Category Archives: Life in Honduras

Nashville New Homes: Shine on Honduras – Part 4 – Always something to do!

Over the past years of visiting Honduras, we have met many friends.  Each year, the circle gets larger and it is hard to manage the time to work productively and see our great friends during the same week we are there.  This trip everything fell into place quite nicely!

The District Representive Ulysses Corrales, the Honduran equivalent to Jim Cooper or Marsha Blackburn, joined us for dinner one evening to thank us for our efforts.  Also joining us that evening was our great friend Sergio Salinas, who was President of the Choluteca Rotary the same year I was in Spring Hill.

Representative Corrales was a cool guy.  We told him of a family on the highest hill of Jayacayan, whose house we were planning to wire but found out there were no poles slated to bring power up that hill.  Mr. Corrales promised us he would get the poles and asked us to proceed with the wiring.  Well guess what?  The politician delivered on his promise and poles were delivered before week’s end!   How refreshing!

I had no idea that the new I-pad thingy had a piano feature and travelled all the way to Honduras to find this out:

On Friday night, we had a scheduling conflict!  The village of Jayacayan wanted to celebrate (party) with us.  It was also meeting night for the Choluteca Rotary Club miles away.   Both events had to be attended, so we split up the group and did just that. 

 

It was great seeing our great friend Juan Carlos Cerrato, who visited us in Tennessee along with Sergio back in 2008.  The last time I saw Juan Carlos, we both made a pact.  He would learn more English and I would learn more Spanish.  Juan Carlos did much better than I did!  On top of that, I even forgot to bring my pocket translator and Spanish-English dictionary.   They stayed behind in Nashville.  Like I have said earlier, there is nothing that cannot be communicated with a smile.  Add a cold beer to that also!

After the Rotary Meeting, we dropped by the Osorto family home to see MaMa, Esther, Carolina, and their family.

David Hartley introduced Chuck Payne and myself to this family back on our first Honduras visit in 2006.  The youngest daughter, Carolina, is now 18 and attending the university there.  She is the only daughter that does not have a child.  Below is Carolina taking the “no boy” (or hombre – no) pledge:

After a visit to Wendy’s with the Osorto family, we proceded back to the Barcelona Hotel in San Marcos de Colon to join the rest of our group.  They had just returned from the Jayacayan village party at Margarite’s home and had a great time singing and dancing.  I have not seen any pictures from the party yet, so will just have to take their word for it.  (Just kidding)

Every day was filled with amazing sites, but this one takes the cake…..  just what part is the rock and what part is the tree?

Below are more scenes from our last official work day in Jayacayan.  At the end of this day, Huntly Gordon graciously gave Douglas, a great helper from the village, a set of tools and workbelt worth over $500.  We gave our helper Evan a screwdriver set, tool belt and pair of pliers.  He will probably lose them.  LOL

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With all of our wiring work completed, it was then time to plan something neat for Saturday…. being a tourist!  Check back for Part 5!

Trey Lewis is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Tennessee with Ole South Realty, 615.896.0019  direct 615.593.6340.  Specializing in new home sales in the Greater Nashville area to include Nashville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, and Spring Hill, Tennessee

Nashville New Homes: Shine on Honduras – Part 3 – The People

On my first visit to Honduras, I returned home an emotional wreck.  I had far more questions than answers.  In each of the homes we worked in was a picture of the same Jesus that I believe in.  Although in a different language, these wonderful people said the same prayers and gave thanks for their food as well.

How was it decided for me to be born in the United States?  How was it decided for them to be born in Honduras?  TOUGH QUESTIONS!  I still do not know the answers, but have to believe that every person can make a difference – wherever they are born.  I cannot speak for everyone that has been there, but the people of Honduras have certainly made more of a difference in my life than I have in theirs.

Other Rotarians from Lawrenceburg, Dyersburg, Lewisburg, Madison, AL, and others preceded our trip.  The Madison, AL club specializes in the installation of eco-stoves, which will greatly add to the quality of life of Honduran families.  Can you imagine building a fire in a clay box, with no chimney to exhaust the smoke?  The eco-stove adds a more efficient cooktop to the clay boxes along with a smokestack to the outside.  Simple, yet amazing.  Here is a photo of a typical stove in a honduran kitchen:

Now, take a look at the improved “eco-stove”

Our group, in addition to Ronnie Strickland who was already there, consisted of eight from Middle Tennessee – Pastor Ann Bassett, Jeremy Bisceglia, Les Bosarge, Keith Clodfelter, Huntly Gordon, Trey Lewis, Zane Martin, and Tom Thomson (aka Boone).  Boone is also a professional photographer and his photos will speak more than any written word.

 http://www.bgapix.com/Travel/Honduras/15820914_CYpAK#1186183527_NieMK

Can you imagine having to live your life in total darkness from sundown to sunrise?  Sure there are candles, but the cost of candles would take away from the necessity of food on the table.  We saw a few portable generators, but most are only used once a year for special occasions.  You are probably asking “how they will pay an electric bill?”  We asked the same question.

Honduras is a poor country and only adds infrastructure as it can afford.  The government will take the value of what was infrastructure is provided from outside sources and issue a proportional credit to each resident.  By the time they ever see an electric bill, there is a good chance their increased quality of life and productivity will absorb it.

Electricity was not our only mission.  Pastor Ann Bassett, of Peace Lutheran Church in Spring Hill, held basic English class at the village school.  Ann is fluent in Spanish, having grown up in a missionary family in Panama.  At the end of the week, each student received a certificate for their efforts.

After school, Ann occupied many of the kids while we were in their homes working.

Here are some other scenes of interest from Honduras:

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Well, it looks like there is still enough for another part or two.  Thanks for reading!

Trey Lewis is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Tennessee with Ole South Realty, 615.896.0019  direct 615.593.6340.  Specializing in new home sales in the Greater Nashville area to include Nashville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, and Spring Hill, Tennessee

Nashville New Homes: Shine on Honduras – Part 2

One of the highlights of our stay was having breakfast each morning at Hotel Barcelona.  Shown here is Teresa and Nicole, who made certain everything about our stay was enjoyable:

This was our breakfast spread each morning.  The buffet consisted of pancakes with sugar cane syrup, fresh cheese, cantaloupe, watermelon, platanos (I still don’t know what they are, but they are good), bananas, pineapple, scrambled eggs, coffee, and fresh squeezed orange juice.  The food at Barcelona was great and no one ever suffered from “Montezuma’s Revenge.”

After breakfast at 7:00 am each morning, we proceed past the local church to the local market, where we bought bottled water, lunch for the day, and sardines, rice, and beans for the residents of each house we worked in.

At every project, the village provides us with a secure place to store our tools and supplies, which saves a whole lot of time.  Shown below is the “bodega”  (aka warehouse) where we loaded up for work each morning.  This hacienda belongs to Margarite, a very influential, and nice lady in Jayacayan, and has been in her family for 100+ years.  It is currently used as a community gathering spot and is part of her farming operation.

Here, you will see Margarite’s workers planting tomato seeds that will eventually be placed in the soil once they sprout.  A large part of our produce in the US comes from Honduras.

The man above was a produce buyer for Dole, that had just purchased 300,000 lbs of tomatoes for approximately 25 cents per pound.  Sounds like a lot of money, but it really isn’t when it has to feed such a large number of workers and their families.

Although Jayacayan is home to many less-fortunate people, there are also those that are better off.  By offering our services “for hire” to certain families, we were able to subsidize the cost for others.  We did not know of this detail when we met Mr. Martinez at our first stop, below.  He was extremely pissed off that he received pull string lights instead of wall switches.  It is a damn good thing that he didn’t understand English and we didn’t understand Spanish…although I have a feeling we were both saying the same thing!  (After learning that he paid for all of his work and supplies, we did go back and installed the switches and parted as friends forever.)

In Honduras, most of the small villages are located way off of main highways.  The roads to the villages are rough and primitive, and the trails to the homes are even rougher.  And you never know just what you will see.  Take a look:

The end of the road…. which fork do you take?   Neither is wide enough for the truck and our helper is points up the hill.  Turns out it was 1/4 mile walk up that damn hill to the house we needed to work on.  Seemed a lot further than that to me.

The cows have better road manners than many drivers.  Shown below is a corral where we saw a bull getting his underparts cut off.  Not a good day for him.

There is also wool in Honduras.

Rest Rooms are plentiful.  These little Toyota diesels are amazing in adverse conditions.  At $350/week they are a deal.

Each evening on the drive back, we saw some amazing sunsets.

In Part 3, we will take a look at the families we encountered over the week.  These people were so gracious and appreciative.  We were welcomed into their homes as complete strangers and departed as dear friends. 

Trey Lewis is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Tennessee with Ole South Realty, 615.896.0019  direct 615.593.6340.  Specializing in new home sales in the Greater Nashville area to include Nashville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, and Spring Hill, Tennessee

Nashville New Homes: Shine on Honduras – Part 1

Before writing this recap of our recent trip to Honduras, I was reminded of this amusing quote:

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero, philosopher and statesman

Rather than spending time writing a shorter story, this week’s blog will break our trip into parts.  In a previous blog post, the history of how our projects in Honduras started was discussed:    https://nashvillehomesblog.com/2011/01/19/nashville-new-homes-assafartay-is-going-to-honduras/

About this year’s project:  Lawrenceburg Rotary Club coordinated the effort and did an exemplary job of putting everything together.  Between their own funds, acquiring grants from Rotary International, funds from the Honduran government, and contributions from other District 6760 clubs, monies were raised for the installation of utility poles and power lines to the village and to purchase all of the supplies needed to provide electrical service in each home.   Without the organizational and planning efforts of Jim Johnston, this year’s project would not have happened.

It was also great to have the “grandaddy” of our Honduras involvement, Ronnie Strickland, back with us in Jayacayan.  Ronnie has devoted years to improving the lives of Hondurans and has had a great impact on the entire region.  Just mention “Senor Ronnie” anywhere in Honduras and doors will open! 

  

Six of us representing Spring Hill Rotary and two representing Franklin Noon Rotary departed Nashville International at 6:00 am on Sunday, February 6, 2011 for our assigned week in the “Jayacayan” community of Southern Honduras, consisting of approximately 55 homes.  Our part of the project was to finish installing electrical services and wiring in the remainder of the homes, which numbered approximately 25 or so.   We arrived, laden with tools, in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras, shortly after noon.

We picked up our baggage, went through customs, and walked over to Friendship Car Rentals, where Frederico had two 4×4 trucks waiting for us.  It was now time to negotiate the traffic of the Tegucigalpa Highway to the PanAmerican Highway on our 4 hour ride to San Marcos de Colon, where we would be staying for the week.

I will never forget my first visit, arriving in Tegucigalpa.  Hondurans never get in a hurry…. until they get behind the wheel of a car.  Two-lane roads are actually 3-lane roads and the double-yellow lines don’t mean a thing.  They should have saved the paint.

We have been very fortunate over the years to have escaped incident on the roads of Honduras.   There is no such thing as defensive driving here.  Below is a common sight along the highway from Tegucigalpa to Choluteca.

Along the route, you see things that make you laugh.  You see things that make you cry.  You see things that are simply amazing.

It has been said that Honduras is where old school buses come to die.  Not true, they come here for a new life and you will see them everywhere!

After following the Tegucigalpa Highway to San Lorenzo, the Pacific Ocean Port of Honduras, we then pick up the Pan American Highway into Choluteca, continuing to our destination of San Marcos de Colon, a quaint village in the mountains shown below:

Watching the Super Bowl was a concern to a few in our group.  Personally, I could have given a rat’s ass this year.  Not knowing one way or the other, I gambled and said our hotel would have it so we could keep moving.   Although the play-by-play was in Spanish and no funny commericals, our Hotel Barcelona did have the Super Bowl playing when we arrived.  Here is home for the next week:

We were very pleased with our new home away from home!  We were initially concerned about what $15 USD, including tax and breakfast, would get us.  The Hotel Barcelona was a highlight of the trip and I would recommend it to anyone!

Thats it for today.  In the next part, you’ll see about life in Jayacayan!

Nashville New Homes: Assafartay is going to Honduras.

Don’t you just hate it when people call you by a name that you don’t like?   I certainly do. 

On my first mission trip to Honduras many years ago, we were introducing ourselves to a local family, one that has since  become very close to each of us.   Everyone was saying their names slowly and basically playing panamines to get the name across.   Being “Trey”, I picked up the closest food tray and pointed to it.  Little did I know that food tray was an “assafartay” in Choluteca, Honduras.  Damn.  I should have started with “uno, dos ….”

But I didn’t, and that name is used regularly for me in Honduras.  That’s okay, it is great to see the Hondurans get a good laugh!   They are wonderful people and a joy to be around.  I cannot wait to be there again!

About our involvement in the area…. Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras in 1998.  Friend and fellow Rotarian, Ronnie Strickland, went there on a mission trip and saw where Rotary International could greatly help in the region’s recovery.  Through his Rotary Club in Franklin, TN, he solicited support of Rotary International along with other clubs in Middle Tennessee and Northern Alabama.  The primary focus has been to bring electricity and clean drinking water to remote villages. 

The project has grown every year, and is currently coordinated by the Lawrenceburg Rotary Club.  Each year, we focus on a new village consisting of 50-80 homes, or approximately 500 residents.   Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on these projects, all through donations and matching grants from Rotary International.   Different clubs send volunteers for a week until the project is complete.  Our week is February 6th.

As the projects have grown, we have also expanded into dental clinics, opening school libraries, and clothing drives.  Although there is most definitely a language barrier, there is no message that cannot be communicated with a smile.  Allow me to ramble on another minute for a laugh…. The same word can mean many different things, and is differentiated only by the way you “roll your r’s.” 

One day, a woman asked me when we were leaving, in Spanish.  I pulled out the pocket dictionary, figured out what she was asking, and replied… with a best attempt in Spanish.  I didn’t roll my “r” just right.  Instead of saying “Airport on Saturday,” one of the bi-lingual guys told me I had just called her a “Saturday Whore.”  Everyone laughed.  Thank God.

Lets move on to some scenes of our past trips to Honduras.  If anyone would like to donate funds to a great cause, please send your donation to Spring Hill Rotary Club, PO Box 865, Spring Hill, TN 37174…attention Honduras mission.  Or, call me and we will make other arrangements.  I promise it will not be spent on beer.  :0)

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Trey Lewis is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Tennessee with Ole South Realty, www.OleSouth.com, 615.896.0019  direct 615.593.6340.  Specializing in new home sales in the Greater Nashville area to include Nashville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, and Spring Hill, Tennessee