Villa Esperanza .... or ...What I did on my day off.

Yesterday (Saturday), I had a day off,   I spent the day visiting the village of Esperanza.  I can no longer go there by car because the road has become so bad.  As I walked down the road from my house a moto concho stopped and asked if I needed a ride.  I was going to go by Gwa Gwa because moto conchos usually only service a small local area and when I have asked in the past to go further they have refused.  But this one agreed (for a price) to go all the way to Grand Parada, which is just at the start of the road to Espereanza.   I was carrying a small bag, about 40 pounds of food to contribute to the birthday celebration of the church that was to take place on Sunday.  Got to the road up to Esperanza with no problem.  I was met by "Caco"  an old friend from the village who drives a moto up and down the hill to Esperanza.  On the way up the hill carrying that bag I gained new respect for Claire (a missionary from England) who has been doing this several times a week for years.

At the village I visited with Algentina, (my friend Luckny's wife)  and terrorized thier new son Carlos by threatening to pick him up.  Algentina say's he cries the whole time she is away at night school and no one can console him.  I pacticed my Spanish langauge skills with thier older sons Lucknito and Luigison.  Met with Algentina's  younger brother Almondo who has been working as a moto driver on the hill to Esperanza but he had an accident a few days ago leaving him with a bad knee injury that looked like it had the potential to become infected.  It was an angry looking swollen gash on his knee that someone had stiched up by hand.  I gave him some money for antibiotics.  He had not been to see a doctor and I tried to explain that he should at least go to a pharmacy and get some antibiotics.

Visited with Yuberky and her rather large family and was swarmed by little kids.  It seems every friend and relative gathers at thier modest little house.  I had plenty of opportunity to practice my Spanish language skills.  Listened to them practicing singing the songs for church on Sunday and Yuberky's mother, Marilaine, cooked me a lunch of chicken and rice.  This was not the first time that I have been fed in that house and I was rather amazed at how Marilaine managed to cook a very good meal with no stove, refrigerator, microwave, or for that matter, power.  All done on a small charcoal stove.  After lunch I just sat and absorbed the atmosphere of family and friends.

Yuberky has finished English school and I have hired her to teach me Spanish.  We meet once a week at the Hugs for Kids school in Cangrejo where she loves to rakes me over the coals if I hav'nt learned my homework.

Sandy's visit went by so fast it seemed I just picked her up and then she was going through security to go home again. (Minus the oversized umbrella she tried to take on the plane)  Sandy was a big help here and spent 2 days of her holiday waiting at our apartment for a man to come and set up an internet connection.  (I love my wife) oh (and she obviously loves me)

Looking forward to a visit from Dave Fujs from Runnymede Community Church.  (We have some paintin to do Dave)

When I got home from Esperanza last night I was exhausted but very very happy.   What a great day off.

Thank you God.

and thanks to all of you.

PS- Spell check is not working please bear with me.

Yuberky and her father Joseph at the school in Cangrejo