Sunday, April 24, 2011

You Spoke in English Why?...

Yesterday I went for a nice long motorcycle ride. First I went out toward El Volcan, but the pavement on that road ends about 4km out of town. I just like to ride up there, whether it's on my motorcycle or bicycle.

Then, I headed toward La Libertad. The day was a bit overcast and the road was a bit emptier than normal because of the holiday weekend. I could ride slower and not have to worry about being in people's way.

On my way out of town, I had seen that Pupusas al Boulevar was open, so I was already thinking that could possibly be my lunch stop. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I was sure that WOULD be my lunch stop.

When I walked in, I saw a few people waiting for their orders. I went to the front and placed an order for 3 pupusas, then walked over to the cooler to grab a bottle of refresco. I sat down at what has become 'my table' to wait for my meal. Now, I'm really not overly sentimental about seats in a restaurant. It's more that I like to be able to see my motorcycle and just keep an eye on it.

A few minutes later, two young guys pulled up on a motorcycle, parked next to me and walked inside. They, too, placed an order and then grabbed a table. Apparently, they also wanted to keep an eye on their moto, because they sat down at the table next to me, right next to the door. Unfazed by any of this, I sat there and continued to wait for my meal.

My pupusas arrived and a short time later the guys next to me received their food, as well. The guys had been chatting between themselves, but I wasn't paying any attention at all to their conversation, which was, of course, in Spanish. A few minutes later, though, my ears perked up. A lot. These two young men were now talking in English. Perfect English. I still wasn't actually listening to their conversation, but the fact that they were speaking so well made me take notice.

So I did what anyone would do (I think). I turned to them and said, "Your English is excellent. Where did you learn?" The guy nearest to me actually jumped a little when I said that. As it turns out, they started speaking in English because they didn't want their conversation to be overheard. They thought that I was a native Spanish speaker. I hadn't said a word to them up until this point. I don't know what it was about me that made them think I didn't speak English, but, to me, it really was a compliment.

Oh, and by the way, even though I wasn't listening to their conversation itself, they weren't saying anything bad.

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Here are a few photos taken when Glenda, Marla and I went up the bell tower at the cathedral. Our guide was showing us how they ring the bells to call people to Mass.



Looks like fun, doesn't it?

Friday, April 22, 2011

The Ups and Downs of Living in a Third World Country…

I’m writing this on Thursday evening, but I’m writing it in Word. I don’t know when I’ll be able to upload it. Our internet is down and I don’t know when it will be back up. Lately, it seems that the internet has been down more than it’s been up. I usually end up rebooting our firewall 4-8 times a day. Such is living in a Third World country.

Later tonight, people should start working on Las Alfombras, the sawdust carpets that are renowned all over Central America. Starting at about 11:00pm, there is a big procession of Saints from all the Catholic churches, then the fire department hoses down the streets and after that, work can begin. Only, it’s raining right now. Pretty hard. So, I don’t know if the alfombras will actually happen this year. I don’t know if they do any kind of ‘rain delay’.

I just went out to the front gate to let in Jenny, Josue, Paul and Lindsay. As I was walking up front, I saw several people in the school hallway. “¿Quien es?” “Who are you?” I asked one of the guys. He proceeded to tell me that he was here to bring the guard his food. And then I reminded the guard that he was not to allow anyone inside the gate, especially not three people. I tried to call Trify, but he’s out of cell phone range, near the El Salvador border. Even though the call didn’t go through, I faked the call, making sure that the guard heard me. In Spanish. Trify will need to be in touch with the company supervisor to make sure that the new guards know just exactly what is and is not expected of them. Such is living in a Third World country.

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OK, so now it’s Friday afternoon and the alfombras DID happen. Yay! Jenny, Josue, Lindsay, Paul and I all went down to Parque Central at 5:30am. We got to see most of the work still in progress. That was pretty neat. Plus, there are not nearly as many people as later in the morning. We stayed until about 10:30, leaving after the reenactment of the Fourth Station of the Cross. I took over 200 pics!

Here are a couple of pictures. I’ll post more. I promise!!
The first alfombra we came across was about a block or so behind Enlaces. This is one that won't be seen by many people because it's too far off the beaten path. But, the neighborhood sure enjoyed it.


This alfombra is on the main path of the procession and was completely trampled underfoot less than 5 hours after I took this photo.


Yeah, that's me.





Oh, yeah. Obviously, the internet is up right now! I'm doing a Happy Dance! (12 noon, Friday)

Or not. It looks like it went back down again. (12:15pm, Friday)

Such is living in a Third World country...

Monday, April 4, 2011

My, How Time Flies... ~or~ Sometimes It's Tough to Post...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know it's been over a month since my last post. I actually tried to post yesterday. Three times. During my first two attempts, we lost internet. During my third attempt, we lost power (and internet, of course). After that, I just gave up!

So, today I thought I'd post just a few of the many, many (MANY!) photos from my week with Marla and Glenda. Hopefully, I'll get to post some more tomorrow.

This week, a missions team from my home church (Mustard Seed Church, Lawrence, KS) is here with us. It's already been a great visit. More on that later, but here, for your viewing pleasure, are a few photos...
After checking in to our hotel in Copán, we went to the roof to enjoy the view


Me, Marla and Glenda at dinner.


Me and Glenda with one of the dancing jaguars of the ruins.


Marla and me among the ruins.


Leaving Copán, we were delayed a bit. This happens. A lot!

I'll get more posted, but want to get this out onto the interwebs before we have more trouble!!