Blogs from Gracias, Western, Honduras, Central America Caribbean - page 2

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

Depuis San Juan del Sur, il s'en est passe des choses...Je suis allee dans le Nord a Popoyo, sur la cote Pacifique, des plages desertes, trop belles, mais que des surfers (faudrait vraiment que j'essaie un jour...). Puis je suis allee voir Fernando, Luz et le nouveau ne a Masaya, j'ai ete visiter Leon (ou j'ai fait du Sanboarding sur le plus jeune volcan du monde, le Cerro Negro, toujours actif, truc de ouf), tres belle ville au coeur de la revolution sandiniste. Bonne ambiance nocture et charmantes ruelles trufees de belles eglises, dont la plus grande d'Amerique centrale, la Basílica Catedral de la Asunción de León. Je suis ensuite partie pour le Nord, Esteli, avec sa magnifique cascade a quelque 20 minutes du centre en bus, la Estanzuela. Apres j'ai fait le canyon de Somoto ... read more

Happy Valentine's Day! Heart Heart! (I still woke up at 6). We had delicious coffee & toasted bread with refried beans & parmesan cheese on it. A pretty standard breakfast around here. The Senora made it for us. Apparently breakfast is included in the room price. I always forget to ask. It's such a nice treat though. Geoff ate all of his toast which is kind of a surprise because at home he never ever eats refried beans. I think the abundance of refrieds here has finally worn him down! Our plan today is to go see a Cigar Factory & a Coffee Processing Plant both of which apparently do tours. Took a taxi to La Flor De Copan Cigars & knocked on the door. The guy at the door told me probably today they couldn't ... read more

Iglesia la Merced in Gracias is its oldest church, dating from 1547, or at least that´s what its loving caretaker told us. It is rarely used now, only for special occasions. But the caretaker, who donates his time out of his love for the church, proudly showed off the gigantic key to the door--he said it was original--the donation box in the church--also original, he said, and the figure of Jesus on the cross. And I do believe that was original also. 300 or 400 or 450 years old, what is the difference, this is an old church. The ceiling arcs above, it smells like bat guano inside. It is a marvelous place to be. We were fortunate to happen by when the caretaker was opening the church to air it out. Otherwise, the only activity ... read more

An early start this morning at 6AM to catch the 7AM bus. No time for breakfast today either, seems to be a trend with too many early morning starts. But I had brought along a supply of Cliff Bars to hold me over for the bus rides. The bus left pretty much on time for the 1.5hr ride back to the junction at La Entrada. When we arrived there we lucked out as a minibus was ready to depart to Santa Rosa de Copan, the next town where we would change buses to Gracias. The driver was a speed demon, zooming ahead with a boy hanging out the side door announcing the destination. We kept packing in more people, at least 20 by my count before we reached Santa Rosa in a light drizzle. There was ... read more