An Unfinished House

These past 10 days I've been accompanied by a quirky little Quaker boy from Pennsylvania who sometimes meets with the Mennonites. I probably shouldn't say little, he towers over me and is a Black Belt in Karate...I know a Quaker/Sometimes Mennonite with a Black Belt in Karate. I said he was quirky. Anyway, enough about him, there will be more about his exploits tomorrow. For now I wanted to show you some photos of the Hog Islands, though they don't do the place justice. My dear Karate Quaker friend wanted to see some islands in his time here but in that traveling to any one of the 3 main Bay Islands is at least a 2 day, $100 dollar affair I axed, no, I karate chopped the idea. As he was sobbing and begging me to reconsider, something hit me, an idea...they seem so few and far between these days. Turns out that there are these little cays about 2o kilometers of the coast that are absolutely stunning (or so the they tell me, I had as of yet to see them) and the round trip tou...

Tati is an interesting character and in a lot of ways I see myself in him. He's shy in new situations but as soon as he knows someone or feels comfortable he'll make a spectacle of himself and try to be the center of attention. He's quiet and submissive at home, especially when his father's there but out and about by himself he's always causing mischief. He's not terribly athletic, though he does try, he lacks that very essence that I too lacked at his age, aggressivness. And he loathes school, refuses to study but does like socializing there...also me. So it turns out that little Matthew Levi turned 13 the other day and in true Matthew fashion chose the richest chocolate cake that La Ceiba had to offer for his birthday. matthew, i mean tati sisters and cousins carmen his mother

guiselle the birthday girl taking the first whack uncles carlos, edwin, samir and elvin stand on not the most endearing pose some neighbor kids observing from the dirt wall quite the happy little girl other kids taking their turn father, grandmother, great aunt uncle darwin he's 2 years younger than guiselle grandmother marta guiselle's father almost ready... go for it wishing he could be there

Josepe can be a headache sometimes but he's also warm and quick to forgive, 2 traits that can be hard to come by here in Los Laureles. He also has a voice like a mature Sicilian, something that just endears him to me; we call him the Godfather but he never understands and just gives us strange looks. Anyway, we celebrated as we always do with the cake and the singing and the prayer and his cousin Neto wrapped up our time by showing off his dance stylings. el mero mero boon with his piece pimpona thoroughly enjoying his cake and posing for the camera neto showing off his moves (he absolutely loved my father by the by, he kept burying himself into his body and wrapping my dad's arms around him) calm yourself h.b.

Call the Nimble Little Children of Los Laureles to Get Them Out! pato, bairon & tolo doing their best they'll use any means necessary short of ripping down the door until you're reunited with them...and jamie moon will supervise

and my good friend soplo is responsible for about half of them. unique wonders in the garbage dump.

This past week I was accompanied by part of a Swim Team from Williamsport Area High School (both my former High School & Swim Team actually). While they spent most of their time simply playing with and building relationships with the kids of the Garbage Dump they did take a few days and build me some sturdy tables and benches for the tutoring program I run there. I was blessed to have them there, it was a neat way to reenter the country and the community and I know the kids have been impacted...they're already asking when the swimmers will be coming back. The following sequence of photos is the table building process but in the next few days I'll be posting some of the group's other exploits in and around La Ceiba. we measured and cut the wood, bill (my father) cut the wood, at marta's house because that was the best place to get electricity. she also acted as night watchman going so far as to chase would-be thieves off with a machete. marta the ever-smiling daria...