Snow in Vegas

Medical mission in El Horno

We took media out to our humanitarian medical mission in El Horno Wednesday. Our medical team worked out there with a Honduran team Tuesday and Wednesday and saw about 650 patients. The village was only about five minutes away by helicopter, but it would have taken three hours to drive there -- it's up in the mountains. Some people walked more than five hours to see a doctor.

I didn't get many pictures of our people treating patients because I was escorting media and not there to shoot photos. I brought my little personal camera and did shoot a few photos of the people and the village.

This is a couple of boys looking in the window of the school where the doctors were treating some minor ailments.



I saw these three children waiting in front of the school.



This is a Honduran military doctor seeing some patients, and the next is a Honduran dentist extracting a tooth.




The dentists worked out of the village church.



Here's a few shots around El Horno:





And, finally, shots from the inside of the helicopter on the flight back to base:




That's the base outside the window on the photo above.

Back in Honduras

I traveled back from Vegas to Honduras yesterday and took a few photos of the ride on the bus to the base. I also learned an important lesson -- red eye flights suck. I should have taken a nap before I left at 1:55 a.m., especially knowing I would have to wait for the bus and then take the 90-minute ride.

Here's a shot of the airport from the bus.



Not too far from the airport, there are plenty of buildings long the route that look like this:



And yes, the traffic can get pretty thick in Tegucigalpa.



Here's one of the two accidents we saw during the trip. The road from Tegucigalpa sees a lot of accidents, usually not as minor as this one.

Red Rock Canyon

I just got back from a week in Las Vegas and Aud took me to Red Rock Canyon for the day. It's a beautiful place and it is close to the city.

Here are a few photos:







The entire photo set is available at Red Rock Canyon Photos. If you are authorized by me as family or friends, you get to see bonus photos (if you are family or friends and not authorized yet, send me an e-mail and we'll fix that).

U.S. military assists Honduran crews during Comayagua flood

SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras -- U.S. military members from Joint Task Force-Bravo rescued four people from flood waters Oct. 19 in Comayagua, Honduras.

The JTF-Bravo Emergency Response Team was alerted about 9:40 a.m. to assist local Honduran emergency teams in rescue operations, according to Lt. Col. Richard Somers, JTF-Bravo Army Forces commander.

read more | digg story

This month's chapel hike

We had the monthly chapel hike yesterday and 108 people participated this time -- the largest group yet. We hiked a total of about five miles, with the village where we dropped off the food about halfway through the trip. The weather couldn't have been better, and we had a chance to stop at a ruin site on the way in.

We walked on a dirt road most of the way, except for the trail we went down to the ruin, so it was a pretty easy walk.







I really don't know anything about the ruin. We heard it was originally a Mayan site, and if it was, it was poorly restored. The concrete in the stones was obvious.



In the end, some people in need at the village received a lot of food, mostly flour, rice, sugar and oil.

 

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Soggy

It's been raining for a few days, so I decided to go to Tegucigalpa for a Mental Health Weekend. It's not that I have been going crazy, but it's a good excuse to sleep in a big bed and have my own bathroom for a couple days. I'm easily entertained.

It hasn't been raining non-stop, but pretty close. We got a break this morning, but it's pretty overcast, so it'll probably start again soon. I guess that's why they call it the rainy season.



That's the view from the hotel a few minutes ago. The low clouds have been a constant companion for quite a few days. It does keep the heat down.

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