Coke From a Bottle

The nights here are thick and humid. With no air conditioning in the house, it can be difficult to fall asleep at night despite the fact that we have four fans in our room. We were a lot slower to rise this morning, but once we had some coffee and Fruit Loops in us, we were ready to go! We headed out to Armenia Bonito at 7:30 again. I rode in the back of the Pettengill's truck along with a few others. The fresh, tropic air was refreshing...except of course when we were stuck behind a diesel truck!

We continued work on the two houses in the community. Stephen Kelly, Karsten, Jeff Prager, and Cary Darden continued laying cinder blocks and leveling the inside of the foundation with dirt while the rest of us started mixing cement to pour in the trenches we dug yesterday. Most people would picture an enormous cement truck or at list a portable mixer; please feel free to abandon those visions. We piled up rocky sand into a large pile at the worksite and interspersed layers of cement mix with it. Then, we dug out the middle to form a crater and poured water in the resulting cavity. Using brute strength and shovels, we then mixed the sand and mortar gradually into the pool of water. Our first attempt was nearly catastrophic as I accidentally dug too far into the side and released all the water from the pool, resulting in cement shoes!

After lunch in the small town hall, Karsten, Samantha, Jeff, and I helped two of the missionaries host an English class. We had about fifteen people come, most of which were kids. Only three adults came. We taught them food related vocabulary and how to introduce themselves in English. It was a lot of fun for both ends as they laughed at our Spanish and we corrected their English. Afterwards, we hand out some of the goodies from the WIC committee in the church. It was a great success!

After English class we had a couple hours of down time which was filled with jovial conversations, kids climbing over us, and a venture to the river. Most of us jumped in and swam with the kids. I'm sure in your mind you are picturing a menacing, brown, murky river with phiranas and man-eating crocodiles swimming about, but it was in fact the exact opposite. Crystal clear water running over a bed of beautiful, multi-colored stones as wild horses grazed on the banks, all the while the majestic Pico Bonito rising through the settling clouds behind us. Picturesque to say the least.

The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was dinner out in La Ceiba by the beach side, delicious local food, and a table full of ice cold glass bottles of Coke. There's just something about Coke from a bottle. We're all looking forward to a good night's sleep and a successful day three!