The Blue Mountains of Honduras

When Reina Salgado invited me to join her and her sister on a Saturday road trip I was happy to accept. We drove south from Tegucigalpa and all along the highway fresh images filled my eyes.

Reina and her sister shared stories about the places we were passing and I caught a glimpse of their childhood Honduras.

As we climbed higher and higher broad vistas of the Honduran mountains spread before us as far as the eye could see. The most distant mountains appeared to be a soft blue and blue green. Reina said there was a song about the blue mountains of Honduras. She began singing softly and then her sister joined in, their voices blending in sisterly harmonies.

This was a memorable moment for me and I wanted to share it with students. Wednesday morning Reina came down from the business office and joined the 8A class. I showed my pictures of the trip and Reina talked about seeing her beloved Honduras through “new” eyes. Then she passed out the words to Montanas Azules and sang for the class. Some students hummed along and the second time around they joined in making a memorable classroom moment.

After we said goodbye to Mrs. Salgado, we got to work creating these dry pastel atmospheric landscapes of the Blue Mountains of Honduras.

We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed creating them.