Cruz Alta Cowboys and girls

Otra vez, hello again and once again a busy week. On Tuesday my chimbo (propane tank) ran out and John and I carried it down the hill, filled it up and carried it back up again, John half of the way and me the other. Brutal work in all and i don't really want to do that again anytime soon. Sorry if my spelling isn't so great, there aren't any spellcheckers on these computers and the phonetic Spanish is really screwing with my sense of where the letters go. On Thursday I was invited by the school to go with the kids and teachers to another pueblo by the name of La Mision. I showed up at 6 in the morning (when I was supposed to) and of course nobody else showed up util at least 7. The three teachers showed up on horses and were asking me why I didn't have one and giving me a hard time about walking the whole way. Most of the kids showed up without horses but there were a few who had them. I figured I'd have no problems keeping up with the little guys. One girl showed up with a caballo bravo (mean horse). That thing tried to kick her (and succeeded a few times) anytime she got near the critter, but she kept going back until she was in the saddle. I don't know many kids that would have done that. Anyway, we headed out and had an amazing hike to La Mision. It took about two hours and most of it was on a trail through the forest filled with whooping Lenca kids. Most of the time they ran, and I tried to run with them up and down some steep and muddy trails, it was like something out of Last of the Mohicans. Once we got to La Mision, we were greated by their school and some home made rockets that didn't exactly do what they were supposed to, but did manage to explode without killing anyone. The two schools sang the Honduran National Anthem and some other songs and played some games then headed to the soccer field for a futbol game. I can proudly say that Cruz Alta won 4 - 0 with an impressive performance by both the girls and boys teams. After about an hour and a half of futbol, we all ate a bit and started to head back. Some of the kids played soccer barefoot and ran back barefoot too. It was crazy, they were whooping and running even harder on the way back it was so hard to keep up with the kids and horses. I was pretty wiped out by the time I got back, but I had to go to a parent teacher meeting that shouldn't have lasted 2 and a half hours but did. oh well, sleep when you can I guess. On Thursday night a couple of other volunteers showed up and we went to celebrate dia del niños with them at the school. Some Cruz Alta people had some baskets and ceramics on sale and some good food. All in all a good week, a good start for September and my 27th year. all for now, hope to hear from everyone soon. Joe

Cruz Alta folks heading to La Mision

Here´s me with some of my daily visitors

Jorge Loco goin for some coconuts

Hey everyone, been awhile but I’ll try and fill you in on the goings on down here. It has been a busy couple of weeks up in Cruz Alta. The eighth grade class I’ve been working with finally got the books we needed and classes have resumed. I’m working with a program called Educatodos that gives rural people the chance to continue their education beyond sixth grade (graduation day for people in the campo). The nice thing about the program is that it requires motivation; if you want to participate you have to buy your own books (something that is far from easy when you’re having a hard time making ends meet). The kids ordered the books a couple of weeks ago and they were three weeks late getting to Cruz Alta which meant two weeks without classes. But they’re here and things are getting back to normal. I’m getting to know the community and my neighbors poco a poco (little by little), siempre poco a poco. I’ve attended a few town meetings and met some interesting folks that I look forward to working with. Supposedly this is one of the easier times of service, the first month when everything is fresh and new, the next two are the hard ones where the loneliness and isolation set in. We’ll see, this is what they say but it must be different for everyone. There are times when I feel pretty isolated even though there are rugrats and neighbors over at my house most of the time I’m there, although the communication levels and worldviews don’t exactly line up. But it is pretty easy to remain positive and without regret. I’ve got the best view in the world from my hammock and with a little bluegrass coming from my cd player (battery powered of course) and a good cup of coffee life couldn’t be sweeter. Also Kari is coming to visit in November and my parents in March, I’ve got huge things to look forward too. Anyone else who’s interested in coming down should look into flights to San Pedro Sula Honduras or Sal Salvador, El Salvador (it is a bit further than SPS but often cheaper). I guess airfares are pretty huge right now so I don’t expect many visitors yet but I’ll keep a candle on and an extra fork clean just in case.
I’m trying to figure out whether or not I’ve got a green thumb, so far it’s still pretty pink like the rest of my fingers. I’ve been going crazy with a machete and a hoe around my place and planting any seeds that I could get my hands on. My neighbors chickens wiped out a couple of my plots in about an hour the other day, they scratched up my rows, ate all the seeds I’d planted and tore apart the barriers that I’d made for soil conservation. Two chickens undid what took me a day to finish in a little over an hour. I covered my garden with spiky bushes to keep the chickens out and so far it has worked but I’ve put a better edge on the machete in case the three-toed devils try it again and soup needs to be made. Well, I’ve got to hit up the grocery stores right now and head up pretty quick, hope this post finds everyone in good health and spirits. Joe

The school where I teach

Here's a colonial church in La Campa, my municipality, an hour walk from Cruz Alta.

Here are some neighbor kids in Cruz Alta