Paul Alton MBA

We started the month in Matagalpa, Nicaragua and returned to Texas on Valentine’s Day.

We timed our Thursday departure from our friends’ place to arrive at the Hostal Buena Onda in Matagalpa around check-in time. Friends dropped us off at the bus terminal near Mercado Mayorero in Mangua. We bought tickets for a scheduled express bus to Matagalpa one of our happy places, in the highlands of Nicaragua.

After quick, less than $2, cab ride from the bus terminal to the hotel we were checked in to our private room with private bath. I guess dormitory style bunk beds are available at $9 per person per night but we’ve never gone that route in our travels. The closest we came once was a couple of nights in a private room with shared bathroom in the courtyard. Didn’t like that much but we survived for the two nights.

We walked around the corner and down an alley to the Restaurante La Vida e Bella for a thin crust pizza. It’s handy to know your way around town. Then we walked through the park near to the cathedral to Ruben Dario park near the other big Catholic church. We had a coffee in the Belen Express bakery across from the park. There’s been a total turnover of servers since we bailed out of Nicaragua in the great Covid panic of 2020 but the cashier was the same. She asked if I remembered her. Of course, I said.

We sat in the park and read before walking home to the hotel a few blocks east of the big Cathedral for a quiet evening of reading. On the way home we took the scenic route past the old Pali and a former ex-pat’s apartment. He bailed from Nicaragua after we did. He wrote that it was amusing to watch the Nicas stocking up for the Covid panic with rice and beans while the gringos stocked up on toilet paper. He returned to the states later that year after he realized he couldn’t manage the horror of being an ATM for every financial need in her extended family. It’s a hard row to hoe. I’ve seen it done successfully. A friend lives in Mexico with his younger Mexican wife. He gives her a set monthly allowance above and beyond household expenses. When she comes to him with a sob story about a relative in need he commiserates. “That’s awful. You should pay them something from your allowance.” She never does. It works. Going on over fifteen years if I recall correctly and it works. I’d credit the success to him having been an officer on nuclear submarines, but then I couldn’t explain Jimmy Carter.

We walked across the bridge over the Rio Grande de Matagalpa to visit a friend from the good old days before Covid. Her business did not survive the panic. The daughter we knew has moved to Miami. She plans to follow soon. On the way back we stopped at the Pali for a jug of water and some Laky soup. There have been a few businesses replaced by ones from four years ago. The place where we used to get a decent omelette is now an Estrella Express convenience store. Last year the waitress from there wrote that she had been successful in moving back to California.

On Friday, we had breakfast at a food cart near Parque Moreno. The same woman ran the cart. Her scrambled eggs are cheap but not for lack of cooking oil. I didn’t remember them being that greasy. Not sure she was happy to see us. Maybe the grease was deliberate. No matter. It worked. We’ll eat elsewhere. We walked to Parque Dario where we bought coffee from a kiosk and read in the park before walking toward home. We had a muffin and coffee at the main Belen Bakery on our way. Later we went for a lunch of lengua en salsa (tongue in sauce) at Mana del Cielo.

On Saturday we grabbed a cab to the Selva Negra (Black Forest) coffee plantation, restaurant and hotel. The cabbie works from 6 am to 1 pm. We arrived for his relief to pick us up at 4 pm. We arrived at the tale end of the breakfast menu. Only choice was the breakfast buffet which doesn’t measure up to a breakfast buffet in St. Walburg, Saskatchewan or other world hot spots. It was not bad but not much more than okay. The fruit was fresh and the coffee was good. If we had stalled, we could have dined from their more varied lunch and dinner menu. I think this must be a weekend thing. We have not encountered it during the week.

After brunch we walked for several kilometers on medium to easy jungle paths up and down the mountain. We avoided the extreme paths available and paused to let the younger, more energetic Belgium’s to “play through”. Our walk ended at the decorated chapel where they were doing sound checks for the impending wedding. We walked back to the restaurant for coffee and a shared cheesecake and a visit with the owner. We got contact details from her to share with a friend who wants to learn how to export a container of coffee beans. We walked outside at five to four and our cab had just arrived. That’s amazing. We have been stood up about fifty percent of the time by cabbies at Selva Negra. No big deal. The desk will call a car for you. You have to wait long enough to be sure the arranged cab is a no show and then you have to wait for the car to come from Matagalpa. Or you can walk out to the highway and flag down a bus or maybe get a  ride with a  stranger. That’s just the way it is.  

The cab dropped us off at Parque Ruben Dario and we walked to El Taqero, a grill place southwest of the park. We ate too much and still had leftovers which we took away in a to-go box and shared with a beggar on the way home. No problems getting in 10k steps today.

A lot of restaurants and bakeries close on Sunday, here. We went to our old Sunday fall back Gran Café but it still had the corrugated covers rolled down over its windows. Yesterday we had checked out the Diagon Alley Delicatessen and store and considered as a future spot for an afternoon cheesecake and coffee. We chose one of their pricey Harry Potter themed eclectic breakfasts which was tasty if a bit scant on the omelette portion. A fun meal but not one this cheapskate could embrace as a regular thing.

We walked to Parque Dario then to the bus depot to check the schedule for buses to Esteli tomorrow morning. On the way home we passed the Gran Café. It was open. I looked on the window where it had a place for the restaurant scheduled hours but there were no hours or days marked. Just “horario”. Can’t be said to be late opening or early closing if you give no times.

We spent a quiet afternoon in the room, booking accommodations for the rest of our time in Nicaragua. Three nights in Esteli, back to Matagalpa for four nights then two nights in Masaya.

Monday we were up earlyish. I had some issues. Take two Imodium, go for breakfast at noisy no-name restaurant <Update - It has no sign but a name. Well, several names. It is called Comedor Dona Coco or Comedor Los Cocos or Comedor Coco depending who you ask>. We had passed it yesterday when walking to the bus depot. 

Back to hotel.

Uneasy but surviving. Walk to Reuben Dario Park. Don’t risk stopping there. Turn around and walk back to hotel. Everything seems settled enough to risk travel. We leave the hotel and try to hail a cab to the Cotran Sur bus terminal. All have people. The ones with room for two more people are all going the wrong way to take a fare to the bus terminal and motion us away. Eventually we get to the one-way road headed south behind the cathedral. The same cab who brought us to the Hostal Buena Onda picks us up.

The bus to Esteli is loading. The tout tells me it is “a pies” (standing room only). We opt to wait for the next bus. We positioned ourselves near the front of the line but people pushed around at the last moment and swarmed the bus. It took a moment to realize assertiveness was required and I used my superior height to grab a handrail and traction my way through the narrow bus door. Roller derby gear and tactics advised.

Too late.

Every seat was taken on the bus in the first thirty seconds. Most of the seats had a single person who claimed the second half of the seat was for their travelling companion. Juanita got on after me and just motioned a woman over and the woman gave way. Juanita put her bag in the overhead rack. I put my bag in the rack next to hers. I guess I’m going to be standing for the next couple of hours. The conductor tried to move us standees all further back in the bus. I refused saying I wanted to stay close to my wife. After that a young man decided he wasn’t going to get an attractive young woman as a seat mate and let me sit on the other half of his seat, a couple of rows back from Juanita. I could get glimpses of our bags in the overhead bin.

The trip wasn’t terribly uncomfortable. My bowels had mostly settled. I handed out a few curved illusion tracts.

A few people got off on the way and at Sebaco. A lot got off at San Isidro. Somebody shuffled with me and Juanita and I got to sit together for the last half hour or so of the trip. I felt run over. When the bus arrived in Esteli we waited until last to get our bags from the overhead bin. I shuffled through the bus depot feeling like I had gone a few rounds in the boxing ring. Achy and tired.

The cab eventually found our hotel and we checked in. Clean but cramped quarters. They’ll do for $17 a night. We walked around the corner to where the supermarket used to be. A mercantile business now. I shuffled in the lead up the main avenue until we came to a gas station with a convenience store. I grabbed a cacao fresca from the cooler and went to pay for it. I gave a large bill to Juanita, “Get what you want and pay for it.”  I went and sat at a table. She showed up with a drink and a large bottle of water for the room. I asked her to buy a ginger ale as well.

A couple of times a year I will have a queasy stomach and a chocolate milk, a muscle milk or a chocolate shake will settle things down. I washed an ibuprofen down and sipped about half the bottle of cacao fresca before a mad dash to the men’s room. Fortunately, it wasn’t occupied. If it had been, the ladies’ room would have been the second choice with no hesitation. After my body was done rejecting the sugary chocolate drink I shuffled back to the hotel, had a sip of ginger ale, laid down and went to sleep. On the way I stopped to buy a dozen bananas and asked Juanita to pay for them and add to the other stuff she was carrying. It wasn’t hard for her to catch up with me, I was moving so slowly.

When I woke from my dozing, I drank the rest of the ginger ale and went back to dozing fitfully.

I was repulsed by the bad taste in mouth but didn’t have the energy to unpack my bag and find my toothbrush. One time when Juanita happened to be awake too, I asked for a stick of gum. Bad call. My body rejected that idea even quicker than it had the chocolate drink. Instant commode hug time.

Things improved slowly after that.

Tuesday morning, Juanita ventured out and bought some bland pastries. Around noon we walked up to the main park. On the way we checked out a few buffets and restaurants. Nothing appealed to either of us. Finally, we settled on a fruit smoothie each. On the way back to the room we stopped at the Pali and bought a jug of water and some Laky soup cups.

Also on the way back we noticed the large corner grocery store that had set up trade in place of the closed supermarket. We bought some ham and cheese pastries for later. A quiet evening was had by all. Wednesday came around and my general feeling of well being followed suit.

We walked to a more luxury hotel and had an omelette and coffee at luxury prices. We have dined here before and hope to again, just not every day. After breakfast we walked to the bus depot. I checked out the price of a cab back to Matagalpa. Quoted $US 50 or $Cd 2,000. I’m sure I could get it down to $US 40 but it’s still way more than the less than $Cd 90 / $US 3 bus fare for the two of us for the same trip.

We watched a couple of buses load for Matagalpa. There is less of a Bay Days feel to the event midweek in Esteli than Monday morning in Matagalpa. We’ll risk the bus tomorrow. Needs must we’ll don elbow pads and shove like the locals. They may be wiry but I’m heavier and taller. How Christian is that?

We walked back to the hotel for some keyboarding until it was time for lunch. We don’t leave lunch too late and only eat in busy restaurants. Usually keeps us upright and not hunched over where we don’t want to be. Today the uptown buffet was more appealing to both of us. Ordered too much and gave away the extra on our way home.

We stayed in. I had logged enough steps.

I stayed up too late reading a couple of short mysteries in a series. Dawn arrived on time Thursday despite my bad judgement. We got up and started walking to the luxury hotel. We passed a busy hole in the wall restaurant and ordered scrambled eggs. We had just as a good a breakfast for a third the cost even with two coffees each. Also had a good conversation with the patrons and owner.

Back at the hotel we packed, keyboarded a bit before grabbing a cab to the bus terminal.

The bus had just started loading when we got there. We had our choice of seats with no jostling or shoving. There were people standing only a few times during the trip and the trip went quicker, as well. We arrived early for check-in but our room was ready. In arrival tradition we went around the corner and down the alley to La Vida e Bella for pizza. Later we walked to Parque Dario and back through town to the Pali for some jugs of water and Laky soup cups. Later we walked toward the center of town and bought some bananas and mandarin oranges.

Friday we discovered the upstairs at the busy no-name restaurant down the street and lucked out to get the table on the balcony. Great view the Mirador overlooking the city and of the cathedral. Another tasty, economical breakfast with coffee for around five bucks for two.

After breakfast we walked toward Parque Dario. While I was handing out curved illusion tracts to craftsmen in a series of workshops on a back street Juanita suggested one of them might be able to fix her watch strap. He said he could and to be back in twenty minutes. Coffee in the park and a return about thirty minutes later. He hadn’t started. It will be ready in thirty minutes. We did some shopping and walking and handing out more tracts before picking up a perfect repair job at the half hour mark. Then back to the room for a while for more reading.

Lunch was lengua en salsa at the no name restaurant. Best I’ve had anywhere. We washed it down with some perfectly sweetened lemonade. That was enough eating for one day. Back at the hotel I got a bit of writing in but more reading plus the daily Wordle.

The traditional weekend breakfast meal in Nicaragua are nacatamales. We’ve had a few over the years. Some were excellent. Some were excellent. Some you wish you could forget. Today’s at the no name restaurant were the best or second best we have had. Ever.

Due to keyboarding and some internet connection delays breakfast was closer to brunch timing and the nacatamales were huge. We skipped lunch and had a mid afternoon cake and coffee at Belen. Supper was a cup of Laky ramen noodle soup.

After breakfast we dropped by the barbershop for a $3 trim beard trim and haircut. We bought a couple of gifts for the grandkids and sat in the park drinking coffee before coming back to the hotel. I exchanged some dollars for Cordobas for perhaps the last time this trip. The hotel next week will be in dollars and the cab ride booked to the airport likewise. If we make it to El Paradiso one more time they prefer dollars as well.

If you are reading this it means Saturday night keyboarding brought the week to a conclusion. Hope to see you next week.

Yesterday after the heavy breakfast of the best nacatamales we have experienced we looked for some waffles. Not to be found on a Matagalpa afternoon unless you buy some frozen Eggo waffles at La Colonia supermarket. Nope. In compensation, this morning, I opted for panqueques and a side of eggs. Juanita was more responsible and stayed with eggs. For years I had understood them to be called pancakes in Spanish but pronounced pahn-kah-kays. Another nope. It’s pan-kay-kays spelled as earlier in this paragraph. Learn something new every day.

After breakfast we walked to Parque Dario for another coffee and then went looking for a church that somebody we met this week invited us to attend. It was supposed to start at ten. At 9:45 there was no sign of people. I took a picture of the sign as proof of life and we carried on with our morning walk. Probably just as well. One on one in a quiet setting I do okay. Years working in industry has damaged my hearing so that when there is more than one source of sound everything blends together like mud. Throw in a typical Nicaraguan small church with big amplifiers and speakers and I might as well be in hitting golf balls in a tile bathroom. I come out having heard no individual words, checking for bruises on my body.

The afternoon was spent puttering on the keyboard updating the web site then we walked to El Taquero for a proper going away from Matagalpa dinner. On the way to dinner we passed the little amusement park in a parking lot. It had people riding the rides for the first time we have seen. I don’t know how people get the memo it is open. There’s no signage. We speculated it was rented out for a birthday party then we spotted a ticket booth. The walk home completed the 10k a day step program for today. Then I added pictures for the January update, set the alarm for six and went to bed.

Up at six and off to breakfast after a quick shower. We were rewarded with the balcony for our last breakfast in Matagalpa for a while or maybe forever. Time will tell. We got to the bus depot and bought tickets on the 8:20 express bus to Managua. An express bus makes fewer stops. This one is about 90% full compared to the 190% of last Monday’s ordinario bus to Esteli.  Today, we planned to get off at Tipitapa and take a bus to Masaya from there.

The driver is playing worship music, starting with Celines, over the public address system. It is accompanied by a chorus of individual smart phones playing their own music, games or TikTok videos. Years ago, I would get the stink eye for looking at my iPod Touch screen on a bus in Nicaragua. Now, most people seem to have smart phones. They don’t tend to have ear buds. Some hold the phone close to their ear to listen. Most don’t. They hold it at arms length with the volume turned high.  The size of personal bubbles vary by culture. In this culture some days I think it is closer to foam than bubble.

Near Sebaco the driver pulled up a movie on the big screen TV at the front. “Facing the Giants” dubbed in Spanish with almost matching Spanish sub-titles.

We miss getting off at our stop so we go into Managua and catch an express cab to another bus terminal and board a bus to Masaya and wait for it to leave the terminal. My error in missing the mumbled call for Tipitapa cost us an hour or two. We could have added that free time to the time spent sitting and waiting for check in time in Masaya so it all worked out. Not only that we got to see the end of the movie.

It had been a while since we had been through the heart of Managua. Always interesting. Glad it’s not every day. Really glad I wasn’t doing the driving.

After checking into the apartment not far from Parque Central in Masaya we walked around and checked out the area. A few businesses have changed. A few that haven’t changed, evoked fond memories of past transactions. When you have to do a scavenger hunt for parts when you want to repair stuff there’s a warm feeling when you see the holes in the wall where you found individual pieces. We found some wire lugs there. We bought pipe caps there. The door store is a block over.

We had snacked on the second bus so skipped lunch. A couple of frozen coffees hit the spot after buying some souvenirs for the grandkids. Once the 10k a day steps were complete we picked up a Little Caesar’s pizza. My Little Caesar’s Canada app doesn’t seem to work here, but my credit card did.

Home for the night. Start shuffling stuff and organizing for the trip back to Texas on Wednesday.

Tomorrow, we hope to spent most of the day relaxing at El Paradiso on Laguna de Apoyo. We used to go to the Monkey Hut a few doors down from El Paradiso. It is no longer open to the public on a daily basis, but we plan to live its slogan “Relajate” tomorrow. I’ve always taken that to mean “Relax Yourself”. Don’t spoil it for me if I’m wrong. Thanks.

Up early and did a bit of keyboarding until Juanita woke up and joined me in eating the leftover pizza.

We walked to the nearby Parque Central, exchanged some dollars for cordobas and bought a more breakfasty breakfast from a stall in the park. A twenty-five-minute walk later to the Puma gas station on the highway for a pit stop and a bottle of water and we went back outside to wait for a passing bus to Granada. We got off at the highway to Laguna de Apoyo and stood there waiting for another bus or taxi. An Austrian couple showed up. We chatted a bit. A cab showed up and we negotiated a price for the four of us. We all got off at the triangulo across from their destination, The Laguna. We walked to Hotel Paradiso and bought a day pass and relaxed and visited with other travellers from Canada, the UK and even an American couple.

At four we settled the bill for the food, drink and day passes. We walked back to the triangulo and waited for the bus to come by. We boarded the bus and it drove to the end of the line down by the school and sat there until it was time to take us to the market in Masaya.

We walked home from the market for a quiet Mardis Gras evening. Quiet except for the nearby band celebrating the last day before Lent.

Last night in Nicaragua until next time if there is a next time.

Happy Ash Wednesday? That doesn’t sound right. Many people wearing ash crosses on their foreheads today.

Happy Valentine’s Day! That sounds better. Didn’t notice anybody wearing valentine hearts on their foreheads or anywhere else obvious today.

I woke up at 4:30 and decided to get up to do some keyboarding. There. The blog is up to date as far as yesterday and finally up to date for pictures. There had been a three-month gap for pictures for the last quarter of last year. That gap is finally closed. You can go back and enjoy, finally.

What we all have called the Masaya Buffet seems to be properly names Comidas Criollas. It was closed yesterday but opens today at seven. That had been the plan for breakfast because the park doesn’t serve breakfast until eight. With dithering it was after eight by the time were getting out the door. The park it is.

Once we were in the real world we realized the wind was aggressive this morning. Let’s go to the buffet /Comidas Criollas out of the wind. Such weighty decisions are the lifeblood of the retiree.

On the way home from breakfast we browsed the Pali for unusual candies for the grands. Then it was back to finishing packing. I had timed the snack bags of psyllium husk and the bottles of NMN and Glucosamine to run out today. Some minor things left behind along with the travel sized tooth paste. The travel sized deodorant stick ran out at the two-week mark. I have added a full-sized stick bought in country.

Also running out, I have fifty Spanish and fifty English curved illusion tracts left for today. I started with 11 fresh packs of 100 plus what was loose in various pockets and satchels. So, over a thousand seeds sown. God willing, some will sprout on fertile ground.

We charged our e-readers and downloaded a couple more books using the lightning fast wi-fi that comes with the apartment. While waiting for ride time I read the last Freeman Files book on my iPhone hooked up to a charger. That binge read of 24 in a series took up a bit of down time in the last month.

Our ride was ready at eleven and we headed for the airport arriving before noon to grind through the usual slow process of going through immigration to leave the country. It keeps people employed. They raised no issues. Our passports stamped we head through security to the departures area. The exit tax is paid as part of the airline ticket rather than directly. It’s simpler that way. Imagine running out of money along with pills and not having the ten bucks to leave. Would they detain you at the airport indefinitely?

There is no gate shown on the boarding pass. There are no displays in the terminal showing time and gate of departing flights.

After a Coffee and a muffin at gate 5 a Copas gate agent informs us with great certainty that we will be at gate 4. We leave my crumbs and go sit at gate 4. Later, I go for a walk and discover a United gate agent at gate 6. That is our gate. We move there.

While buying a foot long I visit with the person in line ahead of me. She used to live in Vancouver when her partner played for the Grizzlies. She has just spent six days with friends in a rented villa in Granada. They left the front door unlocked with a suitcase in the front room. The suitcase went away but they caught the thief on cam. After the police saw the video they walked down the street and confronted him. They came back with a bundle of clothes. Nope. Not the right clothes. The second bundle they brought was the right stuff. Two reminders of what we already knew. Don’t leave your stuff unlocked and unattended. The police know the perps and where they live.

Today there is no secondary security to board the plane. They used to take away any water you bought in the departure area as you passed through the jet way. Maybe that’s a thing of the pass. Maybe they are waiting for us to let down our guards and buy five-dollar bottles of water they can take away. The scheduled three-and-a-half-hour flight is about half an hour early.

We land in terminal E and go through immigration seamlessly. Then, having only carry-on bags, we beat the rush to TSA. There was no body in line ahead of us as we wound our way through the maze. The maze seemed silly until a few minutes later when the checked bag swarm showed up after having been delayed and rechecked their baggage. They filled all the rows.

One of the tunes I had been listening to on the plane was “Take the A-Train” by Oscar Peterson. I whistled it tunelessly as we took the sky train to Terminal A. Juanita is so forbearing.

We spent the night in terminal A on our flight home during the great Covid panic of 2020. It hasn’t improved. Bush International Airport (IAH) is noted for its plethora of great restaurants. They apparently aren’t in terminal A. We found a couple of salads for $US 43. They were fine. The cash outlay to buy my first house was $C 32. It took me three months to pay that bill. I needed a replacement table for the rental until in the house I bought. A small kitchen table and chairs was $62. I financed it through HFC and paid it back from the rent. There might have been some inflation between then and now.

From IAH to HRL was a smooth flight. Noise cancelling headphones blocked the loquacious, officious cabin crew member so it was a pleasant flight, too.

We were scheduled to arrive after midnight. We didn’t want to bother any friends to pick us up. I told Juanita we’d get a cab at the airport. As we landed I pondered if there were such things in this day and age.

As we stood on the dark and lonely curb I reloaded the Uber app. I failed to convince it that the unexpired credit card was not expired so switched payment method to PayPal. PayPal was happy to use the same credit card. An uber showed up in three minutes. We were to our home away from home in six. Way better than the hour and fourteen-minute walk Google predicts for the same distance. We had already been fading at IAH. A walk would have been brutal.

One of the few tasks I had left unchecked before we left was to turn the water to the coach off at the post. I was grateful there had been no problems. I was also grateful I didn’t have to drag my dragging body outside in the dark to turn it back on.

Up early enough. Juanita went for coffee with a neighbor then we headed to chapel. Oscar preached on Deuteronomy 10:5 about Aaron. I started taking notes but started listening instead in expectation of the talk coming soon to YouTube. It hasn’t by the weekend. Here’s the notes:

Deuteronomy 10:5 Aarron was the leader at the time of the golden calf. He got messed up. He was not a very strong person. His will was weak. People like that are easy to get along with other people but can it cause problems;

Moserah – the mountain of correction (bonds - like chains) that’s where they buried Aaron. Not a hero of the Bible but God made him the first high priest.

He knew which way the wind was blowing. Only one wind you need to follow is the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Aaron walked up the mountain of correction.

After chapel we puttered helping around the warehouse. Byron and I carried the roll-up door for the SWA truck to the truck. I read over the instruction booklet. After lunch I dropped Juanita off at home and then went back to help Byron and a couple of others install a mini split. It was a donated unit. It was obvious that it had been donated as a warranty return for a reason and it was beyond any of our capability to make it work with what we had or knew. I abandoned Byron to his solitary frustrations. Rinse repeat in a few weeks when Byron comes back from the Wild West.

Back home I dozed for a few minutes in the easy chair and then reluctantly went shopping at Sam’s to accumulate the daily 10k steps. All that travel has caught up with me.

No Oscar at chapel today, people took turns sharing.

Heavy rains all day so the Friday drive through food bank was all conducted from under the tent. Not particularly busy today, either.

I figured out how the side rails go and bolted them onto the roll-up door and the dimensions needed to cut the door opening. Monday is supposed to be better weather. I’ll start building the frame and cutting open the back of the truck then.

I tagged along with Byron as he bought oil, supplies and snacks for a trip three are taking out west to pick up a motor home in Nevada. It is a similar make and model to the one that Matt, Juanita and I picked up years ago in Las Vegas. This one is said to not have a hole in the roof and side. It hasn’t run for six years. It could be an adventure. Like all adventures one has contrary feelings of relief and envy watching others embark.

On the way home I topped up my 10k steps for today by a walk, through half of Home Depot. Then we settled in to watch Jeopardy, Wheel and Blood Bloods with an old Allan Ladd western between. Not quite so tired tonight as last night.

Laundry day.

In a spirit of co-operation, I made coffee and woke Juanita at the last minute before it was time to leave to beat the other ladies to the coin operated washers. I stayed out of the way until she rushed off. Then I made myself breakfast and did some keyboarded and reading of accumulated e-mails. I suppose after lunch the step program will drag me out into the wind and rain.

I e-mailed my neighbour back home to come through the snow and chat with me over the video doorbell. He politely declined.

Later: Juanita returned from doing laundry and went to visit a missionary that lives on the property. We ventured out to Sam’s Club and Target to accumulate the necessary 10k steps. Then to Logan’s Roadhouse for their early bird special. We watched an episode of Wheel on the Weekend before a quiet evening and an early bedtime.

Ben been a blessing in my life

First song
I want to sing like David
If we really understood
2 Samual where David was praising God with everything
Praised Gd so much his wife was embarrassed
That same God David praised
We have it even better. We don’t have to have the Ark of the Covenant. We don’t need the sacrifice of bulls and goats.

I was praising God at Jimmy Swaggard’s ministry Crossfire

A little bit of how God has been dealing with me

We should always be growing closer to God. It was easier to draw close when I was in solitary confinement with few distractions

Jesus our master had to separate himself and draw closer to His Father

Want to talk about faith and praise. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 12:26-29

Where our faith be when everything around you is shaking?

9-11      Covid   Not going back              Ukraine             Israel, Iran

1Peter 4:12-17

Acts 16:22-25 beaten for faith
26-32 look what happened
Great earthquake

Daniel 3:16-25 Shadrac… 4th man in the fire

Acts 6:8            7: 54-60

This story in the natural doesn’t turn out as well as the others we read.

Stephen
Worker of wonders and miracles
First recorded martyr
Asking God to forgive the people who were killing him

Even if you are going through that shaking / that trial. Maybe God will release you or protect you. Maybe we’ll die for the Gospel but Jesus is there to take you home.

Matthew 7:24 -27
House built on the rock

Your faith needs to be upon the Rock
The Rock is Jesus Christ
Everything around you may be shaking but the Rock is unshakable

The Rock of Ages

After church we did a drive thru burrito stop on the way to Nuevo Progreso. We walked across the bridge over the Rio Grande and bought some cheap meds before coming back across the bridge and through immigration. I handed out a couple of curved illusion tracts while we were walking.

We drove the military highway to Pharr, avoiding the construction on the freeway. After steps at Costco we ate supper at Five Guys in McAllan and drove north of the freeway to take a secondary highway to avoid the construction.

Another quiet evening.

Chapel this morning was in the form of a prayer meeting. Afterward, Juanita helped set up tent for Wednesday’s drive through food back. I fought with removing the man door on the back of the SWA truck. I got it loose then re-bolted it temporarily until Danny and Zac could come hold it and lift it off when as temporary bolts were removed.

I kept slogging at removing the door frame one connector at a time with limited success. It’s a poor workman who blames his tools. Is it a poor workman who misses some of his tools back home that would make short work of the job at hand? No answer but I just keep slogging until quitting time.

Accumulated enough steps during the day with going back and forth for tools and a trip to hardware store for “temporary” nuts and bolts that no additional walking was required after work.

We spent a quiet afternoon and evening. I did some research on a Nicaraguan government web site to see which specific organizations were ejected and had had assets seized on Friday.

Oscar preached in chapel this morning starting with Luke 11:11

“Remember here that something is going on between the disciples and the master.” The Bible doesn’t say who asked but Oscar thinks it was Andrew who had been a disciple of John. John was a teacher of prayer. (sorry for the poor notes. I got listening. 😉)

Juanita helped with preparations for tomorrow’s drive through food bank. I went with Russell to buy material for installing the roll-up door on the SWA truck. We bought nots and bolts and lumber at Home Depot and ordered flashing at Royal steel. The flashing “will be ready Thursday”. We stopped by Curtis Steel and paid for a twenty-five-foot length of aluminum angle and inquired about steel angle. Curtis Steel only sells aluminum. In full lengths. They don’t cut it. We dropped off the lumber at the warehouse and picked up a battery powered reciprocating saw. On the way back to Curtis we stopped at Victoria Steel and bought some steel angle. They only sell twenty-four-foot lengths and charge two buck a cut. We cut it ourselves in the parking lot then went to Curtis and did the same with the aluminum angle.

I removed the door frame edge from the old man door and hollowed out a 2x6 for the roll-up door edge to fit around the tail-light. Then went to Harbor freight to buy clamps. You can improvise to make up for some tools back home but others you just must break down and buy.

I walked around the loop in the park for the last 3k of today’s 10k steps while Juanita went to H-E-B for groceries.

Quiet evening

Today was the regular day for the twice a week drive through food bank at the WOTC warehouse. Juanita worked loading boxes of fruits and vegetables. The back-up camera on the SWA truck is was mounted too low for the new back door. I removed the camera, then framed the new door opening on the inside and used as a guide to cut out the opening for the new roll-up door. That took all day with the tools available.

After work we stopped by Walmart so I could complete my steps for the day while buying some Febreze. Juanita dropped me at home and went to do the laundry for the week. We will be away on Saturday, the usual laundry day when we are in the valley.

With the framing finished for door opening we were ready to install the new door. Before that could be done it needed to be flashed. I called Royal Steel about the progress of bending three 8’ x 3” pieces of sheet metal they had promised for Thursday. Well, maybe tomorrow. We’ll call Byron when they’re done. I mounted the back-up camera above the new door opening then spent rest of the day routing and strapping the wires for the camera, taillights and strobes and other busy work.

We were on the road to Houston at 7:04. Stopping at the immigration inspection station for coming out of the valley, the official asked no questions, said “have a nice day” and waved us on.

We skipped the rest area, planning to stop at the Valero in Riveria. Bad timing. A couple of buses had stopped there just before we arrived. We went inside, looked at the line-ups and came straight back out to our car. There were no line-ups at the McD’s in Kingsville where in gratitude for the use of their spotless restrooms I bought my biannual hash brown.

Back on the road again we skipped the yummy kolaches for sale at the Shell station in Woodsboro but stopped for iced coffees at McD’s in Refugio. That kept us hydrated until we got to Buc-ees in Wharton where we stopped for cheap gas and reasonably priced salads.

The AT&T system was having problems today. Juanita’s text messages were not getting through to her sister. When we got closer, we called on my phone, set up a time for a visit and went to the hotel to check in. By the time we ran some errands near our hotel, rush hour traffic had picked up and it took as twice as long to get back to their place then it had to get to our hotel.

After a good visit we carried on to a nearby Sam’s Club to get in the steps for the day. This was followed by dinner at Texas Roadhouse courtesy of a Christmas gift card.

After the breakfast buffet at the hotel and handing out a few curved illusion tracts we went for a walk along the nearby waterfront. We met up for another visit with Juanita’s sister and brother-in-law at 9:30 then back to Sam’s for more steps. Close to noon we met with Juanita’s nephew Tracy and his wife Margarita at what is billed as a “Mediterranean Buffet” on Google maps. It is primarily Lebanese food with lots of choices, especially if you like humus. It was moderately busy but quiet. One wouldn’t call it a value proposition. It seems there clientele are there out of cultural loyalty or nostalgia. I had already eaten enough before I learned that special ordering a leg of lamb was a no extra cost option. (Note to self - try the lamb if we ever go back).

We went our separate ways after a long visit. We tried to walk to Kemah boardwalk from a parking lot across the highway but decided the risk exceeded the benefit. I was reminded of Bill Bryson’s tale of walking the Appalachian Trail. They took a break from the trail in a nearby town. He tried to walk to the local K-Mart and encountered far more obstacles to that task then they encountered on hundreds of miles of trail.

Back to hotel we decided there was no need for supper after serial dining at the lunch buffet. In opting out of going out for dinner I forgot about the Saturday night classic car assembly at the Home Depot near Kemah. That’s the way it goes. Shrug.

After the hotel buffet breakfast, we walked by the water in the opposite direction from yesterday then came back to the hotel. Loading up the car and checking out we then stopped at a waterside park on the way back to the freeway for more walking by the water and handing out curved illusion tracts to fisherfolk and picnickers.

Back on the road, the ring road around the south side of Houston to stop at the new Tim Horton’s just off the freeway on our way out of Houston. It was busy and chaotic as new stores tend to be. At least I hope it was new. If the staff was as chaotic and disorganized in an established store it could bode ill. That said, The Dutch Bros store in Harlingen has seemed to suffer for customers while taking FOREVER to make a simple order. That explains the DB long lines but it doesn’t explain why people keep coming back to be in a long line for average coffee. But I digress. Eventually we got our Tim’s order. The iced coffee was good. The Canadian app works in the Houston store.

Back on the road to stop at the Wharton’s Buc-ees for gas and kolaches. We were home by four then went to Sam’s for eggs and salad fixings.

Royal steel had called Byron about the flashing on Friday. We went there today to pick it up. The person who brought it out to the truck snarked about our “large” order. I declined to engage and be snarky back about taking so long to bend a couple of strips of sheet metal.

With flashing in hand, we quickly installed it and then got some help to lift the door and screw it in place. We spent the rest of the day doing the surround on the outside from aluminum angle with a steel threshold.

Byron and I worked on the wiring and we got the boys from Nicaragua to pick through the scraps from the demo of the old SWAT office inside the SWA truck putting the good stuff to one side and the other into a Gaylord container for burning. Juanita helped get things ready for tomorrow’s drive through food bank.

I took the car for its pre-booked, scheduled oil change at the local Nissan dealer here in Harlingen. All Nissan dealers are not created equal. Appointment was for 2:30. I was five minutes early and sat in the service lane for fifteen minutes before they took the car from me. They gave it back two hours later. Sherwood Nissan washes the car as part of the service. All this one did was change the oil and filter. They didn’t even clean the windshield. They did save some time by putting the reminder sticker inside the windshield next to the old one. I guess if I kept going there, eventually I’d have stickers all the way across the top of the windshield. While waiting in their wait8ing area drinking my complementary high-tech coffee, a steady parade of people stopped by and socialized. Maybe they should move one of them into a service bay.

After chapel I finalized the rubble and put the usable leftover 2x4’s etc. out on a pallet near the drive through waiting area. A food bank client with a truck asked about it. I said he could have it. He started picking through it. I said “todo o nunca” (“all or never”) should have said “todo o nada” (“all or nothing”) but he got the message and loaded it all.

Juanita helped in the serving line for the food bank drive through.

Byron and I started on circle checks for the SWA truck then he went out to start an in transit school bus out at the training center. The battery was dead. He left a charger on it and came back. We did what we could on the truck until the bus battery should be ready and I went out to help with the bus. It started. And we got it running and moved it next to the shop so the charger was closer to an outlet. There was a message on the instrument panel to change the transmission filter and the check engine light was on. Tomorrow we’ll drive it to a shop in Brownsville to run diagnostics. One other thing we discovered was when you shut the bus engine off the horn starts blowing until you go to the back of the bus and hold down the button that says you checked for children left in the bus. Good feature. Annoying to figure out by randomly trying things.