San Pedro turned cold overnight on Tuesday. I´m sitting here in the MCC office actually wearing a sweater AND socks - it feels a little like Goshen in October.

I´m suffering from some post-friend, post-Christmas, post-beach blues. We had a really great Christmas, made special by an overnight visit from our friends Maria and Josh, and celebrating Christmas eve with Marcos and his family.

The infamous Tasara Redekopp, former roommate and Goshen College amiga, arrived on the 27th for our first official more-than-overnight friend visit. We had a fabulous time giving her a 5-day mini tour of Northern Honduras; spending a little time exploring San Pedro, bussing out to the beautiful beach in Tela for two nights, then heading south near Lago Yojoa to spend New Year´s Eve (and Maria´s birthday) with other MCCers Callie, Caleb, and Josh and Maria at their farm in El Cipres. Click here to see a few more pictures (we hope to add some of Tasara´s soon). We ate a lot of good food, Tasara soaked in some much needed vitamin D and even bought some art.

We decided to take a tour boat out to Punta Sal, a national park outside of Tela. The day-long trip included a big fried fish lunch, complete with tajadas and beans and rice (typical north-coast fare). When Andrew made reservations for us over the phone he thought to mention that Tasara is a vegetarian and wondered if they had vegetarian options. Alex, who we met later and turned out to be our tour-guide, paused over the phone and then said, "what they will do Andres, they will give you the plate, and take off the fish." Another highlight was when Tasara and I were having trouble getting back on to the boat in thigh-high water that was getting choppier by the minute, and Alex tried to heave Tasara log-throwing style onto the boat. Marvin, the boat capitan who was much blessed with impressive muscles, saved the day and literally swept us off our feet, and before we knew it we had both been deposited safely inside. There was much cheering. There was less chearing on the jarring boat ride back when Marvin continued to go top-speed through the choppy waves and I had to hang on for dear life.