This huge mango tree that lives behind my apartment is more than meets the eye. It is immense and loaded with mango fruit. This mango tree is unique in that it is in fact a small grove of twelve trees growing in a very crowded space. Mango trees are evergreen trees native to Southeast Asia and India. They can grow up to 100 feet tall depending on variety. The mango in my back yard is over 100 feet tall. I don’t know it’s variety but it’s in season and produces a smallish green fruit that kids passing in the street try to knock off the trees with rocks and even other fallen mangos. Yesterday four kids came by in the afternoon and one shucked off his shoes and climbed up into the higher branches to shake the fruit down.

 Great day in the morning! When I walked onto the  construction site I was amazed at the progress made on the new home for the children of the Fundación Señor San José while I was in the States. The building is expected to be completed in six months. What a wonderful thing this is that is coming to fruition. I am so proud of Sister Edith and the patient, devoted tenacity that led her to reach the goal of her life. I am proud that I have been a small part of the effort.

One of my reasons for traveling to California this trip from Seattle was to visit my grandson in San Jose. Travis is resting amongst his father’s family who visit him every weekend. He is our American Fallen Hero. I lived in San Jose and San Francisco for several years and many of my own maternal family members have been laid to rest in the Bay Area over the generations. My days in the States this visit have been filled with bureaucratic snafus and MD appointments in Seattle, visits with family and friends in Seattle and California and consuming large quantities of Mexican food I cannot find in Honduras. A week from today I am scheduled to be on a  flight home to La Paz. That is if one lingering bureaucratic medical mixup doesn’t ruin and delay my travel plans. I am eager to jump into the new Hogar San Jose’s building construction activities.

I leave for Tegucigalpa tomorrow where I will spend the night and fly out the next day, Wednesday the 9th, to Seattle.

 Utila is one of the Bay Islands in the Caribbean off the coast of Honduras. It’s the third largest after Roatan and Guanaja.

 I decided to spend the New Year here and arrived on December 29, 2012 on the ferry from La Ceiba. I will be here until January 3, 2013 and will arrive back at my home in La Paz on January 5, 2013. It has been nice to relax at this beautiful island seashore for a week. When I travel to Seattle on January 9, 2013 I will encounter a completely different weather system, where I will remain until February 9th. I have appointments at the VA Hospital for an annual physical exam and with my orthopedic surgeon for an assessment of my fractured arm. The orthopedist told me at our visit last May that I may need another surgery. I quite emphatically do not want that to happen. I return to Honduras after a month in the States eager to watch the new building for the Fundacion San Jose become a reality.

The children of the Hogar San José love Christmas, as do children from all over the world where the holiday is celebrated. Good food, plenty of Sister Edith´s relatives, lots of kids, friends, and gifts were the rule of the day. We are especially grateful for gifts from Marcella Lobo of Tegucigalpa, Sgt Tamatha Perkins and her family from the Palmerola Military installation, computer geek Paula Porter also at Palmerola, my friend Jana Haney from Seattle, the Allison and Michael Scott family from Texas and all those local folk who contributed so much sumptuous food for the gathering of children and adults as well as those who helped with food preparation. Also on my mind today is my own multitudinous family back in the States with whom I will soon be reunited, and not to be forgotten, my Peace Corps friends who have in past years celebrated these holiday celebrations at the Hogar with us and those with whom I have a special bond as fellow world travelers. Siempre en la lucha! Feliz Navidad a todos!

The country´s President´s daughter, Marcella Lobo, was there from Tegucigalpa, as were many other local community members. This day was a long time coming, but it was most welcome: the first stone has been laid. The new building for the Fundación Señor San José is a reality. Or rather, it will be a reality in 7 or 8 months. But it is indeed a concrete step forward.  We will follow its monthly progress via a pictorial history until the day arrives that Sister Edith is given the keys and we open the door for the childrens´business, for that is what this is all about. The children.

Soto Cano Air Base is located in the aldea of Palmerola, about twenty minutes from La Paz. It is the only US military installation in Central America. This year the military staff hosted several hundred children from the surrounding area to share holiday cheer and camaraderie. Santa arrived in his helicopter and the children ate hot dogs, way too much candy, and played games and mingled with the base personnel. Towards evening the kids returned home full of food and exhausted, each with a gift in hand.

Thanksgiving Day is not a national holiday in Honduras and only within the past two or three years has it even been recognized by the local populace via the usual commercial media promotions, no doubt due to the large number of Honduran immigrants living in the US. Known as Día de Acción de Gracias the newspapers, TV and radio are beginning to make it a major event, along with Christmas Day which has been a major money draw for several years. Since everyone works on Thursday, we celebrated our special day of thanks this past Saturday. About 50 friends, family and compañeros gathered with us at the Hogar San José for our Fourth Annual Thanksgiving Day to give thanks for our many blessings. Our new building´s initial planning work is back on schedule, the children are healthy and happy, we continue to advance forward, slowly but surely. There is much to be thankful for this season. This is my favorite time of the year in Honduras. The rainy days are over and it will be sunny, cool and balmy until next February. In January I will be traveling to the States. Life is good.

 This week we painted the new Pupusería. Actually it was Edith´s sister and niece who did the work.

There are many more improvements to be made before we delve into food sales. But each step forward is a step toward self-sustainabilty. Necessary steps are haltingly made due to financial constraints, such as money for a fogon on which to cook food, outdoor lighting for evening sales, tables and chairs, etc. The construction of our new building is mired in a newly discovered sewage problem that may require extensive repairs before actual construction can begin, setting the new Hogar San José´s completion date back even more than anticipated.