It was an interesting experience. I met some really sweet people. Who obviously were amazingly blessed by the families of that little church in Playa. It was so gratifying to watch how the members of the group I was traveling with interacted with the Latinos.
I made a list of some of the things it occured to me that I should be consciously thankful for. Most are daily conveniences we take for granted, never giving thought to what a major luxury these items are for most of the other people on the planet.
Right up there at the top is potable water. You turn on the tap to wash your hands, get a drink, brush your teeth, add water to meal preparation, wash dishes after you eat. They can't drink the liquid that comes from their faucets, if they are fortunate enough to have running water in their homes. Trucks with big tanks on the back come through the neighborhoods selling potable water, that is pumped into storage tanks on the tops of most homes, to be accessed through gravity feed into their homes for drinking and cooking. When you see people trying to be careful with food preparation, but having to wash the bowl, knife, cutting board from water that comes out of a garden hose, it is a scary proposition to think: I'm going to be eating what they are serving.
In addition to the tank trucks that cruise the neighborhood offering to sell safe drinking water, there are also trucks that roam the streets with loud speakers on top announcing the arrival of tanks of propane gas. If your propane tank runs out and you are in the middle of cooking your recently-neck-wrung chicken, then what do you do? Throw it out? Terribly wasteful in a subsistence society. Serve it half-done??? Runny chicken, anyone? Ick. I think they do a lot of their cooking outdoors - think of how hot it would be if you were cooking on a gas grill inside your house (and you have ceiling fans and a thermostat you can adjust!). So add the complicating facts of insects, falling leaves, dusty streets, kids running around everywhere.
If they don't live in those planned communities with each family alloted the square footage of the average carport, they are living in walled compounds. Do you feel safe in your house? No burgular bars here. No ten foot high concrete block walls, topped with concertina wire or broken glass to deter intruders. Just hoping to remember to flip the locks on all the exterior doors every night, most of which have glass panes.
Lots more, but just an over all feeling of thankfulness for the USA, Constitution, and public safety, and military that keeps me safe
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