatory Tribunal. We didn’t even know there was such a group. Apparently they are entrusted with ensuring that all great walks anywhere in the Milky Way Galaxy are done to a particular standard.

These were their findings in their final report:

It is illegal to wear 5 pedometers at once. It doesn’t matter if they are on different parts of your body or all of different colors. Only one pedometer at any moment.

It is perfectly legal to sleep wearing a sock with a pedometer attached to record miles done during sleepwalking or other nocturnal activity.

It is illegal to put a pedometer on your pet unless that pet has signed up with the walk.

It is legal, but unethical, to wear a pedometer on any part of your body experiencing habitual twitching.

It is illegal and highly dangerous to travel in a moving vehicle with a pedometered leg dangling out and bouncing off the pavement.

It is legal to wear a pedometer while swimming – but it will ruin the pedometer.

Walking backwards is legal and the pedometers record it just fine.

If you have been keeping walking records since birth, you cannot use any recorded miles prior to signing up with the walk.

Magnificent Millie’s Milestones and Millstones!
Closing in on a Record	Within 25 pounds of breaking the weight loss record.
Now over 166 pounds lost! Where are they? Who cares. Good riddance!
State Leader	Six States over 100 miles
Mississippi has now put in over 11,000 miles. Followed by Georgia with nearly a thousand, Minnesota with over 500, Texas close behind with 494, Florida and Arkansas over 200.
Fondren Traders Tribe Out Front	The tribe has 2,394.41 miles and counting
800 miles behind them is the Computer Co-op Scrolling Strollers, 1000 miles behind is the Legal Resources Tribe and about to hit 1,000 is the Canizaro Cawthon Davis tribe and the Slow Spokes.

OUT OF AFRICA FREE LUNCH FOR TWO POINTS AWARDED WHEN LEAVING AFRICA
Raising ones ranking in the EarthWalk Foot Miles Standing. (Foot miles are the combined walking, running and jogging miles.)	1 point for every rise in the ranking – (no points lost for dropping in the rankings)
Recruiting someone to join EarthWalk. If you are in a tribe, recruit someone to join your tribe.	1 point for each tribe member for each person recruited for your tribe.
Losing weight between now and leaving Africa	1 point for each pound lost.

You can keep up with your standing in the Foot Miles, by going to the main web site,

www.computercoop.com\earthwalk.htm

Click on the More Numbers link,

Then click on the Foot Miles link.

Submit Miles Here Too