Wherever We Go

Poor is a relative term.   Vialula and I have been on many trips.  Several times we have seen poor people.   Yesterday, today and tomorrow have been in stark contrast to each other and they have taken us from one end of the spectrum to the other.   Yesterday, we visited San Blas, Panama.   San Blas has their independence from Panama but still remains part of Panama.   It is a nation made up of 365 small islands.   The one we visited is about 2 or 3 feet above sea level.  It is smaller than say,  Opryland Hotel.  It has no electricity, no running water, no food, no nothing.   The residents are an original people.   They eke out some sort of living that nothing I can describe to you would explain it.   In my eyes they are probably the poorest group of people I have ever seen.   But then again, I don't know their whole story. And so here comes this big boat full of pe...

Panama City .... The Embera people We arrived in Panama City the afternoon of Monday, January 28th, after spending all day coming through the canal.  On Tuesday, we tendered over from the ship to Panama City.  Today was another day of stark contrasts.  The skyline of Panama City is big, shiny and modern.  Think the Jetsons!  We overheard one guy say that it was "the best city drug money can buy!"  We didn't see anymore of it than the skyline as we had an adventure in the Rain Forest. We boarded a bus that took an hour and a half back into the tropical rain forest.  Our tour guide was "Escobar."  The native people we visited called him "Heet" which means "excitement."  He was exciting, and very patient, and very informative about these original Americans.   The Embera are thought to be the first settlers to the Americas (North and South).  Their village is a 25 minute boat ride (dug out canoe powered by Suzuki...

Friday, January 25th - Santa Marta, Colombia.  Santa Marta is the 3rd largest city in Colombia.  It is also the oldest city ... founded n the 1500's, I think.  This is according to Jose, our tour guide, who also said most of the male population in Colombia is named "Jose".  Can you guess the most popular women's name?  .... Maria. And, just where is Juan Valdez?  According to Jose, most of the coffee is grown in the mountains of the surrounding Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains.  We didn't climb that high up, but we did tour Tayrona National Park, and we just made it in.  It closes in 3 days.  This is the end of their high season, so we are happy we got to visit.   We awoke to calm seas, praise God, Juan Valdez and the Capt!  From our port to the park was about 1 hour drive.  We saw a part of life not usual to us, as most of the homes nearest the port looked to be about half the size of the Maersk shipping con...

Leroy has been remiss in his blogging duties.  But be advised,  it is much more fun and eventfull to live the experiences than write about them and so that is why.  But I have moment now so I will try to catch up a little. Two days ago, on our first full day at sea, the sun woke up on top of our balcony railing.  It sat there just for a moment as it took control and chased the darkness away to wherever it is the darkness goes in that endless chase that has been going on since the earth began.  Neither one gaining total control over the other. The seas were quite rough the first two days as we were heading south.  We had a very strong crossing wind and the ship was tossing about like a toy in a bath tub.   Vialula was not a happy crew member and to tell you the truth, I was a little green around the gills and it usually does not bother me.  But with a pill here and  patch there, things were kept under control. As you might imagine, ...

Today, I, LeRoy, am a travelin man.  Apparently the trip we have planned and waited on is happening.  What with airports closed or clogged due to weather and airports closed or clogged due to the government shutdown, "they" suggest we get to the airport at least 3 hours early.  So we did.  Check-in took about two minutes, went thru security in about 7 minutes, walked to our gate in about 4 minutes.  So now we have about two and a half hours to sit and watch people go by.   And the good Lord made all kinds!    I will leave it at that.   Cause I am on vacation!!! I will say that I just about had to get down to my shorts to get thru security.  I think there was some look of lust or disgust in Vialula's eyes.   I wasn't sure which.  It took abouut 8 of those basket trays to load all our junk in to go thru the scanner.   They only wanted a piece or two in each and by the time your shoes, belts, tablets, ...

CANNOT believe it ... Today is THE D-A-Y!!! - the day we've planned for, prepared for, lost weight for, and prayed for!  We're leaving on a jet plane, heading to a ship that will circumnavigate the world and be our home for the next few months! The super blood wolf moon complete with its eclipse started the day, and it is the perfect start for our trip.  We were seen off on our voyage by so many friends and family this past week.  We've been wined and dined, sung to and toasted, prayed over and for, texted and telephoned, skyped and whatsapp'd!  Such an outpouring of love and well-wishes has overwhelmed us!  We are so very blessed, and we know it. Thank you, all! A special shout out to Susan and Susan for breakfast, and to Dixie and Dolly for seeing us down the driveway, and to dear daughter for ferrying us to the airport. Leroy and I have been weighed and measured by the TSA agents.  Although, we are very thankful they were here to see us off sa...

Leroy here.   Thought I'd take a minute to make a few comments about this sojourn Vialula and I are gettin ready to take.  Now I read her introduction to it and she can sure put some pretty words and thoughts out there and all but I thought I would turn it a little toward the guys and give them some pretty impressive numbers to think about. First of all, before I do that, I just want to tell you that the journey kind of got off to a rocky start today.   You see Fedex came by to get all our luggage today.   The next time we see it, it will hopefully be in our stateroom.   I say hopefully because while I was carrying the boxes I packed my stuff in out to the truck, I hear Vi give a start.   I turned to see the Fedex driver running down our driveway chasing after one of her rolling luggage pieces.   Now most of you know we live on a hill and that piece of luggage was making pretty good time down towards the creek.  I d...

" Do not take gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. " ( Matthew 10:5-15) half of it! This has been anything but a usual packing assignment because this is not a usual trip.  It has required months of meticulous thought and a year and a half of planning.  Jesus' friends were instructed to pack light for their trip.  That sounds wonderful, but it is only wishful thinking for us. In the movie, "Joe Versus the Volcano", the luggage salesman asks Joe (Tom Hanks' character) if he is traveling light .... or heavy.  He then proceeds to sell Joe four of his premier steamer trunks (all hand-made), and then he blesses Joe with a long life!  Incidentally, as the movie progresses the luggage saves his life  - more than once.  See the Blessing of Joe Banks ....  This notion of a world voyage was born about ten years ago when a couple of frien...