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February 01, 2005

Priestly Affair

After another two days of hard travel we drove Philip back to his home and said our goodbyes. We were gonna miss Philip, but he had business to attend to and two wives to calm down. We holed up in Narus for two days. Godfrey siphoned the diesel from the 220-liter drum by sucking on a hose until the gas filtered down. It took him about 15 failed attempts and mouthfuls of diesel before it finally flowed down. I wanted to heave just watching him do it. We stayed at a Catholic mission and there were some Argentinean priests just arriving from Boma, our next destination. The priests were all very kind hearted and more than willing to tell us everything about the road to Boma. As we ate it was funny to hear them address each other as, “Father”. “Father could you pass the rice”
“Certainly Father.” Came the reply. Some things just hit you as comedy and this was one of them. The priest also drank beer like they were in a pub rather than a convent. The nuns at the table would glare at them, and upon feeling the judging eyes of the sisters one of the husky priests responded, “Don’t look at me that way.” One of the nuns rebuffed her eyes and retorted, “What way? I wasn’t saying anything.” This too was like dinner theater and I had to duck my head into my chest to hide my grins. Godfrey and Will had wide smiles that told me we would all be laughing about this long after dinner was done. The priests were hard working and would take no judgment upon themselves from others for drinking beer. Looking at the situation it seem to cause friction in, a convent of all places, and it probably would have been best if they didn’t drink at the table. Offend no one if possible would have been a better creed. But we enjoyed the priests and the nuns, and upon leaving we looked forward to seeing them upon our return.

Posted by Admin at February 1, 2005 04:19 PM