Early this morning some friends from church came out to visit us, pray with us, show us some love and support. Then we (Troy, Tara and Ike) hitched a ride in with them and went into Port to pick up the broken down truck. (That was supposedly all fixed.) We needed to get it back for a small team that Jason and Rhonda have coming tomorrow.
We planned to be in Port for about two hours tops between getting the truck and a few groceries. We needed to get home, there are all sorts of things to take care of here right now.
Wrong.
We were in Port almost 6 hours. Why? Because there is no such thing as being in a hurry in this country. We met with Eddie and that basically means your plans are out the window. If you say you are in a hurry, he will sit down and order some food and put his feet up on a stool.
He takes about ten minutes to say what could be said in 30 seconds. It is maddening. Yes, yes, I know it is cultural, but lets just say I am not appreciating that part of the culture.
Then, while Troy was arguing about the price for the truck repair the truck blew some hose and black smoke started pouring out of the hood. The price went down right about that time. :-(
So, we had to take it over to the "shop" which was a yard with a bunch of cars and an old house. We had to sit in the yard of this auto shop and wait ... and wait and wait and wait. After about 90 minutes Isaac said "Mom, you forgot to bring me some toys."
(Above, Troy negotiating for the truck to be finished before 2008, below Isaac and I in the waiting room of the repair shop.)
After the inconceivable wait in the hot sun, we ran to get groceries as fast as we could and headed home. That is all we accomplished while in Port.
I was so annoyed with the whole day that I justified buying a gallon of vanilla ice cream for the bargain price of $12.19. Lisa, you said anytime we wanted to buy something foolish and over-priced to just say that you covered it. So, thanks for the ice cream. You're the best.
More later.
Tara
