Adventure Land

NOT Disney!

Last week we had friends here from Walnut Creek, CA. (SF Bay Area) The week was great and we were able to get 2 houses built - the first in Ojojona was fairly easy. It was close to the road and fairly easy to build. The second house was in Tatumbla - a place where lots of folks have lost houses to the mud and rains. We built a house for Maria Josefina and her son as the old place was no longer livable. When we arrived at the site, the wood was on the main road - about 3 KM above the town. There was an empty lot right next to the road so, I wrongly assumed that we would be building there. There was also a group of men waiting with the wood - I quickly found that they were there to help our little team carry wood. The lot for the new house was about a more than a quarter mile straight up the mountain on a muddy trail. There was an old house that needed to be removed too. The house was easily completed in a day and Maria was thrilled.

On Wednesday we went to the dump and afterward, JoHana took us to see little Marcos. I will post a picture very soon. He is beautiful. Once we took care of Johana, we were off to visit the homes of Luz and Jasinia - it is in grave danger of an immediate collapse of the entire mountain. I am looking for somebody in the government to help us with some land so we can build a new house - soon. Next, we were off to see Lourdes new baby girl. Lourdes is Fani's sister and she and the baby are doing well. They live in a gang infested neighborhood and three pick-up loads of gringos drew a lot of attention - but, all ended well.

On Thursday, the real Adventure Land began. We were off to the east to visit the farm that was recently purchased by my friend John Zeller. John and his brother have had an interest in owning a Honduras farm and this year, the place that they really wanted became available - so they bought it. The best description of how to get there is go to El Paraiso and turn left. Go two hours past the boon-docks and you will be at John's farm. John says it is only an hour and a half from El Paraiso but, I am not too sure about his ability to calculate time. The road on Thursday was rain soaked and it is up the mountain - the entire trip. Part of the ride is on the crest of the mountains - where there are cliffs on both sides. One especially "fun" part of the drive was a mud wash on a very steep climb. The road looked like it came from one of those mud bog competitions that is designed to keep even the best 4x4's from making the grade. About the time we - by the way, there was a sheer cliff on the left side of the narrow mud path. About the time we started up, it started raining harder than all day. John was heading up first and after slipping a good portion of the way, made it past the bog. My green toyota was the only vehicle with no issues and I was last. By the time I started up, the other two trucks had really rutted the road and my truck immediatly headed toward the cliff. My passengers were saying they would be willing to walk and lighten the load but, I told them that we were all in this together. If I am going off the cliff, it won't be alone. My next try was a bit better because instead of the cliff side, I went into the tree side and my truck was held back by a broken limb in the wheel well. Once I was cut out by my chainsaw, we were finally able to continue the adventure. A few KM later, we had to take all of the wood (for John's new outhouse) off of the toyota and re-stack and re-tie the load. Load shifts are hard to stop when the ruts make you drive 50% of the time on 2 wheels. anyway, through many prayers, a few tears, and lots of adventure driving, we arrived at the farm. We built the new outhouse - after first digging the 3x3x6ft deep hole. The ride down was easier and we survived 2 days with no outside world communication. All in all, it was best described as another great day in Honduras - adventure land. I am blessed with the best job in the world.