Last week in Tegucigalpa I noticed for the hundreth time how shabby the capital city looks.  When I was in Guatemala City last June I couldn’t help but notice the difference as I cruised through their wide, clean European-style boulevards on the way to the airport.  Many sidewalks in Tegus are broken and in wide disrepair so much that one has to walk looking down so as not to trip or fall into a hole (which I have done) and to avoid stepping into a pile of garbage.  Not every street, of course, but most, and some in even worse repair.  I have seen poorly kept streets in many cities in Europe, Latin America and the US where I have traveled, but I’m sad to say none on the scale of Tegucigalpa.  Even the taxi drivers who by memory drive me through the teeming city warren absent of street signs comment on the disrepair and tell me it’s the fault of corrupt politicians.  Yet the city continues to exert a metropolitan aura that pulls in the citizenry in spite of its plight.  On the other hand, the country’s building practices are better than any I have seen in the States.  I have never seen linoleum on a floor in Honduras, nor plastic shower stalls, or the flimsy plaster board of which most US homes are constructed.  Here concrete block and brick are used to construct homes and real tile to floor those houses.  My kitchen, bathrooms and floors are completely tiled, as are most homes in the country (I’m not a very good housekeeper, sorry).  Finally, I include a couple of pics of my Saturday morning English class; from which two of my students are missing but will be included in future postings.  Stay tuned….