Today’s events consisted of getting to the capital city of Honduras. As the first leg of the trip, we drove from Thunder Bay down to Minneapolis to catch a bargain deal with Continental to Tegucigalpa
If you ever have had the privilege of driving with Marko across the US/Canada border you know that this will be the first event to happen on a trip—we are always marched into the customs office. Once inside, there has to be a few tough questions thrown my way also, mainly because I have a green card and a Canadian passport. I must say, it would be nice to see open borders that the countries in the European Union enjoy and also countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Once we reached the customs in Honduras, again I was pulled aside but this time I was not asked any questions as my Spanish consists of about 5 words. It was a technicality in my paperwork, as I needed an address we were staying at and I suppose they didn’t like my answer of Tegucigalpa.
The family that we are boarding at is the same home we had the privilege of staying at in November of last year. To describe our contentment was simply put by our host when we arrived at his home and he told us “Welcome home”. Though this time I get my own bed. Last time I had to share a bed with Marko, who was enjoying foreign bacteria moving through his system.
The short clip I’ve uploaded is a mix of things I saw today.
- An old hanging bridge to get across this deep gorge. During hurricane Mitch the water crested it, even though the river is now 70-100 feet below. At that time several houses disappeared into the river.
- A church that helps the poor neighborhood kids with monthly medical checkups and they also enjoy other activities with a smile as you can see. There was about 94 kids in around the place when we popped in to say hi.
- Random rooster that I’m sure I’ll be hearing tomorrow morning before sunrise.
My dad, Pentti Leppanen, preaching in Florida
The image was taken in the late 70s or early 80s. The church looks like Bethel in Lake Worth, Florida. He was the pastor at the Finnish church in Lake Worth, now called Kotikirkko and can be found at 1510 High Ridge Road. He served there from 1975 to 1980.
The audio is from 1984, a month before he passed away in a drowning accident. The sermon is from a Finnish conference held in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. It was from a late evening meeting.
As the sun was rising I headed for the roof patio to take a couple shots. The reason for going to Guatemala was to do some video and camera work for Marko Selkomaa’s 10 day trip. We also traveled through El Salvador and Honduras.
We stayed a few days in Villa Nueva, located 8 miles from Guatemala City. The city is one of the poorest with 400,000 residents. read more…
These photos were taken yesterday morning. I was in search of some wildlife that also would give good color contrast. Though the lighting was not quite strong at times, the photos did work out to my liking.
In response to President Obama’s move to make the White House more environmentally friendly, DoSomething.org, one of the largest teen organizations in America, announced today they will join forces with GreentheWhiteHouse.com, an interactive site enabling users to upload suggested “green” features into virtual rooms in The White House. The goal is to inspire America’s youth to lead the charge in greening their own homes and help teach the rest of the world, including The First Family, how to green theirs.
read more…
Solar cars, solar homes, solar backpacks, and now we have an example of a solar camel. read more…
Michelle Kaufmann makes it easier to go green by prepackaging green solutions for homebuyers and developers seeking energy, water, and cost efficient homes, and healthy environments. As demand for green housing rises, two major museum exhibits–Smart Home and Home Delivery–highlight the promise of modular building. read more…
ECOpreneuring – Putting Purpose and the Planet Before Profits by John Ivanko and Lisa Kivirist
There is gold in going green, and the same drive to make a buck that created global warming can now be harnessed to slow the carbon- based pollution that is overheating the planet. ECOpreneuring shows how we can harness our country’s entrepreneurial spirit to avert global catastrophe and profit from doing so. – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Kivirist and Ivanko weave together a perspective that can transform how you think about work – and a more sustainable life. Their timely book is jam-packed with the necessary details to sort out what it means to live simply and sustainably in an economy that fosters life, not depletes it. ECOpreneuring illuminates a radically different approach to both working and living. – Wanda Urbanska, host of “Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska”
Claimed as the second century of flight. The Personal Air Vehicles (PAVs) will be a new generation of small aircraft that can extend personal air travel to a much larger segment of the American population. As a solution to America’s future mobility needs, NASA aeronautics developed the PAV concept to provide a more distributed and less centralized system of air travel. Super energy efficient PAVs will be able to transport people to within just a few miles of their doorstep destination at trip speeds three to four times faster than airlines or cars. NASA predicts that up to 45% of all miles traveled in the future may be in PAVs. This will relieve congestion at metropolitan hub airports and the freeways that surround them, reduce the need to build new highways and save much of the 6.8 billion gallons of fuel wasted in surface gridlock each year.