Lots of rain this week thanks to a Tropical Depression which thankfully petered out over Northern Honduras. We are getting huge amounts of rain, even the ducks look depressed. However it is passing over, but many rivers are in flood including Monkey River which is 8 meters above normal at the Swasey Bridge - this translates to a very fast flow once it gets to us. Oh, and the road is flooded and a culvert is broken, so we are cut off for the moment, except of course by boat.

The culvert collapsed just us my friend Kasia was passing over it, being driven by her husband Hudney, our boat mechanic, into Independence to have her baby. Fortunately they were able to get in touch with the village, the boys went and hauled them out - all was well - as you can see from the picture. Baby has no name as yet, the scan was misread and the family were all prepared for a boy!

I am happy to report that the orchids are coming into bloom. I have a very small collection, it's always a big thrill when even the common ones flower.

One of our local delicacies is Blue Crab, a land crab which is made into a soup with "ground food' - carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, coca, onions, sweet pepper, garlic, hot pepper and of course fresh coconut milk.

Our new "potlikka" (think about it) Sadie, just 9 months old, met a crab on the beach this morning. Hard to say who was the most surprised.

We generally catch these at dusk using big pincers called a "kis kis". Four or five make a nice meal. It's a lot of fun to run up and down the beach catching them - good exercise, and makes up for the calories that the soup will supply.