Author Archives: Virginia McGuire

Off We Go – Monday, April 18 – Wednesday, April 20, 2016

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Monday began bright and early for us.  Well, early anyway. We were up at 4:00 a.m Eastern Daylight Time, to prepare to head for the airport. Allan, our oldest son, was the the one who so kindly and patiently got up so early to pick us up at 5:30 to make the trip to South Bend airport to meet the shuttle bus.  We left South Bend at 6:30 EDT and headed to Chicago.

Arrived Chicago – 8:30 a.m. (9:30 EDT )Atlanta Airport
Departed Chicago – 12:45 p.m. (1:45 EDT)

They don’t serve food on internal flights, but I had packed a lunch and Allan’s family sent some yummy cookies for us to enjoy as we traveled so we did not have to purchase food.

Arrived Atlanta – 3:45 p.m. EDT

Departed Atlanta – 8:20 p.m. EDT
Arrived Johannesburg – Tuesday,  April 19, 5:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. EDT)

Atlanta's Hometown Airlines. This is the plane we flew from Atlanta to Johannesburg, non-stop.

Atlanta’s Hometown Airlines. This is the plane we flew from Atlanta to Johannesburg, non-stop.

Apparently, another flight had arrived near the same time as ours and the lines through customs were l-o-n-g.  We did not have to open our suitcases or answer questions or fill out forms, which was really nice.  Just show our passports and be welcomed into the country. Even without all the ‘red tape’, we spent about 1-1/2 hours going through customs because of the long lines.

We were grateful that although our trip was very long, it was uneventful. No delays, no missed flights, no unwanted excitement of any kind.

After a night’s rest at the TWR offices near Johannesburg, we were up early Wednesday morning and attended staff meeting and then left for the airport to catch a shuttle bus to Manzini, Swaziland.

The offices in Johannesburg have an attached lodge with several bedrooms for guests. It has a shared lounge area and kitchen and is a quite comfortable arrangement. Breakfast foods are provided and a few

snacks. We did sleep, but were still quite tired from the travel. It takes a few days to ‘catch up’ after a trip like that.

We caught the 9:30 a.m. ( 1:30 a.m. EDT, Wednesday) shuttle bus to Manzini, Swaziland. We traveled about 80 mph the whole way. Some roads were good, some not so good.  None were better than an ordinary 4 lane road and some were 2 lane.  The driver seemed careful and familiar with the road. He knew where the pot-holes were and slowed down or missed them.  We had a 5 minute stop at a rest area that had a ‘loo with a view’ (loo = restrooms).  The restrooms look out over a watering hole where one can see buffalo, hippos and various buck. It is a fun place to stop, but nicer if there is more time.

View from the 'loo' at ALZU! (View while standing in the men's room!)

View from the ‘loo’ at ALZU! (View while standing in the men’s room!)

Passing through the South African border and then the Swaziland border was fairly quick and uneventful. We finally arrived in Manzini,  Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 (8:00 a.m. EDT, Wed.)

We are now unpacked and staying in the home of a missionary who is on leave for a few months. After a trip like that it was so nice to be able to exercise and relax a bit.

The TWR families prepared our evening meal for the first three days. What a blessing to become re-acquainted with them and enjoy their good food while we adjusted back to Swaziland.

Catching up

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It has been a little difficult to keep this up to date on a daily basis.  The internet is slow and there are other things to do.  But maybe you won’t get bored with fewer entries!

Sunday, April 28, we attended EBC, the church we attended while we were living here.  We were happy to see many familiar faces.  There have been changes as there always is over time.  It brought back lots of memories.  Memories of  bringing our children there, memories of people who have gone to be with the Lord, and so many other memories.  It was amusing, when one of the men welcomed us that he said, “Larry McGuire left us as a young man and returned to us a mature man.”  Ha ha!! I said that’s a nice way to call us old!

After church we had dinner with the Stavropoulouses, and then spent the afternoon recuperating from the trip and time changes  and settling in.

Monday, April 29, I, Virginia, attended a prayer meeting in the morning and then went to town with a friend.  We are living out of town and pretty isolated.  I have not gotten the courage to drive someone else’s car on the left side of the road on unfamiliar streets,  lots of one way streets,  lots of traffic, etc.  So I am dependent on others to take me around.  The prices of food seems about the same as the States with fruits and vegetables a little cheaper.

The Schillers -- Klaus, Katja and family

The Schillers — Klaus, Katja and family

Tuesday was laundry day and another trip to town.  On Wednesday evening, we had dinner with some TWR people and had grilled warthog.  It didn’t taste like pig at all.  I liked it.

Pap (corn meal) and Warthog

Pap (corn meal) and Warthog

Warthog and Boerewors

Warthog and Boerewors

April 24 – 28

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We had a good trip, but it was very long… We left our house at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and arrived in Johannesburg at 9:15 p.m. on Thursday (3:15pm Indiana Time) We spent the night with our friends the Burnetts in a little apartment connected to their home. The next morning after breakfast we drove to the African Regional Offices in Johannesburg and had meetings. We left there around 1:30 in the afternoon to drive to Swaziland. It was interesting to just get into a strange car, drive on the wrong side of the road on unfamiliar roads, but we made it! We stopped at a place called Alzu for a break. We bought an iced mocha and the people who waited on us were a bit surprised that we wanted something icy. After all it is winter and cold, around 65 to 70 degrees!

I forgot to mention that the car, besides having everything turned around on the ‘wrong side’, has an anti-hijack button (that is so the car will be more difficult to steal). It is a hidden button that has to be pushed after the car is going, or the car will just stop running after about a minute whenever the car is started or a door has been opened.  The hard part is finding the hidden button and then remembering to push it. Fortunately, it gives a warning before it shuts down the car! Because everything is turned around, Larry was turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal all the time. Then I was supposed to navigate and was totally confused which was left and right!! But we made it!

Back to our stop at Alzu. We saw some Cape Buffalo, zebra, and rhino, ostrich and eland. It was a fun stop, but a very busy one. School holidays in various places this time of year.

Well, we didn’t get lost, didn’t drive on the wrong side of the road, didn’t break the 75mph speed limit (the speed even on 2 lane roads. Actually went quite a bit slower), or have any unplanned or unwanted incidents. However, when we arrived at the boarder between South Africa and Swaziland, it was busy!!! We had a long queue (line) at the South African border, but elbowed our way through to a shorter line and got through in good time. Then there was the Swazi border!!  Parking was hard to find, but we waited for someone to back out and got a spot! The queue there was out the door and down the road about 100 ft. Then it wound around inside, but it was much better organized than the South African side. When we left, we had to wait for a break in the waiting vehicles behind us. So after about an hour at the borders we were on our way! It was dark by the time we got through so traveled the rest of the way in the dark. We were actually about 2 hours later than planned and were glad to eat and find a bed to sleep on.

Saturday, we slept until about 9:00am, but we did wake up around 3:00am and couldn’t sleep for awhile, so really didn’t sleep that well. We went to town with Steve and Lorraine Stavropoulos and did a little sight seeing and shopping. We saw the new mall in Manzini and bought fish and chips for lunch there. They were the good greasy fish and chips we remembered. We even got a grape pop/soda to drink.

These are the keys needed to move about the house

These are the keys needed just to move about the house. The larger remote has four buttons — to open the vehicle gate by the road, to open and close the garage door, to set the alarm, and a panic button. The latter works, but we’re not telling how we know!

In the afternoon we rested and tried to find places for our things. The house we are staying in has 4 bedrooms and a study, a beautiful fireplace, a laundry room, two complete bathrooms, nice kitchen, dining area, and living room. Also a screened in porch and a garage with an automatic door opener. It takes a device to turn off the alarm and 2 keys to get in the house. If we are driving, we have to push the button to open the big gate as well. Then there is the gate that has to be opened to go down the hall.. At first, I thought I might not go anywhere and hope that no one came to visit, because I might not be able to get out or in, but I think I am getting the hang of it now. Would have loved to have such a big house when we had 5 kids!

Today, Sunday, we went to the church we used to attend when we lived here. It was so nice to see old friends. The memories made me a little teary eyed. Such a warm welcome. We also met the new missionaries who arrived just this week and who Larry will be training. It was nice to see them there. We had a wonderful time singing. No congregation can harmonize and sing like those in Africa. Could actually hear the voices lifted in praise and hear the harmony!! Beautiful!

After church we had lunch with the Stavropouloses and sat and talked about old times and present. Was very enjoyable. Now that we have our computers hooked up and running, we can answer some emails.

We still get very tired at odd times, but today was better. The main problem this time was that the telephone that Larry has was programmed to receive messages of things happening in the office and site and it went of two times last night and it woke us up. We will turn it off tonight.

Tomorrow Larry goes to the site. I am not sure what I will be doing, but I know that when the new couple moves in, I will probably help them. Right now with the low staff, things are a bit slow, but know that God will provide plenty of opportunity for me to keep busy, help and encourage. He always opens doors if we keep our eyes on Him.

14 Nov 2010 Sunday

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'Freewinds' was in port when we went to church. It is not as well received as most cruise ships and the vendors do not set up for it.

It was very rainy this morning. We were waken by thunder and pouring rain about 5am and it continued through much of the morning. I wondered how many people would be at church since quite a few walk. The people who live on their boat did not venture in. When the weather is uncertain, they need to stay with their boat and be ready To See why, Click on Freewinds to learn to do whatever to keep it and themselves safe. They may have had to be away from land because of the rough surf.

Pretty Plant at Captain Don's Habitat -- were still trying to find out what it is.

There was a good attendance in spite of the rain. The rain on the tin roof made hearing a little more difficult, but Pastor Baron continued with his sermon from Revelation 2:18-29.

Coconut Palm at Captain Don's Habitat

I had an interesting conversation with a visitor to the church. She told me that she had been on a mission trip to China. Apparently, in the past she has made these trips and taught English. On one trip, she had been talking to a Chinese man and wondered at his good grasp of English. He told her that he had learned English by listening to TWR. TWR has programs where scripture is read and taught with very slow

Dinner with Amado and Sue Felix

and careful speech, with the purpose of teaching English along with the scripture. Our conversation was interrupted so I did not find out if the man had become a believer from the broadcast but we do know that God’s Word was planted.

Large iquana under the table next to ours

We had a great lunch and fellowship with friends Amado and Sue Felix at the Rum Runners Restaurant located at Captain Don’s Habitat. Many fond memories from 40 years ago were part of our conversation. The waves were high again today and the splashing went well above our heads.

Dona Luisa I at North Pier

Fortunately the splashing just missed reaching our table. The eating level just beyond and below us was closed. Also while eating, there were several iguanas roaming around looking for handouts. We counted almost a dozen of various sizes as we left.

Don Andreas I ready to load (Dona Luisa I at right)

On our way home, we saw Dona Luisa I loaded and ready to leave for Curacao tomorrow. It can hold up to thirty 30 foot containers on trailers. The Aggreko generator sets from the site made up some of the cargo.

Baseball is Bonaire's most popular sport, not soccer.

We also saw Dona Luisa I‘s older and smaller ‘sister’, Don Andreas I, empty and ready to load at the dock near customs.

The Best Seats!

NOTE — To see a bigger (and in some cases, expanded) version of any of the images, just click on the one you want to enlarge.

One of the seafront houses that TWR used to own just south of the airport. We lived in one just like it that was next door when no other houses were there. Now they are being replaced by huge houses or condos. One can be seen in the left background.

Looking north toward the salt 'mountains', which are located about a mile south of TWR's transmitter site.

A blue obelisk stands at Salt Pier. In this photo a little further south is a white obelisk marking 'white salt pan'

The southernmost obelisk is at 'Orange Salt Pan'. The restored 'slave huts' can be seen in the left background.

South of the white obelisk is 'red salt pan'

Click Bonaire salt to learn more about the history of the different colors of obelisks.

Lacre Punt (Willwmstoren) Lighthouse at the south tip of Bonaire

Every time we got out of the car this afternoon as we traveled toward the south end, the mosquitoes swarmed us. Must be because of the abundance of rain we have had combined with the lack of wind. We got out of the car only long enough to snap the photos.

Tonight we got in a short swim, but I got tossed around by the waves. Larry swam in deeper water and didn’t notice it as much. The mosquitoes found us when we got out though!

12 Nov 2010 Friday

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Two cruise shipped docked at the same time. There were people everywhere!!

This morning the view from the window was a bit different as there were two cruise ships, Grandeur of the Seas at South Pier and Oceana at the north pier. It is quite impressive to be so close to two such big ships at such small docks.

Red snapper being prepared for our noon meal

This morning, I walked down town to buy a papaya, but they didn’t look very ripe, so decided to leave them there to ripen and I would pick one up on another day. While I was downtown, I stopped by the vendors and visited with a couple of them and bought our lunch and picked up a few curios. Our lunch consisted of red snapper, tutu (black-eyed peas and cornmeal), squash and plantain. It was very good, even though we are not used to having the fish stare at us as we eat it!! We also had a real Bonairian meal last night (Larry describes it in his blog). Such good food!

Red snapper, tutu, plantain and squash

After lunch Larry dropped me at the Warehouse Market and I bought groceries and walked home. Those bags (with laundry soap, bottle of softener, milk, sugar, juice, two packages of meat and a jar of mango chutney) got heavy quickly!