Something smells fishy...

Greetings! I write you today a few hours before Nicole, Emily and I embark on a 14+ hour bus trip to Machala, Ecuador in order to get our long term visas (we currently have short-term visas). Also, before I forget -- I am posting some new photos so check out the photo link at right.

A number of things to write about, but, as the title of the blog indicates, the fishing season has begun here and the smell is quite strong at times. With the openings in our house, the air flows right through, especially in the kitchen. At least now one doesn`t have to worry about smelling up the house by cooking fish :). People here say that they are basically used to it, and in general people are happy because a lot of people have work that can`t usually find it. And, it used to last all year until overfishing led to just a couple months of intensive fishing (though fishing on a small scale continues year round). The smell comes from the factories that process the fish.

My main news to share is about our Confirmation retreat this past weekend. I accompanied the group to the town of Pariacoto, about one hour south and two hours east into the mountains. The town is in a river valley which has been harnessed by irragation to create significant agricultural greenery, but the rugged mountains that surround the town of a couple thousand people at about 1300 meters of elevation are dusty, rocky and dry with little plant life. The franciscans that run our parish also serve at the parish there and have a small retreat center that just managed to fit our 35 youth and six leaders. I was a little concerned prior to the retreat because the priest in charge of Confirmation notified us at the last moment that he was unable to come, but all-in-all the experience was a good one. Some reflections:
-- Speaking only Spanish for the whole weekend was a bit tiring but really good for me. I know that if I could speak Spanish at home or lived with a family here, that my fluency would increase much faster. Of course, that advantage is weighed against the breaks to speak English and having space to just get away for quiet time and reminders of home. Anyway, I learned new words like avanzar, which means something like `Come on` or `Let`s go` in the sense of `Avanza, it`s time to get up` or `Avanzan, your group has only five minutes left for the project and you have not yet started.´(I only heard this word about 200 times during the weekend). Also, aplastar (to crush), as in `The crackers we brought are aplastados.´ Final, contradecir (to contradict), as when the retreat coordinator asked another leader to not contradecir him when he told the group that there would be no sports, since this was not a weekend for sports but was a retreat.
- The highlights of the retreat, next to a number of opportunities to get to know individual youth better through conversations, were a couple of hikes we took with the group (see photos) to a cross atop a nearby hill and the site where two Franciscan priests were martyred in 1991 by the Shining Path because they were foreigners and represented imperialism. The views were amazing, the excercise welcome after the three-hour trip in a cramped mini-van-type bus called a combi, and the air very clean. At the cross atop the mountain, we left the rocks we`d hauled in our backpacks up the 45-minute climb as symbols of leaving the weight of our sin behind at the foot of the cross.
- We had mass both days, and Saturday night´s planned mass happened to coincide with a planned wedding/baptism at the parish. No problem! We, with 40 teegagers/young adults, simply joined in the celebration, taking up over a third of the seats so that a number of late arrivals to the wedding mass (and baptism of the couple´s child) had to stand in the back. The kids were occasional not talking during the ceremony, but nonetheless I enjoyed the chance to participate in the wedding celebration, which in many respects was very similar to US weddings. Mass on Sunday was at 7:00 am (after ending the last Saturday session at 11:30 pm), which I wouldn´t try to do on a youth retreat in the US :).
- The transportation to the retreat for the 41 of us was in two combis, which comfortably hold about 15 people, and a pickup truck which holds four. We were a bit smashed (I sat facing backward both coming and going, see photo), that is once the vans arrived -- an hour after the scheduled retreat departure time. They understandably struggled up the hills, the drivers stayed with us at the retreat center (and came back drunk on Saturday night), and one of the combis refused to start for the return trip. We waited for an hour for the drivers and assistants to fix the problem, a process which required shuttling a battery back and forth between the two vans at least four times, a couple of false loadings of the vans, etc. Makes the Club Wagon seem like a breeze.:)
- Males here, even the group leaders, seem to expect to be served -- even by the female leaders -- and seem unaccustomed to handling anything having to so with serving food for themselves.

On other topics, I continue with my physical therapy for my elbow. I had pictured progressing more quickly to complete use of my arm, but still have to admit that progress is being made. I have some excercises to do at home, including stretching/bending and carrying a small weight in my left hand to help stretch the contracted ligaments.

The past two weeks I have begun what will be a once-weekly accompaniment of the Hospice´s pastoral agent, visiting homes of terminally ill patients. The first house we went to was one at which the patient, an elderly man who had had cancer, had died just moments before. I felt somewhat out of place in the midst of the family mourning, but it was a strong reminder of the reality of death, how fragile we really are. The visits are a good chance to meet people in their homes, which vary widely in economic status. One man, younger than me, has a tumor in his back but in order to raise money for his family`s food and his pain medicine makes flip-flops out of used tires, which family members sell on the street for less than a dollar per pair. His home is mostly open to the sky, with dirt floors, chickens, and some cute baby pigs. These visits also have the side benefit of helping me with my Spanish.

Finally, I recommend taking some time to read Laura´s blog, the link is at the right. She is an IWM in Guatemala who is doing an excellent job of sharing and reflecting on her experience, especially interesting to me after spending some time in that country but time well spent for anyone interested in learning about life there, both the joys and many struggles the people face.

Thanks for taking time to read, and I´ll check in with more after our return from Thanksgiving. We are hoping to make it back for a dinner hosted by some Sisters who are friends of friends of Nicole and Emily and live here in town.

Wishing you peace and gratitude.