April in Paris..er I Mean Tegucigalpa

Well, it's April where I live...Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It's that time of year when all the farmers (and whoever else) want to clear their fields to get ready to plant this years crop. I'm thinking maybe someone should let them know about plowing under the leftover dead plants or even cutting them down to feed the many skin and bone horses and cows I see all the time. Below are 2 pictures. One was taken last year around September while looking out my window at work. The other was taken today from the same window. That smoke will linger until the rainy season, which starts sometime in July. Then the torrential downpours will wash all the smoke away and commence to flood the streets and wreck havoc. I love the word havoc. And knucklehead. I digress....back to the smoke issues.



This is the 'before' shot. Note the clear view of the mountains, the clear picture of the houses. Well, make that shacks. Over 80% of ths country live below the poverty level, with an average annual income of around $1500US. Annual.

And then we have today's shot below, with lots of smoke and a really big polution factor. The news says it's a combination of the smoke from burning fields here and from neighboring Central American countries and just plain old pollution. I'm supposed to fly to Utila Friday but when the visibility gets bad, some planes just won't start their engines here. Wish me luck...I can't wait to get snorkeling in the ocean.

In the meantime, does anyone have about 100 huge fans we can place stratigically here and there to help blow the smoke away??

A Visit/Reunion Home

In Honduras, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a time when the entire place celebrates by leaving town for the week. Since the Embassy closed Wednesday-Friday, I decided a trip home was in order. It's a good thing to go home every opportunity that comes up because my next post may be somewhere far away and I won't be able to afford the quick trips home to Texas.

The day before I left Tegucigalpa (April 3) my son surprised me with the news that he and one of my grandsons, Gavin, would be flying to Texas too. And then, a few minutes later, he told me my daughter was also flying in. What a treat! So, for the past week, I've been enjoying my daughter, son and grandson and my father. I love it!

Today is the last day here, with a very early flight back to Teguc in the morning. I decided that getting up at 4AM to return rent car and get through security and be ready for a 6:30AM flight was a pain. So, I booked a room for all of us at the Hyatt Regency at the airport. We will return cars (both mine and my daughter's) tonight and have a nice dinner and a good night's sleep. My son's flight isn't until 9:30 so he gets to sleep in! By tomorrow afternoon, we'll all be back in our respective homes.

My next scheduled trip home is next summer. I may have enough miles to make the Teguc-Kauai-Fort Worth loop early next year, but if I don't, I'll have a great 3 week home leave to look forward to next summer. I can't believe I'm halfway through with my tour in Honduras.

Being with family is the greatest...