Long Overdue Photo Journal

This blog has been incredibly text heavy. Here, at long last, are some photos from my latest excursions to Costa Rica (VISA renewal), Tortola (to see family over Christmas), and Honduras (with Chencho and the Mesoamerican Peace Foundation). Enjoy!

Enjoying the natural beauty in Costa Rica

At the butterfly observatory, staff collect caccoons before they emerge, leaving them in a protected area to dry their wings. In the picture above, one butterfly had just come out of its coccoon, slowly trying to unfurl its wings.

I traveled to Costa Rica alone to renew my tourist VISA, but soon made friends. The couple above was kind enough to share their honeymoon with us!

Waking up to the sunrise behind a volcano, a cup of hotel coffee, my book, and NYTimes crosswords faithfully mailed to me by my 99-year old grandmother in Minnesota.

The sunset in Tamarindo.

I took one surf lesson, and promptly made friends with an affectionate jellyfish.

It was so incredible to finally see my brothers over Christmas break! Having grown up on a small sailboat in Lake Superior her whole life, my mom captained a monohull as my family and I (mom, pop, 2 baby bros now nearly grown into bearded men) through the British Virgin Islands. We spent XMas eve in the storm to end all storms, munching down on defrosted turkey meatballs. It was absolute perfection.

Now on to Honduras. I traveled with Chencho Alas, the founder and director of the Mesoamerican Peace Foundation to observe him and the Foundation's youth coordinator, Yeny, conduct trainings based on a methodology called "Appreciative Inquiry."

Here is German, the youngest son of the family we stayed with. Yes, he is just as adorable as he appears in this picture. Also, one of the most intuitive and intelligent 10 year-olds I've ever met.

As part of our trip through Santa Barbara, we traveled to an indigenous community where everyone, including the children, are fighting for their right to their land. A Chinese mining company has used a variety of tactics, from political to straight up violent, to try and force them off their land.

Yeny and I were roommates, carmates, and everything inbetween during our trip to Honduras. She is one of the most inspiring individuals I have ever had the privelege to meet. She has born more tragedy and hardship than I ever hope to experience in my lifetime, and yet has devoted her life to working with youth in a highly gang-ridden area of El Salvador. And she's only 24 years old.

One of the many young girls in the community who walk around as if they own the place. One little girl described to me how they oppose armed policemen trying to invade their home as we casually walked down to the river, with a tone that suggested we were discussing the weather or her favorite math class.

When we were in the community, they received a call notifying them that after months and months the World Bank had reversed its decision to lend the mining company $250 million, and would no longer be directly supporting the mining effort. It was the greatest and perhaps most unexpected victory they had experienced in months, if not years.

Following the call, everyone joined hands in prayer and thanks, asking for continued success and safety for all those involved.

Chencho with our resident photographer. Many of these photos were taken by the little boy. Once instructed how to work my camera, he went absolutely nuts, photographing everyone and everything and visibly improving with every photo he took.

Chencho with some of the more adorable members of Yeny's family.

Yeny with her mother, father and brother (and Chencho again with his friends).

Part of the Foundation's efforts include turtle conservation. Here is a pen constructed on the beach in La Libertad, El Salvador where the turtle eggs are stored and monitored in a grid. Volunteers help on the night they hatch to make sure  the hatchlings reach the ocean safely.

Rough life.

A homemade dinner with Chencho.

This was perhaps my favorite part of the trip - one of our host's sons created a makeshift radio made from old parts and a backlight. I woke up every morning to Honduran news humming next to my bed. I'm hoping via osmosis the Spanish sunk in twice as fast as usual.