Alex's photoshoot on Melba Zuniga's 4th floor deck in Tegucigalpa
Tegucigalpa is hilly
Melba's house
Nana Mary and Papa Jeff on Melba's terrace
Downtown Tegucigalpa
Nana Mary, Josh, Alex, Papa Jeff, and Melba's daughter Jimena at the Museo de Identidad Nacional
At the museum, Alex wants to know why the cannon is pointed at the Christmas tree
Cathedral of Suyapa, Tegucigalpa
Papa Jeff, Nelson, Nana Mary, and Alex on the cathedral grounds
We left Tegucigalpa for El Corpus, in southern Honduras
El Corpus is an old, beautiful town with cobblestone streets
We stayed in la casa de Juana y Pedro, the same house my where my family lived in 1978
Some of the many people of El Corpus who showered us with hospitality. We're on the porch of Juana, far right, and Pedro, at back.
Samantha (red shirt), Andrea (white shirt) Iris, and Angel, Alex's amazing hosts
Alex loves board games, even in Spanish
Mauricio, Alex, y Angel
Juana y Pedro's daughters, Andrea y Samantha
This is my favorite picture of the trip. Andrea could not have been nicer to Alex. Here she was explaining to me that she was not going to let Alex leave.
Let's take a walk around El Corpus
El Corpus's cathedral. The church site dates back to days when the Spanish were looking for gold
The Bayside Cafe is neither bayside nor a cafe...
...but it offers a nice place to tie up your horse.
Calaire mountain hangs over El Corpus. More on the mountain later.
I like the 2nd floor addition on this house
Tile and wood everywhere
We went for a walk down this road
Darlene, Angel, Andrea, Samantha, y Alex
The nativity in Juana and Pedro's house. Pedro expanded the back porch to make room for it. This picture does not convey how big and elaborate it is.
Chavela, Juana's mom, making tortillas. Just out of this picture is a modern stove, but sometimes the old ways work better.
Chavela cooking corn for tamales as Nana Mary looks on
Let the New Year's Eve celebration begin!
Let's start with a glass of vino, or in Samantha's case, some banana soda in a vino glass
A little dancing
And now let's make the año viejo (old year) and blow him up at midnight.
His tie is firecrackers. He'll get a second tie soon, to make sure he blows up really well and his body, stuffed with newspapers, burns.
Mauricio
The ____ burns well
Not an actual war zone
A midnight piñata
Jen sent me a text message from Raleigh, asking if Alex still had his loose front tooth. Minutes later, Papa Jeff practiced dentistry.
I'm not much of a mountain climber, but Calaire looks like a good climb.
Cliffs down the ridge line from Calaire
On the way from El Corpus back to Tegucigalpa, we stopped on the Pacific Coast to see a friend of Papa Jeff's. This is an estuary with mangroves.
Papa Jeff's friend owns a hotel with a nice pool
Melissa y Nelson drove us to Valle de Angeles, outside Tegucigalpa, on our last day. It's a pretty town, and yet all my camera got were these chickens.
Nana Mary, Melissa, Alex, y Nelso in Valle de Angeles
Alex in his Honduran futbol uniform
Alex inspects the plane that will take us home
