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a couple days ago, six of us hiked up a steep, muddy trail alongside a beautiful stream, through jungle and farmland to the little village of la victoria. isolated since hurricane mitch washed out the road ten years ago, these 400 - 700 people (depending on who you talk to), live incredibly impoverished lives in a place bordering on paradise. the vegetation is lush, water plentiful, temperature just about perfect, and the land is fertile. unfortunately, they use it to grow coffee and sugar cane instead of food. sugar cane destroys farmland after a few seasons, and fields are cleared by burning, which creates still more problems. i´m not sure what the effect of coffee is on the land, but all the fertilizers and herbicides/pesticides...

the docs dewormed a large portion of the village, we were served a simple meal, and we hiked back down in the pouring rain. i was thankful that i had spent so much time searchiung for a raincoat during my first two weeks here. without it, my camera would have been ruined.

day before yesterday, i built a small parallel bar setup from pvc for a 3 year old with cerebral palsy, so his mom could help him strengthen his legs and arms. the two smiles that resulted were wonderful.

i just finished "three cups of tea" if you haven´t read it, do. it is one of the most inspiring books i have ever read.

other than that, my life consists mostly of deadly dull data entry, licuados after work, tipicos food, and sleep. it should get more interesting soon, as the needs assessment survey i´m working on for jane winds up and i take off exploring.

speaking of jane, i wish she was here.