This young lady sort of wanted her photo taken, but was not really sure.

If you like hugs from kids, Ocotepeque is the place to be!

Melvin likes kids and kids like Melvin. He can get them to pose even if they don't want to at first.

And posed with her son (?) for a photo!

She picked out a cleaner apron to put on!

She wanted to remove her apron before being photographed!

Melvin saw this lady in Old Ocotepeque and wanted to talk to her and take her photo. Watch tomorrow to see what she had to do before her photo was taken.

I will bet that most of you have not seen one of these for a while. They used to be quite common but pop-top cans and twist of caps have done away with the need for them. This was on the door of my hotel room in September. Many young people have likely never seen one!

The Pan American highway flooded from the recent rains. The highway from San Salvador to La Palma remains open and Jose reports that La Palma did not suffer much. There is damage to the highway between the airport and San Salvador, but that is expected to be repaired by the time of our trip in December.

From BBC news:
The number of people killed by a week of torrential rains, triggering floods and landslides across Central America, has reached at least 80, officials say.

El Salvador is the worst-affected, with 32 people killed, mostly buried in their houses by mudslides.

El Salvador has seen a record 1.2m (4 ft) of rain, more than the previous record set by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

International highways have been washed out, villages isolated and thousands of families have lost homes and crops.

The United Nations has classified Central America as one of the parts of the world most affected by climate change.

The UN estimates that more than 100,000 people have been affected by the flooding.

El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes said the country was "really being put to the test".

"The situation has got even worse, it's still raining heavily in various parts of the country," Mr Funes, said.

He said more than 20,000 people had been evacuated and entire communities had been cut off due to impassable roads

Rescues by boat and helicopter continue.

Sixty six people are now confirmed dead and hundreds more are missing from the flooding in the western part of the country. Many bridges are washed out. At this time it has not affected the roads to La Palma.

Flooding in the area south and east of San Salvador has claimed at least 124 people and left about 300 missing. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed by mudslides and infrastructure is heavily damaged.

Heavy rains have fallen throughout the country, closing schools, businesses, and roads. Many people have lost their homes in the southern part. Pray for them.

The La Palma Christian School studies the culture and geography of the other Central American countries who gained independence from Spain at the same time. This board is about Honduras and shows the national flower, bird, etc.

Every time I look at this I think of how crude the scaffolding is compare to our standards. See the support at the far right and look at the next photo of how it is joined together.

Which wire goes to my house? This seems to be a little complicated.

The meat market. Sometimes these are 'open air', but this one was inside and air conditioned.

This huge tree stands in the center of La Antigua, or Old Ocotepeque. The mud slide in 1934 destroyed almost everything east of this tree and spared the houses west of it. Many people who survived moved to New Ocotepeque, about 4 miles to the north after that event.

South of La Palma there is a Mayan Indian ruins which is an interesting place to visit. A sign warns of the danger of snakes, and the geology and terrain really would be a likely place for them!