Mountain Trek

On Sat morning most of the initial team left. I was supposed to go to but I decided to extend my stay for another week. Suzie did too but just for a few extra days.

Friday, that really intense day, we stayed late and got really close to finishing the roof/floor but we had to get home before it got dark plus we were beat. But the rest of us decided to go back the next morning and finish. That we did. Closure in seeing the completion of something is such a good feeling.

After going back to the orphange to clean up we embarked on the planned
expedition to the Baptist mission in the mountains. The 12 of us crammed into the Toyota pick up. 5 in the cab, 7 in the back. With the pastor driving, he took us on an intentional detour so that we could see more of the city. As we entered downtown we saw the chaos of the market, tons of street vendors, selling everything from fruits to amps, set up against empty store front buildings. We passed a dead man lying on the sidewalk with police just starting to approach. Apparently people commonly do that because claiming a dead body would mean that person was responsible for the funeral costs. The pastor pointed out a 4 story pancaked (where the support columns gave out and the floors fell intact to top of each other) market building where he says there are still plenty of smashed bodies. Beyond the market we entered the greater civic center area, passing a major prison where the biggest gangsters were locked up, all 4000 escaped during the earthquake. Then we drove by the Presidental Palace which looked like it had the front facade completely ripped out. Champ Mays which was a huge park in the middle of downtown was now an immense tent city.

We continued up through Peytonville where the wealthy live, the main difference being there were actual stores as we know them versus just booths set up on the streets. Saw a cemetery turned rubble yard. Practicality trumps the sacred?

As the elevation got higher the air got noticeably cooler, rainforest like, in fact the greenry around got exponentially greener. And there were large houses built from this stone that gave it a rustic feel.

The mission had a great view. There were paint vendors just outside. I tried to haggle not noticing that the truck was about to leave me, which actually worked to my benefit because as I was rushing to get to the car the man said fine and gave it to me for the price to asked.

On the way back it started pouring. Too bad for the people in the back of the truck. It would've actually been really refreshing if it were down where we normally dwell.

Picked up 25 Dominoes pizzas, yes Peytonville has Dominoes, on the way back and had a pizza party with the kids.

-Dave from Oakland, CA