Busy Week

Sorry that it's been a while since I posted anything. We've been busy entertaining our visitors from home. I hope Mark and Sarah are back safely now. At least you'll get better quality pictures from them!

We had a busy and enjoyable week together with them and Richard. We had avoided doing some of the local touristy things until they arrived, so it was the first time doing them for us too and they managed to get out quite a bit in the ministry with us as well.

Last Monday we took a trip to a nearby cacao farm and were shown how to make our own chocolate by hand using traditional Mayan tools. There was much enthusiasm for this, especially with the female contingent of our group. It's surprising how simple chocolate is if made by hand. You just have to roast the beans, remove the husks and grind till the cocoa butter starts to melt and you get a paste. Add sugar to taste and that's it! The owner told us that the oldest types of cacao are more mild tasting than those grown commercially because the big companies want a stronger and more bitter bean so that they can add more fillers and save money. Certainly although the chocolate we ended up with was around 85% it was a lot smoother tasting than 70% stuff you buy at home. We had a meal of chocolate chicken while we were there to round things off.

At the end of the week, along with Andy and Leticia Baker from the congregation, we took a boat out to Sapodilla Caye and spent a night on what can only be described as a desert island on the barrier reef. We each had a little shack looking out over the sea. Ours was in front of a shallow bay where a large ray (sting, manta or spotted, I'm not sure) would come and flap around several times a day. The water was your classic clear blue and the  snorkeling

 on the reef was excellent. And then on the way back, to top things off, we encountered a pod of dolphins that came and played with us for about 20 minutes, jumping out of the water, racing the bow of the boat and generally being charming. Quite an unforgettable experience! It shows up the weakness of digital cameras though. Because there is a delay between pressing the button and the picture actually being taken we mostly got photos of post-dolphin ripples! Andy got some video so I might ask him for a link of he puts any of it online. And you'll have to see what Mark was able to get on his camera.

So it was really enjoyable to have guests for the week, but it felt a bit strange to see them getting ready to go home and us not to be joining them. Homesickness has affected each of us at some time but we are managing. It helps when you have things you have to do here so you feel like you are needed.

Shame about Andy Murray by the way. Now we'll have to find someone else to be disappointed in! We watched most of the match on a repeat on Mexican/Guatemalan satellite TV in a sister's thatched house with chickens and various other animals wandering in and out whilst eating homemade burritos. Not quite the traditional Wimbledon experience!