Hello faithful readers. First of all, my sincerest apologies for the missing posts from the rest of my trip. To be honest, things got really busy with the investors in town, and while I look forward to recounting some of the events that transpired on those missing days, I did not have the time (nor my wits about me to successfully edit and type a blog post) for a couple of the days. However, it was a good weekend, and I will backfill Friday at the very least, possibly with a guest blogger as well.

Love from the goose.

For now though, I’ll sum up this trip from the comfort of my couch in Los Angeles. Yes, it’s good to be back in the City of Angels- after almost 13 hours of total travel time (yes, I’m including time to and from the airports), I arrived back home on Sunday night and have had a couple days to reflect on my second trip to Honduras. All in all, it was a very productive and fruitful trip. The goals outlined in my first post were met and then some, although I’m sure if the whole team was asked we’d be in agreement that we could’ve enjoyed an even longer stay and time together as a team.

Among other things taken away from this trip, it was great to meet all the smiling faces at the factory in Honduras. Lesly, Christine, Steve, Joel, all the other workers on the floor, and of course Darwin- I got to shake the hands of the hardworking people who are turning sketches into reality. Just seeing the factory abuzz with people bustling away was an inspiration and served as a reminder for those of us here in the States to do our job as best we can. The better we do our jobs, the more jobs we can provide.

The one and only Darwin Pavón!

The landscape of Honduras was different from my last trip, mostly because it’s no longer the rainy season. Looking back on photographs and comparing then to now, there’s a clear shade of brown that pervades the Honduran landscape that was previously green. The political state has also changed.  Last July, Honduras was a the forefront of all news outlets due to the developing situation with ousted president Manuel Zelaya that resulted in public unrest in the streets of Tegucigalpa, and police checkpoints every few miles on the major roads.  Thankfully, that time has passed, and there were few clues left behind to remind one of last summer’s turmoil.

Political commentary leftover from last summer.

The state of the people however remains the same. There is no way around it, Honduras is a country mired in poverty. The third poorest country in the Western hemisphere, the telltale signs are clear in just a quick trip through Tegucigalpa. It’s not a rare sight to see children running between cars stopped in traffic to sell their wares from window to window, nor is it rare to lay eyes on houses sheltering an entire family with nothing more than a corrugated piece of steel to serve as a roof. However bleak and or eye-opening, it’s great to know that there are people and organizations making a difference. The Micah Project is a home for Honduran street boys with the goal of getting kids off their addictions, and off the streets. The AFE school is committed to offering education to children who might otherwise have no other choice than to scavenge for recyclables in the city dump. Both are having success, and are growing. And both are inspirations to us here at Tegu.

The AFE school on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa.

At the Micah Project.

But what about the blocks? Oh yes, the blocks. The blocks are coming along quite well. As you all well know, we’re working away as hard as possible to make them as fast as we can, and we won’t stop until every child has the opportunity to stretch their imagination and creativity through unscripted play with magnetic blocks. And when that happens, we’ll move on to something else that stretches imagination. This is what we do now, and what we want to continue doing at Tegu, and this trip only emphasized that for the team. We believe in the power of the “Ah-Ha!” moment, and the inner genius in every child, big or small. And we hope you do too.

So from America, I’m signing off on this trip (b)log Tonight. Thanks to those of you who decided to start following Somewhere along the way, I think that’s pretty Cool. Don’t forget to keep an eye on this space for the missing day post, and also for the Rumble of more big news in the future. Something’s Coming.

-SoS