In January I went to Guaimaca, Honduras....
I need to go back soon because I left my heart behind.
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THE CONVENT/GIRLS' SCHOOL
*I may not have been attentive on the convent tour....
*I may even have been a bad example to the other students...
*Okay, I wasn't really helpful.... union break
*My job was literally to move clumps of dirt from point A to point B
*Me and Mohamed fighting as Darth Maul
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LIFE IN THE SANTA ROSA DE LIMA MISSION
*Honduran Coooffeee!
*Father Craig, Sister Marta and Sister Maria
*Our bunks like Madeline (12 women in all in that room--us and 4 nurses)
*Mmm..... more Honduran coffee
*Our little yellow school bus
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MISSION FARM
*Sweaty and gross but exhilarated from picking cucumbers
*Ox Cart ride at farm
*Mary was the mission cook, she also helped at the farm that day
*Yippee! Riding in the back of the pickup--my favorite thing!
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EVERY DAY LIFE IN GUAIMACA
*Feeling rich as I fan my hundreds of limpera, but the Honduran economy is so bad it took almost 19 limpera to make one American dollar. So my thousand limpera was only about $55.oo
*Shopping at a market. Those potatoes were gross!
*Guaimacan "Gap" I got a skirt there for $3
*View from the convent, typical yard
*Bodega--seemed like everyone had a store in their home
*The mission had a flush toilet but that was a luxury. Most homes and churches have outhouses.
*Outdoor shower. No indoor plumbing.
*Growing and roasting coffee was as common as a garden.
*Self portrait while riding in back of a truck
*The BSC group walking from convent to mission
*Typical stove and oven (that's Olga)
*Yard of one of our new friends This particular home is considered "well off"
*Cows have the right of way
*Me and Beth being "King of the World"in a pickup bed
*How many Hondurans can you fit it a pickup?
*Guaimaca has two paved road that intersect and no
working street light. This is sunset over the wires--
pole on the left makes me think of Christ on His Cross
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ANIMAL PROBLEM
*Rare pet animals. All over Guaimaca there were hundreds and hundreds of scrawny street dogs. Basically what squirrels are to us. I came across three "pet" puppies and a handful of kept guard dogs, the rest roamed hungry and procreating. Even the pets are scrawny. The sleeping dog pictured is the nuns' pet Flaco (means Skinny).
*Cats were not so abundant. Between the starving dogs and the often equally starving people, cats are usually dined upon. I looked high and low for cats and kittens and only saw 12 the whole time. One of which was tied up in a home to fatten it like a calf, it was so sad.
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SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL
*One morning was spent delivering food for Saint Vincent de Paul. We brought some rice, powdered milk and cucumbers to the poorest of the poor and they were thrilled.
*Alas, childhood illnesses that are easily remedied in the U.S. become life long debilitations in Honduras
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ESKIMO!
*We ate...er, I ate... far too much delicious ice cream. I love you Eskimo Man!
*Some local kids out for ice cream with us
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SOCCER
*We were foolish enough to challenge the young people from the church to a soccer game-- they slaughtered us!
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DEVOTION OF THE PEOPLE
*These photos can't begin to do justice to the steepness of the mountain hills the villagers would walk miles in when they had the opportunity to attend Mass-- small children and the elderly included.
*We look down on our trucks because I had the brilliant idea of walking part way home so we could have the experience the people do. Man were our legs and lungs sore. That's me crossing a mountain stream.
*Musicians at San Bartolome, at Masses EVERYONE sings and the sign of peace is an experience
*This church was made possible because of the donations of money as well as pews, etc. by American parishes
*Looking down upon the two room, cinder block school that becomes a church when Padre Craig comes
*Father and daughter in their Sunday best
*After Mass everyone sings a few more songs, then Father Craig chats with the villagers as a group.
*Outside they commune even longer. Villages only have Mass about once a month, so they hate to say goodbye to him.
*I kept calling this chapel "the castle". After driving an hour or so up hill we parked the truck and walked up a hill too it.
*Bottom pic is the view of the horizon from the altar that morning. No mortal artist could create that.
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ADIOS
Father Craig & Mary say goodbye to us on the bus. Mary sand De Colores and made herself and us cry
*Coffee was about $3.50 (American) a pound so I filled a suitcase. I looked like a drug dealer.
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INCREDIBLE BEAUTY
*Just some beautiful shots of that incredibly gorgeous country.... all gifts of God...
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