Quebrada Grande, Day 4, February 8, 2015

It is Sunday and the sugar trains are still running! The donkeys and cockerel too enjoy this early morning (4 a.m.) enthusiasm for the new day. 

In the night party ravers from the carnival passed in high spirits. Samir, the hotelier, tells us that Ponca the monkey freed herself from her leash by biting through the string so she is now on a chain leash.  Her companion monkey, Klavaskin, is grumpy.

A survey reconnaissance trip is planned for today, a three hour drive east of our current location. Alex will drive Robert, Marie and Nineth to ?  it is a 3 hour drive into the mountain east of our current location.  The water survey will be conducted alone with water testing and an opportunity to speak with the villagers. They are greeted ted by the whole town.

The water crew today have news that the water is filling the holding tank on the roof, a tanker  truck is pumping water up onto the roof to start the system flushing.

The education team, Leigh and Jane, start planning the celebration of the water building opening. This is scheduled for  Tuesday night. No school today as this group requested a day off to spend with family. We finish their education program on Monday.

High temperatures have returned on this beautiful Sunday. We hear the sound of the pump running the water through the system, a process known as flushing.

The mayor of Villa San Francisco has invited us to the local rodeo so at 5 p.m. we all gather in the court yard of the hotel. We hear from Robert and Marie about their adventure to the mountain villages. The Mayor arrives and we all pile into our bus for a short drive.  Our host gives us complimentary entrance tickets valued at 100 lempiras. The rodeo is held in a wooden circular shaped stadium with a simple guard rail. There are three tiers of seating. The wooden planking is uneven so we are careful as we go to our seats on the walkway. We step up and walk on top of the bull pen to find our seats in the VIP section.

Rodeo

Honduran cowboys decked out in their big hats, leather boots and jeans riding beautiful horses that can make skillful, quick turns from the bulls. A bull and rider enter the stadium. The rider needs to stay on the bucking animal for a measured time then the bull is lassoed so the rider can dismount and seek safety behind the boards. The bull is mad that his "manhood" has a tight band added before coming into the arena. The clown now has the task of distracting the bull with a red cape.  Once he knelt in front of the bull which remained silent and calm. 

The Villa San Francisco mayor has confided that he wants our help and we make a plan for Monday morning. He wants the team to test the water and discusses the possibility of creating a larger water filtration system - he has a plan for a reservoir for 10,000 people!