An infrequently updated blog covering the travels of one young gringo in Latin America.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Adventures on the other side of the mountain

Well, I figured since a picture is worth a thousand words, why not write a couple thousand words this week. And since I don´t have the time to sit down and really think and write a lot, here are some pictures with descriptions of what´s going on.


This is a view of the other side of the mountain range that is in my backyard. I travelled with Padre Pablo to Colonial Santeña this past weekend for a mass and was able to spend some time with the wonderful people that live there and that I never knew excited until now.


Here is a photo of a girl and her grandpa taking the kernels off of corn, so it can be sold in the nearby villages. They basically just hit the corn cobs with the piece of wood there and the kernels settle to the bottom. Simple, but works well.


Here is the chapel where we celebrated mass and three baptisms. It is quite small and was overflowing with people, but it was so nice to be there to celebrate with them. This community is very hard to get to usually, but we recently cut a road in there, so it only took us an hour and half by truck. It can be 6 or 7 hours by horse, I have been told. Luckily, for me, it is the dry season so this passage was even made possible. When it rains the roads turn to mud and trucks are useless when that happens. I really enjoyed my time there this past weekend and hope to return to the other side of the mountain very soon. But now when I look out at the mountain from Wacuco, I know what is out there and can think of those that live there with even less access to electricity and water than I do. It is very humbling.