The Red Baron

I must give credit where it is due and my car is not German made. As a matter of fact it is a Nissan Pathfinder but goes like a "Sherman " tank. What's so funny is that when I drive it, it has more shakes, rattles and noises than most of the vehicles on the road here. One day I am going to do a posting of some of the wrecks that are on the roads here and you would be amazed. The beauty of driving the "Baron" is that because it has so many extra noises, no one wants to steal it. What a great anti theft devise! And as a matter of fact most people are amazed it still runs and its only 15 years old. One of the other beauties is that everyone hears me coming before they see me and so their ready to wave before I'm in sight. How cool is that! The other day I lent it to someone else and they we amazed how many people knew they were coming before they got there. The only problem is they (visitors) have to learn to wave to everybody because that's what I do. If you ever come to visit, I'll take you for a ride in my "Sherman" and you'll feel like the queen, only bring the white glove.

When you're not around who does the work?

People have asked me "Who keeps the work going if there isn't a group helping?". Good question so I am going to show you one of our work crews that works in Los Algodonas. You see we don't lay people off when groups are here because these guys really need a job and by working with and for us, some are picking up additional skills they didn't have before. What I am going to do it introduce you to the men and ask you to match the name to the face. Its really a piece of cake. Well there is Fernando, Matteo, Giorgio M, Kako, Rene, Jakson T., Rinaldo, Filipe #1, Luis,
Joselito, Filipe #2 and our Italian forman Guiseppe (now that's the tough one).

Our first family for Paradise

I would like to show you our first family that will live in Paradise. I wrote their names down but I can't find the paper with it. I can tell you that their not Dutch and their last name isn't Smith, Jones or Huizinga. When I get it I'll fill it in. As you can see from the picture of the house they currently live in, they are in for quite an improvement. The house they are presently in is on the Paradise property and it's really quite a resemblance of the homes and houses we take families from, often the houses are in even worse condition. There is a father in this family but he was out working when I took the pics and check out her stove. This my friend is reality here in this country, many don't have stoves so its out everyday to get wood for fuel and we think we have it rough sometimes.

Paradise Village #9

I thought I would give you a real quick progress of snap shots on the new village of Paradise. It will start with a few pictures of the land before we started and right up to the first houses built.

This little piggy went to market and ....

The other day I was driving through town, one of the many small towns and thought I would stop to see the local butcher. I couldn't believe the sweet deal for me, he would sell me his favourite delicatessen for a good price. Somehow I had to pass and let someone else truly enjoy it more than me. I just didn't have the heart, oh, sorry but I think thats on the next hook. Excuse me, I gotta go.........