I'm writing from La Ceiba, Honduras, where it has been raining constantly for the past day. But I'm not shivering, like folks back in Indiana. We heard there was a hurricane watch in effect yesterday, but I don't think it'll amount to anything. Though I'd love to experience a hurricane. I think. Maybe not.
Three wifi networks show up here at the Gran Paris Hotel--the hotel system, the Pizza Hut wifi from next door, and one simply called "dlink" from an anonymous neighboring business. Dlink is the only one that really works. So I'm sitting in a vacant corner room of this hotel, where I can pick up the signal. Last night, I sat outside this room, on the floor, posting somewhere around 1 a.m. Maybe I coulda just walked on into the room for an extra strong signal.
I'm here for the international gathering of United Brethren from probably 14 countries. It's called General Conference. This is the first time it's ever been hosted outside of the United States (except for one General Conference long ago held in Canada, but Canada doesn't count). The Hondurans are very excited about this opportunity. It's their "coming out" event, just as the Olympics were for the Chinese.
This morning, as we all stood in the lobby downstairs getting ready to head out for breakfast, vertigo hit me very, very fast. I had about a second or two of warning, and "Wham!" The landscape started scrolling, and I had no control. I toppled over backwards, hitting the floor with what people said was a horrible thud. I bruised my tailbone, and think I may have gotten some whiplash as my head whipped and hit the floor. When I opened my eyes, everyone was standing above me looking down. Thought I'd gone to see Jesus, probably.
Even laying on the floor, I felt like I was still upright. Though my keen mind told me, "Hmmm, it feels cool. You must be laying on the floor. So just relax." After a minute or so, I got up--wobbly, but somewhat functional.
We headed out for breakfast and a service at a beautiful retreat center up in the hills, lush with tropical vegetation. Just gorgeous. I kept waiting for vertigo to hit again, but it didn't. But it's not over. And I'll be here until Thursday.
So I'll keep taking photos (took 150 this morning), writing stuff, posting stuff with my somewhat reliable internet connection, and having a good time--while also holding onto stuff, in case vertigo should make another surprise visit.
I suspect my back and neck will be hurting a lot in the morning. I'm already feeling some soreness in new places. Don't have a bump on my head, even though my head hit the tile floor real hard. Whatever. I'm having fun, albeit through a haze.
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
Sometimes Viagra hits me that way, especially once
when I took antibiotics for stomach problems I had
while in Honduras. It went away when the effects of
the medicines wore off.