Tourist Escort – March 8

Finally, I planted the two vegetable beds we created to a variety of greens. We will see if the seeds I obtained have any viability. Once again, though, it demonstrates how much nutrition can be obtained from a very small piece of land. Each bed is 3 feet X 20 feet but will easily provide greens for a family for several weeks.

Friday afternoon, I joined Manuel on the bus trip to San Pedro Sula. Once in San Pedro Sula I caught transport to the City Mall where I met a new friend, Eddy, a man from California who is volunteering as a teacher at the Anglican school I taught at a couple of years ago. He was looking for a chance to see other parts of San Pedro Sula and get out of town.

After showing him a few new spots around City Mall (near where he lives) and a great Baleada spot, we headed to the city centre to walk around and see a few sights. Many of the teachers and students in the school are very anxious about security issues. As conspicuously rich people, they are targets for bandits and kidnappers. Consequently, their lives are spent surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire. Obviously, they don’t spend a lot of time exploring their world and enjoying the colour and vibrancy that is part of ordinary peoples’ lives.

Saturday morning we came to Santa Cruz so that Eddy could have a chance to see a town setting that is much more relaxed than the visible armed guards so much a part of San Pedro Sula. He was so happy to walk around and see some of the ordinary lives of Hondurans. It is always so refreshing to see a place through the eyes of a newcomer and realize how many things that I no longer notice are interesting and exciting to someone else.

After lunch, we went with the owner of the smoked chicken restaurant to watch his team play soccer. His team is part of a ten team league featuring solidly over-the-hill players from several surrounding towns. I was possibly going to be the referee (turned out that the other team had a referee). There are not enough fields in Santa Cruz so the two teams from Santa Cruz travelled thirty kilometres to a field on the shores of Lake Yajoha. What a beautiful setting. On two sides lush green forest crept to the edges and tall trees stopped errant balls before dropping them into the undergrowth. The other two sides were a maize field and a sugar cane field. The backdrop was paper art layers of ever taller mountains pushing through the evening clouds. The game was fun as well.

Our friend hustled us away from the field so that we could find a bus for Eddy to return to S.P.S. We were very lucky to have a bus coming along the road behind us which stopped at the Las Flores intersection as I jumped out of the car to wave it down. After making sure Eddy was aboard, I was lucky enough to flag down a later vehicle from the game and got a ride in the back of the pick up with four of the players.

Two thought provoking events this week. One is the tragedy of the excommunication of the doctors in Brazil who performed an abortion for a nine year old girl who was pregnant with twins due to the ongoing sexual abuse of her father. What type of theology is prepared to condemn a small girl to the hell of pregnancy after living with the hell of abuse? A theology that values life has to be flexible enough to value the lives of the living and oppressed as much as those of the unborn. With millions of already born living without hope, parents, in need of health, education, sanitation and nourishment surely there is something there to occupy the time and efforts of these “religious” leaders.

The second thought provoking event was a conversation with a fellow in the States who has done some fine work with green leaves as a food source and nutritional basis for health. As we talked he hoped that I would be able to get some things done before I had been here so long that I had “gone native”. This is a phrase I have heard over the years and it was most troubling. The assumption is, so often, that we as Canadians, Americans and Europeans have the real, complete knowledge of all things good and productive and we are, consequently, able to provide all the answers to the poor natives in whatever country we fly into. There seems to be no understanding that wisdom is not confined to one culture or religious expression. As we walk, sit and eat with people of other cultures we are often overwhelmed with the abilities and wisdom that they have to offer to the conversation. We have access, very often, to large quantities of knowledge but that does not, all too often, equate to wisdom.

Today I was given another fascinating reminder of this. Friends called me and asked if I wanted to go see some forest. It was only five minutes by collective from the town centre. We walked from the highway and into this patch of forest. An elderly gentleman was with us and, as we went, we paused numerous times as he pointed out plants and told us what they were used for – nutrition, medicine, fodder, fuel and timber. Fortunately for me, there was also an American who had years of experience in horticulture so we got both Spanish and Latin names for many things. Between us we learned many traditional uses and shared some new ideas and potentials for various plants. What a delightful time.

Just as delightful was finding a gorgeous waterfall tucked away out of sight only a hundred metres from the road. We sat and enjoyed the sound and spray as well as all the lush greenery. My Leatherman came in handy to cut into different seeds and fruits as we explored the plant life. Four of us played in the river a little bit setting up a log so that the rest could cross dry shod. It was more the fun of wading in the rushing water than the necessity of setting up a bridge. At the end of the hike, our host served us barbecued pork, roasted cassava and cabbage salad. A totally unexpected adventure.

Enough for now.
Bryan