Day 6 April 15, 2010

Happy income tax day to Americans. We were up early again, but it seems to get later each day. Had a breakfast of banana and cantaloupe and banana bread. Finally a breakfast Alida could eat all of. We spent another morning reading and doing math with some of the kids.






We then got ready to go to the Institute for more work. We had to stop and get some paint. Rick said hopefully we do not get into an accident as we will be unrecognizable covered in paint. We made good time and got to the Institute about 9:45. Louise, Matthew, Michael, Erika, and Steve dug the trench for the new water line, since of course the wall needs to go where the water line is located. Since Rick created a small fountain with the old water line, the plan was to move the line. Rick was able to convince Raul to buy new piping which would cost about $16 dollars to move the line rather than trying to move the old line and have to dig it out from roots. It would take untold hours to accomplish. When we got back from lunch, a dog had taken up residence in the trench. He finally moved without too much drama.




Jane, Susan, Rick, and finally Tom and Roz worked to move a small mountain of bricks around to where they are planning to build the rest of the wall. They were in a pyramid taller than all of us. I swear they were making brickettes since the pile seamed to be getting bigger. Roz climbed on top of Mount Brick to get some of the bricks down. We were to leave 100 bricks to finish the wall by the Chapel, but we were a long way from the last 100 bricks when we had to finish for the day.






Alida and Hillary were drafted to chisel some of the tile from one of the classrooms. They then went to help with the painting. Hillary got a cheap highlight job when she spilled paint in her hair and all over the floor, wall, ceiling, and possibly the next building! When we were finished we got a soft drink as a reward, and Alida relaxed in the limb of a tree. A young boy at the Institute has a crush on Hillary and Alida and he has written them several notes. Young love!
Janice and Lorraine set up to paint the outside wall by the large hall, but Raul came by and said he wanted them to paint another building so they had to move all of their stuff and set the dropcloth back up. Then Alida and Hillary came by to help (see above). Lorraine managed not to get dirty!.
Tom had stayed at the Institute last night so he could teach the boys and one of the instructors how to use the pipe fitting machine. He will go back tomorrow to finish teaching. Tito, the teacher who knew how to use the machine, was killed in an
attempted robbery several months ago.



When we finally got ready to leave, we gave a lift to one of the workers. We had to squeeze in together with 16 adults in a 15 passenger van. It was a tight fit, but still does not beat our record of 21. Matt called it the Gringo van. Hillary said she would walk lop-sided after sitting between
two seats for the ride back.

We all creaked out of the van and are walking rather stiff. None of us are used to this much manual labor, but we are pleased with all we have accomplished.

We are going out to dinner tonight, nobody but Matt will order beans.

The special guests at our dinner table with us are Raul, (next to Rosalind), our tolerant driver and project manager, also the husband of Claudia, the Director of the El Hogar home. Next to him is Dr Barbra McCune, who has been a medical missionary to Honduras for 6 or 7 years. As of last fall she is married to Rev Rich Kunz, the Executive Director of the El Hogar Projects. We missed him this year as he was traveling and speaking back in the States. On the other side of Steve is Lazaro Jaurez, the Director of the Technical Institute and his wife, Paki. We also missed Claudia on our night out together.