Now that I'm back from Central American Student Convention 2010 and even mostly caught up on sleep, I can start to get caught up with semi-regular blog posts. Or, at least I can plan on it.
Last week I spent 4 days with 42 of our students and 6 other sponsors, taking our kids to CASC 2010, which was held at Campamento Palabra de Vida (Word of Life Camp) in Zambrano. It was a great time. I'm so proud of our students and how well they mostly behaved and of how many medals and trophies they won.
After four long, adventure-filled, sleep-deprived days and nights, we arrived back at the school by 1:30 on Friday afternoon. The bus was unloaded and I was in the shower by 2pm. Interestingly, as exhausted as I was, I couldn't actually sleep when I tried to take a nap. So, after about an hour and a half of tossing and turning, I got up, only slightly refreshed, and started to make a mole hill out of the mountain that had become my email inbox.
On Saturday morning, I decided to take myself out for breakfast and then a leisurely motorcycle ride. But first, laundry. I actually had two loads of laundry washed and on the line quite early. Then, I straightened up the house, which really didn't need much work since both Jenny and I were gone for most of the week. I decided to wait until later in the day to mop the floor, and here it is, Monday, and I still haven't mopped. Shhh. Let's keep that as our secret because floors need to be mopped daily here. Sometimes twice a day.
OK, so about the motorcycle ride. I went to La Princesita for breakfast because baleadas sounded great. And cheap! Just after I ordered, paid and sat down, John and Debra walked in. Good. Now I would have some company for breakfast. John and Debra are from Texas and teach at Ruach, another bilingual school here in town. Like Enlaces, Ruach is an ACE school and was at CASC with us. John went as a sponsor, but Debra didn't go. During breakfast we talked about the convention: the location, the things we liked, the things we thought should change, etc. etc. In many ways, it was your typical Monday morning quarterbacking.
After breakfast, as I got back on my motorcycle outside La Princesita, I decided that my ride's destination would be La Libertad. That was actually an easy decision since I was already near the end of the boulevard and didn't want to battle the heavy traffic on it to head back to the highway to go to Ajuterique. The last time I went to La Libertad, I started out a bit earlier in the morning and saw lots of people out and about on the road and in their yards and fields. However, I got a late start, so it was much hotter now and that meant that fewer people would be out. There were more cars and busitos, but fewer people.
The drive to La Libertad is beautiful, even in the harshness of the dry season. Mountains, pine trees, winding curving roads, scenic views. There were several times where I found my mind drifting back to the Bicycle Tour of Colorado 2003. So much reminded me of riding my bike in the mountains of Colorado. But, just about the time that I would think how similar this all looked to Colorado, I'd be jolted back to reality, reminded of my real locale by banana and palm trees, worn out, run down adobe houses or an ox cart carrying a load of watermelons. No, I definitely was not in Colorado.
Before I knew it, I had made the final twists and turns into La Libertad. At one point, I had planned to just drive to the edge of town and then turn around and head home. However, my moto just seemed to find its way to the center of town and to the pulperia I had been to last time. As I backed the moto in to park, I was keenly aware that all eyes were on me. The sight of a gringa on a motorcycle definitely has that effect on many people.
As I walked in to the now familiar store, I said 'good morning' to the weathered, frail looking woman sitting at the table, eating a plate of rice.
Darn! No Coca Light in glass bottles. I settled for a bottle of Sprite. There's something wonderful about drinking pop out of a glass bottle. Unfortunately, few places seem to have Coca Light en vidrio. With my Sprite and pajilla (straw) in hand, I went back outside and asked the diminutive woman if I could sit down with her.
She motioned with her hand and uttered a few sounds at me. It was then that I realized she was mute. Hmmm, this might be a bit more difficult than I had thought. Well, I tried as best as I could to speak with her, but of course, it was a fairly one sided conversation. I did figure out that she was wanting me to eat something and that she seemed to be pointing me toward a place across the way. I figured they must have the rice. I told her I had just eaten in Comayagua.
A minute or two later, one of the two younger guys who were at another table nearby came over and told me that the woman couldn't speak, but that she always came to the church to pray. We were at the parque central, which usually has a Catholic church as an anchor. I asked if she lived nearby and found out that she did not, but comes to town all the time to pray.
Then, the young man pulled a 20 dollar bill, a US 20 dollar bill, out of his wallet and asked me if I could change it to Lempiras for him. I checked, but didn't have enough money with me. When I asked how he got a 20 dollar bill, I found out that he sells hammocks and had been in Comayagua, selling there. By the time I turned my attention back to my new friend, she had her carnet (identification card) out, showing me who she was. Then, she motioned to me, asking me to give her some money. I'm sure she had been paying close attention when I looked to see if I could make change for the other guy. Well, I tried to ignore her request, and suddenly became very interested in my bottle of Sprite for a few minutes. I excused myself from the table and went to bring my empty bottle back inside.
In the store, I asked the ladies there if they knew the woman. I found out that she lived in one of the colonias and was very poor. I told them that she had asked me for money, but I never give money to someone. I inquired as to whether they had sugar and rice, and was told, 'yes'. "Démelo, por favor" (Give me some, please.) I ended up buying small bags of sugar, rice and beans for the woman. Frankly, she was so small and frail that she looked like a strong wind would blow her over.
Back outside, I put the bag on the table and told her that this was a regalito for her. A gift. She looked at me, confused. I said it again, "this is a gift for you. It's all yours." Then, I took out the sugar. Wow! Her eyes got huge and I knew that sugar probably didn't appear in her house too often. I also showed her the beans and rice, repeating that they were for her. I prayed for her, and then gave her a hug and kiss before getting back on my moto. As I did, the young guy I had been talking to earlier, said "thank you". Without thinking about it, I had apparently touched more than one heart.
As I rode back to Comayagua, I found myself mentally creating a MasterCard commercial ~~
Glass bottle of Sprite: 8 Lempiras (42¢)
Small bag of food: 54 Lempiras ($2.85)
Investing in the Kingdom of God: PRICELESS
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