Josh and I spent a day in Danlí working out all the logistical details we could, including lodging, food and transportation options, and then headed back up to Junquillo to finalize things there. We met with three different bus drivers, all of whom own smaller buses and their own 40-person school buses–the public transportation vehicle of choice (or perhaps necessity) down here.

Tuesday morning we met with Billy Peters, a missionary from South Carolina who’s been here on and off for about 15 years. It was a great conversation about potential work projects and general community needs he’s noticed since moving here–we’ll definitely be keeping in touch with him. We also met a nice gringo named Roland down here who runs a cigar shop/laundromat, which of course is a perfectly logical combination of services. We’re going to stop in and say hi to him today before heading to Tegucigalpa.

There we plan to look at bus options from some larger companies. There are plenty of reasons for this, one being that one of the three drivers we talked to had his bus break down just hours after our conversation–it’s always good to have a backup.

We’re in Danli for most of the rest of today, and one thing we’ll be doing is checking out seed prices. Junquillo residents, who earn less than $5 a day, can’t afford them, but they could be an excellent way to help combat hunger here. Food and water are by far the two primary needs here, as we learned during a community meeting Tuesday night. Right now, residents of the village of Ocotal, which sits near Junquillo, have to pack water to their homes, and nearly all their money goes toward food.

On Saturday we’re going to head up to a place called Guimaca to visit a church connection Josh has–a guy named Jorge who used to live with family friends of his.

God bless!

-Steven B.