San Felix

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Geo: 8.24538, -81.8702

Hi again from Barb. Today is a full on relaxation day, and we're all excelling at it. There has been frolicking in the waves, beach combing and walking, pinochle, reading, casual eating, reading, relaxing on the patio, some napping, and general good times.
We've had a lot of activity in the last few days, but I'm choosing to blog about a surprise trip that we had on Tuesday in a small town called San Felix about 10 miles from here. We had asked the facility manager here about getting some fresh local fruit (not much in the grocery store, surprisingly, we have discovered). When she told us to go into San Felix for that, she mentioned a Catholic mission that a priest runs in the town, and told us how to find it. After getting our fruit at a stand (the prices seemed to rise by the minute 😊we found the mission and started asking around for "Bob" who is an American volunteer now living here. After some blank looks from non-English speakers, we were able to track him down, and we're all so glad we did. The mission is there to serve the indigenous mountain people who live at a distance away from where they walk a full day to get to the truck that will take the 6-hour trip to bring them to the mission. There, there are work for food programs, agricultural educational classes, sewing classes and machines, a place for women with high-risk pregnancies, and I'm sure more than that going on. The people don't live there but stay for short periods of time. Bob was a very special guy who is so committed to this cause, full of stories, passionate about serving these people, and seemed more than happy to spend his afternoon showing us around and educating us about it. He's been here full time for 3 years, and to me, it even seemed he enjoyed taking so much time with fellow Americans. At the end of our time, we visited the small shop where some handicrafts made by the mountain people were for sale. I have felt like if we didn't get some feel for the local culture on this trip, it would be lacking, and we have felt pretty good about that aspect of it, but the trip to the IHS Mission really gave us a good dose. Wendy has done a great job of getting pictures uploaded, and I think she'll have some on of the mission tour soon. I think it is one of the highlights of my time here. Gotta go - more relaxing to do! Missing you, family, but loving this experience!

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Photos

These sheep have short hair..
Hadn't heard of sheep without the long wool that needs to be sheared, good thing, as it's too hot here for them...

Dan
Still at the mission

Bedroom for the high risk pregnancies
The women who come here, usually stay 2 weeks, they have classes during that time and a companion can stay with them also. They then deliver at the hospital then are back on their way to their "reservation" with their baby.

outdoor cooking area for the pregnant women
They do all their own cooking, cleaning and laundry.

Some of the handicrafts for sale
Made by the indigenous women that live on the closest reservation

Comments

[wendy2007]

Still at the mission