Post 25 Sixth August celebrations & a piranha picnic day

We lived in St Peter Street, so on his birthday there were special celebrations to mark the event, as there always were for every saint of the Catholic Church calendar. In each case, the appropriate image was taken from the church and paraded around the streets.  

On the eve of St Peter's day, his image was carried shoulder-high to the end of the street and into an native hut where a crowd passed the night with it. In the darkness of the night these processions looked quite weird as the image, lit up with candles, bobbed and rocked in its seat.  

In front of the image, young native women danced barefoot to the band of whistles and drums, while immediately next to them young girls burned incense and blew the fumes towards it. A big crowd brought up the rear, hoping to be part of the drunken feast that went on through the night, and ended up with drunken fights right through St Peter's Day. 

At such times we were looked upon as the scum of the earth. However, at our meeting that night and at our Saturday night open-air meeting, we had the opportunity to speak about the folly of religion without a change of heart that only the living Christ could give.  

We were now into the beginning of July which was to complete for us one year in the Beni, and the same noisy drums and bands that disturbed us so much at first were still going, making a complete year of drinking and feasting.  

On the other hand, during the year the Lord had enabled us to see some decisions for Christ, and a steady, regular group who continued to attend the meetings in spite of the fanatics and their spies. For this, we thanked the Lord and took courage.

A trip to San Ramon

For just a few months of the year it was possible to make the 15 mile trip to San Ramon by pushbike once the countryside had dried up after the floods of the wet season. Simon Hany, a friendly Arab who lived with his Bolivian wife and family in San Joaquin, wanted a companion for the journey and Jim was happy to have the opportunity to get to know the track.  

The road proved hard and difficult to negotiate because of the sand and deep ruts. They had to wade through a few swamps and creeks, and where the going was too hard for the bikes they walked for a couple of hours.  

In one stretch, Simon decided it was easier to carry the bike on his shoulder than push it over the rough ground. It was only a short stay in San Ramon, but the few meetings helped the believers there and a night open-air meeting on the corner of the plaza, assisted by the believers and the Sunday School children, attracted a good crowd to hear the Gospel message. Travelling back on his own to San Joaquin, Jim was "bushed" for almost two hours because he tried to follow a new track and avoid some of the rough-going, but eventually he arrived home! 

Sixth of August - San Joaquin birthday feast

During August the birthday feast of San Joaquin came around again, and as before, it was a terrible time of drunkenness when tins and tins of raw alcohol were consumed. 

The din from the many drums and whistles, the shouts of drunken men and women, the intermittent revolver shots from merry cowboys, the natives dancing in the streets, the incessant ringing of the church bells, and the constant playing of the brass band day and night, gave an impression of what hell must be like. 

However, as we looked back over the year there was now a difference. The first day of the feast, with a small group of believers, we went for a picnic to the far side of the River Machupo where we had a time of singing and studying the Word of God.  

Piranha for lunch

Then the menfolk went fishing in the river and within a few minutes they caught enough fish for lunch. The fish were the man-eating palometa or piranha, small like a bream but with very sharp teeth that could take a piece of flesh out of a person in one bite.  

With a hook attached to a piece of fencing wire which in turn was attached to about a yard of string or cord hanging from a bamboo rod. The fish were caught using a piece of fresh beef for bait. The fish had a decidedly muddy taste and was not very palatable.  As we sat down to lunch, the meat the folk grilled on wooden skewers became covered with hundreds of blowflies which had flown across from a dead alligator about 50 yards away.  

During lunch everyone's attention was drawn to the peculiar squawking of a frog in a bush a few yards away. It was a sound we had learned to recognise -- a large snake had caught a frog, but by the time the snake was killed, the "bulge" was already some 6" behind its head!

The group spent a happy day together, and Lucille enjoyed her first picnic although the temperature was around 100°F. She spent a good part of the day in a basket covered with a mosquito net, while I kept a watchful eye open for "bichos" -- a useful word that covered any pest from jaguars, alligators, right down to ants and mosquitoes.

About a week later, Jim went on his pushbike to San Ramon to help the believers during the feast of their town, where there was the same fanaticism and temptation.

Editor's note:

Notice how they were watching for the Lord to be at work in that dark place, took courage and pressed on. The picnic with believers, the fellowship is such a contrast with the drunken fights in the town…with their baby right alongside in a basket!