Belated Post from 1-24-12

On the Tuesday that the Mason's were visiting, we decided to go on a "little" trip to visit a coffee plantation up in the mountains.  Now we had a brochure that said that la finca hamburgo was only 30 some miles away, but let me tell you, it took about 2 and 1/2 hours!  The road out of Tapachula was nice...and paved...  It's also where we stopped to take pictures of this natural arch of bamboo trees.

But then halfway into the trip when we really started to climb the mountain, the single lane road turned to dirt...and it became curvy and VERY bumpy.  The picture below doesn't really do the road justice.  And the bumps weren't helping those who had to use the umm, facilities either, but thankfully we were able to find some decent outhouses at a little school!

La finca hamburgo has a beautiful restaurant overlooking the mountains.  In the far distance, you could also see the Pacific Ocean on the horizon.

A classy restaurant in a relaxed atmosphere.  We chose to sit on the large veranda.

Beautiful flowers were sitting on each table.

La finca hamburgo - the coffee plantation.  We'd love to take a tour sometime.

Young coffee bushes.

Coffee being shelled at the plantation.

Even though the ride was seemingly long, we had a very fun day together (and the food at the restaurant was delicious)!

Dear blog readers,

You have my deepest apologies for not posting in sooooo long!  What happened, you ask?  Well, since the last I posted, my in-laws were still here, half of our family got sick, then I spent three days with a fever, doing nothing.  And since then, I think my energy and inspiration have flown right out the window!  Of course, the high heat and humidity doesn't help anything either!!  And if I'm honest, homesickness has been running through the family...and it will leave you half depressed, wondering how on earth you can continue on.

But, (and I say this while holding my breath), I think we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  While we're still craving American foods very badly,  =)  and still get lonely and discouraged, our hearts are being ministered to with some TLC from our Heavenly Father.  Thank you so much to those of you who pray for us.  We appreciate it more than words can say!

Hopefully, this post will be the start of many more posts (that are posted in a timely fashion, of course)!  I still have things to share from when the Mason's were here as well as an update on our "newly fashioned" Santo Domingo church.

And since I hate to post without a picture, here's one from a drive we took through the mountains when the Mason's were here (more about that later).  It's a beautiful natural arch made from bamboo trees.