Trip Log (Letter written June 24, 2008)

reh@knology.net — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:00:00 GMT

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 school sites with my GPA.
I think Fernando wants to do these jobs and I think, with a little support, we will see some positive results.

10:00AM Ready to leave for Teguci to have lunch with Jorge and Leslie Lineraz.

12:00PM Met Jorge and Leslie at the Patio restaurant. Very pleasant lunch.

2:00PM Meeting with Tigo Marketing Manager, Ms. Dalia Chinchilla. Will leave details for Kristi. Basically, since they are a large multinational company, any tampering with the trademark logo won’t happen. Tigo actually partners with the UN and Honduras to provide the grains and beans now delivered to the schools and asked for some clarification of our roll. I explained that when we started four years ago, the Honduras program had been suspended and we did the whole lunch; the second year the Honduras program was hit-and-mill, we filled in the gap; last year the Honduras program was fairly complete and we used the extra money to build kitchens. With the world food crises, the Honduras program is already dropping schools and I believe there will be a real need for us to fill in larger and larger gaps as time progresses. She nodded in agreement as I listed the shortcomings of the Honduras Government program and transformed from a rather chilly reception at a willingness to carry our story to her boss. We’ll see. Two very encouraging aspects:
• Ms. Chinchilla has always done what she said she would do.
• Ms. Chinchilla left the door wide open for future discussions.

3:30PM Driving back to Nacaomi.

6:30PM Having dinner at a small restaurant in Nacaomi when who should ride by on his motorcycle bur Fernando. Fernando took Kristi for a motorcycle tour of Nacaomi. A twilight tour of Nacaomi on a motorcycle; when Kristi gets her groove on she doesn’t slow down.

8:00PM End of day.

The Motorcycle Diary

Trip Log (Letter written June 24, 2008)