So I am a little behind, but with many good, great reasons.

Here is a picture from afar of the guys working on the clinic roof. I hope to get a picture of it where we are on top of it sometime this week...I dared not get any closer on that particular day because there were so many people, and they were all working. It went quickly with all the resources there and ready, and by the end about 25 or 30 guys working on it. What comes next? Well, we economized (the water truck can not make it up the hill....so we took water from our new septic tank to mix the concrete....oh, and the septic tank is for the new clinic, and has not been sealed letting rain water collect in there, hopefully that answers your next question.)

Due to a very generous, dedicated, and directed donation for Valerie and I to take some time after all the groups to get away by ourselves (we did that two days in May in Comayagua you might recall...but otherwise this is a new thing for us since...oh, like ten years ago), we were gone this weekend leaving the kids in the very capable hands of Julia our intern (and as well to Rex and Christine for a night, and Oscar and Julia took them for another) while we took advantage of Friday being a holiday, leaving Thursday morning. We had plans...no reservations or the like, but we knew where we were going that night, how we were getting there (mostly) etc. I will spare you what we thought we knew.

What happened was that as we passed Tela...we basically decided to stop and go back to town. We stayed at Telamar, a very nice resort formerly being property/buildings used by the company that owned Chiquita Banana, that otherwise we would probably not have considered. It is not all inclusive...but exclusive, as you have to wear a wristband which then allows you to hit one of the pools, walk the grounds or beach, and a bunch more...like the nine hole golf course "conveniently located five minutes from the hotel." I somewhat dispute the first part on that, but there we were, in a course under renovation, but pretty none the less (note the inexpensive, extra fancy cup marker...a broom handle.)

Taking advantage of the motto "relax" we took our time the next day to enjoy the pool, etc. and then headed over to La Ceiba, and then up to Pico Bonito National Park (the largest national park in Honduras, or so I am told) to Omega Tours Lodge, where we were definitely tucked in and among nature in some very nice but rustic settings. Note...Mom, you would not want to stay there ;-) We had a nice dinner, a fan, and our laptop to watch some DVDs. The next morning...time for white water rafting (fulfilling an almost life long dream of Valerie's in what is purported to be among the best in Central America), well, that and some lessons on swimming in the river, some climbing, some jumping into the river and then the rafting, which was all very cool. We definitely know where we would go if such an opportunity presents itself again.

After lunch at the lodge with our truly international gathering (Kiwis, Brits, French Canadians, Plain Canadians, and us the token Hondurans (well, along with the kitchen/cleaning staff of course) we headed back to Tela to find that it was seafood festival weekend. We relaxed some more, enjoyed some interesting, good, and sometimes artistic seafood, watched some performances, enjoyed the second story pool overlooking the ocean, and then went to bed....only to be awoken a little while later from fireworks...being set off in the parking lot directly adjacent to...our window. Pretty, but alarming for the first few seconds.

Today we took the ever-so-leisurely drive back, stopping for lunch in Siguatepeque (try pronouncing that name...it is fun, really it is!) and then back to beautiful Tegucigalpa, relaxed, entertained, educated, and very grateful to God, and all of those used and directed to help make this weekend possible.