Hey everyone, exciting times right now in western Honduras. We are celebrating dia de Lempira. Lempira was a local indigenous hero, one of the last chiefs to stand up to the Spanish during the conquest. There are tons of celebrations, rodeos, contests, local fairs, parades, street food, and chicha (an alcoholic drink made from corn). It is really a good time to be in Honduras, if you don’t mind crowds. It is worth it for the food and drink alone, although the alcohol content in the chicha isn’t strong enough to kill off any bugs and some of it is pretty loaded with bacteria. It isn’t a bad idea to put a couple of drops of bleach in it just to make sure, or just tip it back and pray. Eating street meat is another way of playing Russian roulette with your intestinal tract. It is really hard to turn down though. The smells are amazing and after living on my meager vegetarian cuisine in Cruz Alta, random meats cooked on a hot grill are hard to pass up. It is all part of the experience and so far I’ve been pretty lucky and not had to go to the doctor. Knock on wood. Ok I’ve got to get back to the celebrating, hope everyone is having a great summer. Joe