This morning as the fog lingered Joy, Brienna, and I set out to walk
the kids to school. We looked down the main road and saw dozens of
kids. Some of them wore uniforms, some walked without shoes and some
walked with their backpack strap coming across the top of their head
(the field workers here fill feed sacks with sticks then carry them
with the strap on their head and the bag on their back). As we saw the
kids that we know they seemed to be a little timid. We had been gone
for the past two days and it was almost like we had to build rapport
with them again. Around eight we said goodbye to the kids and promised
to meet up after school to go to the waterfall (cascadas).
The morning was spent planning for the children’s program and adult
church service. This is a daily routine for our two teams. The language
barrier increases the amount of time that we spend preparing. For
example today I spent about an hour and a half on translating about two
paragraphs of English to Spanish.
After school we met up with 13 kids, the Lost Boys included. Two of the
girls, Gladis and Brisa have wanted to go to the river with us but in
the past were not allowed. Today Gladis asked me to go to her house to
talk to her mom. Her mom invited Clinton and I in and offered us a full
glass of Jamaica juice. Their couch was the first comfortable furniture
I have experienced in all of Mexico. Everything is hard here. The beds
are hard, the pillows are hard, and the couches are hard. We sat around
the Christmas tree, TV, and CD player. The mother asked about our
reasons for being in the town and explained that she did not want the
girls to go to the river with us because she did not know anything
about us. So, I explained what we were doing then told her we were
headed to the cascades. As we were leaving she agreed to allow her
daughters to go with us.
Now, you know that an adventure always follows close behind the Lost
Boys. We had been told by an adult that the waterfall we were headed to
in Rincon was not far and would take about 15 minutes to walk to. As we
began the walk the boys changed that to 30 minutes, then they said an
hour, then they said an hour and a half, then two and half hours. We
figured they were just joking, so we kept walking. We walked beside
pastures of cows, away from houses, and toward the mountains. A boy we
have nicknamed, Bruce Lee, pointed out trees of oranges, limes,
bananas, plantains, coconut, cocoa, and tamarind.
We came to a house and an older boy shouted out that we needed to stop
to ask for permission to pass. Some scrawny dogs came running off of
the porch barking a warning to us. Out of instinct the boys picked up
rocks; all of the dogs around here cower in fear when a human walks by.
It is common practice to throw a rock at the animals to get them to go
away. One of the boys asked if we could pass and the resident gave us
permission. The boy turned to us pounded his chest like Tarzan, then
with eyes big and wide shouted, “A las cascadas!” The walk was
beautiful but 3o minutes had come and gone. One of the little boys is
so tiny that he had to run to keep up; we ended up carrying him the
rest of the day. We crossed over some mud that had a sticky clay
texture and eventually came to more houses with more dogs. This time I
even picked up a rock because the dogs were more ferocious and I wanted
them to know I wasn’t going to play around.
The Lost Boys started disagreeing with each other as to which way we
should go. A lady on her porch pointed us toward a cornfield so the
lost boys took off. We dashed through the corn until the edge of the
field where we came to a barbed wire fence. On the other side of the
fence was a path of mud through vegetation that towered over our heads.
We tromped through the mud. We were tentative at first trying to keep
our feet clean but eventually we gave in and once again were covered in
lodo. I heard a rustling in the bushes to my side and looked over to
see a cow pushing his way through the grass. Up ahead we found lots and
lots of evidence of cows; I have never seen so many huge cow patties in
my life. Finally we came to another barbed wire fence so we climbed
through into forest like vegetation.
About 50 yards into the forest were the cascadas. The stream was about
5-10 feet wide and went up the mountain as far as I could see through
the trees. Cascadas is a great name for the formation because the water
cascaded down the mountain creating pools, slides, and waterfalls. The
kids scampered up the mountain of water, splashing and swimming in
every pool they could find. As I looked around I thought, “Who gets to
do this, people would pay so much to experience something like this.”
The Lost Boys had so much fun and were proud to show the place off.
But, because the walk had taken over an hour we needed to turn back
shortly after we arrived.
On the way back Gladis confessed that her mom would probably be angry
because she and her sister were covered in mud. Even though we had 30
minutes to clean up before the services, I agreed to go with the girls
to their house. I apologized for the mud, but their mother dismissed
the mud and invited me right into her house. I was served yet another
glass of Jamaica juice and met Gladis’ father. He asked were I was from
and when he heard United States asked if I would take him over the
border. I told him I would not be returning to the states until
November. He said that he could wait and asked again if I would take
him over the border. I explained that we would be coming in from China
and he said maybe another time then.
The kids really got into the service tonight. They have learned half of
the Lord’s Prayer and many songs and games. Their favorite game is
still Pato, Pato, Gonzo. I think the services are a great way to
connect with the kids and get them involved in the church, but I our
time is best spent with the Lost Boys and kids of Aguilar.
