Really? September?

We have been BUSY lately... Andrew and I have made two trips to San Pedro in the last two weeks; first to pick our two new one-year volunteers up from the airport and get them started with their orientation to Honduras, and then to see off our friend Caleb Yoder, our friend and fellow MCCer, as he finished his 3-year term this month, and then drive back to Tegucigalpa with Laura and all her things as she will be living not too far from us. We were especially glad to see Caleb safely on the plane, or at least headed in that direction, since he was just recovering from a bout with typhoid fever... he gets the award for coming down with the most serious illnesses in MCC Honduras history, after suffering from dengue fever and then a staph infection last year. Go Caleb! Stop getting sick!

Some highlights from the trip and the last two weeks:
1. I finished up with my second round of beginning English classes.
2. I learned how to make a really fancy piñata.
3. We were able to spend two nights on the farm with the Stephens family during which we got to taste my all-time favorite hot sauce that Stephanie made (they gave us a jar - we are putting it on everything) AND (this is the best part), we got to climb up and hang in hammocks that Sean strung 50ft up a big tree behind their house. I'm hoping we can sleep in them next time we stay there, but for now it was fun to make it all the way up and do a little tree climbing. I got a tree burn on my right arm as a trophy.
4. We ate a great fried fish dinner on the way home by the lake.

In other news... Andrew's position at ASJ has changed a bit - he now will be writing pretty much exclusively for revistazo.com, ASJ's online spanish publication. He's starting some in-depth investigative reporting on the illegality of the coup, and will be overseeing two writers that will join revistazo shortly. He's a little stressed.

It's been two months now and the coup and coup-related tensions continue. It's frustrating how long it's being drug out and how little regard for public opinion, safety, and human rights the government and military are showing. For some, marches and demonstrations are a daily reality as they struggle to resist the coup; for others, life continues as normal.

Dinner at the farm.


All harnessed in and hanging up high.

Max is admirably fearless.

Goodbye Caleb.

Welcome back Rachel and hello to Andrés, our new fellow MCCer from Colombia. Here waiting for fried fish at the lake.