How is it that I have left so much space between my last post and now? As I write this, at 4:45 AM in Rancho Santa Fe, Honduras (Nuestro Pequenos Hermanos - the orphanage upon which I volunteer my professional services and time), the security guard has just wandered past Casa Romano, his flashlight flickering like lightning through the open window as he passes by the porch, and slightly rattles the gate to check its security - part of his nightly rounds to keep this ranch safe. Sleep is no longer possible, I can hear the rooster starting its morning call across the fields.
The space has been filled with the return to school, as this Spring semester is tradionaally my busiest time teaching, with multiple courses to invest my time. And on February 14th, I had travelled to Sanibel to remember my father at his memorial service, a well attended affair that has served its purpose to bring closure on his life well lived, and his "live" connection to me now fading into memory, albiet very strong memories. And this week past, the time all faculty look forward to, Spring break arrived, and I find myself again in Honduras, to host a series of pre-construction meetings with the local team to kick off the new Conference Center and Volunteer Residence, I arrived Wednesday March 18th around noon, after Becky valiantly arose with me at 3:30 AM to get me to the airport for my 5:20 AM flight - travel days are always long days. Spent the afternoon meeting with Osman, reacquainting myself to life on the ranch, checking the now (finally) completed Surgery Center that I worked on, and retiring late in the afternoon to a short power nap, and then a quick dinner of rice and beans in the ranch kitchen. Axel David Quintero Padilla, my godchild whom I sponsor, is now in high school in Tegucigalpa, and this was not his weekend to be back on the ranch. Bummer. Was hoping to see him.
Much of the rest of the next three days involved several meetings with the local team, our engineer Rigo, our on-site project manager Osman, his labor foreman Chuta, and on occassion Reinhart and Ross, the administrative team. We dove deep into the details of the project, its engineering design, working up a detailed construction sequencing plan, schedule, various lists of equipment needed - essentially thinking through every detail and process, working late into the evening to develop the ideas and plans. We spent an entire afternoon staking the project corners at the site with three laborers to make sure we had the right spot. And in that process, while standing next to a short, stubby plantain tree, I had disturbed the bliss some tiny black ants enjoyed, and found 30 or 40 of them on my calf unnoticed until suddenly the stinging pain of their bite caused me to dance and swat them fiercely off my skin. The pain these tiniest of creatures can inflict is amazing, and I have had a pimply, itchy swollen rash not unlike poison ivy ever since. I can only be thankful I was wearing shorts so I could see them, rather than long pants where my dance of agony likely would have meant an instant disrobing of my trousers to make sure they wandered no higher - likely to chuckles of the laborers seeing this gringo hopping.
Hopefully, this deep dive will result in a smoother project delivery than we saw at the Surgery Center, for what I discovered is that the plans I have drawn do not tell the whole story. I put a heavy reliance on the drawings and the local construction workers interpreting them appropriately, which is not always the case when I am thousands of miles north. But the mere discussion - nearly a whole day - talking about the schedule with Osman and Chuta, with Osman translating between Chuta and me, I realized this conversation about sequence and plan was suddenly bringing clarity to Chuta about what he was about to build, and how. I felt a higher level of confidence that in working through the details and sequence as we had, seeing the "light" and hearing their point of view, we might pull this off. Time well spent, and my Spanish is oh-so-slowly getting better in the process.
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| El Tigre at dawn |
Most days heretofore were dawn-to-dusk affairs, with my down time consisting of an early morning sunrise walk around the ranch, and quiet work time late into the evening - except yesterday - Saturday. I awoke a bit early and decided to take a morning sunrise hike up the mountain that is the backdrop to thee ranch. I know the way well, the peace and serenity off the landscape, the birds, and some brilliantly blooming yellow flowered trees is a draw to get the higher vantage. On my way up, I spotted a rock outcropping I had not previously noticed, and wandered atop it to catch a new point of view - the distant El Tigre bathed in a cap of clouds, and foggy bottom lands just getting kissed by the sun, with the ranch spread below me. A serene moment, and a place I to which shall return.
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| Saturday Mass - open air! |
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| Moments before I spilled it |
The day was long, 8 - 4, spent in constant discussion of more detail is with Osman, broken up only by a quick lunch at the kitchen with his good friend and comic Moran, who proceeded to show me how to drink iced tea (clumsily I might add) from a plastic bag- a common technique using much less material/waste than plastic bottles. Spent a few minutes after walking back to Casa Romano catching up on email, and then wandered over to Mass in the open air church - an experience in itself even though 1 in 1000 words are understood by me. And who should show up but Axel, to my earnest delight, as Mass was starting. He had heard I was here, hopped a bus from Tegus to spend some time. After mass, while all were still assembled, Reinhart made some announcements, and introduced me to the crowd as el Arquitecto. As we were leaving, Gabby Driessen, the daughter of one of my clients, came up to say hello (as we only seem to meet here, not in the States). Maggie then escorted Axel and me to pay a quick visit to a very shy Zuany, the godchild of my colleague Megan Seltz and her family back at the U. Shy as she was, surrounded by giddy little girls and boys awaiting their dinner outside, who eagerly demonstrated a curiosity for my beard, wanting to touch it.
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| Axel, Moran, me and Osman |
Axel and I were then were invited to dinner at Reinhart's with a wide group of young volunteers and students on the occasion of Momo's birthday, celebrating with barbeque and karoke (yes I sang and danced a bit o' the Beetles !). I can say that the rhythmic beat of Latin music is quite infectious, even if from a karoke machine, outside under the stars where the feet can't stop the movement.
Axel and I will head back to Tegucigalpa today - back home. I love this place - the peace of the people, even in their hardship, the beauty of the landscape, and my small part to help this community find its way forward. But now, time to catch the sunrise on my morning walk, and explore a previously unexplored peak.
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| Smokey haze atop the mountain at dawn. |
