Sunday February 4 – Determined to accomplish as much as possible in El Recreo, we set out early.  Our plan was to work as hard as possible to finish all of the installations, therefore leaving the rest of the week for a short vacation.  Day after day of long hours were definitely starting to take their toll with all of us had a new incentive to finish.  With little chance for Enelida to spend time with her two girls over the past few weeks, we were blessed with two smiling faced helpers for the day.  It was fantastic to see her children ready to give up part of their weekend to help us with the project.  Upon our arrival to El Recreo, the size of our task became quickly evident through our substantial stockpile of filters.  With sixty-seven homes to furnish in the community, only twenty of them had filters in their homes.  Despite trying to remain positive about our goal, I couldn’t help but notice the easiest houses to get to had filters in place.  We were going to have to earn the last two-thirds of the deliveries.  Loading five filters at a time into the back of the pickup, we drove as close as we could to the homes before muscling them over the treacherous terrain.  Many of the paths were incredible narrow and made for impossible maneuvering of the dolly.  Other homes were tucked away in hard to find hillsides and across small rivers.  Children helped us carry the aggregate, sand, tops, and diffuser plates, while some of the community members joined together to will the filters over any obstacle we came across.  Throughout the day, we tried to use as many of the big filters as possible, conserving the smaller ones for areas we needed to carry the filters to.  By the end of the day, we had delivered twenty filters and were completed exhausted.  Covered from head to toe in dirt, sweat, and who knows what else, I through on a pair of shorts and made my way down to the swimming hole.  After only a few minutes of relaxation, I made my way back into town to meet up with the girls.  I was met with tired but happy faces, as the girls had been successful in their installations.  On the way home, I had a chance to practice some of my Spanish with Enelida’s youngest daughter, Marialena, in the back of the truck.  The day was filled with many physical challenges and it felt good to have accomplished so much; however, my entire body ached, leaving nothing but the bed for me when we got home.  

Monday February 5 – The morning came very early for our crew, and with a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts, we were headed back up the mountain to El Recreo.  I managed to catch some naptime in the back of our truck along the highway, but I was quickly awakened as soon as we made it to the turn off.  With my eyes to the treetops as we slowly made our way up the windy road, I was able to see countless birds in the early morning light. A black-bodied bird about the size of a seagull caught my eye, boasting a red, yellow, orange and green belly.  Arriving at the community and looking at our dwindling number of filters gave us a much-needed boost in energy.  We wasted no time loading up and heading out to the remaining houses.  As we worked our way down the main road, stopping at each home, we could not seem to find anybody who had ordered one.  Time after time, we were turned away for one reason or another.  At first, we didn’t think much of it because not everyone in the community had agreed to buy a filter at our socialization and we wanted to fully respect their right to choose.  However, as the number of remaining houses grew smaller, it was easy to see that we were going to have many filters left over.  This was a very unforeseen problem because we had a list of each household that wanted the filters and had brought just enough to meet that need.  With the last few days spent delivering as fast as we could, much of our time seemed to be standing around waiting for what to do next.  Something had changed their minds about the project and for whatever reason; the community did not have their share of the money or did not feel it was a worthwhile investment.  This was very hard for me to take after all of our hard work.  I guess I just assumed the people would jump at the chance to receive this technology.  As I sat waiting and wondering what exactly to make of the situation, I began realizing this sort of thing was going to keep happening until Pure Water was established in the area.  Despite all of our training and education efforts, it would still be hard for the people to trust that the sand would clean their water.  The technology itself can be very complicated and after a few days of the people observing how we were installing their filters, they had become skeptical on the project itself.  After a quick decision from our group, it was decided to stop all efforts of delivering and work on clearing up any rumors or misconceptions.  Enelida joined forces with Joel, one of the community leaders, going door-to-door asking why the people had changed their minds.  Meanwhile, I joined up with Rasa and Keyla on the installation circuit.  However, we soon finished all of the remaining filters in place and were left waiting to here back from Enelida.  With no pressing task at hand, I decided to go exploring up the river.  Soon, I found a young boy spear fishing and I sat down on the riverbank to watch and learn.  Suddenly, I heard my name being called back behind me on the trail headed toward the river.  Roni and Darwin, my swimming buddies, were leading horses with crates strapped to their back.  Curious on where they were going, I decided to follow them.  In my limited vocabulary, I discovered they were headed into the hills to their family banana plantation.  They ensured me it would only be a twenty minute hike to the field.  Five river crossings and an hour later, we arrived at a beautiful valley set beneath a rain forest backdrop.  The boy’s father and older brother were busily lugging stems of bananas to a fifty-gallon drum to be washed.  Quickly joining in, I worked to cut the individual bananas from their bundle and soak them in the streaming water.  We then filled the crates with one hundred and forty bananas each, before tying them to the backs of the horses.  With each banana bringing fifty-five centavos, the trek would be worth about twenty-eight dollars.  This seems an incredibly small amount of work, considering all the work it takes for a farmer to yield thirty bananas for the entire life of a tree.  After the work was done, the three brothers brought me further up into the hillside to see their farm animals.  They were very excited and proud to show me their eight cows, signifying their wealth and status among their peers.  After a short time resting under a shade tree in the field, we headed back to the plantation.  With the two horses loaded, each of us grabbed a full stem of bananas for ourselves and started our hike back to the village.  I felt like part of a caravan as we arrived into town.  Rob and Rasa could only smile as we entered triumphantly.  On our way home, we all listened to Enelidas interesting findings.  Apparently, many rumors had been circling throughout the community, giving the people second thoughts about investing in the filters for their homes.  She told us citizens were worried the filters would keep on running throughout the night, flooding their homes.  They were also bothered about some of our educational material and the fact that it showed all of the animals being penned up.  They refused the filters because they didn’t want to cage their pigs and chickens.  Some didn’t believe that running water through the sand would do anything at all.  Thankfully, with the help of Joel, Enelida had cleared up any falsities or misconceptions surrounding the project and everyone had agreed to participate again.  With good news to build on, we made plans for another early morning. 

Tuesday February 6 – With all of the people on our original list back on board, we set out for El Recreo eager to put a sizable dent in the rest of our filter stockpile.  With over twenty-five filters left, it would take at least two more days to finish.  Despite agreeing to give Enelida and Keyla the rest of the week off at the conclusion of the day, they ensured us that they would come back tomorrow if we had any work remaining.  One truck load at a time, we tackled the hillsides and riverbanks, lugging the casings up to the small homes.  Through the help of the community leaders and children, we located the remote families on our list.  Each new home brought another challenge, more difficult than the previous.  One of the most interesting recipients was a small local training center located up the road from the village.  With fishponds, eco-friendly stoves, and numerous agricultural exhibits, the school was designed to teach adults about alternative technology.  FHIA had heard through the community members about our project and wanted to buy two filters to incorporate in their education.  The staff was excited to see it was a Honduran made product and wanted to find out more information about how to become involved.  Our most difficult installation of the day came at the end.  A lady, I had seen crossing the river while visiting the banana plantation, had heard about the filters and come into town to investigate.  Completely exhausted from our day, we agreed to try the journey.  It was hard to turn her down, when she had brought her horse into to town to help with the delivery.  As usual, we had to stand back and let the family work through the problem their selves.  I felt bad for the horse when they hoisted the two-hundred pound casing up onto his back, but it soon become evident there was no way it was going to work.  We decided to use two poles to hoist the filter into the air and carry it ourselves.  The happy horse carried the sand, gravel, and stones instead.  After three river crossings and a quarter mile of hand truck work, we arrived at two homes in a small farming development.  It didn’t take long before we were headed back to grab another!  The girls stayed behind and installed them, so we wouldn’t have to venture back again.  After the second filter, I was ready for a long nap and about ten coconuts.  With Rasa’s help the family took us to a riverbank lined with palm trees.  I decided to try climbing the tree myself in search of the refreshing coconut milk.  Managing to get two coconuts down before giving up and letting the professionals show me how it’s done.  Rob and I waited down stream collecting the fruit as they came floating down.  With two of our hardest homes out of the way, we headed back for La Ceiba determined to finish off the rest tomorrow.

  Wednesday February 7 – With nine filters remaining in the stockyard, we were excited to return to El Recreo to complete our first village. Luckily, with only the most remote homes left to reach, the remaining filters were of the smaller variety. Again we used the children to direct us up the hillsides to the families. Foot by foot we wobbled the casings up the narrow washed out footpaths. Previously unaware of the homes, it was shocking to see the wide range of living standards in such a small community. Working along the main road had only provided us with one aspect, but the homes we were know serving gave us a driving determination to do anything possible to get the job done. As we ventured farther and farther, the homes had far less and it was necessary for their water to be carried by hand from a source. At one point, we reached a home perched on a steep stream bank and thought that we had reached the pinnacle of difficulty. I could only shrug when we discovered another home farther up the stream with virtually nothing but the river rocks as a path. We had no choice but to strap the casing to some poles and to again hoist the filter into the air. We arrived at a home tucked away deep into old growth rain forest. A thirty-eight year old woman greeted us at the door with her twelve children. There were no smiles though and we soon discovered her youngest daughter Digna was very ill. Eight days of diarrhea had left her emaciated and with almost no energy at all. Enelida, Rasa, and Keyla rushed to get the installation equipment, eager to do their best to get the family clean water as fast as possible. This was our first experience with this type of situation and everyone was doing their best to harness their emotions. So much of our work is based around providing good nutrition through clean water so children can develop properly throughout their growing years. I never expected to see such an extreme situation and wanted nothing more than to make sure we never overlook these areas in our work. Families in these areas come to town infrequently and it would be very easy to miss them when developing a project. Despite the intensive energy and resources spent to service only a few of these homes, the benefit in doing so rivals the shear quantity we were able to help along the main roads. By the end of the day, our seemingly easy task of delivering our nine remaining filters had drained us both physically and emotionally. We were very excited to have finished our first community, but after the day’s events, none of us felt too much in the mood for celebration. Instead, we decided to take a much-needed four days off from anything pertaining to work. Seven-day weeks, filled with long straining days, had taken a toll and all anyone wanted to do was sleep. With my time flying by, I became hesitant on the idea of laying low for our time off. I began talking with Rob and Rasa about their opinion on what I should do on our days off. Rob suggested visiting one of the bordering countries and trying to loop back before work started Monday. As the conversation developed, he pushed me to take a few more days off and travel further to some of the more dramatic sites in Central America. I began reading my Lonely Planet Guide and plotting my course. Still a little hesitant about traveling by myself, I decided to just head toward the border and see what happened. 

Thursday February 8 – Eager and a little weary, I set out for the bus station early in the morning. I tried not to think about what I was getting myself into as I bought my ticket for San Pedro Sula. I tried to focus on getting to one place at a time and not to overwhelm myself too much. Mimicking the route Jennilou and I took to Copan; I switched buses in the city, after grabbing some food for the next leg. Using the Lonely Planet Guide my mother gave me for Christmas, I plotted out a route for the next few days. With millions of things running through my head, the trip seemed to fly by as I traveled over the mountains. Upon my arrival to Copan, I exited the bus, working my way through the frantic tourists and eager locals vying for a chance to promote their services. It was liberating to feel somewhat comfortable and to know my way around the town. After a short while, I had found a beautiful lodging at Iguana Azul, an old colonial home turned boarding house. The hostel was a little bit off the beaten path, so I had the entire bunkhouse for myself at a measly four dollars. Shortly after settling in, I returned to searching for a way into Guatemala. After asking a few local bartenders, I found out about a shuttle leaving for Antigua, Guatemala in the morning. I was able to buy a ticket for the remaining seat and thought to myself how much easier it was going to be to get from one place to another. With virtually no luggage and only myself, I would be able to squeeze myself onto any sort of transportation without much planning at all. I decided to kick off my journey with dinner at a nice restaurant in town. The food was very good but the conversation stunk.

Friday February 9 – Without an alarm clock, I rolled out of bed around seven o’clock due to the pestering rooster calls. Eager to make my way into Guatemala, I packed up my backpack and hit the road. After a quick breakfast, I grabbed a few snacks and some water for the long journey over the mountains. With plenty of time to spare I arrived at Via Via, a small backpacker guest house, where some travelers had arranged transportation to Antigua. Much to my surprise, I was quickly faced with an unforeseen dilemma. With all my time alone on the road, I had quickly finished the only book I had brought on the trip. Rasa had lent me Mountains Over Mountains by Tracy Kidder and since leaving La Ceiba I had hardly put it down. With no time to search the book exchanges, I was forced to go without until my next stop. Soon, a few people started arriving at the lodge. Much to my surprise, I was the only American making the trip, but everyone was still speaking English. Five friends from Austria were on their last leg of their journey across South and Central America, while other’s seemed to be doing the same. It quickly became evident, that despite traveling by myself, there would be many others following the same path. An hour into our ride, we arrived at the border between Honduras and Guatemala. As the door slid open, a group of men holding huge wads of cash and calculators jockeyed for position. The black market moneychangers were eager to get our American dollars at a good rate and soon the people in my group were bartering between Dollar, Lempira, and Quetzal exchange rates. Due to my ignorance of the current value of the dollar, I opted to keep my cash on hand and wait for the next ATM we came across. The border crossing itself was very memorable, as it marked my first one in this type of atmosphere. We were ushered into a small room where a very official looking man waited behind a very unofficial looking card table. With only a stamp pad and a few pieces of paper, he slowly interviewed everyone. Understanding very little of his questions, I managed to receive the required paper work and exit stamp from Honduras emigration. I then walked on foot across the imaginary line into Guatemala, where I was faced with a similar situation. Another serious of questions regarding my length of stay and reason for coming gave way to another emphatic stamp, before piling back into the bus. The rest of our journey was soon plagued by Friday afternoon traffic. The cramped quarters, obviously not designed for regular sized people, soon became unbearable and many of us opted to walk along side the van. The traffic continued into the night as we crept through continuous construction zones and who knows what else. At one point I almost snapped, after waiting for over an hour, only to see four men busily painting speed bumps yellow with small brushes. There was at least ten people controlling traffic and countless others standing around watching or holding lights. I can’t imagine I would live too long in Pownal, seeming if we hold up traffic for five minutes we would be considered fools. After fourteen hours of solid travel time, we arrived in Antigua. I hurried to find an ATM, worried that all of the banks would be closed. Luckily after my third try, I was able to find a bank that would give me the Quetzals I needed for a room. I quickly oriented myself with the map in my guidebook and set out trying to find a bed for the night. Many of the hostels I found had long been full and I was beginning to give up hope at finding a reasonably priced room. Luckily, I was able to find a dorm room with one bed still open. I tried to be as quiet as possible finding the open bed, but don’t think I made too many friends getting situated. After a quick shower in the bathroom down the hall, I ventured back out into the streets to find a pub to get a bite to eat. Being the weekend, I had no problem ordering up a quick burrito and the local beer, aptly named Gallo or rooster. 

Saturday February 10 – I was awoken to some commotion from some of my roommates and slowly sat up in my bed to see what was going on. A girl had finished packing her huge backpack and was working her way through the tight spaces between beds. A young man in the bed next to me was also was stirred by the noise and rolled out of bed as well. Immediately we began talking about our travels and where we were headed. Traveling all the way from Texas only a day before, Mike was using Antigua as a resting place just as myself. Soon to be on his way west toward the mountains. I inquired further into his plans. Apparently, during his recent travels, Mike had discovered a lakeside town in the highlands and only recently traveled back to the States for a short time to visit his parents. His plan was to more or less move to Lago de Atitlan, enroll in Spanish classes and find work to pay for his expenses. Hesitant about asking Mike if I could tag along, I opted to tour the city and try to decide where to go next. I checked out of the hostel and made my way into town to grab a bite to eat. The city was full of tourists from all over the world to experience the past colonial era giant. Set five thousand feet high in a valley of giant semi active volcanoes, Antigua has become one of the most popular towns in Central America. With cobble stone streets, magnificent churches, and numerous shops and cafes, the area town had a very European atmosphere. Unsure exactly where I was going, I decided to buy a bus ticket for Panjachel, the launching city for the lake. I decided to use my remaining time to take a walk around the city and visit the many book exchanges. Unable to find anything particularly interesting, I settled on Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, to pass the time on the long journey. However, the bus ride ended up being spectacular, so I didn’t even open the book. Winding mountain passes through coffee plantations and highland rainforest felt more like a tour than a commute. Suddenly, after a swooping turn, we sat perched high up on a mountain roadway overlooking an enormous body of water surrounded by steep volcanic giants. Once an active caldera, the main giant has since filled with water, giving way to three other smaller semi-active volcanoes enclosing it. Slowly making our way down the steep notched mountainsides, gave us a fantastic perspective of the surroundings. After arriving in Panjachel, I made my way down to the docks to arrange passage to San Pedro La Laguna. With a little difficulty, I found a boat that shuttles people back and forth to the surrounding villages. However, the captain simply waits until his boat is completely full before leaving. I happened to be his first customer and we needed fourteen others prior to our trip. Unsure what to do and whether or not he would get his passengers, I decided to tour the town just incase my plan fell through. An hour later, I return to the docks and a few others seemed to be waiting. I cracked open my new book and joined them on the rickety swaying pier. As time went by I grew more and more hesitant about making the trip this late at night. Suddenly, just as I was about to throw in the towel, I noticed Mike making his way down the road. He too joined us on the dock and ensured we would be fine arriving at any hour. I decided to follow his lead and eventually, we had enough passengers to fill the seats. The ride was surprisingly rough, as we pounded the hull of our wooden boat off the wind blown waves. Upon our arrival, Mike led me up to his favorite hotel, where I booked a wonderful room for only five dollars a night. After settling in, Mike gave me a quick tour of the small town. Mostly dirt paths and alleyways through haphazard development, the town had a very laid back environment. Known as one of the cheapest places in all of Central America, it was easy to spring for a celebration beer and steak dinner. Excited about arriving, but completely exhausted, we both decided to make it a short night and head back to the rooms.

Sunday January 28 – Rob and I woke up around 4:00 AM to bring the Fox’s to San Pedro Sula airport.  With plenty of time to spare, we headed for Tegucigalpa to meet our country director Maria.  Our objective was to introduce her to the local staff and help us deal with the challenges in Danli.  At the bus station, a lawyer was accompanying Maria for our trip.  Being a very developed site, issues in Danli are extremely complicated and hard for a foreigner to understand.  As a local Honduran, Maria would be able to delve deep into the matters at hand.  On our way to Danli, we discovered Maria had some very important people on her side.  Eager to make it on her own, Maria had failed to mention her relationship to the President of Honduras.  Without even knowing it, Pure Water had hired the most significant man in the country’s niece.  Rob’s goal to finally meet the president of a country suddenly became one step closer to reality.  A little in awe, we arrived in Danli for meeting with some of the workers.  In short, our reason for traveling all this way was to find out exactly what type of things were happening.  During our recent trip, it was obvious something was going on between the staff and the managers of the project.  Agreeing to meet at one of the workers houses, Rob and I came as a liaison between Maria and the workers.  The meeting was completely in Spanish, stopping only briefly to clarify things with Robert in English.  As always, I reverted to body language and tone, to try and get a sense of what was being discussed.  It was obvious there had been some sort of wrongdoing and the staff was extremely nervous about telling us their side.  As the new country director, Maria will have her work cut out for her trying to meet all of the parties involved and do her best to salvage the current situation.  In addition to labor issues, some of the workers told stories of community members buying three or four filters and then reselling them to other towns for a profit.  This sounds terrible, but it can be a great thing.  The communities of the Danli area have discovered the importance of the project and started to exploit it.  With this being the case, I feel it is safe to say filters will continue to be built in Danli, with or without our presence.  In the closing of our meeting, Maria asked the staff if they were willing to be relocated to another site.  Some of them agreed it was time for a change, leaving Maria with a great opportunity to start up a new project with some incredible gifted and dedicated workers.

            With the rodeo due to start at 3:00 PM, we rushed to the fair grounds.  Wendy was waiting for us when we arrived, ushering us quickly to the man in charge.  Making my way past the bulls sent my stomach churning, but soon I was standing before the real head honcho.  Apparently, I didn’t look like I knew what I was doing and the small man soon started questioning my ability.  I told him I had only ridden a few times and didn’t have any equipment with me.  The fact that he even paused before saying no, furthered my positive view on this country.  Well it was worth a try I guess.  Plus, I still have a month left here and any broken bones would surly affect my ability to toss these filters around.  On the way back to La Ceiba, we got to drive through the middle of Tegucigalpa, dropping off the woman at their homes.  The crowded streets were only the start of our exciting journey home because as soon as the sun went down, we noticed one of our headlights was out on the rental car.  With four checkpoints between La Ceiba and Tegucigalpa, two gringos trying to make this trek at night was bound to cause issues.  However, we only got pulled over twice and Rob did a great job posing for me.  I guess all white people look a like (Rasa had his driver’s license).  The best was when Rob called Rasa and pretended he was talking to the ambassador.  “He wants to know your name and badge number,” Rob pretended to convey.  I guess if you can stand someone flashing machine guns in your face, they will eventually let you go.  La Ceiba felt like heaven after our intense day and wild week.  Our crazy schedule was sure to continue though.  Rasa had stayed behind to welcome Dick Thompson, a member of the Londonderry Rotary Club and co-author of our grant here in La Ceiba.

Monday January 29 – With Dick Thompson eager to see the project, we set out to El Recreo for our scheduled socialization with the community.  I enjoyed seeing his excitement as we made our way up the treacherous road.  It took me back to the day we had set out for the community, reminding me of how taken back I was by the scenery.  Glad to see the community was expecting us, we wasted no time setting up our education materials.  Making their way down the dusty footpaths dressed in their best close, the local schoolhouse began to fill with chattering mothers and curious children.  Keyla and Enelida, fresh off their CASWT training, dove right it to the situation employing their extremely interactive style.  When the crowd became restless, the two utilized simple games to help focus them on the material.  Following the two hour lesson, we double checked our list of people receiving filters, making sure everyone had the chance to sign up.  With everything ready for our first delivery, we headed back down the hill to remind the mayor of his promise.  Our surprise visit to Mario, the director of MAMUCA and mayor of Misica, was sure to catch him off guard.  His agreement to provide transportation to the communities in his jurisdiction would now be under direct supervision from Dick Thompson.  Completely unaware of whom Dick actually was, Mario scrambled to make good on his word.  With our filter transportation now scheduled, we made one more stop at the taller.  Much to our delight, the workers had been busy during our absence, painting all of our filters and bagging the aggregate needed for installation.  What a great feeling to have everything going so smoothly, especially with a visitor in town.  To celebrate the day’s events, Dick decided to take all of us out to dinner at a restaurant down on the beach.  I was glad Dick decided to invite the girls along. It meant even more to them that he went out his way to recognize their hard work.  Enelida and Keyla have lived here their entire lives, without ever having a chance to eat out at a restaurant of this scale.  Enelida hardly sat in her chair the entire night, gleaming at menu items and the fact she was being waited on.  Reflecting on the day, made me wonder about how people view us as volunteers.  Everything went very smoothly with Dick standing by our side, but without him, I wonder if we would have had nearly as much success.  In talking with other volunteer’s in country, similar situations have been encountered.  People here have a negative connotation of the word volunteer, reasoning that a person must have been a failure to be working for free.  Robert and Rasa have decided to dodge the term, referring to themselves as consultants.  I guess it is another cultural barrier, just a little more personal than the others.

Tuesday January 30 – With our day set aside for the delivery of filters, we set out early to introduce Dick to the filter construction process.  Our plan was to spend most of the day at the taller letting him build his own media casing.  If by chance the truck never ended up arriving, our day would still be effective in providing Dick with another aspect of the project.  Luckily, Mario came through and after only an hour at the taller, a truck was backing up to our stockpile.  Normally, I would have to wonder exactly why a person would send a dump truck to transport bio-sand filters in the first place, but an even better question developed when no one else seemed to care.  Picture the hardest truck imaginable to load something by hand, and you are left with a ten-wheel dump truck.  First of all, the tale gate had to be propped up by a stick, setting a mousetrap style guillotine for anyone who accidentally bumps it.  Secondly, the truck is about two feet higher than a normal truck, making it impossible to lift the filters up onto it without a ramp.  Thirdly, the volume of the truck is designed to carry its weight vertically, leaving very little of the usable payload for any orientation we could possibly stack our filters.  On a positive note, Rob and I seemed to be the only ones who cared, with everyone else in shock a truck had even arrived.  The next hour of my life, I witnessed some of the most dangerous acts of production in my life.  I am by no means an experienced veteran, but I did work with Zaluzny Excavation Corporation this summer and some the stuff these Hondurans managed, would have put Zaluzny on the phone to OSHA.  With two rotten boards nailed together for a ramp and another used as a post to hold up the tailgate, the workers managed to muscle eighteen filters on board.  A little bark mulch here and a little sand bag there, bam we were ready to go.  I was speechless.  All of the times I have complained about how hard it is to get things done in Honduras and this couldn’t have been easier anywhere else in the world.  Given the same situation in the US, it would have never happened.  Ingenuity, strength, determination, and the will to risk your life got those damn filters on the truck.  Still worried about how exactly we were going to unload the truck when we arrived at El Recreo, we rushed to finish off Dick’s filters.  It was quite a site to see the truck weaving through thick jungle and around sharp mountainside cuts.  People lined the road as our caravan bumped its way to El Recreo.  Drawing a huge crowd upon our arrival, I again felt stupid for questioning the logistics of the situation.  No matter how many people it takes, the task was very simple to comprehend.  Honduras doesn’t need people to build, deliver, load, and unload filters; they need business skills, management aptitude, and higher education standards.  Not quite sure what to make of our success, we made our way back down the hill excited to start our first installations.     

Wednesday January 31 – There’s nothing like a dozen Dunkin Donuts to start your day off.  Catching our selves off guard with our extreme progress over the past to days, we used the morning to buy our installation supplies.  Four buckets, two pales, two measuring cups, and a dolly readied us for our installation premier.  After six months of hard work for Robert & Rasa, I could feel their excitement as we neared the village.  So much of a Pure Water volunteer’s job focuses on grueling, frustrating, and intangible tasks, making one day of physical work installing filters, essential for moral.  The process of giving someone something that can change their life in such a way that clean water can, makes all those hard days fad away.  After every bump in the road, “All I want to do is put filters in houses,” Rob would say with a sigh.  Through crooked politics, labor disputes, beat up vehicles, scorpions, and ever more; with this mindset, they had made it happened.  When we arrived, it was great to see the community was as eager to start the project as we were.  To top it off, our dump truck had already come and gone, giving us more than enough work to do.  We split up into two groups.  Enelida, Rob, and I set out delivering filters and collecting payment, while Rasa, Dick, and Keyla followed with installations.  At times it was hard to even get a hand on the filters, as the community members muscled the three hundred pound casings into place.  By the end of the day, we had delivered twenty filters and installed seven, a modest amount for our late start.  Cheerful and tired, we bid farewell.  We celebrated Dick’s last night with a dinner at his hotel.  Dick’s cheerful personality and great sense of humor made it easy to look back on the week’s failures and successes.   

Thursday February 1 – I woke up from a dead sleep around eleven o’clock, just in time to bid farewell to Dick.  His trip could not have happened at a better time for us.  His three-day expedition included many the grant aspects, highlighted by the first filter installation in all of Atlantida.  The rest of the day was more or less uneventful, but gave us some time to catch up on a lot of the things we have been pushing aside.  Rob and Rasa worked with Enelida and Keyla on balancing their budgets and how to account for the filter construction, education, and installation.  I spent the afternoon eating baleadas and trying to copy a set of Robert & Rasa keys.  A five minute task in the States, but worthy of an entire afternoon in Honduras, at least for me anyway.  For dinner, we shopped at a grocery store recently purchased by Wal-Mart.  I have mixed feelings about the corporation, but at least the store has back up generators now to keep the food from spoiling.  For dinner, Rasa threw together another wonderful meal.  It seems her time spent in the Philippines has done wonders for what she can prepare with the bare minimum.

Friday February 2 – Eager to continue with our work in El Recreo, we spilt forces, sending Robert, Rasa, and Enelida to Colorado Barra, while Keyla and I went back up to continue installing filters.  Making an effort to conserve time, Rob dropped the two of us off at the bottom of the hill.  Deciding not to wait for the nine o’clock truck shuttle, we started walking up the long dirt road hoping to hitch a ride with passing cars.  After a half an hour of walking we finally heard a vehicle coming.  He agreed to take us as far as he was going and soon we were hiking again.  An hour later, the second vehicle was slowly approaching us.  A truck filled with military personnel, wearing full camouflage and toting machine guns, agreed to take us the rest of the way.  Glad to finally be back in our community, we got right to work installing filters.  This is the most rewarding part of our work.  Going into people homes and meeting their family, knowing that you are helping them receive something as essential as clean water.  No matter what type of hoops we have to jump through it becomes worth it on days like today.  To give an example, every home we go into it becomes harder and harder to leave.  Today alone, I tried about six fruits for the first time as well as many other local Honduran dishes.  Everyone feels obligated to give something in return for his or her filter.  I would feel a little better about reaping all these offerings, if I could send some of these fine foods back to everyone else involved in making these days possible.  Keyla and I were invited to lunch at one of our recipient’s homes.  I talked one of the teenagers in the house into letting me tag along to one of the local swimming holes.  With a new incentive to finish the rest of our day’s quota, we quickly installed the available filters.  After borrowing a pair of shorts from my new friends, we headed down to the sandy riverbanks.  It was great to spend the afternoon lounging around, jumping off cliffs, and spear fishing with a few very comical brothers.  I was sad to see Keyla appear at the riverbank, marking the arrival of Robert & Rasa.  I bid farewell to my amigos, ensuring them I would be back on Sunday to continue working.  On our way home, I was happy to hear everything had gone well at the meeting in Colorado Barra.  According to Robert & Rasa, the village is in dire need of water and seemed very excited about a project.  With a meeting scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, we stopped by to remind MAMUCA.  Not to my surprise, no one would be able to attend the meeting, opening up most of our day.  Rasa whipped up some tilapia for dinner and we had a great discussion on Peace Corps and what it has meant to their life.  

Saturday February 3 – I slept as long as I could, determined not to let the extreme heat pry me out of bed.  By ten o’clock the Honduran sun had one the battle and I dragged my sweating body over to my suitcase.  Our “day off” seemed to be doomed from the start.  Despite all efforts to remove ourselves from the meeting scheduled for noon, we gave into the Rotary’s requests.  After grabbing a quick bite at Church’s Chicken (Not sure if this is a US chain), we headed over to Gustavo’s office.  As simply as possible, the meeting had been called to resolve any questions or conflicts pertaining to MAMUCA.  Before my arrival, many of the issues hindering the success of a partnership between Pure Water and MAMUCA seemed to have been fueled by the turn over in management.  We have encountered many hurdles with the organization and wanted to try to resolve them in an open discussion.  Curiously, our list contains the hardest communities to reach and we have taken on MAMUCA’s job managing the taller.  Having the chance to meet the often hard to contact manager, furthered my preconceived impression of him.  Not exactly a master of the Spanish language, I have resorted to tone and body language as an indicator of sincerity.  As we informed him on things he needed to do and drilled him with hard questions, he managed to go the entire four-hour meeting without writing one thing down.  Over and over, he agreed to follow up on things and carry out tasks with the utmost sincerity, but little clues in the way he was acting carried more weight than what he was saying.  Completely fed up, we decided to use the rest of our “day off”, to catch up on e-mails and paper work.  For dinner, Susan, a fellow Pure Water volunteer from Canada, stopped in on her way back home.  Using Robert and Rasa’s house as a resting point, she would continue on her way to the airport the next day.