Honduras Culture

The mission property in Politilly has a chapel (left foreground) and a mission house (background). We had a tent set up for our annual tent meeting. The mission property has steep hills on two sides. Although the mission house is small, it served as cooking headquarters while visitors were here for the meeting and building project.

Iguana is a delicacy relished by the natives. It is cooked with the skin on, and has the appearance of a cut up snake. The pig was not very cooperative in travelling to a be with another pig. She made lots of noise before we wrestled her into the truck. Some pigs are kept in little pens built over the sea. It makes clean up easier and keeps the smell down.

The boys wanted to go fishing and swimming, but Brother Dennis's dory had been beached for repairs. The boat was launched with some help from friends. As the boys waited, Brother Dennis continued to try to get the boat fixed. The motor and shaft had an alignment problem, so they had to abandon that boat and find another way to get out on the sea. The boat that took them wouldn't start when it was time to return, so they swam and pulled the boat back to shore since it was getting dark. They say the sharks come inside the reef when it gets dark, so I imagine they were glad to get on dry land again.

A small house was built for an old man to live by himself over the sea. The out house was conveniently close, and was also over the sea. Unfortunately, Hurricane Katrina passed close enough to Roatan to cause some damage. His house was washed ashore. The storm brought sea water up into people's yards. Brother Toni worked on cutting down the termite infested tree right next to the mission house. A tree next to the chapel blossomed suddenly and drew hundreds of beautiful butterflies.

Sister Lela sent her son up the hill to get clay in the wheel barrow. She made a clay oven which they used frequently to save buying expensive butane. The clay burning chamber is on top of an old stove. A metal top on the burning chamber supports cooking pots. The old metal oven gets hot, allowing baking too.

A thatched roof garage shades the truck from the tropical sun. The truck was being vandalized while it was parked on the road. Children would scribble on the paint with large pieces of gravel. Although there are more weedeaters and lawnmowers these days, much of the grass is still cut by machete. Jeremy Garcia was cutting the school yard.

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