It is humid and about 90 degrees. Ahh… just like home!
We are in Livingston, Guatemala on the northeast coast of the country- on the Caribbean. It is beautiful here with jungles and mountains rising out of the deep blue Gulf of Honduras. Livingston is only accessible by boat- either from the interior via the Rio Dulce (river) or by boat from the the port city of Puerto Barrios.
The other day in Puerto Barrios we watched the Dole Banana boats loading and unloading and I could not help but wonder if they were coming from or going to Gulfport.
Livingston is an old town- dating back to the 1700s I am told. I think there may be about 40000 people here, mostly Guatemalan and Qeuchi Indians and some Garifunas. The Garifunas are descendants of slaves and escaped slaves from the 17th and 18th centuries. Think Jamaican, mon. We met one yesterday named Paulo Martinez. He was educated in Chicago and travels yearly to the States. He said he is one of the few that have ever left here and came back here! He has a tremendous heart for his people. He runs an organization that teaches the Garifuna culture to their children (they are mainstreamed into Spanish schools here and unless they are educated in Garifuna, thier culture will die with the older generation). He teaches health, and English and all sorts of stuff. He is one of the few people I have met here that is concerned about polution (there are no waste managment companies here!). He is concerned about the environment- many people here used to fish for a living but there are no regulations on the fisheries and now most people can not make a living on the depleted resources.
We are sleeping in a Nazarene church and being greatly blessed by Pastor Marcos and his family (8 children I think). This morning we hiked miles and miles in the nearby jungle visiting his congregation. He has a great heart for his people. We had great translators in Puerto Barrios, but not here. We are supposed to have translator tonight- which is good, because I am preaching!
The people we met this morning were great. They all welcomed us into their homes and allowed us to pray for them, even though they did not understand a word we were saying. We did not take many pictures. We wanted to- many of the homes were stick and thatch roof huts with dirt floors and no more material possessions than what we are carrying in our backpacks. It was like walking through a National Geographic Magazine.
We will stay in this area for a few more days before returning to Puerto Barrios. We are hoping to paint a church next week and hang out with the teenagers at the Nazarene Church there. Our contacts in Puerto Barrios want to take us to some nice waterfalls this weekend and then come back to Livingston with us next week and go down the Rio Dulce- nothing like a boat ride into the interior of the jungle! We are pretty excited about it.
