I have been shamefully neglectful of my blog in the last few weeks, but I have a very good excuse: the lovely Caroline has been visiting and we have been gadding about, or as they would say here, being “vagas”. Vaga I think could be translated as vagabond, but I believe and hope they mean it in an endearing way, although they cannot understand the idea of going off to foreign parts (the other side of the country), as their idea of a holiday is a trip down to the end of the road to sit in the neighbour's backyard for an afternoon...
I have been doing my best to keep Caroline safe and sound, in fear of dreadful vengeance being exacted by Stan (aka Dan) if I don't, but Caroline seems to be very good at attracting danger. So far we have been offered weed by very strange men, had our boat capsize in alligator populated waters, and are soon to take up volcano boarding (sliding on a wooden board down the side of an active volcano , top speed record is 80 k/p/h).
I have been doing my best to keep Caroline safe and sound, in fear of dreadful vengeance being exacted by Stan (aka Dan) if I don't, but Caroline seems to be very good at attracting danger. So far we have been offered weed by very strange men, had our boat capsize in alligator populated waters, and are soon to take up volcano boarding (sliding on a wooden board down the side of an active volcano , top speed record is 80 k/p/h).
The weed and alligator incidents happened in Costa Rica, which was a funny little jaunt. The part we visited was kind of a Latin American version of Florida, over-developed and full of American men called 'so- American-you-couldn't-make-it-up-if-you-tried” names like Chad, Tod and Zee... But the national parks are as wild and jungle-like as you could possibly want. We saw sloths and monkeys, alligators, crabs, snakes and poisonous spiders. It is worth a 15 hour journey on a bus with 2 busloads of people crammed onto it, even if you are squished up against the front windscreen hurtling down cliff-side roads at horrendous miles per hour!
If you look closely you can see our boat that sank. The man in the water owns the boat, he was very drunk at the time, and very disappointed that his boat sank.. I think he held us responsible!
Our next escapade was to a Special Assembly Day over on the Carribean side of Nicaragua in the town of Bluefields. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but I don't think the words “9 hour bus ride overnight, and then a trip down the river” really sank in, until we were actually doing it. The bus ride was indescribable – why would anyone want to loudly and un-tunefully sing Hakuna Matata at 3 am? Why is it necessary to beep at EVERYTHING you drive past, yes everything? Can you win a design award for “most uncomfortable chair”, no matter what position you sit in?
The river journey was the fun part - 2 hours on a speedboat down something straight out of National Geographic. We were even given life-jackets which was surprising in terms of the usual non-existence of Health and Safety, but disturbing as it presumably meant that on occasion these boats sink.... and there were definitely crocodiles! The whole group of us survived, speeding past little wooden shacks on stilts with palm-thatched roofs, with our bow waves disturbing little boys fishing in hand carved wooden canoes or women washing at the waters edge.
The river journey was the fun part - 2 hours on a speedboat down something straight out of National Geographic. We were even given life-jackets which was surprising in terms of the usual non-existence of Health and Safety, but disturbing as it presumably meant that on occasion these boats sink.... and there were definitely crocodiles! The whole group of us survived, speeding past little wooden shacks on stilts with palm-thatched roofs, with our bow waves disturbing little boys fishing in hand carved wooden canoes or women washing at the waters edge.
In Bluefields, accomodation had been arranged with the local brothers and sisters. We were dropped off at the end of the paved road and led on a muddy track through a maze of wooden shacks, charmingly situated on the edge of an open sewer which wound through the barrio. Caz and I followed, hearts sinking with every step, dreading the idea of staying in one of these tumbledown sheds. Fortunately the home of our host family was at least made of bricks and had a proper tin roof-- huge sigh of relief. No running water, so the bathroom was involved a lot of buckets from the well, but at least it wasn't a latrine!!!
The couple we stayed with, Alva and Leonard, are 87 and 86, and the kindest, sweetest people you could ever meet. They forced us to have their bed... “we'll find somewhere to sleep” and cooked us huge quantities of rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and it would have been for dinner if we hadn't managed to escape! They have been in the truth for over 40 years and Leonard had the privilege of “makin de ice for de frescos (refreshments) for de broders at de assembly”. He is also a real party animal, having over 70 back to the house after the assembly for a party and showing off his (amazingly good) moves to an intriguing mixture of salsa, reggae and country and western...
There were 240 in attendance at the assembly held in the local college grounds. The sound system was a “ghettoblaster” and they even served cakes and drinks during the day!
In between all this gallivanting, we have actually managed to squeeze in ministry, Bible studies and meetings. Somehow my congregation hasn't quite grasped that Caroline doesn't speak Spanish so they love coming up for a chat and gabbling away while Caroline smiles and nods. But they are so excited to have another foreigner, and if they have any few words of English they will try it out on her.
The couple we stayed with, Alva and Leonard, are 87 and 86, and the kindest, sweetest people you could ever meet. They forced us to have their bed... “we'll find somewhere to sleep” and cooked us huge quantities of rice and beans for breakfast, lunch and it would have been for dinner if we hadn't managed to escape! They have been in the truth for over 40 years and Leonard had the privilege of “makin de ice for de frescos (refreshments) for de broders at de assembly”. He is also a real party animal, having over 70 back to the house after the assembly for a party and showing off his (amazingly good) moves to an intriguing mixture of salsa, reggae and country and western...
There were 240 in attendance at the assembly held in the local college grounds. The sound system was a “ghettoblaster” and they even served cakes and drinks during the day!In between all this gallivanting, we have actually managed to squeeze in ministry, Bible studies and meetings. Somehow my congregation hasn't quite grasped that Caroline doesn't speak Spanish so they love coming up for a chat and gabbling away while Caroline smiles and nods. But they are so excited to have another foreigner, and if they have any few words of English they will try it out on her.
