Electronic Shutdown

6/19

This is the day I sat. I sat inside. I sat outside. It rained the kids watched some movies. We went down to the beach and sat. I wrote a little and ate a lot. We came back up to the house, the kids watched more movies, that is until the power went out due to the storms (they were not pleased, no swimming no movies (it was the total kill)). The adults were going to go town, so we (that’s right I am an adult) loaded up and got to the gate but discovered the electric gate cannot be opened when the electricity is out. So our trip made record time (under 3 minutes) where everyone decided to go to bed unseasonably early. I wrote a little more, and slept. It rained and was cloudy all day.

Next day.

This is the day we left. I woke up did my as daily as possible internet work and then filled my gullet with ham ‘n’ eggs and pancakes. Packed a few things. Loaded the car. And sat for another 6 hours, going up and down and around leffffffft and righhhhhhhht. Oh yes, it was that pleasant.

Interesting note for this day: Victor who is a teacher at the church was going to a retreat in a small town somewhere between Puerto Escondido and Oaxaca (the city). The plan was for me to take a bus from Puerto to the small town, stay the weekend and ride back with Victor. The night before Jorge checked the bus times and there was one for 5 am. He opted not to wake me up, thinking it would be better to go to Oaxaca and then backtrack in a bus for 2 or 3 hours. Well, Victor calls Friday morning (the day we are leaving (the same day I was going to be on the 5 am bus)) and asks if I am on the bus to the town because the retreat is canceled because of all of the rain (all the activities were going to be outdoors). God certainly intervened to keep me from going to an obscure town in the Oaxacan mountains where I would have know no one and wouldn’t have had a conventional means home. Oh well, I guess I missed out on a great adventure.

Next day.

Since I’m on a roll I go ahead and knock out today. I stayed up early this morning chatting with my friends in Africa, and woke up fairly early to shuffling and cartoons (since I got to sleep in the living room). I did the daily internet scan, watched the first two episodes of the X-Men cartoons from the 90’s on Youtube (come on it’s Saturday morning). We ate some breakfast and went to the zocalo. We scanned the little shops and tents with their wares set out. I saw a couple of good gift ideas, but knowing this probably wasn’t the last chance I would get to come to the zocalo I didn’t bring a single centavo (such a liberating feeling going shopping without a peso). Jorge told me a bit of the history about the protests that have been going on since 2006, really just about a big rally between a teachers union and a socialist movement for the poor that was taking place in the zocalo and how when the police tried to remove them from the area they failed, so as a result the zocalo is kind of a lawless area at least as far as police presence. It’s not lawless in a bad sense like robberies and murders and the like (though I do check my six from time to time). I saw a red Ducati today (kind of makes a guy want a motorcycle).

Jorge and I left the group and went to Gerardo’s caseta where he was supposed to (but didn’t) meet us for dinner. We had a couple of tortas (MIlanesa) and some drink and went to church for class. Miguel and Pedro were there and we caught up a little on the week. Jorge taught on the idea of two covenants (pacts). Miguel told me that he read about Abraham for the first time during the week with one of the older men in the congregation Tomas. At first it didn’t really register what it meant to have heard that story for the first time. I still can’t even really imagine what that must be like. I look forward to being able to spend time with these guys and talk about the things they are reading for the first time. Right now I am at Gerardo’s house waiting for the family to come home. I’ve got some homework coming due for the academic requirements aspect of this venture so I’ll probably try to have a go at that before I shut it down. I am glad to get to go to church tomorrow (and that is a really good feeling).