The notable event this week was the start of the planting of about 150 surinam cherry fruit trees.  Surinam cherries are like little red pumpkins about an inch across that are quite sweet.  we will be using them to make jam.  we planted them along a long mountain ridge on Larry´s land.  They are planted up the ridge in two rows, lining a path that will be a meter wide when the trees are full grown.  the path extends about 400 meters up the mountain.  it is good to plant tree crops on the ridges as they face the most erosion, it is where it starts.  Tree crops hold the soil well and soften the fierce rain that would normally pound the precious soil.  planting them along a lane makes it easier for harvesting, a creates a pleasant path up the mountainside. 

I am slowly familiarizing myself with the land.  There is Finca Shalom, which is Larry´s demo farm in La Muralla (about a 40 minute hike from where I am staying), then there is campus, in Las Mangas where we live.  Campus is about an acre of riverside property.  the view from campus is illustrated by the title photo of this blog.  La Muralla is on the other side and to the left of the ridge, depicted in the photo.  At the Las Mangas campus, which we call campus we have some fruit trees and vegitable gardens.  We are in the process of building a fish pond for yummy fish.  We live communally at campus, all pooling our resources in ragards to food and other needs.  We share meals together daily and fulfill daily chores.  I share a room with Larry and Joel.  Joel is a friend of Larry´s who was basically abondonded by his parents.  He is I think 29 years old and is mentally retarded and has epilepsy.  Campus adopted him and tought him to collect plastic bottles to redeem for money, or we also use them in the nursury for our little trees.  Campus also hosts orphans weekly for games and learning, and also youth groups for the same purpose.   Adjacent to campus a a property that extends up the mountian side containing a watershed the supplies clean drinking water to Las Mangas and a near by village El Naranjo.  This property is owned by Jack Dire, the founder of the program down here. 

 I spend my time working on campus and at Finca Shalom (in La Muralla), hiking through the woods, reading and studying, and slowly learning spanish. 

 The pace of life is refreshingly simple.  I have only cut myself once with my machete, right under my finger nail.  ouch.  The bugs are still bad, but I am getting used to them. 

I look forward to more loyally report on this blog, so thank you for your patience.  I will hopefully access it once a week.

This is my first post since I`ve been in honduras.  I have little access to the internet, the site was down for a while, and I forgot my password for the past two weeks but it just came to my head a couple days ago.  yes! 

 It has been great down here.  getting this blog going is an example of the different pace of life.  things probably go at a quarter or an eighth the speed they do up in new england.  which is good as it has provided much time for thinking.  A group from Gordon College came down last week on a sustainable tropical agriculture intensive which was fun.  we worked on a latrine project in La Muralla, the subsistance farming community in which I am working.  we helped dig 8 foot deep holes for the latrines.  this community has never had toilets. 

I know there is much to catch up on, but sort of not too much because everything happens slowly.  up where I live, near La Muralla, in Las Mangas, we have no phone so communication happens verly slowly.  The one thing that happens quickly is the accumilation of bug bites.  Lots of ticks and gnats.  These ticks are tiny, they get in your belt line and they are so hard to see, they can chomp away for days.  then you have all these red itchy bumps, dozens of them. 

I bought my machete last week.  So now Im beginning to feel like a real man.  We eat a lot of beans and rice.  almost every day.  it is yummy though with some veggies mixed in.   I will now be updating this more frequently, hopefully weekly now that I remembered my password.  peace!