The Biggest Adventure

Last summer I spent in the Philippines, excavating a place known as Old Kiyyangan Village with some of the brightest and most caring individuals I have ever met. The entire experience was surreal.  Literally everything was out of my comfort zone. From arriving into Manila at three in the morning. To my first night in Kiangan, in my mosquito net fort, listening to a billion sounds that horrified me to the depths of my soul. The cockroaches (which are my biggest phobia) were bigger than I could imagine. The bugs. The long and disgusting days in the field. Tapeworms. The rain water showers. The lack of toilet seats. Forgetting what hot water felt like. Missing wine. Missing my family. Having no real connection to the outside world.

Even through all of those trials, I fell in love. I fell in love with everything the Philippines had to offer, down to the biggest and nastiest cockroach. I fell for the people, who accepted me with open and loving arms. The food- even though I haven't been able to look at Tilapia since I came home. All of it. I try to find one negative with spending all that time away in a place I could have never imagined visiting with no luck. Kiangan is, and always will be, my special paradise. My spot.

So, yesterday I work, I made the call. I am going back. I have to go back. Since I stepped foot off that island in July I haven't been the same. My husband has even told me he felt like I left a little part of my heart there. It is no secret by now that I most definitely did.

This summer I will be returning for a month to excavate the Hapao Rice Terrace cluster. Last summer I was blessed to watch a ritual pig sacrifice to question the spirits of the ancestors of our excavation and they happily told us yes. I can't wait to return. I can't wait to smell all the smells and eat salty fish in the morning.... and rice every day for every meal. This time I will definitely be more prepared for the adventure I am about to embark on, for we are staying in an even more rural locale that has almost a mile hike up uneven stairs. Every. Day. Back to subsisting on Sky Flakes and 86 cent rum.

I yearn to be back in the field. To go home dirty and hating myself. To get into bed and fall asleep instantly from exhaustion. To dig up priceless cultural artifact and expand knowledge of such a rural area. For the first time in my life I finally am a piece of something that is far greater than myself.

This is only a portion of my beautiful Archaeology family