Last month the bulldozers started moving earth and reshaping the landscape at the Palmerola site selected for the country’s new international airport. A site where both the Honduran Air Force trains its flight cadets and the US military maintains a presence. Visible from the front porch of my new home at night the Comayagua Valley floor reflects a long string of city and highway lights flanking the present airplane landing runway, a beautiful view indeed. Once the new airport is operational I will be able to board international flights 20 minutes from where I live. Quite nice indeed.

On the second day I was ready to throw in the towel. Besides the cost, painting the interior of a house is hard work. But better to paint it before you move in rather than afterward. My friend kept urging me on; for three weeks we toiled. Moving all my stuff took another four days. All the backbreaking suffering, however, was worth it. A totally purple house inside and outside does not induce creativity. On this Valentines Day I am taking my time rearranging and discarding. There’s no hurry. As a consolation prize I have booked hotels in La Ceiba and Tela to lounge on the Caribbean beaches for a week. I leave March 9th, a much happier man.