By reh on 6/29/2008

June 29, 2008, Sunday

9:00AM Checked out of Hotel El Picacho. Too bad; large room with sitting/study area and small kitchenette, but no kitchen and no restaurants close by.

11:00AM In the Hotel Maya. Compiling notes and getting ready for next week. Finally got on internet. Set up meeting with Dr. Avila for tomorrow at 2:15PM and a meeting with Sigfredo at 11:00AM. Jessica will arrive at 10:00AM to review notes prior to meeting with Sigfredo. 

4:00PM End of day.

By reh on 6/28/2008

June 28, 2008, Saturday

8:30AM Checked out of motel and driving toward Teguci.
10:30AM Hotel El Picacho. Was told of this nice hotel on the other side of town that costs $75/night (+/-); this gets us back below $100/night. It’s on the road that leads to the US Ambassador’s residence and other very large houses compounds. The hotel is clean and secure with spacious rooms; kitchen opens at 6:30AM. The road goes up the mountain north of town with a spectacular view of Teguci. Signed in, went to room. Settled in, watched some CNN, world events haven’t changed over the last week. Went down for late lunch; kitchen is only opened for breakfast! No snack shop, no bar, just a hotel. I am told there is a “nice” restaurant around the corner; a short drive up the hill and, of course, many down the hill in the center of Teguci. I really don’t like driving in town so decided to go up the hill. This “nice” restaurant is a small ... Read More »

By reh on 6/27/2008

June 27, 2008, Friday

Took the day off. Went to Choluteca sightseeing. There are reasons it’s not on the lists of tourist attractions. Ate dinner at my favorite restaurant in San Lorenz. Took a nap.

By reh on 6/26/2008

June 26, 2008, Thursday

6:30AM Fernando and I took the GPS and went to each school, designated the school, and Fernando listed School name, Community name, Principal’s mane, number of teachers, and number of students. I will get that info to with coordinates to Hanan and have the website map updated and accurately labeled. Anyone that has been here knows the condition of the dirt roads and the distance between schools; even recognizing the correct designation of certain schools without driving all the way to them, this was still a full day’s job.
Stopped by the high school to pick up report cards of the two girls. We are 16 weeks into the school year. We were told that grades come out next week. It took a while but I finally got across that I wanted a copy of the report card for the previous term. The next part I couldn’t get so called Jessica. It seems that no report card was issued at the end of the first term; ... Read More »

By reh on 6/25/2008

June 25, 2008, Wednesday

6:00AM Fernando, Kristi, Jessica, I left for El Salvador International Airport.

9:30AM Having breakfast at a cafeteria within the airport compound. After breakfast, Kristi and Jessica walked over to the terminal to process baggage in, get boarding passes, then see if they can find pail of vitamins.

11:00AM I was going to go check up on Kristi when I met Jessica. A customs officer wanted documentation for transport of “medicine”. Vitamins are not regulated as “medicine” and there is no restriction on quantity, nor is there and documentation required. I know that from 4 years of transporting vitamins. The customs official was a kind of macho guy who had made a mistake. By the time I got there he had dug his heals in. He was insisting that Kristi take them back. There is no way that pail would find its way back to a plane from the customs side in one ... Read More »

By reh on 6/24/2008

June 24, 2008 Tuesday

8:00AM Fernando’s house for breakfast. Typical breakfast of refried beans, egg, sausage, cheese (salty), tortillas, coffee and juice. Fernando’s wife had left for work (owns a medical laboratory) so the maid served us.

9:00AM Explained that we want Fernando and Jessica to try to get the attention of various companies with US ownership that we have not been able to reach. These companies include Alcoa, 3 M Corporation, and Tabacolera CA (sub. of Philip Morris).
Went onto the internet and looked at the Honduras map we have installed on our website. We explained that each “push pin” represents a school. Each school can open to a page dedicated to that school. We want Fernando to get pictures, letters, other stuff for each school page and email to Hanan. After some discussion, it became clear that I had improperly named some schools. Fernando and I will re-do all scho ... Read More »

By reh on 6/23/2008

June 23, 2008, Monday

8:30AM Fernando, Kristi, Jessica, Roxana, and I were all congregated to motel restaurant waiting for Abierto Abrazo group.

9:30AM Abierto Abrazo group arrived (Kristi will compile names, titles). We split up into two groups. I went with one group, Kristi went with another. Each group went to two schools. I will let Kristi provide details as all schools are similar and my story would be very similar to Kristi’s. Fernando did an excellent job of coordinating the entire tour. When everything in a one-day tour as large as this one goes so smoothly that it seems effortless, you know someone put a lot into the coordination. Thank you, Fernando!

3:30PM At motel for summary meeting and late lunch/early dinner. Everyone agreed that the effort was worth the time and wants to continue to explore ways to work together for the benefit of the children.
Read More »

By reh on 6/22/2008

June 22, 2008, Sunday

8:15AM Jessica took a bus to Teguci last evening as she has a family reunion. Fernando arrived with a young lady (just graduated from high school this year) to interpret for us. Drove to El Amatillo to check on each of the 7th graders (I will keep today through noon Wednesday short as Kristi will critique these days). It seems that Fernando missed 3 days of bus ride and 2 days of lunch money during one of the months. When he came to set up for the next week the mother of Elsa Waldina Lazo Lemus (Waldina) asked for the back money. Fernando said the girls had gotten to school on their own and he wasn’t compelled to “make up payments’; and besides we expect the families to help (maybe the best approach, maybe not; but it was Fernando’s and I’m ok with it). About two days later, an older sister of Waldina’s called demanding the money “that was theirs” and accused Fernando of pocketing the money. We walked alo ... Read More »

By reh on 6/21/2008

June 21, 2008, Saturday

6:00AM Fernando, Jessica, and I headed for the San Salvador Airport. Long uneventful drive.

9:30AM Breakfast at the airport, waiting for Kristi’s 11:30 flight.

11:30AM Waiting in the area outside the customs door. 12:30; not too worried, an hour is common. 1:00PM, starting to worry. Finally, something after 1:00PM Kristi emerged, minus the vitamins. She had waited, not knowing when bags from her flight had all arrived then line a mile long at baggage claim window. We’ll pick the vitamins up when we bring her back on Wednesday. It was time to leave for Honduras if we are to get to the hotel before dark.

5:30PM Dinner at the hotel, sat on the veranda winding down.

8:00PM End of day.

By reh on 6/20/2008

June 20, 2008, Friday

7:30AM Drove out to look at the second school kitchen. Not the workmanship of the first (and third) kitchen but it is certainly functional. It seems that bats have already taken up residency. The principal is not concerned as the smoke from the kitchen fire drives them out each morning. I notice the droppings on the floor just below the main support beams (since then, I have noticed droppings on many school building floors; it seems that bats are a common nuisance). The space between the roof rafters that sit on the wall sill and the roof is left open on purpose so cooking smoke from the wood fire can escape. After a little thought, I told Fernando L4L would pay to put screens in this space in kitchens that we build to keep the bats out. It just seems that bat poop on the kitchen floor and all the critters that ride around on/in worm-blooded animals hanging from the beams probably isn’t real sanitary. < ... Read More »

By reh on 6/19/2008

June 19, 2008, Thursday

6:00AM Walked across a private overpass to the beach. Beach is black (sand is derived from volcanic rocks, not sandstone). Unfortunately, the beach is never cleaned so there are coconut hulls, pieces of Styrofoam, plastic bottles, old shoes, etc at the high water line. So much for pristine Pacific beaches.

8:15AM Waiting for Fernando to pick me up. The place is ok, but I won’t come back.

10:00AM Fernando arrived. We were headed back to El Amatillo by 10:00.

1:30PM Border crossing at El Amatillo. Central America border crossings have really been upgraded since my first trip 5.5 years ago. Now, once you process into any Central America country and pay the $10.00 fee, you can travel back and forth without re-processing. When we got to El Amatillo, all I had to do was pay a $3.00 fee for a 90 day pass to travel in/out of Hon ... Read More »

By reh on 6/18/2008

June 18, 2008, Wednesday

5:00AM At the Montgomery airport. Sealed 5 gallon pail of 25,000 children’s vitamins went thru inspection unopened (happens about 60% of the time; good luck, Kristi). Got to the gate at about 5:30 for a flight that should leave at 6:18AM. Marque said plane will leave at 8:30AM. That means I’ll miss my connecting flight out of Houston. Called Elise, she changed for 5:30PM flight out of Houston. Brought along Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope” (regardless of my sensibilities, I might as well know how our next President thinks) thinking I could read a few chapters during interminably dull evenings in the compound. Read 80% in airports between 5:30AM and 5:30 PM.

8:45PM Thru customs. Both bags arrived! All is good. Got a cab and drove 3 or 4 minutes up the road to a Quality Inn. It is full. Next nearest clean and secure hotel is 30 miles away on a Pacific beach. Fairly nice hot ... Read More »