She’s not that Mexican, mom, she’s my Mexican…and she’s Columbian or something.

Ok, a tip of the hat to my sister as I begin a new feature to El Amor Prohibido…the rolling update!

August 31
Just got back from the village I visited earlier in the month, this time to finish the topo study. Another excellent visit, this time spent going from the tank to every house. Overall it took four days to complete, even longer than the conduction line. I really should write some more about it because I loved being up there and doing it but it was the same thing as the last time, just alongside the roads of the town. I stayed with the same family and they were great and I love doing the work and left on Thursday afternoon feeling like I had been very productive. I haven’t done anything yet, just to be clear, but the grunt work portion of the system design is now complete.

September 2
First off, I really can not believe it is already September. That happens to me when I am back in the States as well, so really having nothing to do with being in Honduras for the first summer of my life. But seriously, where have the last few months gone? College football has already begun (and with an opening weekend win for BC and major loss at home for Notre Dame, can it get any better?), pro football is not far behind, baseball is entering crunch time, tennis is in the year’s final grand slam…it’s a good time to be a sports fan. The truth is that at the moment I am enthralled with soccer and I take it in any shape or color I can get it (including the MLS!), but no matter where I am there is always the nostalgic tug of the sports I grew up watching and will always love. But I digress…

Yesterday, the first day of September, was the anniversary of the founding of Victoria, Yoro as a town 105 years earlier. As such there was a little festival throughout the day which began with fireworks at 4am (I was still asleep, have no doubt) and then a parade several hours later that included all the municipal workers and schoolchildren and teachers. My sitemate and I were out with cameras in tow, documenting the action, and it really was a festive atmosphere. After the parade several tents appeared in the main square area and people were selling all sorts of local dishes for several hours as a band from a neighboring town played. By about 1pm or so the excitement was fading and the sun had sapped what was left of everyone’s energy, but overall a good day and unique experience.

September 6
Today is Thursday and I just returned from several days of “seclusion” spent near the center of Honduras with about a dozen other volunteers that had been plucked from the north to wait out Hurricane Felix. We stayed in a modest hostel type compound and though there was very little to do for the three days we were there they did feed us three meals a day, so we had that going for us. As far as I know Felix did not do too much damage to Honduras—areas of the north and west had flooding but overall the country was fortunate not to have the casualties that Nicaragua sustained. In our little campsite area there was some rain but nothing unusual and very little wind at all. Overall the reunion with fellow volunteers was good for meeting new people, getting to read (a lot), and playing some Beirut (just a little). There really is not much to do here and unfortunately I have to come back to this exact spot next week for a “re-connect” meeting with all the wat/san volunteers. This week was supposed to be another topo study in a different village but that plan was chucked as soon as I got the call Monday morning to meet in a new city by the end of the day.

When I arrived back to my town I found three guys repairing the roof of my house. Good to have the work begin, absolutely, but it does mean the house is now full of broken tiles and other debris and mountains of dust. Once this is done it will be so nice to not have the fridge in the living room and not have to move my laptop from spot to spot when it starts raining. As soon as the guys left for the day I swept and cleaned just as much as necessary to do a little cooking and not breath in dust all night, and took out mr. laptop and sat down to a few choice episodes of arrested development. Aaahhhhh, it’s good to be home!

September 10
Monday morning now as I write and just found out last night by talking with another volunteer that I don’t need to leave today for the reunion with team water/sanitation. That deal starts tomorrow but not first thing in the morning so there’s no need for me to jump on a bus today—I’m hoping I can make it there by noon mañana. Great weekend just completed out here. First off, the roof is done and looks solid. Surprisingly there has not been an extended rain to test things yet but I am very hopeful. So in fact most of the weekend was spent cleaning things up after the roof guys left and re-organizing yada yada yada but now its all done and the casa looks good. Saturday night I was cooking myself some dinner when in stopped a couple of friends of mine from town to say hi and we all ended up eating what I had cooked together. This type of thing happens all the time to my sitemate, but since I had moved into the house this was the first time for me. Excellent stuff…can you say “town integration”? Then on Sunday night a friend of Gen’s who is a volunteer from a nearby town came by and we all piled into her kitchen to help her cook an amazing dinner. By help I mean we watched her kind of closely and occasionally got in her way, of course. Anyway, here was the meal: breaded chicken fried in sesame seeds, covered in a mandarin chile sauce with wild rice and steamed broccoli on the side. Really? Let’s be clear: this is on another level of meals from what I was cooking for myself in San Diego, so you can imagine what I’m whipping up in Honduras. Needless to say it tasted even better than it looked and it looked damn good. Then we all sat down to a special viewing of the original “Nightmare on Elm Street”. It is creepy, in case any of you had forgotten, and despite some bits of horrendous acting it holds up pretty well.

September 14
Just finished the four day reunion with water/sanitation kids. It was a good time but I am eager to get back to my site because tomorrow is the day Honduras celebrates its independence. Also, I haven't checked internet yet so I have no idea how things are going in the world of sports--ie, don't mock me for a Redskins score I dont know yet!

Talk to everyone soon. Much love, Joe