December 2008 Adventures
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When
we left off in November, we were still in Guayaquil, Ecuador. It seemed our
container was “selected” to be inspected by the anti-drug enforcement team.
With all the paperwork required we had to wait another week for the
inspection to be completed. PLT we were inspected and cleared for
departure. Our container with our faithful Hilux shipped out on Saturday,
Dec. 6 at 7:00 AM. We were finally able to fly out of Ecuador on Monday,
Dec. 8th.
We
were excited to get into Panama City and retrieve our truck. However,
arriving on Dec. 8th meant we were arriving on Mother’s Day – and
a national holiday! Everything was closed. Our container was scheduled to
arrive at 5:00 AM on the 8th, but we had to wait till the next
day to retrieve it, or so we thought. We actually got the truck out of the
container on Wednesday, Dec. 10th, but spent the night in Panama
City to avoid driving at night.
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This photo is of Ed,
very happily driving the truck out of the container. We stayed at the
port all day waiting for the container to be released for opening. When
it was finally released to be opened, we still had to wait another hour
for the truck to be fumigated (1st of many fumigations). We
think the customs officer felt sorry for us for waiting all day. That’s
why he let Ed drive out the truck, Linda got in, and we were finally on
our way. |
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When we picked up the truck, we had driven 9,615
kilometers (5,961 miles) in South America. We were then ready for some Central
America traveling.
Central
America continued to offer us opportunities to “donate” to the local police
force. We have been so accustomed to being stopped by the police; it doesn’t
phase us at all. After stopping us, one officer said “I’ve never seen a vehicle
from Paraguay!”
We drove
through Panama, Costa Rica, and on into Nicaragua. Panama and Costa Rica we
were able to travel in 2 days for each country. We enjoyed the greenery we
passed, as well as different crops – pineapple, coffee, banana, papaya, and lots
of good veggies!
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Pineapples
are growing in the foreground of this photo.
We would pass trucks
full of ripe pineapple and the smell was wonderful!
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This
photo was taken early in the morning while the clouds still covered the tops
of the mountains. Note how the sun formed a beautiful rainbow on the
clouds! |
We
finally arrived in Chinandega, Nicaragua after traveling 11,159 kilometers from
Asuncion, Paraguay (that’s about 6,920 miles); in 58 days. We were only in
Nicaragua for 30 hours before boarding a plane for Atlanta, GA. We were able to
then fly to Mill Valley, CA to spend Christmas with our daughters, son-in-law,
and grandson. We were back in Nicaragua by Dec. 30th. At the
airport in Nicaragua, we were met by our new Nicaraguan friends, which really
made us feel like we were coming home. Next month we hope to share with you how
our ministry will be starting here in Nicaragua.
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Our wonderful family at Christmas.
L to R
Ed, Linda, Kara, Rhian with Austin,
James,
and grand dog Maggie.
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Our new Nicaraguan friends welcoming us to
Nicaragua.
They had a short devotional for us, then
sang songs.
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