🌞 Sizzling Hot Photos🌞

 

August 2024
When you travel to the tropics in the summer, you know it is going to be a sizzling time. As I am preparing this photo blog, I am settled into a chair - not outside, but inside under the helicopter blades of the ceiling fan - and we are ready for lift-off..... 

While the temperatures are sweltering, it is the incredible opportunities that have really warmed our hearts. We hope you, too, are warmed as you see these smiling faces.

Cute Kids

Of all our pictures, the ones that warm our hearts the most are those pictures of the kids we know. They call out to us as we walk by their houses. They are happy to have their pictures taken. They don't want anything from us but attention. 

(l-r) Genesis, Daniel and their cousin waiting with us at the beach before church,
Lestil and blue-eyed Lola perform, Matthew and a friend in costume at school,
Enoch trying to escape the heat.

Up, Up Visiting

Over the past few weeks we have had lots of opportunities to go visiting. Sometimes Larry comes along, sometimes he finds other activities. Some visits happen as we are out walking. We know our feet are guided to the gate of those we should see. Visits into the Colonias are always up. I have tried to encourage people to move a little closer but that seems to be understood as a joke. (Maybe the idea is lost in translation?) There are 3 main roads/paths that can be taken and we have friends up each path. I enjoy the way up through the Colonia named Monte Fresco (Fresh Mountain). There are tall trees that provide shade and much refreshment along the way. Each visit I stop to take a photo of the "three sisters" tree. 

Can you see the three trunks wound together?

(top l-r) Greicy, her sister-in-law and kids, Dilan and Milli; Sandra and kids,
another Sandra with her youngest, Eliana; (bottom, l-r) Ashley and kids;
baby Alexia with her two (rival) grandmas 

Samona's for Food

We live next to the very best local food restaurant on the island. Samona is Chris' (Chris and Laura) sister. She has a reputation for good food and feeds most of our neighbourhood. 

Tortilla Time

While visiting at Arezzi's one morning I was able to watch her daughter, Keliani preparing lunches for the family. She was making baleadas - tortillas with bean paste filling. Keliani is one of our students and does not like having her picture taken. But she did let me take a few photos as she worked. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, oil and water; knead; pinch off little balls; roll in the hands and then flap, flap, flap from hand to hand to shape. The flat dough-patty goes on a hot, oiled pan for about 30 seconds per side and then it is ready. Bean paste (kidney beans cooked down to paste) is put on half the warm tortilla. It is then folded in half and a baleada is ready for lunch. Do I have a picture of a baleada? Oops - no. I was busy with another activity. 

Lempira Day

July 20 is the day Hondurans celebrate one of their national heroes - the chieftain and warrior, Lempira. In the 1530s, Lempira led a band of warriors to resist the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors. According to tradition, he was tricked by the Spanish and murdered. Honduran money is called the lempira in his honour. School children celebrate each year. I was able to visit with children from two local schools and marveled at native costumes. 

School Daze

There are 3 or 4 kindergarten classes in the kindergarten schools in the Colonia. In the classroom I visited, I was impressed with how tidy and welcoming the classroom was. Modelo is the big public school serving the community of Sandy Bay. Kids from grade 4 - 9 attend in the mornings, and grades 1 - 3 (maybe a kindergarten for none-Colonia children?) attend for the afternoons. Just inside the Colonia, there is the Sandy Bay Adventist School (SABS) with 150+ K - grade 9 students. SABS is the school we support in various ways. During the past few weeks I have had opportunities to practice reading in English with small groups from grade 4 to 9. The Honduran schools are in session from February to November so, yes, it is hot at this time in a room full of active kids. There is a private bilingual school down the beach that is on summer vacation now as it uses the North American timetable.

(top to bottom) Kindergarten school in the Colonia. Look how attentive the kids are!
they love their teacher; Modelo - such a busy school inside the classes and out;
SABS - such polite students, we love them!

Dog Days of Summer