Today we had our day off where we went to the market and beach. It started off raining and so we weren’t sure how the weather would turn out but it changed quickly and by the afternoon it was sunny, cloudless skies.
The market was an experience of its own. Mario said before we went in to make sure we bartered, otherwise we would be paying more than we should. We were to start with half the asking price and then work our way up. Before we even crossed the street people were upon us trying to sell their wares. A quick firm shake of the head and they are off to the next person. Within in the market everyone has a stall and tried to convince us to enter and browse their selection. At the beginning they would say $1 for everything but once you walk away the first time, the price goes up. It seemed most stalls sold the same thing but sometimes you would come across something new, like the model ship made out of cow hooves; everything is reusable in this country.
When we were done with the market, Mario took us through the oldest part of city. It resembled Spain and felt like walking down the streets of Europe. We then went on a tour of the oldest cathedral of the Americas, build in 1581. We were given English audio recorder so that we could walk around and listen to the history of the building. It was amazing to see such an old building and learn about it, not something we would normally do on our own.
After lunch we headed to the beach. After finding a shady spot, which cost us about 700 pesos, we settled in for a few hours. Derrick and Peter had a wonderful experience with a local man on the beach and were able to pray for him. He was very receptive to it and it was an amazing thing to see.
Today was our last day with Jhann (we pronounced his name as ‘John’), our translator and driver. He was only doing this in the interim while Nathan, our original translator and driver, was out of the country on business. It was incredible being able to talk and work with him these past few days and we will be sad to say goodbye.
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