RevGal Blog Carnival – GalShip

I love to geocache and it’s been one of the “excursions” for every BE so far. No joke, we’ve been to Hell (on Grand Caymen) and back. And the best fish tacos are at Senor Iguana’s on the far side of the Cozumel island.

I remember trying to find the first International geocache when we found the end of the sidewalk and the military guys with machine guns first. I was so disappointed and trying not to be as crushed as I was. I was a rookie enthusiast. But all we could do was turn around and go the other way — which turned out to be the *right* way!

My companions all had their own goals for the jaunt as well, sand scooped up from the beach, toes in the water, religious kitsch. We came to the populated part of the port and the name of bar matched the name of a cache! And suddenly, there were four of us looking high and low in bushes, planters, around door frames and windows, not really being too careful about being noticed because the excitement of a possible find took over. Then this guy said, as he walked past, “More west.”

Of course! So we went more west thinking that we were going inside. But anyone who has spent time in such a location knows that a doorway may very well be an entry to more than a room. This entry led to a short hallway that opened into an area that was filled with tables that have umbrellas instead of a ceiling over them. The place that was most west in this area were the steps that led to the water where we promptly put our feet. The sidewalk guy saw us and said, “you took the more west kinda literally didn’t ya?” Knowing we were in the right vicinity, we looked around the area for anything that might resemble a geocache.

We were kinda tired, very thirsty, and starting to get hungry. I said I’d buy drinks then we could go back to the boat for food and rest. As we waited to be noticed, Kathryn, the one who wanted sand, got up to see if she could speed up the process. While wandering, she noticed a mailbox and said, “Could it be the mailbox? Do they have mailboxes in Mexico?”

I said, “I don’t know. Open it.” She wouldn’t. I waited a little while. But not very long. I went over and opened it. You know that soccer announcer that yells “Goal!” and it lasts for five minutes? I think I was channeling him! I was beyond excited. There was a gallon size baggie with all kinds of stuff in it and I traded leaving a travel bug with a camp lanyard with Seattle Seahawk colors because I had forgotten to buy a keychain to leave there which was the original plan. Then a guy from Pittsburg (the team that had just beat Seattle in the Super Bowl!) came and found the cache right after I put it back. He took our picture as we sat there finishing our drinks under the umbrella at the No Name Beach Club.

There’s another cache called “Stop Eating and take a walk.” I think that’s a great name for a geocache located where cruise ships stop. We certainly walked alot that day even though we didn’t really need to go as far as we did. I had read the GPS upside down. I was nervous about “getting it right” because there were new friends to impress. But they didn’t care about me getting it right. They were along for the adventure and the walk and the company. It didn’t matter to them if we found any geocaches at all. They just wanted to be together for a good day.

Just like on the road to Emmaus as the friends walked together talking, God is right there walking with us whether we recognize it in that very moment or not. Sometimes it takes the moments like Holy Communion when we intentionally “stop walking to take and eat” with each other to see the sacredness but the sacredness is always there even if we don’t always recognize it in moment.

All of that together is the first story I think of when I begin to explain what Galship means to me but it’s not the only thing I think of.