Vagaries

This statue called, "Stride" is in the park down the road from my hotel. Gorgeous bronze of a family and celebrates a European Commonwealth Meeting here in 2007. What I like is that is depicts the familial solidarity. Talked with a guy today who is married and has three beautiful children. He is planning to have at least seven. He isn't sure he can support seven but he feels it is his duty as a man to reproduce his "kind." Some are suggesting here that they replicate China's "one child" rule to manage the birth rate which is the highest in the world.

"I want thick breasts and plump thighs" he said as he approached reception. I died laughing. One of the radio guys at New Vision yelled this out to the young lady answering phones and he turned bright red when I began guffawing. Seems he wanted plump chicken thighs and thick breasts for his family cook out and shopping for food is "women's work" but he got assigned buying chicken parts so he was asking the young lady for help.

Today was quite the busy day with online meetings, advertising sales meetings, marketing, supplement/special section meetings and then, I met the company secretary, who might correspond to a Chief Operating Officer at a company in the U.S. Back to back meetings, preparations and hardly a moment to think or take a pee. Very interesting meetings with interesting comments and perspectives.

I am back in my old spacious room at the hotel. All repairs to the ceiling and to the wiring have been made and I now have lights (plural) in the bathroom. Quite nice. And Eddie, my friend from Tegucigalpa, now in Kigali, Rwanda will arrive tomorrow. Didn't make it to the store to buy wine, for sipping while sharing stories and laughing, but that is tops on my list for tomorrow.

Was just getting ready to say...photos are NOT uploading for some reason. Here is one of me above with a group of interested individuals, editors, managers who care about their website which is now, 7 years old and pretty much non-functioning. We had a great meeting with lots of ideas and will continue the chat with a smaller group next week. Seems in the past, I was able to control where these photos landed, but right now...you get what you get!!

Night

Chris and I walked down to a mall restaurant today for lunch and that was quite the adventure. I had on sandals and we were walking through red dirt, like in Alabama, and eventually crossed a six lane highway which was crammed with heavy traffic. I just barreled ahead as always and at one point, Chris hesitated. Told him...he who hesitates is dead! He laughed but is a bit intimidated by the traffic...suggested he needed a stint in Tegucigalpa. Traffic is nothing here...they kind of obey the rules and everyone at least drives in the same direction.

I may have mentioned how dirty I feel all the time. A wonderful custom in every restaurant is to give customers a hot wet towel with which one might was his hands. Love it. My fingernails are dirty...they are actually dark at the tips and so, am buying some polish remover and going to paint my fingernails to match my toes...a red, to mask the discoloration of the nails. Thank God Richard bought me a ton of hand sanitizer...use it constantly.