I have bowed to nature’s whim and decided to return home to La Paz. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I return my rental car. My foot remains swollen and it is difficult for me to walk. It’s not really walking but more like hobbling along, much like a doddering old man. Which, come to think of it, is what most passersby would probably consider me to be. The horror: reason enough to leave. I did get to visit with a couple of my good friends in La Masica though, on that first day right after the accident. The rest of my time here in La Ceiba I have parked myself in various seaside restaurant/bars killing the pain with beer, elevating my leg, and eating excellent seafood. What a way to go, eh? But after five days, go I must. Home to recuperate. Best news is that there is no bone fracture; I can bear weight, a little more each day.

Today, November 1st, I drove to La Masica to visit with my former contraparte, my counterpart from my posting there in 2009, the directora of the Ramon Rosa Elementary School. As we moved to leave for lunch I walked over to open the 300 kilo metal gate for her; after she drove through and I tried to close the gate the whole thing collapsed off its rollers onto my left ankle and foot. Pinned underneath, I yelled for help, the campus empty because all the school-kids had gone to a science fair. Oblivious to my peril, my friend had driven her car down the block to her mother’s house. A BIG ouch! Two young guys ran to me from across the street and lifted the heavy porton off my leg. Tonight I sit in my hotel room with an ace wrap on my swelling ankle and elevated on a pillow barely able to walk. There’s no ice here and I can’t go get any. More later….

Happy Hala-mel-weenie as my late, great father used to say with an impish chuckle. No pictures this post. I will be traveling to the North Coast tomorrow for Halloween. Five days in La Ceiba visiting friends and five days of solitude in Tela relaxing on the beach at a seaside hotel enjoying the white sands, palm trees and the beautiful, blue Caribbean lapping at my feet. I last stayed in Tela about four years ago at a Peace Corps workshop. For my money it’s the most beautiful of Honduras’ beachside municipios. Although Trujillo runs a close second simply because it is so far away: 12 hours by bus from La Paz. Tela is just 4 and a half hours from La Paz. Cheers!

Orphans Outreach is a Stateside group that periodically sends norteamericano volunteers to Honduras, seen establishing the foundation for a soccer field lawn for the children. The Outreach Coordinator based in Tegucigalpa, Austin, pushing the wheelbarrow above coordinates the activities for each group that arrives for a 4 to 5 day period in-country. They are one of many norteamericano volunteer groups who donate their time providing hands-on assistance to Honduran development projects as the country mobilizes native resources utilizing home-grown talent from their nascent educational system. The new Hogar San José was designed, developed and built by Hondurans.

Sister Edith and I visited the new building site last weekend with the children jumping into the proposed reflecting pool that they see as their new swimming pool of course and Sister Edith joined them in the cool water on a hot day. Afterward I drove the kids to an ancient 3,000 year-old Lenca indigenous site where exist buried pyramids 25 minutes from La Paz just waiting to be excavated, explaining to them their ancestors’ heritage and the pride they should feel at their place in the universe. We climbed buried mounds I told them were filled with Lenca treasures and they wanted to begin digging right away!

A day at the zoo. The children were treated to an unbelievable adventure last Sunday by the Virginia Hospital Center Medical Brigade. They had never seen a real live camel or tiger or lion or giraffe or jaguar or zebra in the flesh. They were so excited. The fantabulous day at the Joya Grande Zoological Parque near Lago de Jojoa was topped off with a super lunch and a swim in a king-sized pool. What a day!

 Jeez, Louise, I had my computer guy do some adjustments on my computer and I lost all my parade photos and others documenting my monthly progress reports at the new building. Curses. Seven of the Hogar’s young lady residents were, however, able to participate in the parade thanks to a generous grant by the Scott Family Foundation from Texas, USA whose founders helped purchase the uniforms and attendant equipment. These are the only pics that survived. The girls were so happy and so tired after the long parade route ended in front of the local dignitaries in the central park facing city hall. But it was so worth it for their self-esteem.

El Día del Niño is a national holiday in Honduras. For several days the country celebrates the Day of the Child with parades and tooo much candy and special programs in the schools. On Sunday, the day after I returned to la Paz, I went over to the building site to take my monthly progress pictures. Then I drove over to the Hogar where a celebration sponsored by a church group in Tegucigalpa was in progress, a grand party hosted for the children complete with hamburgers and fries, a piñata and too many sweets. And little Stuart was there, nine days old, born 3 months premature. His mother arrived that day to abandon him to Sister Edith and the Hogar San José. If he remains with us he will grow up in the new building with the rest of the kids. Pending legalities and court orders he is in a safe place with the children already fawning over Stuart Little.

As much as I love Seattle I am eager to return home to La Paz.

My former host Mom and I and my friend Caterín drove over to the building site today. We oohed and aahed at the progress. I will be traveling to Seattle in a few days. My flight lifts off August 6th. It will be good to be back in the Puget Sound area for the entire month of August. I have so much to do there, including seeing my docs at the VA Hospital and my orthopedic surgeon about my damaged arm. It, however, will be much more pleasant to return to La Paz the 4th of September to see how the planted seed is growing.