Landing

Feeling good on the plane before all the flights!

We’re back in the capital now and making some re-adjustments to life here. We felt there were many blessings in our travels and our landing back in a place where we had someone to pick us up at the airport, we know all about the guesthouse where we’re staying, and there are some good stores in the capital.  But on the other hand, it was a jarring re-awakening to what life here is like.  The afternoon we arrived there was no running water, our car is so out of shape it will be five days to get it back in condition for us to drive home, and we had a hot 30 mins. of walking just to get some basic food supplies.  For me it was emotionally draining to take the first walk out.  I knew there would be so many people I would walk by and need to greet, and the capital has a different mix of languages that I’m even less comfortable in, and I would have to try to remember some of the phases the shop keeper that I go to had taught me.  Whew.  But it all went a little better than I imagined, with enough phrases coming back and some warm greetings that put me in a good enough mood to laugh off the times when my attempts fell flat.  Now a few days later I got off to an icy start at a new mechanic's garage by confusing the name of the person I was asking for, but then I started talking in a native dialect (not the local one here unfortunately) and for the rest of the time the crowd warmed up and called me the "Casa man."  As they like to say here, slowly slowly.  

-- El Padre