Kyle Week 4.1: "Watch the gringo"

This is what I deserve for complaining about riding around in the car.

Don Porfilio. Age 90. Status: Jeffe (boss). Area of expertise: manual labor.

Comments: Don Porfilio has no teeth left. It has obviously come from chewing up gringos and spitting them out like watermelon seeds. The man is a dynamo and a slave driver. Kendra, Katie and I were given to him to work at planting king grass on Tuesday. We hiked two miles up a mountain to the field which needed to be trenched before planting. Upon realizing that we did not have enough tools to all work at the same time, Don Porfilio hiked back down the trail and returned with two more hoes and a pick-axe. In the hour that he was gone the gringos and Louis, had finished two rows. While the four of us were working on the third row, Don Porfilio finished a row and a half singlehandedly. At one point Don Porfilio chastized Louis for not trenching the right way. "Watch the gringo! Even he is doing better than you!" We were obviously outclassed. When we ran out of water at eleven a.m. and couldn´t raise our arms above our heads, he suggested we hike back down, get water and hike back up to work until four. That did not appeal to the girls who had other work that they had to do in the afternoon, but after the backhanded compliment from earlier, I felt the need to prove that I could do a days work of labor even if I was a gringo. After drinking a liter and a half without stopping, I hiked back up the mountain and worked until quitting time. In broken spanglish, I accidentally promiced to return the next day and help them finish the field.

Louis. Age 14. Status: Jeffito (little boss). Area of expertise: working and laughing with Don Porfilio about the gringos.

Comments: Louis is the size of one of David´s legs. He can out-trench, out-cut, and out-climb me on any given day and still bounce down the hill at quitting time. If he wasn´t so much fun, I don´t think I would like him very much. On day two of my ranch-labor experience, Louis taught me how to wield a huma (sp?), a machete-like blade used to clear brush and grass. We cleaned an entire hillside of brush so that coffee could be planted. By hill side, I mean almost a cliff. Everytime I stepped there was a definate chance of sending a boulder bounding pass Don Porfilio below. I missed twice. I believe with my whole being that the boulder would not have broken Don Porfilio; Don Porfilio would have broken the boulder.

p.s. Strait out the udder.
Walking down the mountain Tuesday after working in the field all day, I spotted Arle by the milking parlor and walked over to speak to him. It was 90 degrees in the shade and I was sweating and thirsty and when I saw Arle drinking milk, I almost gagged. The dairy cows were being milked and as I told him about working with Don Porfilio, he was drinking milk from a cup that had been filled with fresh milk. By fresh I mean that he stuck it under the udder and filled it right out of the cow. Fresh squeezed cow juice. Arle offered me the last of the cup and I had to pause. It was one of those moments when you have to weigh the pros and cons of each decision. On one hand I was hot, sweaty and thirsty for something cold and made of water; on the other I had to wonder how many chances would I have in life to drink milk like this.
It was thick, very warm, and frothy, which surprised me, but not as much as the flavor. It was almost as sweet as melted ice cream and just as creamy. I drank the last of Arle's glass, stuck the glass back under the cow and downed another cup without hesitation. Mind you that I am a skim milk with ice to water it down kind of guy. The real stuff is good. Gave me the boost I needed to walk back to the house. Now if I can just talk David into getting me some in the mornings for breakfast...

week 4

copan was super amazing! totally worth the 20 hours of my life wasted watching bad american movies dubbed over in spanish. as david jones jumped across the stage like a caged ballena we all wondered if slinkys really have pockets... kyle aka the domino. jaclyn and i have acquired a love hate relationship with twix and snickers however ice cream will always be ok. the celtics won! boo lakers.
-amy

Mayan ruins and king grass

Kendra is reporting again. It has been amazing here and I have kept busy. Last Wednesday was cool because Hailey and I got to help plant coffee on a mountainside. Then she was amazing because she helped me lay out the plots for the legume research. It was harder work than I expected.

Thursday, I worked at the Refuge in the morning doing some office work. Then Hailey, Ami, Heather and I got to go with Shelly to the Duyure school. It was awesome!!! Shelly had a meeting with the teachers while we got to play with all the kids. Heather seemed to enjoy herself a lot. There was a mango tree in the yard of the school. Heather adores mangoes, so I told her to grab one. I asked permission if we could and the guard said yes. He went inside and then came out with another 8 or 9 mangoes for us all. It was so very amusing. We also had another spanish lesson and I think it was the best one yet.

Friday, we left for Copan. We left Las Palmas really really early in the morning. Olman was amazing because he drove us to Choluteca, so we could catch a bus to Tegus. Then we rode from Tegus to San Pedro Sula. We spent a long while waiting in the bus station, but eventually we got to our hotel in Copan.

Saturday we saw the mayan ruins. It was so cool. Our guide, Saul, was also a music teacher and he kept singing various parts of songs. We got to explore a little on our own too. Later that afternoon, we walked around the town and did some shopping. Sunday was basically spent on lots of buses coming back to San Marcos.

Monday, I stayed on the ranch. Heather and I helped clean the coffee plants on the mountainside in the morning and then I did some data collection with the legumes in the afternoon. Tuesday, I worked on the ranch with Kyle and Katie. We prepared the soil for planting king grass and we did it with shovels and pickaxes. I have not had a workout like that for a really long time. Then I had to do some more data collection with the wonderful legumes.

I am in the office today at Choluteca. I have been working on inputting dairy production records into my computer all day today.

I am having a great time in Honduras and God is teaching me some amazing things about his character and my relationship to him.

We gave Kyle as a sacrifice the the Mayan Gods

This past Friday we skipped out on our work and headed to Copan. Copan is a city in the north of Honduras that is home to an ancient Mayan city. Early Friday morning (4:30) we left our house on the ranch and headed to Choluteca where we caught a bus to Tegus. In Tegus we got on another bus that took us to San Pedro Sula, where we got on yet another bus that took us to Copan, where we arrived at 9:30 at night. The bus rides, while extremely long, were a lot of fun. The realization between the U.S. and Honduras truly hit me during this bus ride. On one of the bus rides they served bags of potato chips. I was sitting on the very back row of the bus, and therefore got my bag of chips last. When the chips got to me there was only one bag left, I grabbed it and did not think anything of it. When I was about to open it, however, I realized that it had already been opened and had been re-sealed shut with packing tape. Normally this would detour me from eating the chips inside, however, I was pretty hungry, and Loren bet me I would not eat them, so I ate them anyway.
Copan is a very fun city to visit. The actual town of Copan is a very lively little town, filled with tourists from around the globe. There are many good restaurants to eat at, and lots of hand made goods that you can haggle the price over with the locals. Saturday morning we went to the ruins just outside of the city, and it was an awesome sight. It is amazing to see buildings built by people from so long ago, and with such an interesting history. Our tour guide, Saul, made it a very fun experience for all of us with his depth of knowledge of the Mayan people. Copan is definitely a place I would suggest visiting and a place I would like to go back to.
David

Sweet nectar

This summer is still going really well. This past week was good and I got to spend a lot of time in the medical aspect of it. Sunday Meredith invited us over for dinner and its so cool how precious being invited over is here. We then went to Cedena i believe and went to church on the coast. Monday I went to the school in San Marcos...I liked it, but the kids wore me out! Haley was so energetic though...she made up for my slack. ¨Tues and today we did the nutrition program. I am really appreciative of the way Javier handles the people and how he teaches us SO much. We also did a lot of waiting in the car today, but it was the best spanish lessons I have had yet. Lexi, Loren, Katie and I sat in the car and talked spanish for an hour or two. Not really sure...but it was so much fun! Yesterday was the clinic and gave a couple of shots. Heather gave her first shot and it was awesome!! Javier is such an awesome teacher...its like school except 100X better. Tomorrow we go to Copan! Im excited about it and hope to get some laundry done beforehand...we just got our dryer fixed. All is good. Because of Him,
Jaclyn

a weekend in Honduras

This is Kendra again. So, on Saturday night we went to dinner in San Marcos and it was really good. Then we went back to the intern house and watched Scrubs until Heather, the newest addition to our intern family arrived. She is really cool and I was very glad to meet her.

Sunday morning, I started to input the dairy records into my computer. It is very exciting work. Then for lunch we went to Meredith´s house and it was AMAZING! Then we went to a church in a town near the pacific ocean. It was really hot and the bugs were bad, but we had a great time praising the Lord. I learned a lot from the sermon, which was about faith in God.
Then we went to Pizza Hut in Choluteca for dinner. It was a great day.

On Monday, I went into the office to get caught up on emails, do some necessary research and begin to meld two questionnaires together. I have one that covers questions about farming practices and I am combining it with a medical one. The interns will be conducting these surveys in a village near the Mission Lazarus´coffee plantation. I am really looking forward to that.

Today, I went to the school for the first time. The kids were so cute. I had fun teaching them to write and playing with them. Now Haley, David and I are just hanging out in San Marcos.

Tomorrow I hopefully will finally subdivide my legume fields. Thursday, I will be working in the Refuge and on Friday all the interns are leaving to go to the Ruins at Copan for the weekend. I love Mayan history and I really am excited to be going. It should be an exciting weekend.

So, it has begun

Well this is Kendra with an update on her summer. So last Friday there was a hurricane. Therefore, we spent the whole day stuck in our house. It was great to get to know everyone better and I started reading the chronicles of Narnia. That day reminded me of the Wood between the Worlds because nothing happened and the day was the longest day in history, but I was not bored. Saturday, we were pretty much stuck again, but we got to go to San Marcos for a bit in the afternoon. It was nice to see a few more people.

Sunday, we went horseback riding. I was definitely scared, but I had a lot of fun. Then in the evening we went to church at the Church of Christ in San Marcos. A group of North Americans had arrived from Alabama, so there were lots of us in church. Then we ate dinner with them. It was really good.

Monday, the internship really started. I worked on the ranch. I learned to tie different knots, feed calves and shuck corn. I had a great time and I was able to practice my spanish a lot.

Tuesday, we went with the medical group to a village near Las Palmas. I was a translator for a nurse. It was really scary because I had never done something like that before, but I believe I was competent. Afterward, we were unable to cross the river because it had rained. The interns then went off on a minor adventure. We wandered through the mountainous woods, crossed a small stream, a fence and a stone wall to get back to our house. It was SO much fun. Then we found that the rain had caused a minor flood in our house. We had fun cleaning up the mess. Yay, rainy season. Then we had another spanish class. It was exciting as well.

Wednesday we went with the medical group to the village near the Mission Lazarus´ coffee plantation. I was a translator again. That community has a lot of problems with malnutrition, fungi and parasites. I am glad that we were able to help them a bit. Then we went back to the ranch. I was really tired, so I went to bed early.

Thursday, I worked at the refuge. Basically, I had the amazing task of organizing a really big messy storeroom. It took me three hours, but I was proud of my work. I also helped to shelf books for the library. We then had some dinner and then went to another spanish lesson. We had another minor flood in our house, which we had to clean up before bed.

Friday, I worked on the ranch. We planted coffee plants on the side of a mountain for all the morning. Gustavo gave me access to the dairy records, so I will start to put them into my computer. Then in the evening I helped with a movie night for the children´s home. We watched Shrek 3 in spanish. It was a good day.

Today we slept in. We went for another horseback ride. This time I was better at controling my horse and we trotted. It was cool. I am excited for what will happen next week.

God is teaching me a lot here. He is teaching me about relating to people, living in his will and patience. He is slowly transforming me to become more like his Son. I truly love it here.