Here is the airport. Dirt runway
Here is the plane :(
Every time I grab a cab, I negotiate feverously for a lower price. Usually after I get it, I end up tipping close to the amount the driver originally game me. What is wrong with me? I guess I just don’t want to be taken advantage of. I think I got that trait from my father. Incredibly generous until he feels someone is taking advantage of him.
Sitting in the airport for a few hours so I have a few minutes to write. A few things I forgot. Martin, my buddy from Denmark was on the island when the tsunami hit. He was fortunate enough to be on high ground but spent the following few days of his vacation pulling bodies out of the mess. Across his stomach he memorialized the experience in a tattoo. When he told the story on the snorkeling boat, everyone was riveted. When he was asked what the tattoo on him back meant, he replied that he could not remember, he was too “pissed drunk.”
Got up at 4:30 to catch the flight and did not know until I arrived it was first come first served. They put me on the following flight at 9:30. Gad I woke at 4:30. Eight seats on the plane. I wonder if a meal with be good. I hear the fish is wonderful.
Got a hotel with hot water. At the desk they always say not to leave valuables in the room. Local thieves check into rooms of the hotels, make copies of the keys and simply return to lift what they can.
One of my first days I came into contact with the American hippies. Now that I have gotten into some of the more poor areas I have found even worse. The Christian evangelists. They are easy to spot. Mostly pale white with funny clothes like crocs, visors, fanny packs, Velcro shoes and wear their nicely pressed pants too high. They take more pictures than oriental tourists and often found in souvenir shops. Very pretentious and seem to finish each sentence with an inflection at the end. I would rather be an American hippie than an American Christian evangelist. If you are sensitive please don't read on.
Now my tirade. The latin people are not more receptive to Christianity or the gospel. They are receptive to anything that can help them. Here they do not have social security, savings, welfare, retirement programs, health insurance. If barney the dinosaur came walking through town giving out loafs of bread, the people would believe and follow whatever ideology he was selling. Barney actually peddles some good stuff. Love, patience and I remember that song about turning off the water when you brush your teeth. I believe in Barney.
I don’t intend to be cynical but it is true. It is not a belief, it is basic survival. If these pasty white Americans can help me and my family, sure I will listen. So they swarm into poverty stricken areas from their upper middle class neighborhoods in the states with their satchels full of books, never realizing that most of these people cannot read. So the hope for dozens of “converts” so their status on the right hand of their maker is elevated. In reality the people are simply trying to create a social network or social safety net.
On the flip side, I do believe that if people put into practice basic Christian principles they will live happier and healthier lives. The problem is that basic Christian principles get saddled with so much rhetoric and “teachings of men” that they become polluted. I suppose they are doing more good than harm. God bless them. God help them. They need it.
A cab driver told me this morning that 50% of the girls between the age of 13 and 16 have babies. That is amazing.
So I hate to fly. Sitting here at a shack of an airport watching my plane pull up. It only holds eight passengers. Propellers. No jet. We need to fly nearly straight up to avoid the surrounding mountains. No co-pilot. What will happen if this guys empanada he ate this morning is tainted? No more zanax. I was popping them like tic-tacks on my last flight. Too early to get a drink. I may cross my fingers and re-acquaint myself with god. Maybe I don’t want to remind him who I am. I figure there will a few bible toting evangelists on the plane. Hopefully their righteousness will carry us safely there.
I asked the pilot if he had parachutes on the plane. He laughed. I did not reciprocate, I was serious. If this plane is going down, I would put more trust in a fabric parachute than Pablo the pilot. Hopefully we arrive in one piece.
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