Saturday January 10, 2009
After we arrived back at the boat launch area, we had lunch with the entire group. I have to comment that my meal was the most interesting yet. We were asked if we would like fish or chicken, so I decided to try the fish. When it arrived it was difficult not to notice that it was looking right at me. It still had the head and all of the fins. Well, I am an outdoors kind of guy and I have certainly done enough fishing and ate enough fish to know what they look like, so I wasn’t overly traumatized by that, but what happened next totally freaked me out, well, not to the extent that anyone else noticed, but I was just about to jump up and run. When I put my fork into the fish, I saw something inside, it was about the same size and shape of a maggot, or at least a small worm. There were a bunch of them, "oh nooooo what on earth is this," I thought. I couldn’t initially tell if it was full of worms or if they just didn’t take out the intestines, either way I was about to run, when it dawned on me that these little “maggots” looked familiar, could they be...
My fish was actually stuffed with small shrimp. So I pushed aside my initial horror and took a bite, wow this was really good. So when I am asked what the most unusual thing that I ate, I would have to say that a fish stuffed with shrimp would probably fit the bill.
After lunch we loaded into the boats and headed back across the lake, this time in a different direction. We were on our way to visit the Sitio Cenicero Community which was where the people from Copapayo were ultimately relocated after the war and the new community was resurrected.
We were greeted at the shore by a group of 5 or 6 men who seemed to be busy solving the worlds problems along the shore of the lake when we arrived. One interesting thing to note was that none of them were wearing shirts, which you might expect on a hot day, but one of them was only wearing underwear, white (well not very white) cotton briefs. I have to admit that they looked like they hadn’t been washed for weeks or maybe even months. I wonder if I could get away with that on the beach at home? (I’m sure that Karen, and everyone else would say, resist the temptation) :)
After a very long walk up a rugged road made out of cobblestone that would make the Appalachian Trail look like an Interstate Highway, we arrived at the top. I do have to say, that the community was very proud of this road. Even though I thought that it must have been built sometime in antiquity, I learned that it was just recently built within the past few years.
Once to the top, we saw a beautiful mural depicting and commemorating the massacre of Copapayo as well as the communities hope for the future. These are truly a resilient people. While we were there, we had the opportunity to go into Sister Peggy’s house that she stays in when she is visiting in the community. It was a very humble concrete block dwelling with a hammock outside, one room with a bed and a desk, a hammock chair and a cement block out house out back. It was definitely VERY humble.
As we said our goodbys, we were followed down the hill by a very short older woman with no front teeth. She wanted very badly to wish each of us well on our journey and to invite us to come back again. What truly beautiful people these were, and what devastating tragedies they have faced. Sister Peggy said that these people were a suffering people, but the were definitely not a sad people. There is a profound difference between the two. The boat ride back gave me a sincere sense of the resurrection, for these people were truly a resurrected people.
We then came back to our room, relaxed for a bit and then all attended Mass together. It was beautiful although there were only a few phrases that I understood such as, “The Lord be with you, and also with you.” I didn’t understand much of what was said, but I could very much sense the joy and celebration of worship. It was a service where I laughed at the young boy who used his binoculars to stare incessantly at the candles in front of him, a scene that could be seen in any worship service in the world where young boys are present, and I had a tear in my eye for the young woman a few rows in front of me who wept throughout the service, Only God knows this woman’s pain, and all I could do was cry with her. On a lighter note, they had two things that I wonder how they would go across in our services back home. One thing was that we had to pay for our worship bulletins, ten cents and I couldn’t even read it. The other funny thing was that at the end of the Mass, they had a drawing for a flower arrangement. I’m not sure if people were given tickets before the service or if it was a raffle, but either way they called numbers and a young girl jumped up and went forward to get the flower arrangement. I wonder what the Bishop would think about these two fundraising plans? :)
After Mass, we went to dinner and then back to the Hacienda for a time of conversation and debriefing. Tomorrow we leave our wonderful air-conditioned rooms and our beautiful view and drive 4 hours to the mountains of Morazan and the village of Perquin.
After we arrived back at the boat launch area, we had lunch with the entire group. I have to comment that my meal was the most interesting yet. We were asked if we would like fish or chicken, so I decided to try the fish. When it arrived it was difficult not to notice that it was looking right at me. It still had the head and all of the fins. Well, I am an outdoors kind of guy and I have certainly done enough fishing and ate enough fish to know what they look like, so I wasn’t overly traumatized by that, but what happened next totally freaked me out, well, not to the extent that anyone else noticed, but I was just about to jump up and run. When I put my fork into the fish, I saw something inside, it was about the same size and shape of a maggot, or at least a small worm. There were a bunch of them, "oh nooooo what on earth is this," I thought. I couldn’t initially tell if it was full of worms or if they just didn’t take out the intestines, either way I was about to run, when it dawned on me that these little “maggots” looked familiar, could they be...
My fish was actually stuffed with small shrimp. So I pushed aside my initial horror and took a bite, wow this was really good. So when I am asked what the most unusual thing that I ate, I would have to say that a fish stuffed with shrimp would probably fit the bill.
After lunch we loaded into the boats and headed back across the lake, this time in a different direction. We were on our way to visit the Sitio Cenicero Community which was where the people from Copapayo were ultimately relocated after the war and the new community was resurrected.
We were greeted at the shore by a group of 5 or 6 men who seemed to be busy solving the worlds problems along the shore of the lake when we arrived. One interesting thing to note was that none of them were wearing shirts, which you might expect on a hot day, but one of them was only wearing underwear, white (well not very white) cotton briefs. I have to admit that they looked like they hadn’t been washed for weeks or maybe even months. I wonder if I could get away with that on the beach at home? (I’m sure that Karen, and everyone else would say, resist the temptation) :)
After a very long walk up a rugged road made out of cobblestone that would make the Appalachian Trail look like an Interstate Highway, we arrived at the top. I do have to say, that the community was very proud of this road. Even though I thought that it must have been built sometime in antiquity, I learned that it was just recently built within the past few years.
Once to the top, we saw a beautiful mural depicting and commemorating the massacre of Copapayo as well as the communities hope for the future. These are truly a resilient people. While we were there, we had the opportunity to go into Sister Peggy’s house that she stays in when she is visiting in the community. It was a very humble concrete block dwelling with a hammock outside, one room with a bed and a desk, a hammock chair and a cement block out house out back. It was definitely VERY humble.
As we said our goodbys, we were followed down the hill by a very short older woman with no front teeth. She wanted very badly to wish each of us well on our journey and to invite us to come back again. What truly beautiful people these were, and what devastating tragedies they have faced. Sister Peggy said that these people were a suffering people, but the were definitely not a sad people. There is a profound difference between the two. The boat ride back gave me a sincere sense of the resurrection, for these people were truly a resurrected people.
We then came back to our room, relaxed for a bit and then all attended Mass together. It was beautiful although there were only a few phrases that I understood such as, “The Lord be with you, and also with you.” I didn’t understand much of what was said, but I could very much sense the joy and celebration of worship. It was a service where I laughed at the young boy who used his binoculars to stare incessantly at the candles in front of him, a scene that could be seen in any worship service in the world where young boys are present, and I had a tear in my eye for the young woman a few rows in front of me who wept throughout the service, Only God knows this woman’s pain, and all I could do was cry with her. On a lighter note, they had two things that I wonder how they would go across in our services back home. One thing was that we had to pay for our worship bulletins, ten cents and I couldn’t even read it. The other funny thing was that at the end of the Mass, they had a drawing for a flower arrangement. I’m not sure if people were given tickets before the service or if it was a raffle, but either way they called numbers and a young girl jumped up and went forward to get the flower arrangement. I wonder what the Bishop would think about these two fundraising plans? :)
After Mass, we went to dinner and then back to the Hacienda for a time of conversation and debriefing. Tomorrow we leave our wonderful air-conditioned rooms and our beautiful view and drive 4 hours to the mountains of Morazan and the village of Perquin.
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