First Full Day in Volcan

On the way to Puerto Armelles

Good Evening!

Or by the time you are reading this, it will be morning.. I will explain later.

So today started out at 7a, I rose and scrambled some country eggs with onion and local peppers for the girls as another “treat”. That was pretty much effortless.. We have a small gas stove.. The only problem with it is that we are at about 3500 ft of elevation so boiling water takes a zillion years. (As we discovered last night, first to boil water for the spaghetti shells, then to shave our hippie hairy legs.)

So I woke the girls with breakfast –in- bed, then they got up and got dressed for service. Peggy picked us up at 830a and took us to a place here in Volcan that meets every Friday that has organic items, such as spinach, romaine, buttercrunch lettuce, basil, oregano, arugula…you get the picture. So we picked up about $10 more of produce, including some homemade rosemary bread.

This was taken on the way to Puerto Armelles

Then we officially started service (with a prayer in Doug’s truck) at 915a. We drove to a call of Peggy’s in Bugaba (Boo-gah-bah…yes I was pronouncing that one wrong previously calling it Boog-a-ba). She wasn’t home and we continued on. We saw 2 Spanish Kingdom Halls there in Bugaba (Bugaba is the area, Concepcion is the town..?) Bugaba is south of Volcan. So we hit the main road there and made a left heading towards Costa Rica, and made a few calls to their Bible studies along the way, having one terrific!! study. Her name is Odellia and she was very interested, very insightful, very wonderfulJ All 6 of us got out and sat on her front porch/store front and got out our Bibles and study material. While there several people came up to buy things and we got to talk just enough to each one to really look like ignorant whities, haha. But it was all in fun and everyone had a great time. Odellia ended up sending us away with a dozen plantains (which at that moment I had yet to try one) and 3-4 avocadoes. Nothing like what we get in the states, of course. Also, I had been looking for avo’s since we got here and alllll had been Rock Hard, so it was a real gift that she gave them to me.

Odellia getting us some plantains

"Duros" we bought from Odellia and this pic captures what they thought of it :)

Then we said our goodbyes and made it to Puerto Armelles which butts directly up to Costa Rica. As we entered the area we were asked for our passports...something Doug and Peggy says doesn’t happen too often. That went smoothly :) Once in town we decided we should eat something so we went to a Chinese restaurant. By the looks of it you would think it was perhaps a grocery store, but it wasn’t and we went in and it was clean. $.25 to use the restroom and the sink/soap/towels were outside of the men/womens bathroom inbetween the two doors (for the restroom). The girls and I just washed our hands so we didn’t get to experience the restroom. Then for lunch two of my girls shared the “special” which we could only make out “rice” from the discussion.. And I ordered “plain rice w/ ‘vegetables”…or something like that which Asa and I shared. Our lunch was $5 (4.25 for the food and .75 for the tip). Imagine that!!! For 4 of us.. And the food was actually tasty. (I brought in one of the avocados and cut some of it up onto my veggies to add to its splendor.)

Then back to the field and we reached 2 more of their studies. One of which Peggy and Zoe went on with a young boy. He tried to make them a salad and so he just stepped out of his house and gathered the ingredients right off their property. So cool!! However Peggy said they had just eaten so he gave her what he had picked. More avocadoes, cashew fruit, and star fruit. I will post a picture tomorrow of the goodies (will explain why I can’t right now soon).

Then Doug had his study with a young girl, about 15-16 years old, Panamanian, and her grandmother, the g’ma only speaks Spanish. So she had her Spanish Bible and Spanish study material and followed along while we studied in English. It was really really great. Zoe and I went to that door/front yard. They live in a rough neighborhood and so everything is barred up, even their front porch, which is where we stayed. It went so wonderfully and I can’t wait to go back there again!

Pic doesn't capture the beauty of this house, hope to get a better pic next time we are thru

After that study we tried another call of Peggy’s but she wasn’t home so we decided to call it a day. It was about 330-4p then. On the way home we pulled off at a veggie stand and bought each of us for $.05 a “fat boy”..which is the small, fat bananas. It was tasty:) Then once in Volcan we stopped at a “dollar store” so I could pick up trash bags, toilet paper, Kleenexes, etc…didn’t find everything I needed but it was good enough. Then we stopped by a big produce stand and I bought some more pineapples, would like to have p-apple juice for breakfast, yummy! Tho I am going to fuss and say that they were $1.25 each, I was hoping to find them more like 4/$1. I know, crazy! But it truly does happen. Just everything is much higher in Volcan because of so many gringos have moved in here, so I hear.

This is a piece of the Pacific Ocean, Puerto Armelles issurrounded by it

Then off to our house in the pouring rain. We made it inside with all of our bags of produce, but not without fumbling with the 7 different keys we have for our house. One for the front gate, one for the front door gate (a gated screen door), then the front door key.. ~Plus we have a back door key, back door gate key, washer key-the washer is outside under a porch, and a trash key to protect our trash from the starving dogs:( Anyhow, so we made it in, wiped up the leak from the toilet and kitchen sink, wiped up our shoes, changed clothes, put up groceries.. then I got online to put minutes on my cell phone (Panama phone). Tho incoming calls are free, they don’t cost me at all. So if you are willing to call me, and I’m in a position to answer you, my number Is 6562-5976 (the beginning ‘6’ identifies the phone as a cell). And the country code is 507. I think the prefix to it is 011 or 1, something like that. So like 011 507 6562 5976. Looks like a social security # on steroids, doesn’t it?! I’m confident starting at the 507..but before that am unsure.

So while online trying to put minutes on my phone so I can call a local Spanish Brother to bring us 10 gallons of “clean” water I notice a white van pull up somewhat infront of our house. Southern hospitality happens and I wave… So the guy gets out of his van, comes thru my gate (for the first time I hadn’t locked it since we’ve been here) and comes to the door. His English was spot on so I thought he knew it/could speak it fluently.. Which he can’t but still we made it thru the ordeal. So he says he has water and I said Great because we need some. So I asked him if he was a “testigo de Jehova” ~witness of Jehovah/Jehovah Witness~ and he said yes. So I said Doug and Peggy (who live here of course but are from Kentucky) must of called him. He said no, but ones who don’t speak any Spanish. So I called our friends who traveled with us, Jim/Gail/Lawson/Hariette/Aiden and it was them. But hey, I got the water I needed too:) Oh, and the brother came right after we had set up the produce that was given to us into a design and snapped a picture for the blog. And I was trying to tell him that all that was given to us in service, and I guess he thought I was saying “here, have what you want” because he said “avocado” (tho it didn’t really sound like that) and they he took it. Hahahaha I totally don’t mind, it was given to us and is to be shared, but it took me a second to realize what was happening and if I was articulating myself good enough.

Oh, and right before “Erik” the Spanish brother with the water arrived, there was a knock at our door and a sister from the Spanish congregation here in Volcan was there to introduce herself (which the Hall we all share here is 4 houses down from us). While she spoke virtually No English and we spoke No Spanish, it made for a fun conversation, or should I say miming experience:) It was hilarious!! I would have loved to seen that conversation from the view of a neighbor :) mucho miming-0s  hahaha.

So I finally got minutes on my phone and then was invited to have dinner with the Murphys (Gail/Jim/Lawson=the Murphs). We started with an appetizer, plantains! They were sooooo good. I have been wanting to try some plantains for nearly a year now, so I had to try some. She fried them (ut-oh, I know) and then sprinkled cinimmon on them. They truly tasted like an apple fritter! Then we had her homemade tortillas w/ Spanish-ish rice, black beans and some avocado that was given to us. It was great !! For dessert she made some Sopapillas (doubt I’m spelling/saying that correctly). Now here is the fun part that I had been warned about but had forgotten, or candles would have made the TOP of my priority list…but while there starting to make the Sopapillas the electricity went out. Completely, and that was like at 8p, maybe a little sooner. So we made them by candlelight while the children played cards and laughed up a storm. Us geezers :) cooked and told our own stories. It was a lot of fun. We finally went home (Jim gave us a ride, it was dark) about 10p. We made it in, unloaded again and then I sent the girls on to bed (which meant I had to follow all of them because I don’t know where any candles are). Now it is nearly 11p and I am dozing as I write, so I should put a pause on my jabbering. There are dogs barking back and forth, the rain is coming down…and I am hoping that one or both with stop soon, preferably the dog! :)

Wow, so now you have an “eye-full” in reading this. I am hoping to post many pictures tomorrow, but I will have to break it in to different posts because each entry only allows at max 5 pictures I believe. I want all to see our house on this inside and different things.

Thanks to all who follow us on the blog. I can see many check it out though they aren’t/haven’t commented. We have nearly 70 views just in the last 2 days, so I know some of my friends and family are somewhat up-to-date. Hope all of you guys have a terrific weekend and I post more later. Hopefully the electricity comes back up tomorrow because I don’t get internet without it…

All my love! Wish you were here!!

All the wonderful produce given to us today