On our day off 3 Fridays ago, Aubrey and I checked out a recycling science fair at a school that some of our kids go to. It is only a couple blocks away from our house and I didn’t realize that it was so close. Our kids go to the night school so none of them had science projects in the fair, but some of the projects gave us ideas for crafts to do with the kids. We had gone to check out the school and also to meet up with a friend we have made in Tela. His name is Kevin and he came to Tela from Ireland in order to teach at the school for a year. He is almost our neighbor (living on the other side of one of the soccer fields by our house) and his roommates are 2 of the only other Caucasian people in our neighborhood. The school is a bilingual school during the day, so he teaches literature in English. That night, Kevin, Aubrey, and I went out for dinner and ate a delicious seafood meal by the beach. We were serenaded multiple times by different groups of 3 men playing guitar, accordion, etc. and also by a man playing the guitar while at the same time playing wooden flute pipes strapped around his neck. That Sunday, the three of us spent the day at the beach and then walked around town. The beach was crowded as lots of Honduran tourists come to the Tela beaches on the weekends. While walking into the center of town from the beach that we go to (although the town is located on the beach too), we happened upon an amazing juice shop that squeezes fresh mixtures of juices into large cups for about $1.50… such a great deal!
I have gotten several new roommates in the last couple of weeks… One is a 24 year old from Boston named Samantha. She is really cool and will be here for 4 months also. When she got here, I moved into the other room with Aubrey and Theresa moved upstairs into a single. Tristen (or anybody else who has issues with bugs) stop reading here and skip to the next paragraph. It has been interesting to live with roommates again and at first I thought my least favorite roommates were the giant cockroaches (which had been in hiding for a few weeks, but have decided to come back out). I’ve since found that the giant spiders are worse. Let’s just say I have more than 10 minutes of video footage of my roommates trying to kill a spider the size of my hand that was in the shower with me. Did I mention that it had fangs and fingernails?!? Ok that’s a little bit dramatic… but it did jump.
A couple of weeks ago, Aubrey, Samantha, and I got the privilege of learning how to make homemade tortillas from one of the SOS madres. She was extremely positive and patient as she taught us how to mix the flour and other ingredients, roll it into balls, pat them out into flat tortillas, and then cook them on the stove. The kids helped to teach us and also documented the experience with plenty of pictures. We even got to eat a few of our tortillas with some cheese and sauce. The mom offered for us to come back anytime to learn how to cook some other dishes and I’m excited to spend some time getting to know her better. She has an interesting story because she grew up at the SOS and has worked there for many years. She was a great teacher and it was awesome to experience that part of the culture!
Last weekend, I went to Copán with Aubrey and Samantha and I don’t even know how to begin to describe the vibe and authenticity of this charming little town. Much like Utila, it was more touristy than Tela and some of the people there spoke English (although it was still predominately Spanish-speaking). People were extremely friendly at the restaurants and hotels. Our hotel (La Posada De Belssy) was incredible because the roof had a small swimming pool and several hammocks on it, overlooking the rest of the town with its hilly, stone streets. For that priceless view, I only paid something like $8 a night! On Friday night, we made friends with a few of the locals and I learned some salsa dancing. I’m going to add salsa to my list of things to learn because it was tons of fun and beautiful to watch. We spent most of Saturday just lying in the hammocks and by the pool, amazed that we were lucky enough to be in that surreal setting. On Sunday we saw the ruins before leaving town. The ruins were really cool, but I loved Copán so much that I don’t think I could even say they were the best part.
It was a long and tiresome weekend of travelling because it took us almost 9 hours to get there (a couple of taxis, some waiting time at the bus station, 2 different buses that stopped repeatedly, etc.). Luckily, we had left around 6:30 in the morning. On the way back, we took a bus from Copán to the main bus terminal in San Pedro Sula, where we were told there would be a bus to take us back to Tela. It turns out that most of the buses were finished running for the day so we went on a wild goose hunt through town trying to find a bus based on some misleading information. To get into town, we took a large van crammed with 18 (yes, I counted, 18) people in it. As it got dark, we finally found a bus headed toward El Progresso and they told us that we could take it to Tela… The only thing is, El Progresso is located much before Tela and there was no way for us to take that bus to Tela. So after everybody else got off, the bus drove us to a different station in El Progresso and we were eventually able to make it back to Tela. Even our cab ride back to the house was eventful as 3 horses running through the road almost cut off our taxi. It only took us about 7 hours to get back, even with taking the “scenic route”. It’s remarkable to me that you can stand on the street and catch a random bus to almost anywhere in the country and that to do so is cheap. It just means that you might be changing buses, sitting three to a seat, and stopping to pick people up every few minutes.
While in Copán, I found out about an amazing project that was recently started by a guy named Duane Forrest. It is a school of the arts and they offer classes in music, dance, drama, and visual arts. For more information on the awesome work they are doing with the kids in Copán, visit the following website: http://newz4u.net/?p=9114. It includes information for anybody interested in contributing to their cause through financial donations or by volunteering at the school.
At the beginning of last week, the package my Dad had sent about a month prior finally arrived!!! It included 6 soccer balls and some pumps. I kept one ball for the volunteer house so that when we want to play soccer at the SOS in the afternoon, we don’t have to track a ball down. For how much they love to play soccer, it was really sad to see that 100 kids were sharing only a couple of soccer balls and some of them were made of plastic or the “good” ones were falling apart. When the package arrived and I explained to the kids that my Dad had sent the balls for them specifically, the kids were thrilled and extremely appreciative that somebody they don’t even know would care about them enough to do that. It was perfect timing because one of the older boys was working with the maintenance man to build a smaller soccer field next to the big one in the complex the same day that the balls arrived. We spent most of the afternoons last week having small tournaments on the field and it’s been tons of fun. Thanks again, Dad!! <3
It had been getting consistently hotter out for the last few weeks, but this past week was more bearable. I think it is just a taste of what is to come in the next 2 months, but at least I live near the beach! Two weeks ago, the strikes ended for our kids (for now, at least) so our classes got much smaller. Last week there were even fewer kids because many of them were in exams and spent much of the time studying on their own. This coming week, the kids are all off of school for Semana Santa so there should be plenty of them around to hang out with us. On Tuesday, we were invited to go to a river with them. All of the kids are going and I’m eager to have a day off to just play!
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This past weekend was the kick off to Semana Santa (the Holy Week for Easter) so we spent lots of time on the beach and walking around town. Countless Honduran tourists come to the beach towns during this vacation week and it is crazy to see how many extra restaurants and bars are set up just for this celebration. Aubrey, Samantha, and I plan to spend next weekend in La Ceiba/El Porvenir with the other volunteers that live there. We are going to try to go white water rafting on Saturday and I can’t wait!
About a week ago, I got an email from Continental Airlines saying that my flight has been changed and now I will miss my connecting flight back home. Couldn’t that be a sign that I’m supposed to stay in Tela? Unfortunately, they just switched me to another flight, but I will get to squeeze 2 extra days out of my trip! Now I will be coming home on June 16th and will probably spend the following months trying to come up with a good excuse to move back down to Honduras. = )
