frog leg

a giant frog clogged up our main water line, so it took 4 hours to get it out, what a christmas eve, the whole tank clogged up and there are hundreds of tadpoles, and the frog is poisionouse to top it off. I had to get in the tank and clean it out, wow , was I dirty after that, very frustrating

jungle road construction

wow, thery are trying to put a road in the jungle, mainly with backhoes and large dynamite blasts, there has been massive destruction of rivers and beautful tropical forests, there is continual landslides which keeps the roads close almost all day every day..

juan,jasons, and Franks and water project

this is a water tank we constructed against a waterfall and 2 natural springs at Soconusco , due due to heavy rains the river where the tank is, has about 10 ft of rock and sediment which covered the river and put alot of the water underground and destroying the water supply..
So far , just clean drinking water until the next heavy rains..

jason on his farm 3 wheelin

spring ice breaking

Jason and his little brother Levi doing some spring ice breaking in Pequot Lakes in March... The northern pike and walleye are laying there eggs and the turtles and beavers are coming out of dormancy and it is the BEST of the year..

pluma hidalgo

This is where I can take a quite shower in the mountains, this is on the soconusco farm

Exciting Xmas

Well Not Exactly,

But I was at the coffee farm Soconusco, which is always nice and full of singing birds..
I even got to pick about 18$ worth of coffee and it took about 4 days, so not very profitable, but man its the best coffee in the world....

Xmas morning, I got enough energy to go for a run in the mountains which didnt last long until I just about passed out, but see the rare motmot bird and the big woodpeckers in the jungle made it all worth it...
We had a nice chicken dinner for Xmas with Frank and Mary Lou and a local girl which is working for them to earn money for school.. GOod!!

First time I had meat in a while!! YUM!! sure beats beans and tortillas....
After lunch I spent a few hours goofing around the waterfalls and climbing rocks by myself which is always exciting and I got a great high pressure shower underneath the waterfall...YEAH

We then drove into town wher I had to catch a taxi into another town and then another to catch a bus into San Cristobal Chiapas,,, Where I have just arrived in the chilly 35 degree F weather which was a shock from the humid Tropics...
Tomorrow I head for Guatemala to pick up Jermiah----YEEEEHAAAWWW

zapotec ruins monte alban

coffee

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cofffee season

Wow, what a week

For the first time in 6 years Growers First was able to provide micro-credit financing to the coffee farmers. This gives them some money to hire workers for the harvest, buy equipment or Donkeys... Asiclo immediately went and bought new chain saw blades to help make lumber for other farmers who are building.. The farmers and us are very excited about the new opportunities that are coming to fruition through hard work.... Yesterday in Pluma Hidalgo the road was closed so we got to watch some dynamite work up close, the sound was so loud I think my heart started beating irreguraly for a few minutes, so we turned around and made a very long, but scenic detour and stopped and talked to many coffee farmers which was great to here what was going on there.

Coffee harvest just went into full swing last week so everyone is out working hard!!!!!

casa hogar

I have now been at Casa Hogar for a week helping out a little with Paul and Jon, the 2 white people there right now... Just fixing little stuff etc... Nayeli--Carols daughter just had a very nice big wedding at the local church which went very good.. Mark Lohner came in from Nicaragua and we got to do some hiking in the hills behind Casa Hogar and we talked a little about trying to invest in a green house on the lush gulf of Mexico side where the students could possibly produce vegetables to sell to pay for their education so we will see if we can work something out which would benefit the locals and the students, etc. it is amazing how Oaxaca has atleast doubled in size since I first came here 10 years ago... Where it use to be mosthly spanish colonial style, now it has a very modern shopping district with all the finer things of life and still has the traditional outdoor dirty markets which make a real interesting contrast from the old poor world to a little more modern world where the money and credit are a little easier to come buy..Things seem to be running pretty smoothly or atleast as smooth as possible here at the childrens home. I am now looking for some opportunities to invest in childrens educations or in some kind of semi-- self-sustaining schools in which the kids or teenagers could produce some kind of product to subsidize their education and to learn new skills which would have long term benefits.. We have been going into town alot at night and doing alot walking around the colonial style churches, town centers, and walking streets and eating some great Oaxacan tacos and mole... Just enjoying the pleasant night time climate. So long for now

pluma to oaxaca

Thank God we finished digging in the cement water tank, I am sore and stiff and all that bending over just about killed my back.. The water is now up and running and we cemented right to the water fall, so now the tank collects clean spring water and the the river water goes over top to prevent leaves and stuff to clog up the pipe.. I spent the rest of Saturday picking to many bananas and we had a great talk with a local young man who was drunk at night and cut his arm 2inches deep with a machete and almost bled to death, it was a miracle he survivied because he had to walk 2 hrs in the jungle trails to get to a doctor who could sow his arm up enough to prevent death.. Well, now we are trying to encourage him to do something with his life and better it since he miraclously survived after losing 2 pints of blood.. I just arrived in Oaxaca after leaving Sunday night in the mountains on a van.... The road is still a sight for sore eyes and those who dont like heights wouldnt want to see this.. I still am amazed the backhoe has not fell down the mountain yet after seeing the angles and rocks they are blowing up for this road.. Frank, who stays on the farm is finally getting better after 4 months of nerve damage due to a infectiouse tick bite.. He is now able to work with a machete a little bit... I can not believe how fast these cedar we planted are growing 5ft in one rainy season...

mexico arrival

Well,
Thank God the lawn season is over, I already got my deer on opening day, equipment is put away, business was taken care of ... That means Mexico!!!!!

After arriving in Huatulco by a puddle jumper plane I got to see all my old friends from Growers First coffee and had a great day with them.. I then went out to the CAFE farm in the jungle of Pluma Hidalgo to see Frank and Mary lou.. Looks like I never left, except the jungle is starting to take over the coffee and is slowly returning to a beautiful secondary forest which is almost impenetrable and too steep to enter in most areas.. My papaya trees are growing good, the bananas are more than plentiful, eating almost 10 a day, atleast... Wild roasted chestnuts are awesome... The locals are still very nice and fun to talk to... the adult men way less than 100 pounds but are strong as an ox and can carry there wait and then some down or up hills.. amazing!! The rivers are mostly destroyed due to massive mountain road construction techniques that are primive and destructive at best,,, but the road is much Better!!! and atleast passible... except on 3 areas of pavement of which one hole is about 20 ft in diameter with a hole in it that probably goes down 1000ft ... the only markings are a couple of twigs otherwise it is an accident waiting to happen over and over... The heavy rains from the hurricanes have caused massive landslides and road destruction.. I will rest a while so I can think straight and write on the ardous labor that we have down moving rivers and constructing a water tank in the path of river.. which was exhausting...and of the worst forms of manual labor... shoveling 8 yards of rock out of tank with a river flowing in one end and you have to stay in a bent postion shoveling in waist deep water, rock, mud , with homemade pumps sucking water out of one to make it possible to work... more details on that later