We were invited to attend the 17th birthday celebration of our Spanish teacher’s daughter, Kenia. The party was held in Silvia’s home and included a short program of singing, testimonies and flute playing (compliments of Audrey). Dwain was even handed a Bible and asked to give the message since the people invited from their Adventist Church “were out evangelizing” and could not attend.

We were treated to Honduran style party food and cake purchased in Tegucigalpa for the occasion. Abuela, Silvia’s grandmother, was also there, having made the journey down the steep mountainside from her home to attend.

Thanks to a Summer Bible School giving project from our home congregation (Lyndon Mennonite), funds were made available to purchase chicks to be raised here at La Finca as meat birds. Thursday was the day it suited all of us to make the trip. Oscar, a mason who has spent most of the summer on building projects here, agreed to lead a group into the maze of Comayagüela’s marketplace. While the ladies and Zack did some grocery shopping, Oscar, Harlan, Danilo, Concho and Dwain took the little red Finca truck in search of chicks and feed to supply them for their 6-8 week life.

There happened to be a rather large fire in the Colón market we visited that still required lots of fire fighters and apparatus to clog the streets between market buildings as we walked in search of chick venders. We couldn’t tell if the fire affected prices offered that day, but we were able to purchase 75 week old chicks (Cornish X’s by all appearances) for 5 lempiras a piece plus 55 lempiras for the box to carry them home. That translated to just over 30¢ each leaving money to spare for future batches of birds.

To find the quantity of feed we need for the next two months, we had to drive through very slow traffic to the wholesale markets dodging buses and political demonstrators on the way. During one long wait, Oscar and I hopped out to purchase vaccine for our chicks from an agropecuaria (farm supply store) along the street. We needed two different stops to find the 900 lb. of feed that will hopefully be enough to see the birds through to butchering day. Next time we’ll purchase feed first and buy enough chicks to fit the supply.

Where do you put chicks that are too young to be without heat over night? In your living room, of course! Well, at least that’s what The Crazy Gringo finally convinced his skeptical bride was the only option. Here are some photos to evidence the many visitors our temporary boarders received since their arrival. Plans are to partition special quarters for the broilers in the chicken house next week. After their vaccinations are completed, we will move them in with the current mix of chickens.
Not being able to find suitable netting for the chicken house in Valle necessitated a second trip to Tegucigalpa this past week. It was our first excursion (alone) into the endless maize of unmarked roads and hills that characterize this capitol city. Sure, we’d driven by ourselves to some of the easy, main boulevards, but this was certainly different. Armed with some verbal directions from Harlan and a very not-to-scale map, we finally arrived at both our destinations: the market Jacaleapa in Kennedy and the Larach hardware store. Equipped with rolls of chicken wire and some new confidence in our navigational abilities, we returned home in an early August rain shower.

Saturday morning Dwain spotted a rainbow from our porch.