From Indiana to Intibuca

I live in Honduras. I work for my uncle Ron. A few years back he had a crazy idea, to build a hydro electric dam in the poorest most dangerous country in Central America, bringing electricity to the least developed, poorest region of that country.

Let me tell you a bit about my uncle Ron. I spent part of each summer as a kid in the Okanagan Valley living at my uncle and aunt’s house in Penticton. My uncle was always that uncle that was a little too sarcastic to understand when you were a kid and thought watching us fly off the trampoline and run into the house bawling was a hilarious summer afternoon pastime. He definitely wasn't the first one you ran too when you cut the side of your mouth on the Freezie you were eating.

There was this one summer evening, when Sara and I were around 5, Jodie was 7 and Jason and Heather were too little to be of any significance. My uncle had been left to take care of all of us while my auntie and my mom went out to visit some friends. He positioned all three of us around the kitchen table, feet dangling and bug eyed. Then cracked a Kokanee, poured 3 Kool-aids and explained that we were not going to be watching the movie Willow tonight, instead were all going to learn how to play Monopoly, the right way and the best way. I had no idea what Monopoly was. I was afraid of my uncle. I felt betrayed and abandoned by my mother. And I loved watching Willow.

The monopoly board was unfolded on the table. Pieces were chosen, money doled out. Everything ok so far. Throughout the next 3 and a half hours, my uncle explained the game to three little girls with side pony tails, while Jason slept in his lap. My mom has told me that she will never forget the scene that her and my auntie came home to.

It was nearly midnight when they came in the door, and the end-all Monopoly game of the late eighties was still going strong. My cousin Jodie was leaning across the table haggling over real estate prices. Sara was standing on her chair, arms waving, arguing right back on the potential profits she could receive on Pennsylvania Ave., which she could not be expected to trade. I had forgotten all about not getting to watch Willow save Princess Elora Danan, and was totally caught up in counting my huge wad of cash. My uncle was smiling, leaning back in his chair, and watching the little capitalists he had created in a mere few hours time, entirely satisfied with his work.
So you get the picture. Coming to work for him a decade and a half later was going to be an adventure.
The dam is in full swing and the Rio Intibuca is flowing through the turbines.