Fri 17/8 7729 steps
Song: Sail Away by Neil Young ( I could live inside a teepee…)
We decided to take an Uber to Mashpee, so we walked to the camp entrance, but no Ubers were available, which was odd. Then I realized it was a network problem, so walked back up to the campsite and tried wifi, still to no avail. David tried his phone, and after a while managed to find one. The Uber driver told us that signal in the area is sometimes controlled by the large military base nearby. Not a great marketing plus for the campground, but it explains why wifi worked one moment and then was literally dead. Plus I love a good conspiracy theory.
We walked around Mashpee Commons, a lovely collection of shops and restaurants and had an “Oh wow” lunch. A small bowl of clam chowder and mini lobster roll for me and baked fish for David.
Then we went to the Wampanoag Indian Museum. It is a very small museum, no interactive fancy displays, just a wonderful Wampanoag lady who shows you pictures and artifacts from olden to modern day. The museum has a replica of a winter house, where we sat and listened while she explained about the tribe’s history, culture and way of life, as well as their reactions to the Pilgrims who settled nearby. It was so informative and relaxing. We learnt so much from a simple visit which was just short of an hour. What stood out for us was that the Wampanoag had on average 3 children, which they felt was sustainable. Children were the highest gift from the creator so there was no abuse. As long as you lived in a way that you did not hurt others, you were not judged. If you killed someone, on purpose or by accident, you had to look after their family. A woman was in charge of the house, if she wanted her man gone, she simply put his feeding bowl outside the door. No hard feelings, just move on. At the time of the arrival of the Pilgrims, their average life span was 80, the Pilgrims’ was 30.
Chuckle of the day: Our guide at the museum explained the way the Indians lived in contrast to the Settlers. She explained that in contrast to the Wampanoag, the settlers believed that sex was something woman endured in order to reproduce, to which she added: “they must have been doing it all wrong”
What I learnt: There is much research about intergenerational transmission of trauma, and whether trauma causes chemicals to be released in the brain which actually affects the DNA of future generations of the survivors.
Kim's journey 