La Ducha

First I want to say thank you to all of you who are lending to help Allan and Nicole start the chicken farm. Since Saturday morning when I first posted this project, almost 30% of the funds needed have been pledged. I want to apologize for the extremely poor grammar and spelling in Saturday's email. I was in a hurry and forgot to proof it and do spell check. Totally embarrassing! I did want to clarify two things. 1. Any amount you wish to loan is gratefully accepted, but because this is a pilot program smaller loan amounts are recommended. 2. Your loans are not tax deductible nor do we guarantee repayment.

La Ducha
This is what most people in Central America use to heat the shower water, if they use warm water at all. Most of these "hot water heaters" are 240 volts. Because of this, some people call them "widow makers". I cringe every time I reach up and turn the switch on or off, wet and standing in a pool of water. Water temperature is regulated by the water flow. You want cooler, turn up the water volume. For those worried about the dangers of this system, a cold shower would be the obvious solution. Of course, a Gringo taking a cold shower runs the risk of having a heart attack.

La Ducha

Another thing that seems to happen often is what one man I know refers to as "stray voltage". Sometimes when you turn on a faucet you get a little tingle, especially if your hands are wet. I think it's because most houses here are not properly grounded.

Some of the other things I miss in the bathroom are; a really long, hot, strong shower, shaving with hot water, (most tap water is only cold water) being able to brush my teeth and rinse with tap water and, last but not least, being able to flush used toilet paper down the toilet. All these things just take some getting used to.

A few other updates.
Friday I went to Comayagua to get my RTN number. Having this makes me an official taxpayer here in Honduras. As best I can tell this is equivalent to our Social Security number, but with out the benefits. I needed to get this in order to import and register our van, but it is used for almost all other business transactions as well.

After a few colder days, the weather has now turned hotter and a bit more humid, but not unbearably so. I think it was about 90 F yesterday. We are headed into the hottest, driest month of the year, April. The air is hazy, partially from the humidity, but also because many farmers are burning their fields in preparation for planting as soon as the rainy season begins.

Water rationing has begun in earnest. Many people are only receiving water every 3 days and some as little as every 8 days. I know one lady who hasn't had water for 2 months in her "barrio", this perhaps for reasons beyond rationing.

I am closing in on a location to drill our first well in June. Getting the well drilling up and going has been a little difficult because of a lack of funding for the project, but thanks to New Generation Fellowship in Jacksonville, FL we will have opportunity to do this soon. They will also be our first team. We lovingly refer to them as "our guinea pigs".

Last Saturday, we went on a hike with the Wells and the Foster boys. Hiking down a trail through a pine wood, we eventually got to a small waterfall with a swimming hole. There were quite a few young people already there. This is Semana Santa and traditionally it is week when many people head for the beach or the rivers to swim. Afterwards we stopped at the Mennonite farm for home made ice cream. I also made the mistake of asking for manteca instead of mantequilla, the difference being lard and sour cream. Take it from Christina, lard does not go well on frijoles. Oops!



The swimming hole





The advantage to living in a free country. We can still do this here.