In The Midst of Chaos

My first overseas assignment and my first coup. I'm way too old for this.

Of course, I know it's no laughing matter. It's sad when a government is so terribly corrupt. It's sadder when it looks like he will get away with holding a 'poll' of the people to see if he should run for an additional term when the country's constitution forbids it. It's a shame when his best friend is Hugo Chavez. So, the military did what it felt it needed to do to preserve Democracy. They gave him an early wake up this morning, arrested him and whisked him away to Costa Rica. Then they proceeded to name the president of the Congress as the new President and he will serve out the remaining 6 months of Zelaya's term. They state they have a signed resignation from Zelaya...Zelaya denies it...the plot thickens by the minute.

This morning, there were tanks in the streets, jets flying low, soldiers with menacing looking guns and of course, supporters of Mel Zelaya in the streets. I haven't heard of any violence. Wait..I did hear that the Ambassadors of Cuba and Nicaragua somehow managed to find themselves in the street somewhere, one of them with a few bruises. But that has yet to be confirmed. Sad.

Messages have been sent out over the emergency radios that all embassy people were to stay home. I've done that all day. I've had a few calls from my bosses, filling me in on what's happening, which is very little. The last call came a few minutes ago informing me of the good news that I was Essential Personnel and (the bad news) I would have to report to work tomorrow. Apparently, the embassy will function on a limited staff for the safety of all Americans and locally employed staff (LES). And a word about our LES...they are the best in the world!!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring. In my mind, Zelaya's supporters are gathering around the campfire and planning their strategy. Chavez has vowed to defend Zelaya's right to be president...and he has placed his troops on standby. This has all the makings of a Movie of the Week.

P.S. All information here has been taken from different news sites. You can go to http://www.cnn.com/, http://www.elheraldo.hn/ or any other news source and probably read even juicier and/or more up to date stuff than what I've written here.

Father's Day Suggestion

Father's Day is just around the corner. My father is 94 and for years I would try and come up with something special for him. A new sweater. A massager thingy. It was always hard to find something he would enjoy, knowing he already had everything. I then hit on the idea of giving him words from my heart. The first Father's Day Letter was thanking him for things that he did for me when I was young but never knew that a thank you would have been nice. It brought tears to his eyes. The next year, I wrote him about special memories as a child, times he made possible. Times that might not have been special at the time, but now are very special. Last year my annual letter to Dad was about the future. At 93, sometimes it's good to talk about what is still ahead. Like teaching his new grandson to play golf. Or to tell stories about how he ran bootleg when he was a teen. Well, maybe not that. My father has so many stories in his head...I wish he would be better about using the cassette recorder that was given to him to just talk into, recounting the adventures of his life. Years from now, his great grandsons would love to hear their great grandfather's voice. I know I will.

So, if you just don't want to give Dad another tie or bottle of aftershave, sit down at your computer and decide what you want to say to him. It's amazing...once you get started, it's hard to stop. I'm about to write my Father's Day message to my dad, tuck it in a card and mail it to him. He's in Texas, I'm in Honduras. A virtual hug will have to do until I get there later this year.

Love you Dad...Happy Father's Day.

Debi

A Necklace of What????

I love jewelry. I have some very very nice pieces. Most of it is safely stashed away in a safe deposit box in a bank in Fort Worth, Texas. There's way too much crime where I live to wear diamonds and 14 carat gold.

Today I went to Valle de Angeles, a small village just outside of Tegucigalpa, Honduras where I live. I took a new member of the embassy staff to show her what a fun place it was and to hit some of the many little shops there. They sell everything, all handmade. We bought some artwork, wooden bowls, fresh mangos, painted pottery. And I bought a necklace. This is a most unusual necklace. When my friend Sally and I would go to Valle, we made sure we visited all our favorite shops. In one of these shops, they had a rack with lots of necklaces. I would admire this particular style of necklace. It was made with many small somethings (I had no idea what) that were practically weightless. The only problem was that they were always in colors that just didn't appeal to me. I was more intrigued with what they were made of than anything else.

Well, today, in one shop we visited that I had never been to, I saw the necklace with the same material. It was in many shades of brown and came with matching earrings. The owners of this shop were most helpful and immediately, without me asking, told me what the composition of this jewelry was.

I'm here to tell you that I am now the proud owner of a necklace made of FISH SCALES....multiple strands of lovely brownish taupe fishscales tied together in a lovely delicate brown thread with occasional brown glass beads. Who would have ever thought I would be wearing fish scales around me neck and on my ears???? Click on the picture for a larger version.

In Honduras, nothing goes to waste. And I think I'm going to have fun with this necklace! I'm thinking...Christmas presents!

Mother's Day 2009

My mother died in January 1976. I would give anything if she were alive today so that I could tell her how much I loved her and how I appreciated everything she did for me...the sacrifices she made for me. And watch her face as she read the sappy card I always bought for her. Mother's Day is not just another Hallmark card day. It's a special day that hopefully makes you think about your mom and the love that exists between you both.

Mom, if things are as I hope they are, you've most likely heard me the many times I looked up and told you home much I love you and miss you today.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I love you...

Mother's Day 2009

Today I thought about being a mother. As I look back on my role, I think I've done a pretty good job. Sure, there are a few things I would have done differently but overall, I'm very proud of my 2 children...very very proud.

In May of 1973, my daughter entered the world, causing me considerable pain! She was ready to make her grand entrance but my body wouldn't cooperate. After way too many hours in labor, my doctor decided to do an emergency C-section. I have to tell you...babies born in this manner are just gorgeous babies! There no distortion of the head, no trauma of that push push push action..just slice and deliver! She was born on Saturday night, at 11:50 PM. Ten minutes later, at midnight, I experienced my very first Mother's Day. The nurse in recovery will probably never forget it becuase as she was checking my IV, I turned my head to her and promptly vomited this lovely purple stuff. Ahhh yes..a day to remember!

She always had her index fingers extended and as she grew, she would touch new things delicately and with just one finger. I would go shopping with her in the stoller and people would stop me and comment on what a beautiful baby I had! She grew more beautifu as time went on, both inside and out. Today, at almost 36, she is one of my 2 most favorite people in the world.

The other most favorite person in the world to me is my son. He was due on Valentine's Day, 1975 but decided he was in just the right position to come a week early. My doctor scheduled my repeat C-section for noon on February 7th. I went to the hospital, was prepped and at about 11:45 was wheeled into the delivery room. My doctor came over to me and told me there was a group of med students who had not observed a C-section and did I mind an audience. At that point, you really don't care who sees you and I said sure. In walks about 17 students, all dressed in their surgical greens. My doctors start doing whatever they do on the other side of that green curtain and I after a bit, I turned my head to look at some of the students. One in particular had a funny look on his face. About that time, my doctor said "It's a boy!" This medical student kept looking more and more shocked and I kept asking..what's wrong? As it turned out, nothing was wrong...my son was just a big baby! Today, at 34, he is the father of 3 sons...Gavin will be 3 next month and Micah and Makana turned 1 last March.

Everyone should be as fortunate as I am to have such wonderful kids. And this Mother's Day I will look back on the good times as well as the trying times. I'm in Honduras, far from my children who are in Washington DC and Hawaii. Distance has not and never will diminish my love for them.

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...