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La Ceiba

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A fter leaving NPH Honduras, we took one last week of “vacation” before returning home. We went to La Ceiba which is third largest city of Honduras and is on the Caribbean coast. It is close to beautiful beaches and is a good location for day trips to Pico Bonito National Park and the islands of Cayos Cochinos and Utila. We stayed in a nice beachfront hotel with a swimming pool and air conditioning which was much needed as the heat and humidity was greater on the coast than in the mountains where the ranch is located. The first few days we “decompressed” according to Allen which means that we read by the pool, swam, and walked around La Ceiba. Allen Being Chased By a Mural Shark La Ceiba Mural Allen Scoping Out Plants at a Nursery We booked a day trip to see Cayos Cochinos, a group of small coral islands maintained as a Marine Protected Area in Honduras. The sparse inhabitants live in fishing villages and are Garifuna which are mixed African and Amerindian ancestry originating in t
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La Ultima Semana (The Last Week)

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  This last week was our final week at the ranch, and it was jam full of “despedidas” or farewell celebrations. We gave our goodbye speech after mass on Saturday July 27 th not knowing that there would be another mass Friday morning (Aug 2). Luckily, we were not expected to give our speech twice, which was good because we got pretty choked up the first time. We wrote the speech in English, translated it to Spanish, then practiced a few times so that we could work on the pronunciation. We tag-teamed reading a part and then handed off to each other. We did not account for applause in between readings which made the speech longer than we expected, but the applause was heart-warming. Also, we were given an NPH wooden plaque and Lucas, who works with Allen, gave us Honduran soccer shirts with our names on the back. Farewell Cake from Dixiana & Cintia After Mass Goodbye Speech On Sunday we went on a hike guided by Lucas to an old cemetery on the NPH grounds. The hike looped to the n
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The Italians, Day of the Honduran, Grandparents’ Day

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  This week (again) there was a mishmash of occasions for Fiestas. The first was a visit from the Italians. As background, NPH serves children in nine different countries in central and south America and has international offices in almost a dozen countries most of which are in Europe besides the ones in the US and Canada. Although the largest number of donors for the children at NPH Honduras come from the US, the Italian office has the second largest number and has been very active in sending groups of young adults on trips here during their summer break. Last year we got to know one of the Italian chaperones, Enrico, quite well as he stayed for three weeks while three different groups came through and then stayed another month afterwards living in the volunteer house and helping with various tasks. He is back this year with a current group of about 20 young Italians. They work on projects during the day, then spend time with the children in the afternoon and evening. Thursday night
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A Thanks from the Tias

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  The caretakers (Tias) for Allen’s hogar, Divino Niño, wanted to show their appreciation of all the love and support he has given to them and to the children of Divino Niño over the past year by taking us out to eat. At first, Allen was not sure I was invited but later he was informed by the Tias that he had to bring me “or else” with the throat slashing motion if he did not. I love that they not just wanted to include me but insisted on it. Allen has developed a great rapport with his Tias who keep telling him to extend for one more year. At this point I think they are just joking although I am sure they would love it to be true as would many others on the ranch. On Wednesday morning they took us to a restaurant called Los Trupillos about a half hour drive North of the ranch. Although we went for breakfast, the menu was more like dinner options such as chicken or fish platters with side dishes. The restaurant has a huge garden area with lots of covered seating pavilions among t
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Getting Ready to Leave

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  Allen and I only have three weeks left on the ranch and it is going by way too quickly. The weeks seem to be even busier than before. This week we had a Padrinos Birthday outing during the day and a family project in the evening on Tuesday, all day spiritual retreats on Wednesday and Thursday, and a evening fiesta with music and cultural dance Thursday evening.  Honduran Dancing Posting Notecard on the Wall at the Padrinos Birthday Outing It does not leave a lot of time for planning our despedidas or goodbye parties. Everything must be celebrated in Honduras, even (or especially?) goodbyes. Here is a list of must do activities before you leave: Goodbye speech at the last mass ·        Some kind of celebration with our work group ·        A despedida with our hogars ·        A despedida with the volunteers – including adding our handprints to the wall in the salon. Allen and I have been thinking about what we want to do for each of these. He takes lots of pictures and wants to p
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New Volunteers and 4th of July

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Allen and I started our long term (13 month) volunteer assignment with NPH Honduras the first weekend in July last year and the latest batch of long-term volunteers arrived to begin July 1 this year. It seems strange to think that we are now the “experienced” ones showing them the ropes. All the volunteers that started before us, even those that extended their service, have left except for Sienna and Christine who have taken on permanent positions with NPH Honduras. Of our original group of eight, only three will be left after Allen and I leave plus the 3 that started in January. We are effectively turning over the volunteer duties to this new group who appear to be more than capable of handling it. In this group of volunteers, there is a retired couple and five young adults most of which just finished college. All but one of the new volunteers are here now; the last one will arrive in late August. Three of the new volunteers are men and Allen is happy to have male companionship at S
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Christmas Cards in June

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  I am not usually a last-minute person and normally start thinking about sending Christmas cards sometime in November before Thanksgiving. There are probably not a lot of us sending Christmas cards anymore as many people are moving onto digital cards which Allen and I have been receiving more frequently. Printed Christmas cards are starting to seem a little old school but somehow still feel more personal to me, especially when I can add a hand-written note directly to my friends and family. Plus, a lot of the recipients of my cards are my age or older and more used to physical cards. My Favorite Santa Last year I did not send Christmas cards because it is difficult to mail them from Honduras and they probably would arrive several months late if at all. We were able to get two packages from the US early on that only took 2 months, but I am still waiting for a letter from a friend for over 6 months. In retrospect, last year would have been a good year to switch to digital cards, but
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