Painted Cave, Ebenezer, and Cloud Forest

¿Que Tal Amigos? Hope you`re having a great summer. It`s been busy the last few days. I was able to arrange transportation in a truck for about 35 of our kids ( a hay-ride without the hay) to the trail head for las Cuevas Pintadas. These are indian caves decorated with petroglyphs some 600 years ago. We all made it even some of the 4 year olds. These kids are hardy! We ran into some bats and a very large variety of moths called Buhos (owls). I was very encouraged, after all my talks about preserving the environment, to see the kids picking up trash along the trail. I talked with the staff manager of the home about continuing these outings with the kids and he too is concerned that they go on after I leave. Hurray!

Sunday we accompanied 5 teenage girls on a trek to Tegucigalpa and their church Ebenezer (Hebrew: Rock of Help). We went by bus, teaching them what they need to know so they can be more independent. They were riding in a van from the home but engine problems and high cost of fuel closed down that possibility. It was a lot of fun, I like exploring town on a bus and the girls always found something to laugh about. They get a lot out of church, where they have been studying the Bible to learn how to live out their faith as followers of Jesus. Needless to say they were grateful for our help. We are going to the same church now, where people have included us like part of the family. A great help to all who are learning Spanish, most of the churches project the words to the songs and often the sermon outlines on screen.

Celebrating Jane`s recovery, we made a day trip on Tuesday up to La Tigra National Park. This is a cloud forest, high elevation and always in the clouds so that there is a luxuriant growth of ferns, mosses, bromilades, orchids, and many many trees. It`s interesting that this area was once the scene of American mining exploitation. They hacked it up pretty bad while taking out millions in valuable metals and left when the Hondurans started talking taxes and unions. It`s been protected since the 80`s and is now the source of a major part of Tegucigalpa`s and 30 other communities drinking water. We got off the bus and found we had a 2 km hike up hill to get to the trailhead. We hiked the Esperanza (Hope) trail. It reminded me of the Olympic Rain Forest except that some enchantment had fallen over it transforming the ferns into trees , little vines into ropey cables, and, seemingly fallen from the sky, exotic bromiliades ( air plants) perched on every branch. Some of these look like Pineapples and some like houseplants gone crazy. We hiked and hiked and then almost ran out of the park, rushing to catch our bus, the last one. The bus driver had told us 3 PM but fortunately it was 340 PM, so we weren`t left behind.

This week the talks were on the Heimlich Manouever. This gave me lots of opportunity for physical humor, which the kids love, and a great need for volunteers, which gave me something to do with the rowdy ones. I asked about emergency services, you know they always tell us to call 911... I was told that even though the firemen drive fast, they`d be a long time getting to our neighborhood. I did get the school coordinators to call the Red Cross which do give classes.

I`m developing some habits, like swinging in the hammock in the morning, and tastes like mangoes with my granola that are going to be hard to satisfy when I`m back in Seattle. I think I`ll be able to keep my Spanish up, if I keep riding the bus. I do hope we can keep some of the attitudes like not being in too much of a hurry, and just enjoying being with people and talking. I don`t think I need to be "plugged in"
all the time. It`s been good for Jane and me not to have so many distractions so that we`ve had more conversation time and more shared experiences as well. Still sometimes I think she might want to smother me with my crossword puzzle book. I`m even doing it in Spanish sometimes.

Adios, for now and hasta luego. Gil.