Ca Mau

Felix and I traveled with a family to Ca Mau. We started our journey at 10pm on Friday, March 11th. We went to Mrs. Yen's house. There, we climbed into a small van with her, her husband and daughter. They have rented 2 vans to take their relatives to celebrate a Mass in Ca Mau.  Our plan was to drive all night and arrive there in the morning. Ca Mau is located south of here, near the Cambodian border. I was happy with the van, plenty of room, comfortable, etc. We started off on our journey. Within a few minutes, we stopped at another home to pick up the rest of the family. To my surprise, our van filled up with family. I could sense their excitement for this trip. I am surrounded by 15 of this family. Felix is in the front seat, so conversation was out of the question. The young girl next to me spoke some English, very little. She is cute, maybe age 19, she painted her nails in a crisscross pattern of black and white. Felix would tease her and she would give it right back to him, a spunky girl!

A part of me was anxious because we were now like sardines in this van, and we have to drive all night. I love my sleep, it is a necessity for me. I did bring my travel pillow earplugs and mask, which I was too embarrassed to use the plugs and mask, but tried to use the pillow. Now when you think of a road trip like this, you imagine entering onto the highway and going fast to your destination. In Vietnam, the "highway" is full of speed bumps and bumps before bridges so I think the top speed was 45. They also have about 6  low speed bumps in a row so the van vibrates every once in awhile. There is no sleeping soundly here. After a couple hours, I find we are pulling over into a large parking lot, a parking lot for nothing, just an open area that has been tarred. They open the door and everyone starts walking to the field, oh, okay, bathroom break. I didn't have to go so I tried to close my eyes. Felix came back to the van and asked if I went. I thought maybe I should try because I wasn't sure how much longer we would be driving. I climbed out and started to walk by myself to the field. A strong smell came over me, making me actually gag. A smell worse than a sewer. Maybe they fertilized this field? But it looks like a wild field. The dirt is dry as sand. There is a path like a stream may run through it during monsoon season, but now it was dry. In the distance I could see banana trees, either way, I am in the field now, the family has gathered near the van, chatting away, I am in plain sight. I don't want to go into the dry stream because it is so dark and I can't see the bottom, and why is the ground wet? Oh great, I am walking through their pee spots aren't I? And yes, I have flip flops on. UGH. Okay, I will pee here, do I pee facing the van so it is as if I am looking at them looking at me? or do I turn away and let them see my behind facing them?? So many questions and nobody to answer them and MAN! WHAT IS THAT SMELL??! I look at my arms, they are disobeying my orders to pull my pants down............just swallow your pride and pee Kathy, nobody is looking, they are busy chatting...........and still nothing, my arms hang at my side not even attempting to unsnap, unzip, pull down..........my legs start walking back to the van, well, I guess my questions have been answered, I am not peeing here in this field, haha.
At 3 in the morning, we pull into a makeshift cafe on the side of the highway in nowhere land. I can't believe it is open. The family wants to eat Pho pronounced "PHA" a noodle soup very popular in Vietnam. Have they slept at all?? The young spunky girl calls my name to takes me to the bathroom. There were stalls lined down the right, and a long sink like a trough lines the other side, people are washing their faces in it. I wait in line, trying not to breath. The floor is wet and yes, I am still wearing flip flops. The door opens, my turn, and by now, I did have to go. I walked into the stall and man, this is where I really have a hard time. I am a germaphobe. There is not a toilet, there is a tile platform with a round porcelain basin in the middle. There is a built in basin on the right filled with warm dirty water. You step onto the platform, pull your pants down without letting them hit the floor or basin, squat over the basin, aim and pray for the best. Once done, hopefully you brought your own toilet paper, and if not, hopefully you've got the "shake" down by now. There is not a flush, you have to reach into the water filled basin for the plastic container to fill with water and pour into the "toilet". Water goes everywhere. So now, you are wondering about the water on the floor, it is 2 inches deep and my flip flops are less than an inch thick. I am walking like a robot so I don't splash my pants even more. I am repeating quietly in my head, "oh my God, oh my God" as if the germs are going to asphyxiate me before I can get back into the van. I head to the trough to wash my hands, hoping there is soap, there has to be, people were washing their faces, but no, there is none. Mental note, when they are passing out fruit again on the van politely say no.

After staying there for almost an hour, we get back in the van and travel on. They eat so much! Where they put it I don't know. They eat white rice at almost every meal and yet their figures are so perfect. Well, perfect for their size. (Which I have another post on size.) We are traveling on and on and I must had fallen asleep because when I woke, it was 5:45am, the sun was just starting to rise. There are vans, buses, cars, motor bikes and people all over the place. A little chaotic. We are told to take all our belongings off of the van. We are marching through this field on the side of the road, God, I hope there are not any snakes in here is all I'm thinking....other than sleep. I may have an hour or two of sleep under my belt. We are walking towards some houses. The locals here open their homes and allow you to sleep on their floor. The house we chose had about 30 people in it, I was just following the family, feeling almost like cattle being herded into a milking parlor. I was guided to a large low table, we were filed like sardines onto it to sleep. I am wearing jeans and laying on my side was painful, but didn't want to take up any more room than I had to. I am a giant around them and take up a lot of room as it is. I forced myself to sleep. When I woke almost an hour later, there were only 2 of us sleeping on the table. People were changing into their church clothes, putting on makeup. One man was washing dirty glasses with the hose and a plastic basin, people were lined up to use the bathroom. I figured I would brush my teeth and change so I also got in line. After waiting all that time, I entered the bathroom and it was wet, and without a sink. I couldn't walk into it, I just stepped back and walked away. I grabbed my flip flops at the entrance of the house. I went into the back open room that was almost like a garage and hid to change. I am enjoying this occasion, don't get me wrong, but some of it is an eye opener of how people live. I am in no way making fun of anyone, just observing how they live. What is unbearable to me is second nature to them....they don't think twice about going into a bathroom with a soaking wet floor, because they are use to having a wet floor, their showers are not separate like ours are, they are on the wall in ea bathroom with a drain and a sink and a toilet, so everything gets wet.

We are now walking down the road a bit to get a coffee and maybe some bfast. We found a roadside cafe with tables and plastic chairs.  I ordered an ice coffee with milk, which is delicious. Vietnamese coffee is wonderful. They make it with sweetened condensed milk and a strong coffee. I don't usually like my coffee sweet or strong, but for some reason, I love this. I also order Banh Kem which is bread made like a small french loaf with fried egg, cucumber and a sweet/spicy sauce. It is widely available and my favorite so far. Felix is heading to the church. He is one of the 20 to help celebrate the Mass. The Mass is to celebrate the life of a Vietnamese priest, named Truong Buu Diep, that was beheaded in 1946. His remains are at this church. This is a big deal for this area. It is not heavily populated and yet, every year at this time approximately 20,000 people come to pay their respects and celebrate the mass. I have a small video I will post on FB when I return for you. In it, some people have gathered near the coffin and are praying, sounds like a chant. It really sounds like a song. You'll notice people are touching the coffin and rubbing their heads and bodies as if to help them heal. There is also a large statue that they are touching and kissing. Such strong faith. We stand in the hot sun waiting for the Mass to begin. I see Felix and I am so happy for him. When it is time to receive the Body of Christ, he gets to come our way, I touched his arm and he saw that we were there in the crowd, he stopped and started to offer us the Body of Christ. People started crowding around us to receive it also. One woman even asked to have his bracelet of rosary beads, she pleaded for it. He reluctantly gave it to her, knowing that this was his second one he rec'd, his first one was also asked for and the Sister that gave it to him told him to KEEP this one for himself, don't give it away!  haha.

After the Mass, I got to meet the Bishop and have lunch with the priests, I was very honored. We met up with the family soon after. I was hoping Felix could go out and see the church and surroundings, but the family was ready to head home. I saw a little disappointment on his face, but we were guests, so we started our long journey back. And what a long journey it was. So much driving in such a full van. I tried to follow the conversation, but the Vietnamese language is like no other. It is incredibly hard to understand.

I was very happy to have had this experience. To witness a tight knit family with such strong faith. Also, I can now say, I have been to Ca Mau to celebrate the Mass. It reminded me of what Sturgis must be like when they have the bike rally. A small town with a low population and bam, one day, it has over 20,000 people in it. Not that I saw any biker girls in Ca Mau, haha I have posted pictures in the album here, you may have seen them: 

https://picasaweb.google.com/103691188319770375535/CaMau?authkey=Gv1sRgCKee5Y_D0dzh6QE#