On the road again... still.

Overall, we've been very blessed. We couldn't even begin to recount what goes crazy every day, but first we'll share a little from today. We went to another community, Caliche (roughly translated Bumblesmack). The road to Caliche is what the Hondurans call "ugly," it's what I call "not a road." We took a Toyota LandCruiser 70, God's gift to awful roads, the things are tanks.  After 30 minutes on paved/nice gravel roads, we turned up the mountain for the next 1 1/2 hours on the trail. Did I mention that we were in the bed of the truck with a Honduran travel buddy?

You know a vehicle means business when it has a snorkle from the factory.

So, up we went through streams, over rocks, through ruts, on the sides of mountains, over huge rocks, past cattle, iguanas, and boys on horses. Occasionally we would nail a big something and we'd hear laughter from the cab. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was...not. Luis did his best to be smooth, but most of the time, nothing short of a bulldozer could make the road forgiveable. We finally made a descent into the community, only to meet with the leaders and turn around and do it all over again two hours later. Incredible.

Well, after another very full day, we´re still without a home. We did return to Las Lomitas for an overnight visit last week though. The long and short of Las Lomitas is that it is very rural, but has a lot looking up for it right now. There are other organizations getting involved at this point: a microenterprise has started, water is on its way to the community, a petition to the government has a promise of electricity in the coming year, a housing improvment (much needed) project is underway and pledged for the next few years, land ownership is high with prices rising, the coffee business is very profitable now in this area, and the local church is growing. This experience left us feeling very encouraged, but like we may not be the best fit since the opportunity is already so high.

The other community that we had high hopes for is also taking a down turn, but for a very different reason. Honduras has a real problem with squatters (people who take over the land by moving in with purpose to own the land). Here, the law and a para-government organization very much protect certain squatters. When a group thinks that a piece of land is being underutilized, they can move on (occasionally armed) and begin the process to obtain the title from the government. Even if the land-owners tell them to leave the next day, the squatters are protected and a long legal process entails.

Unfortunately, Puerto Escondido is such a community. Many of them have probably done this process several times, and despite appearances, may be quite wealthy via abuse of this system. Although they´re the lawful landowners now, we feel it would be unjust to step in and support development on land that has been obtained in this manner. It is unfortunate, because there are a lot of kids living there, caught in the crossfire of their parents greed. We'll do what we can to connect the community with help, but will not be involving ourselves there. Please pray for them and the corruption that is so rampant in this country. Everyday, we hear more and more about how people's lives here are affected by corruption here. They really need some light.