San Jose, Guatemala

Yesterday was a great day which began slowly, with some much needed studying. Late morning, I meandered down the hill in to town and then took a taxi over the bridge to the church where I met up with Dunia and the family for lunch.

Lunch was great;

This is the Noni tree from which tea can be made (I tried some the other day at Casa de te) and it is supposed to have excellent medicinal properties;

More papayas anyone?

Afterwards I walked to the bridge where I waited to be picked up by Ellen and the Amigos (kinda sounds like a movie). The plan was to head to San Jose, Guatemala to see the medical clinic that was sponsored by Amigos of Honduras along with some other private donors (Thanks Wildcats!!!). When the truck arrived I jumped in to the back of the pick-up, a common way to ride here. The weather could not have been more perfect. Blue sky and hot! Ellen had mentioned the day before that I wouldn’t need my passport as we were taking the back roads……and looking at the border between Honduras and Guatemala I could see why.The border is defined by the cut in the trees and the fence post. Someone joked that the gentleman was immigration.

San Jose is a small Mayan chorti village, about 15 minutes over the border. Until the clinic was built they had to walk to Copan for medical help. Presently the clinic gets a doctor one day a month and all the villagers who needed medical attention have already been seen. Once the Guatemalan government can find a doctor to work there, there will be a doctor and nurses there more frequently. We arrived to find the women making bread, a process which fascinated me. It is hoped that they will soon be able to make enough to sell to surrounding areas and in Copan;

The oven is made predominantly from mud. Once there are only ashes, they are pushed aside and the trays of bread placed inside the hot oven for about ten minutes;

Once cooked, the bread is removed from the oven, assisted by ladies who push the pans of bread towards another who removes them;

In addition to bread, they made us coffee….it doesn’t get much fresher than this. Their process for heating the coffee is simple yet ingenious;

Next we went to see the clinic. It is still being finished but they do have medicine there now which was locked away.

We got to try the bread and coffee which they had made especially for us. It is probably some of the best bread I’ve ever tasted…it had a slightly sweet taste to it and it was amazing.

Of course, the amigos had some toys and candy for the kids. It’s always great to see their faces as they get something new;

The village of San Jose is very poor, but there seemed to be a different feel to the village that was hard to describe. The villagers are obvioualy extremely fond of Ellen and Marel who have put so much time, effort and stress in to getting the clinic built. Their leader Leopold knows how much energy this project took and he was so thankful for the clinic and what it means to his village. I know in speaking to Ellen that she is very fond of this village and it was easy to see why. They are truly wonderful people who willingly shared what they had with us, when they themsleves have virtually nothing;

Once again I took so many photos it was hard to choose which ones to add to the blog. here are a few more;

Stuck in the mud....everyone out!

To change tract for a moment, most of you are probably not aware that Honduras is about to have an election on November 24th to vote in a new president. There are two main parties, the Nacionalistas (blue) and the Liberales (red) as well as multiple other parties such as Libre (also red), a break off group from the Liberales. Opinion here seems to think that the Nacionalistas will win again. This weekend was the last weekend the parties were allowed to canvass and advertise for votes. This past Friday the Liberales had a big rally in town and last night was the Nacionalistas. I asked why the break in soliciting before voting and was told that this give the people time to think about their decision and how they want to vote. Then, as of next Fridy, two days before voting, there is a ban on the sale of all alcohol which lasts until Tuesday morning, a day after the vote. This is to try to cut down on any violence or problems as a result of the results. I happened to be in town the day the Nacionalistas were to hold their rally;

Anyway, gotta run. Out for now.