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At lunch today we got a local dish...which we didn´t know for sure what it really was when we ordered it....when a kid riding a bike delivered a Domino´s pizza to our cooks!!!  I asked if I could get a piece of pizza....the cooks shook their heads no...it was for them!    I am not sure where that pizza came from as the only chains we have seen since we left home is one Burger King and  one Pizza Hut and they were far from here!

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Rio Dulce Farm Report:  the rich river basin here is being put to good use.  We passed miles of fields of pineapple, bananas, palm oil trees and sugar cane...and since ¨dulce¨means sugar, the river´s name is perfect.

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So many women here still live as they have for many years:  cooking tortillas outside on home built, wood burning stoves and scrubbing their clothes on big stones in the river where pigs & sheep also wade.  Nursing in public is a given...even with toddlers who help themselves by pulling their Mom´s shirt down & helping get the breast out.  Most women here are modestly dessed with decorated, lacy loose tops over spagetti strap shirts.  I asked where I could buy one...and the lady laughed and said that they make them at home. 

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We got up early and took a tuk tuk to the bus station to buy a ticket to Rio Dulce leaving at 10...all which were recommended by our hotel owner.  We sat in the bus office playing cards as the ticket guy came by to check on us often.  Around9:58, the ticket man came rushing in yelling ¨Vamanos!¨....let´s go.  He had us get into his car while another guy moved motorcycles out of the way....off we flew racing through town, getting yelled at by police and perplexed as usual.  About 10 minutes later, he stopped at a bus stop, then took our ticket and motioned for us to get on the approaching bus.  Why did he wait until the last minute?  Why did he have to drive us there in his own car?  Why did he give us tickets only to take them away before we got on the bus?  We will never know but it was a very comfortable ride, air conditioned & plush seats and it took us to our destination, Rio Dulce.  On the 3 hour drive, we passed many herds of cows & horses, some being rounded up by cowboys.  Fence post are straight branches stuck in the ground close together sprouting new growth or already growing into a tree.  Corn was planted on several hillsides so steep no tractor could have done it.  The cars we see are quite nice & clean.  Almost every home has one thing in common...clothes drying.  Anything horizontal is fair game to hang them on...even barbed wire fences.  Besides nicer & neater than Belize...we also noticed another big difference.  Few people were sitting around or lying in hammocks....they were working.  Rio Dulce is a safe port city as it is on a navigable lake flowing into a big river that leads into the Caribean Sea.  During a hurricane, it is considered the safest place for ships.  Many yachts are docked here and we have seen many people in town stocking up on supplies & enjoying time on the land.  It was HOT in town so we crammed into a mini van....they call them ¨collectivos¨...which is so appropriate since they keep collecting people and won´t move until they are completely full...atleast 16!  We headed out of town to a small village, San Felipe, in hopes of finding a hotel room.  Success!  With a cool pool too....and best of all, with a computer with no time limits....which was truly a God send as we had been waiting for news from Bekah about a recent xray.  We got her good news email just before we went to bed....and that made us sleep much better.  Day 2 in Rio Dolce, we caught a ride in a mini van along with 21 others, switched to another in town, which took us to our next adventure--just a 1 km walk at Finca Paraiso and we were at a roaring hot springs waterfall.  The pool under it was warm and sparkling clear.  Our kids will recall the glorious feeling you get from swimming in such an awesome spot!  Hot springs bubbled up in several spots down stream and we stood on the hot stones and soaked in the water for serveral hours.  A few people joined us and two of them followed a local boy & climbed the steep cliff and jumped about 12´into the pool below.  (Jake...can you imagine anyone doing such a crazy thing?)  I visited with a New Zealand lady while drying out.  She asked me how long I had been married...her response was ¨F....ing Crazy!  I have never met anyone I could be around that long!¨ I had never gotten that response before.   Finally, our hunger won out and we left reluctantly.