Los Poldens: Debbie & Pat in Pearl Lagoon

Debbie & Pat - Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua

How do you describe a place like Pearl Lagoon? It is like taking a step backwards in time. There are only a few paved roads, but that's ok because there are hardly any cars - you mostly use well used pathways all over town. Rather than all houses being on a "main" road, you will find houses tucked in behind other houses that you reach by yet another pathway. English is the language of choice here, but you will find it different than that spoken in the US or Canada. It is English Creole. You will also hear a lot of Spanish spoken here too with a little bit of Misquito thrown in for good measure.

new shoes

Service here is door to door English and since there is no Spanish congregation they carry Spanish literature as well as Misquito. They also have a boat so that they can reach small communities that are on the various little rivers that feed into the lagoon. Did I mention that it rains a lot? Well, it sure does. Right now is the "dry" season but it rained everyday that we were there. Did I mention that the "roads" and "pathways" were a killer on shoes? I took two pairs of shoes that should have been sufficient for the time we were there. However, both pairs broke - 1 pair can be fixed but the other pair had to be tossed. No worries though - I bought a new pair of shoes that is more suitable to the situation. Due to the rain the pathways of often muddy and you need to use caution where you walk - not just because of the mud but also because the cows and horses wander about town freely..... People love to talk about the bible. At one door a young girl came out to see what we wanted. She said that they had just got up and weren't able to come out and talk - please stop by again. As we passed by the house on the way home the girl's mother came to the fence and apologized that they hadn't been able to come and speak to us that morning and to please come back another time because they "love" to discuss the bible. When has that ever happened to us before? Never!

cow with Kingdom Hall in the background

I was happy to find out that they do have electricity and running water at most times. We did experience times without both (not at the same time) It is an inconvenience but you just learn to cope. A lot of the houses here are of wood construction and many are built on stilts. There are no large stores for shopping here - only small, family owned stores. You may have to visit quite a few to find the things that you want. Most people buy what they want each day since electricity can be an issue and your fridge may not always be working.

Here are a few pictures from the week.

Pat "street" witnessing while we wait under a tree for the rain to stop.

sisters waiting for the rain to stop

a dog nursing a cat

two types of housing in Pearl Lagoon

fishermen at Pearl Lagoon, Nicaragua

Mesenjero III - the boat used for witnessing (white with canopy)

A lot of maintenance is required in keeping the boat in good running order. It frequently needs to be bailed out after it rains. The sides also need to be scraped down in order to remove all of the algae. The brothers also removed the canopy so that the frame could be fixed.