07 June 2005 07:37
day sixbeing as such the twentieth day of the third month of the year 2005.
The Lord's Day.
having been somewhat dissatisfied with the sponge bath the night previous, i hit the shower downstairs in the morning. it was downstairs under the house, which of course was on stilts. three quarter inch pvc running along the floor joists, 90 degree ball valve, shower head. the real deal.
church started around 0930, we attended the new moravian church on the south side off the street, diagonally opposite the old moravian church on the north side. ours was more of a tabernacle, poles with a roof. since i always find myself looking out the windows while in church, this was wonderful, for i could look at the pastor and still see the lagoon and greenery behind him.
the singing and sermon were in mosquito, of which we understood nothing. about halfway through the service we were joined by a team from the states, three fathers with two sons and a daughter betwixt them. they got up at the end to sing some p&w songs, we joined them in order to not have to do anything by ourselves :). we sang a few songs, pretty good ones too, unfortunately we did it in our apathetic american way, but they kindly applauded nonetheless.
after a bit o' lunch, all thirteen of us piled into a borrowed launch to go visit neighboring kruta. "neighboring" could be construed as a misnomer, but it was only about an hour and a quarter by boat. the first portion was along the lagoon, then we moved across a much larger lagoon (involving much wind spray. he eventually stopped and broke out a tarp which we hunkered down under until we were off the lagoon). from the open lagoon we moved into a system of dredged canals; some natural, other widened completely by artifical means. between dry season and low tide, things got a little tight in places with thirteen people deapening the draft on our boat.
the scenery passing by was very interesting. trees (i forget their name) lined the canals, sending arched roots into the water and the soil beneath. in other places cow paths led down to grassy banks. mostly the flat terrain housed scrub, groves and groees of the above mentioned trees with roots, and some scattered palms. as we progressed, we passed a few dwellings, built on stilts right along the bank; a dugout pulled up underneath.
eventually we left the canals and entered onto another lagoon (in case you hadn't gathered, there are lots of them). on the opposite side at a river entrance was kruta, a village on stilts. we trooped to the one end where the moravian church was located. with the main drag passing on one side of a small yard, the other three sides were occupied by the church, the pastor's residence, and the medical clinic / grain storage building on the last. the church was the only building that end of town not on stilts, although the interior floor was probably about two feet higher than the surrounding mud, and of concrete.
all the houses at that end were over mud, the main walking drag down the center had merely had dirt heaped up to create a dry pathway. the other end of the village was of higher ground, with grass growing in some abundance (this improved tremendously on the appearance of things--i found the mud quite unattractive; it had pigs and chickens mucking about, not to mention large quantities of trash strewn about.
following us from the moment we arrived on shore was a large group of kids.. white people were much more of an entertainment feature here than anyhwere we'd been yet. while the other team surveyed the clinic (they were to paint and install some partitions in the coming week), i wandered around taking some pictures. the kids were all arrayed on the ground and on the pastor's porch, watching us. the boys were shoving back and forth--having a good time. the eight to twelve year old girls more often than not had a younger sibling on their hip--they were simply watching, although i saw them occasionally whisper amongst themselves while smiling. eventually the three kids in the work team broke out some tennis balls, and the balls quickly showed themselves impervious to any language barrier.
the pastor's residence was typical of the region, consisting of two seperate buildings. on stilts, the base was probably about six feet off the ground. the bedroom/living area was 20' x 20' at the most, divided in two. the back was enclosed, the front six feet was an open porch (no railing of course). then connected by a walkway, but built on a separte set of stilts was the kitchen. 8' x 12', with a hardwood/clay oven, preparation area, and dishwasher. the dishwasher was actually a window, with a washboard hung from the outside sill. this particular one was open, but many in the village were enclosed by slats. half-domesticated animals of many types could be found rooting through the food scraps that fell with the washwater onto the ground below.
once the work team had an idea of what they'd be doing for the next week, we returned to kraukira. the trip was a bit smoother and more enjoyable (i got a better seat this time). in addition to the tide was coming in, we were becoming more adept at shifting our c.g. forward to better our draft. this time we passed a number of dugouts laden with various foodstuffs. back out on the open lagoon, we also passed an older couple in a small dugout making good headway with a patchwork sail run up--that was pretty cool to see.
not having slept good the night before, i turned in pretty soon after supper. en la manana, we were due to depart at six for puerto lempira.
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