Day One - Mercedes - Thurs 6.2.2011

Day one has been wonderful. I'm still a little tired from waking up at 2:30am for my 5am flight out of Phoenix, but it was a calm flight with a short layover. I arrived in Roatan at about 12 noon. Customs was relatively quick. I only spent 20 minutes or so in line. Just past customs was the baggage carousel. Luggage arrived shortly after I pulled up. Henry, Enrique, and Frances were there to meet me. I have spent so much time viewing videos of these folks, transcribing interviews that the team recorded last year, and talking about them with my colleagues that I felt like I was meeting old acquaintances.

We immediately went to the grocery store where I spent a whopping $150. When I look in the cupboards, I can't fully comprehend where all that money went. Unfortunately, I forgot to exchange money at the airport, so I think a lot of that money went into a bad deal on the exchange rate. Sorry, guys. The pantry may not be quite as stocked when you get here as I would have liked:) The great news is that the Pirate's Den has fruit trees everywhere. I ate cashew fruit yesterday until I thought I might make my self sick! There are also mangoes and another fruit that I think folks in Jamaica call jack fruit. He couldn't remember a name for it either. The apartment we are renting at the Pirate's Den is quite big. It has three bedrooms, two of which are air-conditioned. Unfortunately, the place has poor ventilation, so I try to work out on the patio as much as possible and avoid keeping the a/c running round the clock.

Henry and Enrique have been more than accomodating. After a very interesting, hour-long interview, we decided I should attend a meeting in which Enrique would be battling a group that is determined to take over ownership of the water committee. Enrique said it would be fine for me to record the interview. From what I gather, Enrique is really critical to the efforts of the water committee and Living Water for Roatán. He reports that he has been working with missions like those of Henry and Francies for about 15 to 18 years. It started on the mainland as occasional or part-time work. Before accepting a full-time position with LW4R back in October, he had been operating his own business, but I cannot remember now what the business entailed.

Last night's meeting was interesting. We - me, Henry, Enrique and two men from the water board named Concepción (Concho) and William - met on Henry's veranda for about two hours. They discussed difficulties with the delivery of water and people getting water without paying. It's going to take me some time to fully attune my ear to Honduran Spanish. I understand Enrique nearly 100%, but others make minced meat of their words. By the end of the meeting, I had one of those 2nd language headaches that I used to get when I first moved to Madrid. The really interesting part is that Enrique and Henry had given me the impression that this would be a contentious meeting, but to me, however, it came off quite benign and friendly, especially in the beginning. As I read between the lines and reconsider the conversation that the gentlemen had last night, I am beginning to understand that Enrique is a true politician.

Josh, McWane, and Shannon: Henry is really hoping that the team can come up with a way create some kind of automatic shut-off valve. Apparently, there are 11 "zones" that they work with here in the colonia, so they would need 11 of these connection points. Part of the problem, as I understand it, is that people are finding ways to access water even though it isn't their day. Some form of valve for each community would permit them to have more control over who gets water and when. I told Henry that I couldn't make any promises until the guys got here. He said he would also try to connect us with some gentlemen he spoke to before about such a system.

Today, I will be meeting with nurse Peggy at 10am, and then at 6pm I will observe a bible study that Enrique runs. On Sunday there will be another meeting with the water board and the community that should prove to be quite insightful.

P.S. The little GE cameras work great. The attached pictures were taken with one of them. I have been fooling around with video and am also really happy with how that is working out. It's not movie quality, but for the purposes of our research, they are easy to use, store, and upload.

They have begun installing concrete receptacles for trash. At the top of the colonia, they have begun to lay the foundation for a second bin.