Blogs from Honduras, Central America Caribbean - page 8

Left Atitlan on the 24th of February. Hired a private car to take us directly to Copan rather than taking one ride to Antigua, another to Guatemala City and a third vehicle to Copan. Cost for the ride was $200 US in total. Six hour trip along some good roads and some bad. Our driver, Hector, schooled us on our Spanish while we cruised through the Copan river valley. High mountain ridges clad in jungle on our left and right. Fertile farmland on the flats. This area was once controlled by the United Fruit Company now known as Chiquita. The agricultural wealth here is what financed the construction of Copan between 100 AD and 800 AD. The area was originally settled about 1,400 BC but building of the city did not start until much later. The ... read more

Copan, Honduras, is one of the best Mayan sites. It was built over a long period, 900 BC to 800 AD and was home to 50,000 people. We spent some time exploring the ruins. In the Grand Plaza stand stone stelae, each carved with a larger-then-life image of a scary king. A flight of 63 steps has thousands of hieroglyphs carved into it. The whole city is covered in intricate carvings. We find houses, palaces, temples and a pelota court. Pelota is a cross between tennis and squash but nobody knows how it was played. Over time, problems emerged. The city grew beyond the ability of the local agriculture to support it; generations of inter-breeding in the ruling royal family had predictable consequences; they got heavily into hallucinogenic drugs and held six-week long fiestas. Slowly, the ... read more

“The Blues are the true facts of life expressed in words and song, inspiration, feeling, and understanding.” – Willie Dixon The term colossal confluence comes to mind while reflecting on our latest journey. Although “confluence” is normally reserved for a hydrologic description of two rivers merging, it also describes a coming together of people or things…..a concourse if you will. We believe this is spot on description of a journey that involved travel, people gathering for a purpose, and most importantly, the opportunity to meet a couple who love to travel at least as much as we do…perhaps more….wait, no way! So…combine the Dancing Duo from Down Under, a cruise ship chock full of blues music lovers and fabulous blues musicians sailing the Caribbean and you’ve truly come upon a colo... read more

I get to write my final blog entry for trip from the comfort of my home, using a keyboard rather than my tablet. This time I have no excuses for poor grammar or major spelling errors. Good News! I came home with the same 11 team members I started with! Well, maybe not the same. We are tired, a little battered and bruised, but we are inspired by, proud and satisfied with all we accomplished. We began the week as strangers in a foreign country with a small parcel of un-cleared land. When we left, we had new friends, a love and respect for Honduras and its people and the foundation (literally and figuratively) for a family to ensure their future in a safe, stable home environment. I learned so much! Construction Skills Who knew this ... read more

Yesterday's blog truncated when publishing and I can't seem to find the rest of the blog or the pictures. each evening/morning I curse technology as I struggle with internet connections, large, photo files and transferring between devices. Sorry. One of our formally horizontal members came to the site today wearing a 'Hump Day' tee shirt. This was a source of amusement for us all, and a puzzlement to our Honduran friends as we kept asking, "What day is? What day is it?" Each time we dig to depth in our trenches, the prescribed depth gets deeper. They are no longer trenches, they are RAVINES. Today however, we had additional help from some very strong Honduran workers. Several of us took turns under the tent bending rebar into stirrups to use in the home foundation. Today my ... read more