Mermaids and mermatrons. Immersed in water. Looking through a glass darkly, as the Corinthian letter put’s it, may be the vagueness or speculum that promotes perspective with vision. The swimming women contribute years and insight to story telling and story demystifying. A minimalist experience for travelling. Was this three years ago? Ten? Was this when we made our first trip? Immersion has a way of washing, yet the vision is blurred.

The skin on my fingers is beginning to wrinkle as if this bath was taking too long. This washing business makes sense in a timeless way when playing with children. Abigail and Kai are learning to enjoy water. Their father beached on a chair across the pool. With children there is none of this complex discussion. Splashing is splashing! Five minutes more is an hour! The detail like the distinction is not essential. Having fun is!

At sun-up the secluded beach and the 146 stairs and the verticulator ride down to a white sanded playground were an immersion by exercise! Climbing down to water a pilgrimage with no shrine. A hike without a mountain. A journey with no destination. There was the beach! Then as if summoned by our foot-fall on sand, the sky showered water. This was no sprinkling, this was a shower without the water-saver. Then sunshine and steam from the verdant jungle.

Wearing glasses has become a fashion statement. The bespectacled sight impaired lived years without the luxury of fashionable eye-wear. Without the immersion into a culture of haute frames! This modest pair sprinkle sunshine by reflection. The price watered down by bogus. Eyes sprinkled with shades.

The arguments for going metric could make one scratch their head, hat or… The interesting thing about these hats, purses, bowls, wallets and bags, they were all made from recycled materials. This shop had bottle caps for flooring and pop-cans for steps. This was one immersion into recycling I’d tip my hat to.

School, like in much of the 2/3 world is still a fee-for-service venture. These students need to pay tuition for going to school. We may want to help them get second language training or talk about immersion schools but the simple truth is that their families can barely afford to keep them in class. Communities are sprinkled with persons who have attended school. You might want to say stuff about helmets and safety… But I’d go with the wisdom of the wise women and advocate for that ride home so the family can go on with their cottage industry. Baptism is not about salvation, it’s about seeing a community. A sprinkling of an introduction to a culture that might eventually get your fingers wrinkled.

The dragon bridging the water frames the queen. A waving of royalty for her subjects. No parade. No crowds. No Pickets. This is a crossover from past to present. This is the sacred water. A stream that flows from the fountain.