Barranquilla
Yesterday we went to the Pital Presbyterian Church. Pital is the one rural church in the Presbytery of the North Coast – outside Barranquilla.
On the wall is a quilt made for the church by a partner congregation in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
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Barranquilla
31 March 2010
10:24 p.m.
Things have been quite busy. The meetings have been going well but they take attention and much time. There is good conversation, Spirit-filled dreaming, relationships being nurtured and born, possibilities explored.
I am going to post a few pictures with some brief comments to catch up a bit.
Barranquilla is in Northern Colombia on the Magdalena River and near the Caribbean Sea. It is Colombia’s fourth largest city. It is in the Presbytery of the Coast (or Presbytery of the North Coast) of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia.
It has been hot and humid most days, although Monday has been the worst. Yesterday was reasonably pleasant. Today the temperature and humidity climbed.
There was a full moon on Sunday night when we arrived.
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March 28, 2010
9:30ish
On board Delta Flight 1987
at Gate A2
ATL
“I am so proud of you for not barfing on the last flight.”
Sometimes the desired standard of behavior is set really, really high.
To be continued . . .
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I do not know if I had ever heard such words before. If I have, I have forgotten them.
“Join us at 6:00 a.m. on NPR for . . .” They struck with such force that the shock disoriented me and I failed to learn why I would want to do that.
I had left the Shire and was on the ever going on road. Again. This time it stretches to Barranquilla.
At the moment of the first-time heard announcement, the road bore the name of Taylorsville. I was making my way to the Louisville airport (SDF).
Shortly after the announcement, I discovered that the entrance to I-264 was closed. A detour ensued, essentially doubling back onto an alternate route that I could have traveled from the Shire had I only known.
Arriving at the airport, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that half the high school students in Louisville were flying somewhere at that early morning (perhaps I exaggerate slightly, but there were a lot of students). Massive chaos. Lots of noise. What every night owl wants to experience at 5:00 in the blessed a.m.
Fortunately I made it to security before many of the students. They travel light, but don’t know the drill. 3-1-1; take out computers; take off shoes.
The crowd may explain why I was not assigned a seat before I arrived at the airport. But I did get one there.
Going through security usually involves a special screening for Tom, my faithful CPAP machine. He is routinely swabbed for explosive residue. It is always a great comfort to know that he has not rigged himself to explode in my face during the night.
This time, my hands were swabbed as well. Good to know they won’t be exploding either.
At the gate, while waiting to board with a bevy of high school students, I learned that they seem to be going to LA – at least according to snatches of conversation I have heard. Perhaps I will be able to confirm that on the plane.
Next stop, Atlanta.
See you along the Trail.
Filed under Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Travel
March 28, 2010
6:00ish
SDF
Made it to the airport.
Now have seat assignments on all three flights.
Ready for a nap.
To be continued . . .
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So I not done a great job of writing. Or exercising. Or eating (well unless eating too much is the standard). Still not sure what is going on there.
But I do know what is going on elsewhere. The alarm clock is going to ring at 4:00 in the blessed a.m. I will roll from the bed, stagger around the Shire for a while and drive to the airport.
There, assuming that there is actually a seat for me, I will board a plane to Atlanta, where I will board a plane to Miami, where I will board a plane for Barranquilla – assuming I do not fall asleep in the airport. Sleeping on plane, good. In the airport, not so good.
There will be others with me – even in Louisville, so they should wake me up should sleep overtake me.
I will be part of a group of Presbyterians, many from the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, who will meet with our partners in the Presbyterian Church in Colombia to discuss the Colombia Accompaniment Program. We will be in Barranquilla (on the Atlantic coast) and will take a couple of day trips from there. Conversations will take place at the School of Theology of the Reformed University of Colombia (I think – corrections will be made if I am incorrect).
I hope to do some blogging about the trip and post some pictures. Hopefully I will find time to post the usual type of material as well. I have a few posts ready to publish on Monday and Tuesday.
This will be my first trip to Colombia. I have been involved in promoting the Accompaniment Program. I have met individuals who came to the United States as part of our International Peacemakers Program. I helped create a resource – the cover is the image on this page. I know the names of many of the people who will be present – but we have not met. It will be good to do so.
I look forward to the experience. It will be a blessing to celebrate Holy Week (I am preaching on Good Friday) and Easter with our sisters and brothers.
See you along the Trail.
p.s. only 3313 steps today – too much sitting and finishing things on the computer. The pedometer will go along.
Filed under Exercise, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Travel
“I’ll bet someone back east is going, ‘Now why don’t he write?'”
(Bonus points if you can name the character.)
It has been a while. The trail has led astray. I have been to the gym a few times since my last post. But I have had a couple of weeks of eating pretty much everything in sight and going to find things when nothing was left. Lost pounds have been regained and must be lost again.
Today was designated as a day for a new beginning – a return to the trail – recognizing that we fall down, in part, to learn how to pick ourselves up – and doing the picking again.
So far it has worked. I made it to the gym – 2.16 miles on the treadmill. I have eaten within the limits that I have set to lose weight. And I have made 10,007 steps.
One strategic change on this return. The movie at the gym today was Troy. Tomorrow it will be Last of the Mohicans. I decided to use the treadmill in the cardio-theater and was pleased at how engaging the movie was – how easy it was to walk while viewing. So, when the movie is one I want to watch I will do that and earn the right to listen to audio books through the walking.
I am in The Fellowship of the Ring. Frodo and his friends are in Buckland, aware and frightened of the black riders and preparing for a quick escape.
The journey continues.
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I am back – at least back writing – after a hiatus that included not eating well, not getting to the gym, not making 10,000 steps.
The good news is that many of those days were spent in Cincinnati with Tricia. We met on Friday. Saturday we went to the William Howard Taft National Historic Site. That is not one of the national parks that had been on my “must-do” list, but it is here and it is one more off the list. My passport stamp total is now 96. It will be interesting to see what is the stamp 100. I have been to more parks than those for which I have stamps having visited a number before I started using the passport. Some of the larger parks also have more than one stamp so the park count is not the same as the passport stamp count. Taft appears to have been an interesting dude. Besides being the only person to serve as President and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, he was also the first President to throw out the opening pitch at a baseball game.
We returned to the Homewood Suites (it’s a really good place with nice folks so it gets a product placement) in Milford to watch Duke basketball. We followed that by going to see Avatar. Still processing that one. I have heard a great number of comparisons to the Pocahontas story. One parallel that occurred to me that I have not heard (which does not mean it has not been repeatedly made): as the clans gathered, I thought of the efforts of Tecumseh (Tecumtha) and Tenskwatawa to create a confederacy of the indigenous peoples in the early 1800s in what was then known as the Northwest Territory. An episode of the PBS series American Experience: We Shall Remain tells that story. I need to check it out.
Yesterday saw a trip to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. It is a haunting, wrenching, and painful experience. The human capacity for brutality and inhumanity – on an individual and corporate level is staggering. Even when one is aware of that capacity, it is staggering to see it revealed. At the same time, the stories told by the Center are affirming and inspiring. The human capacity to endure and persevere – the human capacity for courage and cooperation are even more impressive. What the people who were enslaved endured, touched me deeply. Processing this experience will continue for some time.
This morning we woke to damp streets – now two hours later those streets are snow-covered. Our decision to stay put and not try to get back to Cleveland and Louisville respectively makes sense. There is a fitness center here which I will soon visit.
Filed under National Park
Before he could be elected president, Nelson Mandela had to be freed. Or perhaps I should say, before he could be elected president, Nelson Mandela’s body had to be freed. His body may have been imprisoned, his spirit and his soul never were.
Twenty-nine years ago today, Nelson Mandela’s long walk involved physical steps from Victor-Verster Prison. That walk had begun years before when he committed himself to working for justice and peace. That walk continued through years spent in captivity. That walk continued outside of prison in leadership of his party and his country and all the people of South Africa. That walk continues in those who are inspired by his example of grace and nonviolence and forgiveness and vision and inclusion and who work for peace and justice in Soweto and Gaza and Manila and Louisville and Barranquilla and Yei and all around God’s world.
Thank you Nelson! May we – may I – keep on walking.
The photo was taken by one of my South African friends who returned to participate in the 1994 election.
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Filed under Exercise, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Travel
Along the Graybeard Trail 