Culural Submersion

I swam in the river.

It was Carnival this week. 4 straight days of paint, mud, and waterballoons. Red, Green, Purple, Brown, Yellow. Everyone on the streets was covered in paint. We were ambushed with waterballoons if we were lucky. More commonly we were splashed with buckets of green and brown puddle water. And finally, we wrestled in the mud.

And thats how I ended up jumping into that polluted river.

Ive always enjoyed swimming in prestine waters from NH to Colorado, Australia and Hawaii too. But this river experience was special. There was something spiritual about jumping into that brown river with muck to my knees. I was with my new friends- all teenage dudes from the community. We were in it all together- The trash, the mosquitos, and the pollution are the reality here. But that doesnt stop anyone from enjoying God´s creation, no matter how abused by man.