Thank you very much for all of your comments, we love logging on and reading your words. It helps us feel connected to home.

We have just travelled today from Lake Como, Italy through to Switzerland and we are now staying in Austria tonight. Thats the latest on our location.

The Internet at our Hotel in Austria is fantastic so i have uploaded all of my photos right upto date, be sure to checkout Spain, Italy, Ireland and France.

Ciao and Love to All

Justin, Mark and Julie

We are now in Italy… you know how when you talk to an Italian person and they always go on about how good the food is in Italy… and you just roll your eyes, like whatever… well I have to say I am a firm convert… the food is inexplicably unbelievable.

There is a lot more detail to come in future posts, but we just wanted to let you know we are alive and well… oh we are struggling with italian, so if you know some useful phrases then please put them in a comment below! Grazis et arivaderche.

This is a little time lapse clip I took at Mahon Falls, its taken over a five minute period but only runs for 5 seconds. It was a really windy day so it looks quite good with the clouds whizzing over head. Enjoy it all, lots more to come.

Our metro ride is typical with a gypsy singer accompanied by a friend on the piano accordion. She had a beautiful voice and sang familiar French tunes, amplified by a microphone and speaker attached to a suitcase trolley with wheels. Her accompanist hands around a cup for donations before moving onto the next carriage.

Once we arrive at our stop it’s just a short walk to our apartment on the 5^th floor! No lift! Around the fourth floor our luggage seems to treble in weight.

This is a very typical French street with patisseries, fruit and vegetable market and trees shedding their autumn leaves.  There is a supermarket so we do some grocery shopping for the week ahead as we can cook for ourselves in the little 1 bedroom apartment, we can climb the stairs again with the groceries, why not??

This photo was taken while i was out witnessing with Gavin and Gemma.

We stopped by a little park and walked up the gorge, it was so tropical that i thought for a moment i was in North Queensland.

Taken as a long exposure on a tripod, i was quite happy with the result.

To the tune of 747 jet engines the plane left the Sydney runway, it was a great feeling to finally be on the way to New York. I knew I was in trouble when my knees touched hard up against the back of the seat in front, and it hadn’t even been laid back in to recline.

This was going to be arduous and uncomfortable… the time was passed with a movie marathon, I lost count after ten movies.

We were met at the JFK airport by a delightful sister, she is in the Spanish speaking congregation and lives and hour drive SW out of the city of NY. She drove us all the way from JFK to down town Manhattan NYC, what a champion.

This journal entry should probable start on the next day since its been 24 hours since we started, but we lost a day coming to NYC. By this time it had been 27 hours since we left the front door of my apartment in Sydney.

In a zombie like state I tried to perk up a bit and show a little interest in my surroundings, after all this is NEW YORK… New York I kept telling my self.

The sister seem really comfortable navigation the streets, mind you the numbering system in NYC is really easy. We park the car and walked two city blocks to our address. We had to return the favour our New Yorker friend, so we hit the local up town Sushi bar for some real food… beats airplane spam any day. After walking the sister back to her car we had only one thing on our minds… SLEEP.

Momentz – The Artist Framers & Digital Photograph Canvas Printers

The bus ride back to Puerto Escondido was 7 hours long, but much better in the daylight however still as windy as ever. We arrived in Puerto Escondido at around 6:30pm and took a taxi straight to Brother Eduardos place.

… come to Mexico for the food …

It was time to payback the kindness, so we took his family out for dinner to a restaurant. We all had either a Tlyuda (a Gigante tortilla filled with queso and meat) or a corn and chicken soup called “Pozole”. The food simply tasted so good… especially after riding in the bus all day. If for no other reason than this “come to Mexico for the food”… you won’t be disappointed.

The ruins of Monte Alban are not very far from the centre of Oaxaca city, maybe only 10 kilometers drive. However they are completely hidden from view due to the fact that they are situated on the top of a mountain 1948 metres above sea level out of site from lower ground, this is probably the reason why they were not discovered by Mexican archeologist Alfons Caso untill 1932.

… not discovered by Mexican archeologist Alfons Caso untill 1932 …

A very recent archeological find which has been compared to Howard Carterâs discovery of Tutankamun’s tomb in Egypt. Monte Alban the ancient capital of the Zapotecs, was believed to have been built by the Zapotecs as early as 500 B.C., and was one of the first cities in Mesoamerica. At its peak of civilization Monte Alban had approximately 40,000 people living on the site.

We arrived around 9:30am and purchased our tickets at the entry gate. We were greeted by an old man named Victor who spoke good english offering to be our guide for the morning. It sounded like the best idea and besides I wasn’t in the mood to spend the time deciphering the signage in spanish back into english. Old Victor certainly looked like the genuine article himself “an ancient Zapotec” relic. He explained alot of detail by drawing in the dirt with his walking stick.

Apparantly the Zapotec people (the main inhabitants of Monte Alban) were not a war like nation and lived peacefully not offering up human sacrifice’s at any of the temples at Monte Alban. There is however conflicting theories (as always), Monte Alban was believed to be inhabited by the Mixtec, Olmec, and Aztec cultures as well as the Zapotecs. The Aztec culture of course is well known for its depraved acts of violent human sacrifice and it’s war like warriors.

You can’t begin to describe the feeling of enormity that you get when you first trudge over the crest of the mountain and stare headlong down into inner workings of the white mountain. The ancient Zapotecs carved the mountain top flat with no instruments of metal doing so only with tools of wood and stone, also of course a huge labour force of raw human power. To make matters more difficult the Zapotecs considered the geometric circle shape to be sacred and representative of the sun. So henceforth it wasn’t used as a wheel in transportation. Did they even know about the wheel? Yes they did because little toys have been found with wheels on them.

The Zapotecs were very smart with numbers having a calender more accurate than any of its day. It had thirteen months and each month had twenty days in it. The written number systen was also quite ingenious using dots and lines to represent numerical combinations and values. In fact you can read about it on the second last page of one of the latest Awakes.

El Tule – The largest Living Biomass

Our next stop was El Tule to see the singular biggest living biomass of the planet. A tree estimated to be between 2000-3000 years old with a circumference of 58 metres and a height of 48 metres. It truly is one of the wonders of the natural world.

While in Tule we stopped at a Mezcal shop to sample the selection of flavors. All tasted great, flavors included were Coco, Coffee and Piña (Pineapple).

The circuit overseer gave his final public talk this afternoon at 6pm. The talk was entitled “Act Wisley in a Senseless World”. The information was fantastic with an enthusiastic delivery . He continued after the Watchtower study with the talk entitled “Jehovah Empowers the Tired Ones” a talk well recieved and especially needed for the times we live in.

… if you could survive on laughter and good association alone …

Afterward we went out to get some takeaway at the infamous “Gregorios”, a little road side taco stand run by brothers and sisters. We had to wait a while to get food because there already was a mass of brothers including the CO and his wife in the line up ahead of us. We went back to forrests house for dinner and ate our taco takeaways. If you could survive on laughter and good association alone I’d say I would have had a life times supply, because tonight was one of those nights.

The guys were all going to play basketball with other brothers in the congregation at 4pm. I decided to have a rest because I felt like I hadn’t stopped since leaving Puerto Escondido. So I walked into town (the central part of Oaxaca city) to go to the internet shop and also have a look around the city square. Its such a maze of streets that all look the same from almost every angle, I managed to get lost several times walking back to forrest place… having to back track down streets and try another in hope of finding one more familiar. Its a beautiful city and I love the old architecture of the buildings and streets. It has the feeling of history mixed with third world modern age Mexican civilization fermenting beneath its outward skin of stone blocks and busy streets.

I chilled in the afternoon watching DVD’s on forrests laptop computer. The guys got home from the basketball game late in the afternoon. By which time we were ready to eat the rear quarter off the nearest stray Oaxacan dog… and believe me there is plenty of those to be had. So we felt obliged to dine in at a traditional taco restaurant in down town Oaxaca. The food is so cheap and really tastes so good, the quality also is excelent and I haven’t had a bad meal yet.

… she worked selling hand made chocolates …

I met two people who spoke english. One woman was from Western Australia, she was friendly enough but not overly interested. The second woman I met was from North Corolina, she worked selling hand made chocolates from the street market stalls.

… entire northern state of Carolina …

Tonight we were invited for dinner at Brother Larnell and Siter Gail’s house. It was great to have a home cooked meal… and Sister Gail is certainly good at that. I think she cooked for the entire northern state of Carolina. With meatballs, spagetti and garlic bread. I don’t think I’ve laugh so hard either since being here. Sister Gail is SO funny with out trying to be.

Update: I though I might just add into this blog a couple of photos that were taken that night at Brother Larnell and Sister Gails place… unfortunately they were the only two photos taken… I think. There were Brothers and Sisters there that I should have gotten photos of aswell. At least these photos will help you to place where and when they were taken.

… wide range of Mexican dishes to choose from …

We stoppd for lunch at a nice little restaurant with an inner courtyard bathed in tranquil green light from the abundant growth of tropical plants. The restaurant is owned by brothers, and the food was really good with a wide range of Mexican dishes to choose from. I continued on with Brother Dean, one of the local elders in the congregation of Oaxaca. We toured the city on return visits with two of the local sisters in the english congregation.

… saying “good news” phone home to find out …

An SMS had appeared on my phone a day or so ago saying “good news” phone home to find out what it is. Today was the my first opportunity to get down to the internet shop (La Tienda) to make a call. I was hesitant at first… I wasn’t wanting to get my hope up as to what the news might be, but i did have in the back of my mind that it might be about MTS. Happy I was to find out (and kind of relieved in a way) to find out that my application has been accepted to attend MTS!! I floated back to forrests house and told Ashley the “good news” first. WOW!!… I still can’t fathom it yet myself.

The congrgation book study was combined at the hall for the CO’s visit. Afterward he gave a FANTASTIC talk on dealing with, resisting and identifity sin. Also developing a love for righteousness so that sin becomes less of an appeal for us.

… working where the need was great in the Caribbean field …

The CO is a very encouraging speaker with much experience in working in foreign fields. Having spent ten years or so with his family working where the need was great in the Caribbean field. Our focus was to start bibles studies on the first call and arrange to follow up with another visit ASAP. Also to invite them to attend the meeting this coming sunday, which is entitled “Act wisely in a senseless world”

… invited to attend the pioneer meeting …

It was our utmost privilege to be invited to attend the pioneer meeting. The CO had a lot of new points for us straight from the rerelease of the book “Organised to accomplish Jehovah’s will“. In fact there were so many good points that I’m glad I took notes of the whole meeting!

… week of activity with the circuit overseer …

I spent the rest of the morning doing some ironing and relaxing to some music. This week of activity with the circuit overseer should be quite exciting. Tonight is the School & Service meeting and also the first talk from the Circuit Overseer. Oh if your wondering where the rest of the article is… there is no more for today. My shortest yet!!

We spent the day taking our time packing up our gear and sorting out what stuff we could leave behind with a brother here in the local congregation, so that we don’t break our backs lugging it to Oaxaca city.

… he snapped the newly repaired board in half …

Ashley picked up his board from the repairers. It was a fantastic repair job on the nose. So he was super keen to get out in the surf and try it out. The wave was super heavy and messy, anyhow on the second paddle out Ashley went to duck dive a monster set and the worst happened… he snapped the newly repaired board in half. Whats more it snapped in a different place.

… the night passed slower than an week old iguana taco …

We booked a 10pm bus to Oaxaca on first class, it was a horrible trip. The road was so windy and bumpy that the night passed slower than an week old Iguana Taco, I don’t think I got a wink of sleep all the way till the bus pulled into Oaxaca city at 6pm in the morning. Ashley even resorted to sleeping on the floor of the bus… funny thing was he freaked out a man when his hat fell on the floor and Ash handed it back to him!! Haha I would’ve loved to see that mans face.

… drive was in was worth the detour and the photos …

We ate breakfast in the hotel resturante, I had a nice “ensalada de fruta” they are always loaded with all the tropical goodness of Mexico with fruit like banana, papaya, piña (pineapple), cantaloupe and sandia (watermelon). We had a surf spot tip from a sister from the USA that lives in Puerto Angel, she said often surfers go to a waves break called “Aragon”. So we set out in search of the location, it was easy to find with a little local knowledge however if you lacked that you would struggle to even get to the coast because it is very well hidden and not visible from most main roads. The surf was ok but not great… not inspiring enough to paddle out. But the drive was in was worth the detour and the photos of some rugged isolated Mexican coast line.

… chest pressed to the sand lung wrenching hold downs …

We returned back to the same spot that we surfed yesterday afternoon. The surf was cranking out some solid 4-5 foot sets both lefts and rights. It was a little difficult to get out but worth the effort with some classic waves to be had if your wave selection was dial into the right combination. Forrest obviously had the right set of keys and scored himself a couple on nice barrels, on the other hand I scored some massive hits on the head with some chest pressed to the sand lung wrenching hold downs. In actual fact I did score some nice waves… some of my best yet with some video that you will probably never see to prove it.

Lastnight and for lunch today we went to a mexican restuarante called “Alex”, it makes a dish call “Tlyuda”, basically it is an el grande tortilla about the size of a family pizza with toppings of your choice like cheese, ham, sausage (Chorizo) or chicken. They are like what pizza is to Italy, except the Mexican equivalent is much more healthier and tastier… especially with loads of chilli salsa on top.

The Kahuai boys needed to get back to Oaxaca that evening so Ashley and I caught a bus for $25 pesos back to Puerto Escondido. One more day and we are heading back to Oaxaca city ourselves.

… Pueto Escondido just isn’t happening at the minute …

So with some brain storming amongest the brothers from hawaii we decided to try and find some surf down Puerto Angel way. Since the surf at Pueto Escondido just isn’t happening at the minute. So we packed light and travelled south for about 1.5 hours. Forrest knew of an American sister who owns a hotel in Puerto Angel “La Buena Vista” so he phoned ahead and arranged for us to stay there the night (saturday). On arrival we went straight to the accomodation and dropped off our stuff.

The next mission was to find to find some surf. So we drove on southward according to some surf maps printed off the internet. They turned out to be pretty much useless, so instead we drove on in search of surf following our noses. All was good because we got to see alot of the real Mexico that we otherwise wouldn’t have seen. We got to the spot (eventually) that we wanted to surf. It was supposed to be a river mouth break with lefts and rights having the reputation of being the best barrel south side of Puerto Escondido. Anyway it wasn’t working… the river mouth was all blocked up with sand and the waves were just closing out right on shore.

… an El Grande shark fin surfaced right in front …

We turned around reluctately to drive an hour back to Puerto Angel to surf a beachie with a super heavy wave. I got cleaned up by a mega set on the second paddle out and so I was totally zapped of energy and feeling like never wanting to surf a heavy beach break again… give me a point break any day. Forrest and Ashley stayed out a bit longer. However it wasn’t much time till Forrest came in hurriedly saying that he had just seen an El Grande shark fin surface right in front of him while he was paddling out again… scary stuff although I have to admit the water did look a little sharky that day.

“La Buena Vista” is so nice with superb views over looking the port of Puerto Angel. The rooms are nestled back in the green foliage of the surrounding hillside with ample space to spare inside, the bath rooms are pure luxury compared to the standard thus far. All this for half the going rate!! good going I say… it really is to bad that we don’t have more time to spend here. This truly is one of the highlights of the trip so far and it would be an unreal spot for a holiday. Apparently the sister who owns it lives in Santa Barbara and only comes down during the cooler winter months.

… it kept building and building …

We spent the afternoon down at the punta (Puerto Escondido – South end of the beach). It was sort of messy but at the same time good. Initially the swell was small but it kept building and building and it turned into a really good wave… except that they were all left handers.

… with plenty more laughs had by all …

Brother Jorge invited us all for dinner at his house/restuarant, all being Ashley, Forrest, Sam, Casidy and myself. It was a good night and we all had a good laugh learning more spanish and also more about Mexico and it’s culture. Afterward we went back to the hotel and played “Greed” the new dice game we’ve learn’t, with plenty more laughs had by all.

… a teaching of the church and not of the bible …

I met a man in the field today who is american and has lived in Puerto Escondido for the last twelve years, he now works here as a missionary from the Four Squares Christian Faith?. Anyhow we intially talked on general terms eg… Australia and surfing since this was the was one of the reasons he moved to Puerto Escondido in the first place. He however is a staunch Trinitarian, so I tried my best to reason with him… and at the same time I was trying to recall all the points in the latest awake magazine article “Is Jesus Christ God?”. I didn’t get anywhere with him but I did say I would bring back the article so we could discuss some points from it. I raced home and reread that article word for word and scripture for scripture… how could you possibly believe in the trinity? a man made doctrine? a teaching of the church and not of the bible!! Anyway at least my mind is made over.

… also inviting two young sisters …

As a gesture of our appreciation for all the kindness that Brother Jorge and his wife have shown us over the past four weeks we invited them out for dinner at our expense. Brother Jorge however took the liberty of also inviting two young sisters from the local congregation (Margali and Gabriella) to the dinner as well… hmmm he is rather forward about it all and I wasn’t particularly impressed.

Donde esta la Olas?

The surf has been no good the couple of days, not even in the mornings. I don’t know whats up with it, the surf is just like a washing machine with rips and strong currants going in every which direction. There isn’t even a surfable peak to be seen on any stretch of the beach. But that’s ok… I’ve had some time on my hands to do more on the spanish language front.

… stayed up late laughing and joking …

Forrest and his brother Sam and also another brother from hawaii called Casidy arrived late in the afternoon. It was such a joy to just have a few more english voices to listen to… it’s amazing the relief you feel when you can understand entire conversations. We had fun and stayed up late laughing and joking, the guys showed us a new game called “greed” using 6 dices. It’s a great game and moves quickly, the game is totally chance and so you can’t cheat the score.

… so we spent an hour or more in the hotel pool …

In the afternoon we went to Brother Filemons house, Jadiel had invited us to go there at 3pm. We had pollo and mole with rice and hot fresh tortillas. As per usual it went down a treat. Our book study was tonight at 6pm and it went well, we used our smarts this time around and took a taxi there and walked home in the cool. It was such a pleasant evening and for what ever reason the surf was rubbish so we spent an hour or more in the hotel pool. It’s a great place to relax and talk, taking the time to talk about the BIG issues in life. I reckon all meetings especially ones of an important nature should be conducted in pools.

… invited us into the shady inner courtyard …

I had a return visit to make and since we were up that end of town it made sense to go back. Anyhow it turned out that the man was busy so I said I would call back another day. So we decided to call at a house that nobody was home at the last time we were witnessing the area. As it turned out the woman of the house spoke spanish and the husband who we didn’t meet spoke english. The woman brought out the drinks of water with fresh squeezed lime’s for us and invited us into the shady inner courtyard to sit down and talk more.

… using a bible with Jehovah’s name within it’s pages …

Sister Lupita handled the conversation but during which the lady went and got her own bible and it was a New World Translation bible… well used. However she was of another “christian faith”, but at least she is using a bible with Jehovah’s name within it’s pages. Who knows she may read something that cuts to the marrow and causes her to rethink our visit (Hebrews 4:12).

We spent the afternoon as we pleased I’ll spare you the details, except to say that all we did was eat, drink and be merry… Oh we went surfing as well. Also we did as all good boys should do, we called our mums for a chat. Thanks mums for keeping us in the loop and sharing the love on the telephone.

Anyway on the way there we pass by the entrance to the Chez Ines hotel… and Taj Burrows walks out!! I wasn’t sure at first so I give Ashley a whisper…

Justin : “Is that him?”

Ashley : “What?”

Justin : “Taj Burrows” I say in an urgent whisper.

Ashley : “Yeah that’s him” as he walks on trying to look like he doesn’t care.

We sat down in the bakery side of Carmen’s Cafecito while Taj Burrows with some of his mates had a table over in the restuarant side (It’s two places joined, Carmens Bakery and Carmen’s Restuarant… the whole places makes the Cafecito).

I whipped out my camera to have it at the ready, Ashley mutters something about the “Paparazzi” and I pretended I didn’t really hear that comment. I couldn’t summon up the courage to go over to the table and ask for a photo, I was thinking “poor guy he must get hassled all the time“. Ashley left for the internet joint to catch up on his emails while I stayed behind to see if I could get an opportunity to take a photo with him.

I walked out the front passed the restuarant and stood waiting half way between his hotel and the cafe. He came out of the cafe by himself… and I say…

Justin : “Hey Taj. How you doing?”

Taj Burrows : “Yeah good!” in a big friendly smile.

Justin : “My name is Justin. (as i reach out and shake his hand) I’m from Australia, would you mind if I get a photo? My friends back home arn’t going to believe this”

Taj Burrows : “Yeah sure man, where do you want to take one?”

Justin : “Oh anywhere… here is fine” so I snap a couple of shots and ask as I take a photo.

Justin : “Is this your first time to Puerto”

Taj Burrows : “This is my first time to Mexico”

Justin : “Really… yeah me too… it’s a great place isn’t it?”

Taj Burrows : “Yeah it sure is.”

His mates come on out of the cafe and Taj Burrows says to one of them to snap a photo of us. We the walk backtoward the hotel.

Taj Burrows : “So do you Surf?”

Justin : “Yeah… but my board is out of action. I broke two fins out in the surf the other day. It didn’t damage the board but the fins are RedX and are abit hard to get here”

Taj Burrows : “arghh… that’s a shame.”

Justin : “Yeah… there’s a surf factory that apparently shapes with that system here so I’m going to go and get some there hopefully.”

We chatted a bit more about how cheap board repairs are here and what a good job they do in fixing them up. We reached the hotel…

Taj Burrows : “See ya later Justin”

Justin : “Yeah see ya Taj… and thanks for the photos”

Taj Burrows : “No problem”

So I’m glad I made the effort to say G’Day, he’s a super nice dude. And that ends my story of my brush with Australia’s surfing elite.

… Que? Usted es Loco! …

I gathered it had been a long time since Brother Filemon had been to the falls because the road we had taken seemed to be getting worse and worse, it got to a point when the car would go no further due to the steep hills and half a foot of bull dust on the road. So we got out the truck and abandoned vechicle to walk the rest of the distance. “It’s just only a few more kilometres” was the word that was being spoken. So with blind faith we headed off into the Mexican Dessert in search of water… roughly after walking three hundred metres or more up a hill we chanced upon a farmer (farming what? – Dust Cookies?) who looked us up and down as if to say “Que? Usted es Loco!” translated is “What? You is Crazy!” and you can guess the rest of the story. The farmer pointed us back down the road we had just come and said it was a few kilometres back in the opposite direction… we couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Have you ever seen the Chevy Chase movies where he stars as the father of a family called “the Griswalds“? Well I’ve decided that this family is the Mexican equivalent because we are having some great “Gonzales Family” adventures with them.

We made it to the falls, admittedly it wasn’t easy to find, no signage of any sort as I’ve come to expect. It was about a 1.5Km walk into the base of the falls. By which time I was ready to walk in to the water fully clothed. The falls are magnificent, the water is cold and revitalizing. At a guess the falls were about 25-30 metres high and the waters cascaded from from the main pool (a massive area at about 100Mtrs across and 30Mtrs from the shore to the base of the falls) into several smaller pools further down stream. Funny enough the surrounding land is devoid of much vegetation despite the fact that there is a water fall right near by. The ground though is not conducive to retaining much moisture.

… i lost count of of many swims i had …

The Gonzales family cooked up some fish and tomatoes with onions over a wood fire beside the stream. Hmmm it was so good, fish and mole with chilli sauce on tortillas is not a taste I’ll forget any time soon. The whole of the San Pedro congregation were there at the falls. So it was a great atmosphere of fun and relaxation. I lost count of of many swims I had, the best bit was you could swim right up to the base of the water falls and under it to the other side of the falling curtain of water. The el nino’s were good fun too, they had a ball that we tossed and played chassies with for abit. I snapped some great photo’s of the falls using my camera on manual mode to get a time exposure… it took me a few shots to get the effect just right.

I had my quota of sun for the day and was feeling the burn on my back (interestingly the sun is definitely better here because you don’t burn as near as quick). So I retired to a shady over hang of rocks to escape the heat and to think about nada (no that is not a girls name, it means nothing in Spanish). On the drive back we stopped in San Pedro at a brother and sisters place for a chat, They own a road side stall and were super nice, sharing with us some cranberry flavored ice blocks. They must have been in the truth for a number of years because the brother showed us a pile of Atalaya’s dating back to 1985.

I was glad of a shower that night, I was sat up against the rear tailgate for the ride home and consequently was covered in dust. I looked like I had a great tan going but felt crustier than a bread roll. Another memorable day in Mexico, the people and place is like no where I’ve been to before… not to mention the surf. It’s a must see country that is suited to anyone’s budget.

Update: I’ve made a correction to the name of the falls, it is not “Toro” (Spanish for Bull) as I had thought but rather it’s “Chorro” meaning “to gush out” in Spanish. This of course makes more sense… but the pronunciation is very very similar.

… maybe it was her good looks that helped …

As you would expect the program was in spanish, but it’s getting much easier to pick it up… I’m beginning to understand alot more words, in some cases understand sentences and in one instance I even understood an interview with a young sister who spoke very clearly or maybe it was her good looks that helped? Just kidding just kidding… but seriously folks.

The program was attended by a visiting brother and his wife from the Mexican bethel, traveling with him also were two sisters from Michigan USA. They were on two weeks holidays traveling with the bethel brother as he went around the SAD gatherings and conducted some parts on the program. He was a very fluent speaker in both english and spanish, in fact I don’t know which language was his second one? I certainly couldn’t pick it up in his english and he spoke very fast in spanish so he was clearly comfortable with either tongue. He did say that he was born in the USA and raised later in Mexico so by the sounds of things he got a decent amount of exposure to both languages at an early age.

… enormous walls of white water …

It was very hot sitting in the assembly hall, its sides were open to a breeze however the wind was no where to be seen. So when the program ended we were desperate to get in the surf and cool off. We arrived back at our hotel to find that the beach was closed down for swimming and surfing due to very strong and enormous walls of white water. So instead we went for a run up the beach and back straight into the hotel pool. We stayed in the pool for one and a half hours because it took that long to cool down our core body temperature.

A bunch of the young ones in the congregation that we are associating with arranged to get together in town after the SAD. So we met on the Playa Principal strip for some company and eats. Brother Jorge was with us for the evening… he is the only elder in the congregation and he’s alot of fun to have around. I wish that I could speak spanish fluently… I (we) feel like I’m (we’re) missing out on a lot. Its hard not having the freedom of speech/expression that you take for granted, it truly is a gift and I now envy those who are multilingual. “There is nothing like a NEED to create within you a DESIRE to accomplish a SOLUTION”. That’s my profound saying for the day but somehow I think it’s been said before… on the note Adios.

So I got up early in the hope of catching the Australian pro’s blowing up in the olas (waves). Disappointingly they weren’t out, but I still got some nice shots of waves that went both riden and unriden. I did the same again in the afternoon and got some good ones of Ashley surfing aswell as some other guys. Still no sign of the Aussie contingent. Where did they go? I hope they’re in town still. I so want to get a photo of Taj Burrows taming escondido.

In preperation for the upcoming Special Assembly Day on saturday we arranged with the brothers to help out with the clean up of the assembly site.

… a massive site and is well suited in this climate …

The facility we used is called the “Salon los Mangalis” (very roughly translated in to The Mango Hall), is located right in the middle of down town Puerto Escondido, so it’s nice and convenient for most of the brothers to attend. Its a massive site and is well suited in this climate, the hall has no sides on it so thats a plus for the cross flow of air.

The site doesn’t seem to get alot of use and hence it was littered everywhere with with mushy Mangoes and Mango tree leaves. So we spent the majority of the morning raking the dust clean and free of leaves. There are about 1000-1500 brothers expected to attend the gathering. Seating was also one of the jobs for us to do for this morning. So we jumped in a truck and went to a storage facility where the chairs were stored, 500 of them. We loaded/unloaded these and set them out in an orderly fasion, being careful not to create to much leg room for added brotherly warmth. More chairs were to arrive in the afternoon, adding 800 more to the total seating capacity.

… us marvins were starving …

The work had mostly finished by 1pm at least untill the extra chairs arrived. So we walked through down town Puerto Escondido toward the Playa Principal area. Us marvins were starving and so we stopped by a little cafe that we had eaten at before, run by some German folk. Being a beautiful but really hot summers day it was all to easy to keep sat in that cafe drinking fresca’s (Soft drinks) playing a few rounds of checkers and chess. It’s a cool (figuratively and literally) little place that comes highly recommended by the LPG and us aswell.

By the time we got home our energies were zapped so we did us the locals do and had a siesta till half past five in the afternoon. Before the siesta, I stopped by a surf shop to enquire about some RedX surfboard fins, they didn’t have any fins but shop owner directed me to a house in the neighbourhood, the funny thing was I knew exactly where the house was that the surf shop owner was describing because I had only just been there the day before witnessing!

… hey wouldn’t it be cool if Taj was in the surf …

We were still wondering from the night before if it really was Taj Burrows that Ashley had seen going in to a restuarant on the Zicatella strip. So in the back of our minds as we hit the surf in the afternoon was “hey wouldn’t it be cool if Taj was in the surf”. We weren’t disappointed, he was out with a posse of Australian pro’s like as mentioned already Jake Patterson and Luke Hitchings. Apparently they’re here doing a photo shoot for a surfing magazine and are staying in town for ten days or so. I guess we should have been tipped of by the camera men on the beach with their gigantic Canon zoom lenses (600mm fixed).

… boosting out of a wave with so much sheer speed …

Anyway on the paddle out I looked across to see one of these guys boosting out of a wave with so much sheer speed it was like he had just been towed in by jetski, it’s beyond me how they generate so much momentum so easliy but then I guess that’s why they’re the professionals. I don’t know what sort of move he was going for but came down spinning like gyroscope. He didn’t stick the landing but it still looked good.

I will keep you posted on any further sightings and details.

… from Switzerland and she spoke five languages …

However little did I know that Brother Filemon’s idea of english speaking people includes Italians and Germans who don’t speak a word of English! Even so I had a reasonable morning in which i met two english speaking people. One of the girls I spoke to was from Switzerland and she spoke five languages!! French, German, English, Spanish and some other language that I didn’t catch. She spoke the first three languages fluently… amazing huh?

A Surfing News Flash

Please follow this link to read this part of the story. I’ve separated this part of the post out so that I could make it a public news item.

The School and Service meeting was tonight as it had been switched because of the special assembly this weekend on saturday. After the meeting we were invited by Brother Jorge for pizza, we went back to his pollo (pronounced – “Pohl – Yoh”) restuarante/casa and ordered a massive Hawaiian pizza. I couldn’t resist the urge to dowse mine in chili sauce because it tasted so good and goes with everything.

… i sat there absolutely enthralled with the whole tortilla making process …

It’s not uncommon for people to invite you in to sit down (they bring out the chairs) and talk with them about the bible. As was the case this morning, we sat down at two houses and were there for about thirty minutes. They all seemed interested in the “odd” one momentarily (me) that is untill they find out he doesn’t speak mucho spanish. Oh well I don’t mind providing a bit of amusement at my personal expense. At one place we went too the woman was making tortillas whilst the brother preached to her, I sat there absolutely enthralled with the whole tortilla making process. First they take the corn (when old and dryed out) and grind it in to a powder. Then it’s mixed with water and made in to a dough, then small amounts are are rolled into a ball and placed into a tortilla press. The press flattens out the mixture into a flat circle. The pancake like tortilla is place on a hot plate specifically designed for cooking them. The hot plate is shaped like the top of a steal drum (the musical instrument) with a fire built underneath. It’s made out of a terracotta like clay material, they must crack after a while because I’ve seen a few broken ones in the rubbish heaps around the place.

We did a bit of relaxing this afternoon, beside going to the lavanderia and hitting the internet joint to catch up on the news we didn’t do a whole lot.

… clothes stick to you like glad wrap …

The book study was at 6pm and it’s not far from where we are staying so it seems a waste to spend money on a taxi, so we walk to it. But I’m beginning to think a taxi might be a wise move because the humidity make you sweat so much that your clothes stick to you like glad wrap… not a good look. It was still daylight after the group so I was busting to get wetter in the surf since I didn’t get one earlier in the day.

… the board came back around in the wave …

So I grabbed my board and paddled out into the line up. On the way out a wipe out set came through at the most inopportune time while I stuck on the sand bar in waist deep water, the set crashed on my head while i was trying to duck dive it and ripped the board clean out of my hands. The board came back around in the wave and collected my upper leg with two of the fins. Those two fins ripped out leaving me with two fin cuts and only a solo fin in the board. The cuts didn’t really bother me… I was just ripped off that I didn’t get some wave time in… the surf was epic.

So my surf was cut short (pun not intended but amusing none the less) so Ash and I hit the streets for some eats at around 8pm. On the way back from dinner Ashley reckoned he saw Taj Burrows (one of australia’s or arguably one of the world’s best surfers) going into the same restuarant that we had just eaten in not more than an hour ago with about six other guys. Could it really be him? Nah what are the chances?