Blogs from Honduras, Central America Caribbean - page 14

Today we didnt have to meet too early thankfully – 8.30am and 'the bridge'. No one knew where the bridge was as our tour leader hadnt elaborated on 'the bridge'. So we all ended up at Welchez Coffee shop for breakie as Jacob had recommended it. It took ages for food to come out cs we all arrived at similar times so we changed meeting time till 8.45am. We both had an omelette and ben got a smoothie and I had a coffee. All was good and we were stuffed full to start the day. Thankfully as we were debating where the bridge was, our guide for the ruins walked in looking for Jacob and then walked us there himself. He was brilliant. His name was Saul – like China he claimed! He says he learnt ... read more

I am a little behind in my blog. Wednesday, I hit the wall physically. I worked hard all day, and by the time I got back to the hotel I was capable of little more than shower, food and sleep. We began our day by building rebar frames to be used in the construction of the roof support around the perimeter of the house. We worked as a group and were quite effective in getting the task done. I moved onto making my first adobe bricks. I enjoyed the task and quickly fell into a nice Pattern. I played my music, worked alongside other team members and got the opportunity to dance when I needed to stretch. The masons and their helpers found my antic entertaining, as I could see the laughing with with (at) me ... read more

I am struggling with the internet connection tonight, more than other nights. It has been a long day with lots of hardwork and activities. Our first task on tyhe job site today was mixing pinestraw into mud. We use our legs while wearing way too big rubber boots. Think Lucy and Ethel stopping grapes, only a lot harder. I only fell once and did not do a faceplant but caught myself on my hands. It was hard work and a good workout for my butt, legs and abs. Afterwards we took to the less strenuous activity of collecting pineneedles on a nearby coffee farm. That was a welcome pleasant reprieve from the hard physiucal labor. On the walk back with the pine needles, a local women invited us into her yard, where she had just finished ... read more

Today was a great day. We went to the build site. We began by introducing ourselves using our very best Spanish to the masons and their helpers. We were then assigned our tasks. Today: moving adobe bricks. Approximately 1100, 25 pound bricks, moved from the brick making area to the building area. Definitely got my workout in today. Other activities included gathering pine straw from the woods and mixing mud for tomorrow's brick making. At noon the kids came home from school. They flocked to the job site where they enjoyed engaging with the "gringos". We played cards, coloring, jump rope and handed our lots of stickers. Tossing the frisbee and playing soccer were also fun. The kids ranged in age from 2-14. After 13, they leave school and go to work to help support their ... read more

As far as unpleasant cities go, Tegucigalpa probably jumps to the top of my list. I just want to get the negativity out of the way first because Honduras, the little I've seen of it, is a beautiful place. But the capital is pretty grim, it's polluted, disorientating, seemingly very dangerous (police are in teams at al times with fully automatic weapons like AK-47s) and full of horrific taxi drivers. I'm pretty sure the taxi drivers are criminals protected by the law, after getting off the bus from the border we were given several farcical quotes for a journey of 2km ($25 anyone) and derision and aggression when we refused to take up the offer. We'd missed the connection to our intended destination by about 30 minutes and had the unenviable choice of catching a night ... read more