It’s been I while since I have done a personal post so I think it is time to tell some highlights of our latest road trip with Dave. From the conference, to Santa Barbara, Tegucigalpa, Danli and back to San Pedro Sula, it was a productive week.
Last week we finished the conference and Rasa and Amy both dazzled all in attendance. Amy is by far the water expert here in Honduras and PWW was honored to have chaired the water panels as the technical expert. Rasa pulled peoples heart strings with her presentation and pictures. Considering she was the last person presenting that day she held the audience captive waiting to see the next slide. We had our fair share of socializing to do during the dinner hours. This by the way has been the highlight of Honduras so far. Copan is an intimately romantic little town of cobblestone streets, eclectic restaurants, and local bars with flair, well worth a visit!
Making use of free WiFi in a local bar with some great art work
The morning we were leaving Copan, I backed right into a telephone pole. A great start to the day. The Hondurans think it is perfectly ok to put poles about a foot into the street. After that little run-in, the day was a lot better. We went to Santa Barbara and accomplished more in 30 minutes of face-to-face than in three weeks of phone calls and emails. This is really a country were relationships are the grease that makes it happen. We met up with the taller owner and got him all ready to go and we hired our site manager and health coordinator. Before this, we had been calling the local rep struggling just to find out when he was going to schedule something. Now we have everyone in place and the project is moving forward.
In Honduras, they put their telephone poles in the street during the night so no one knows they are there when backing up
And here is my favorite pole in all of Copan
After Santa Barbara, we went to Tegucigalpa and officially hired our country director. He will start in December with the CAWST training seminar. After Tegucigalpa, we went on to visit Danli and catch up with all our friends there. This was a great road trip and we even got to try some lemongrass seasoned Iguana. It is hard to believe we have already been in country for three months. Well, at least that means next week we have to leave the country to renew our visa. Now with the Central American Free Trade Agreement anyone who wants to renew his or her visa has to travel to either Panama or Mexico. We decided just to fly to Dominica Republic and Haiti on the 27th.
How about some Iguana for lunch?
The highlight though was coming home from San Pedro Sula after dropping Dave off at the airport. The police/military stopped us just outside of El Progresso at a standard checkpoint. The police always stop us but this time they kept us sitting there for 30 minutes trying to get a bribe. They said we were in trouble for not having our passports, but we did have our driver’s license and our passports are not required to drive. We kept asking them why we didn’t need one the first time we passed by. No answer. Then he said he was going to write us a citation. We said please so we can go. Then he said he was going to bring us to the police station. We said after we call the US Embassy and got on the phone. That scared him and he finally let us go. Good times but at least we know what to do next time.
This person held us for 30 minutes waiting for bribe because I didn’t have a passport
Well next week we are off to Haiti and the DR to meet Charles, which should be an adventure. You will hear all about it upon our return.
Robert Kent Jr- robjkentjr@gmail.com
Wat/San/Health Consultant
www.RobRasa.com/hisblog/
Voice Mail: +1 (631) 458-1119
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