CIAO HONDURAS!!!!!!!

Another 5 weeks passed by without a peep from us. If anyone still checks this, sorry about that! It just got difficult to download pictures and write stuff without the computer, and being so busy before leaving, blogging got pushed off to the side. But we have just 4 days left in Comayagua and 10 days left in Honduras. We've had all our despedidas (good bye parties) and have been wrapping everything up these past days. Its amazing how time flies at the end. Its a bit sad but VERY exciting to be going home!
I promise, PROMISE to post pictures and maybe a story or too from our trip we are taking after signing out of here. Like I said before, we've got 6 weeks of beach time lined up in Costa Rica, Panama and Columbia. Should be a nice treat before heading home.
Sorry to flake out here at the end but check back in a few weeks to see if I got my act together for a few vacation photos.

Long time no write...

I guess its been about a month since we last put something up here. We ran into a bit of a rough patch and sort of didn't want to talk about it.....but since we've put most news worthy things in our lives up on this blog since the beginning of this adventure, might as well keep up with that now that we are almost finished.

We got robbed again, and lost a few of our most valuable "worldly" goods (in Honduras)......again. This time was on a bus going to the capital. We had our laptop and ipod in a backpack in the compartment above us (things on our lap, thus the bag was not right with us). At a stop right outside of the capital a man standing in the aisle asked us to find something for him on the floor and as we looked for it, his buddy grabbed our bag and was off the bus in a second. I knew something was fishy but Javi was hip to the scam right away and ran off the bus looking for the guys before I even knew what had happened. Of course they were gone by that point. The feeling was crushing....complete disappointment in this place and anger.....

Its hard. A few weeks have passed since then and we are feeling better but its a bit difficult to not feel jaded and tired of it all.

But, on to cheerier topics....here is a picture of our close of service conference with the other volunteers who came down here with us.....(those that are still left!)


There were 35 of us left at this time....out of an original 51, so about 68% of us made it to the two year mark. Life happens and things bring people home for a variety of reasons....sometimes, like after the second robbery, you REALLY understand why.......

So we have just 7 full weeks left as peace corps volunteers in Honduras. We are officially done the 17th of April. Many people have asked us...so what is next? First we are going on a little vacation before heading home. We're planning on spending about 6 weeks on the beaches of costa rica and panama. After that we are headed back home for good and we're planning on going back to New Mexico. There might be a little back and forth at first as we visit family and get readjusted, but eventually we will be back in Albuquerque. Besides the scary job situation and downward spiral of our economy, we are super excited to be back home.....friends and family! salad! anonymity!

I'll try to keep this better updated our last little bit here, because we will be signing off the blog once we've returned. Thanks for continuing to check on us!

Yes, another trip.......

I know it may appear as if all we are doing these days is travelling, but I promise we are definitely still working hard here in Comayagua! (Harder than ever actually, trying to wrap things up before we leave in mid April.) The thing is we had a few vacation days left that peace corps was going to take away from us (no vacation allowed the last two months) and we can't be having that! A goal of ours was to see every country that borders Honduras, so we had just one country left.....El Salvador.

With limited time and budget, we kept this trip simple....just two destinations in the whole country.

First stop was the beach, a tiny little dot on the map called "Playa El Cuco:"



Its largely a surfing town, but with waves small this time of year and not much else to bring tourists around, it wasn't exactly a big destination on the gringo trail. We actually ended up staying right next to the only other gringos around. Here is a pic of our friendly neighbors at the place we stayed:

This guy Lloyd was BIG TIME into making this drum for his female companion, something he had recently learned how to do during a trip to Guinea in West Africa. He basically worked on it the entire time we were there....3 days. Here he is after attaching the goat hide:

Hmmm....

Here is where we stayed:

I was on the phone with my dad a few nights ago telling him about this trip. I was explaining that the room cost $15 night and he was amazed! Here is what we got for our $15 a night.

Shower facilities:

(Hard to get sand out of the swim suit.)

Luxury accommodations:

And beautiful sunrises/sunsets right out your front door:

Our other stop was to a town called Perquin, a former stronghold of the FMLN revolutionary army during the 80's and 90's. The main attraction was an interesting museum describing the salvadorian revolution from a very leftist point of view:

Unfortunately (but not entirely surprising) the exhibits were a bit hard to follow as they were disorganized and cluttered. We left the museum still confused as to what exactly happened, but the sentiment stuck with us and the pictures were very powerful.

This is probably hard to read, but here is a poster from the "solidarity" room filled with foreign country posters expressing support for the salvadorian's situation and denouncing U.S. foreign policy of aiding "contras" in Central America during that time period.

The secret radio headquarters of the FMLN's "Radio Venceremos" was located where the museum currently stands.

Sign says: "Hole from a Bomb of 500 lbs - made in the United States"

Interesting perspective on what happened there, isn't it?

Guate!

If anyone is interested, here are a few pics from our trip to Guatemala over Christmas.

Lago Atitlan:

Christmas dinner at our hotel on the lake:

A very full belly after christmas dinner:

Volcano hike (near Antigua):

No regulations on these sorts of things so the turistas just walked straight up the lava flow...

"LAVA!!!"

Antigua:

Market day in Chichicastenango:

My mom's visit

My mom came for one last visit before we are finished with our service here in just a few months. She decided that she hadn't gotten enough of Honduras last time during my family's visit last Christmas. Well, this time she definitely got a feel for it, Honduras "cooperated" you could say. Lights went out while cooking (with headlamp cooking ensuing), she stood in bus aisles when no seats were available, she got to experience the horribleness of when you already have motion sickness from the windy roads on the bus and you get a good whiff of someone's breakfast they have just vomited in the aisle next to you, she hitch hiked on a country road (that's right!) and even got to go to a friend's house and have them make a lunch for her, a meal of the 4 Honduran food groups - meat, coca cola, starch and more starch.

We picked her up from the airport on our way back to Comayagua from our vacation in Guatemala. (Pictures to follow on some later post.) The three of us hung out in Comayagua for a few days, and then to break up the exciting time that is hanging out at our house, we went to the lake (Lago de Yajoa) where we could do a few "touristy" things. This trip was where we took the majority of photos (or Javi took them, as you will see he isn't actually in any of them) so they form the story that follows.

Our first stop was the "fish shacks" that line the highway on a certain stretch beside the lake. (This was the leg of the trip where she stood on the bus because all seats were taken. She stood the whole way - 2 hours. At first she was laughing and telling stories, enjoying the adventure, and then motion sickness kicked in and she was glad to get off the bus when she did!)


She dug into that plate of fried fish and fried bananas (called tajadas). Yum! She even ate the cabbage and onion that are in those suspicious looking jars of colored liquids.

The next day we went on a bird tour with a British man living at the lake, eking out a humble existence doing what he loves best. He was an excellent guide! Here we are climbing into the row boat for our tour on the lake.

Our guide, Malcolm, was a very interesting character. He'd swing his binoculars around suddenly if another bird flew by and say all kinds of funny British sayings. He could rattle off tons of interesting things about the birds and lake.

After that, we dragged my mom down a hot and dusty road so she could see this:

(the famous waterfall!)

This was the only picture we took where she didn't look like she'd been hit by a truck from the heat and walking!

After the falls we were waiting on the side of the road for a ride...bus or whatever came our way, since transportation is spotty out there.

The first mode of transport willing to take us somewhere was a nice Honduran family. Javi waived them down and we climbed in the back. It was my mom's first time to hitchhike!

They took us to the nearest town where we caught a bus to get to the main highway. From there, we were lucky to get a passing bus to take us to Comayagua that had seats available. Mom never thought she'd be so grateful for a simple seat on a bus!

What a fun trip!

Christmas greeting

I flew home for a few days to see my sister graduate from New Mexico State University. It took me as much time to travel there and back, as time I had to spend with my family, but it was worth it nonetheless.

Here is a pic with my sister and my mom in her professor regalia:


Congratulations Holly and Andy!

I went by myself. Some family members were concerned about me travelling to and from the San Pedro Sula airport solita, but there are many single lady volunteers who do that stuff every day, so of course I survived it.

A volunteer I knew (who has finished up her service and gone home) once told me after a quick trip to the States, she should have never gone back home so close to the end of her service. Although I don’t exactly feel the same, now I understand. I’ve been a bit grumpy since I’ve gotten back. Maybe it’s the lingering resentment from the butt slapping (see below – which by the way, has led me to ALWAYS carry something heavy in my hand while walking around in case I need to peg somebody with it). It could be a form of senioritis – “learned a lot, had fun, time to move on.” Could also be that, with only 3months left here after Christmas that we are starting to see how SO many things we worked hard for are still the same……

Anyway, getting out and changing scenery is usually a good thing so for Christmas we will be in Guatemala. Hopefully, the change up will be enough to charge up our batteries and work these last 3 months with some gusto. On the 30th my mom will be here through the first week of January (yay!) so that will also be fun.

Here’s a parting video for this entry, a “Christmas greeting.” I took it last night right before Javi and I opened Christmas gifts to each other. (Note the beautiful wrapping of the gifts under the “tree” and the “Christmas music.”)

I’ll post some Guatemala pictures later on.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Serenity Now!!!!!!!

This is one of those stories that is still making me BOILING mad, but also makes me laugh so I thought I’d share it out here on cyber space.

So I’m walking home a few days ago, of course minding my own business and just doing my thing. I come around the corner to a street where there is no one else around except for a young kid (boy) about 15 or 16 years old who is walking towards me. As we get closer to each other, I notice that he is acting a bit strange, but there are lots of strange folks here and I am a blond headed tall gringa so that sometimes throws people off, so I didn’t take much notice of it.

As he passes me, I feel a light slap on my rear end. That’s right, that little shit slapped my ass. Fury rose up in me. Almost 2 years of constant sexual harassment (usually only verbal) on Honduran streets, and my complete resentment and dislike of it, came to a boiling point. I flipped around immediately. He looked at me and started run. Without thinking, I started to run after him!!! Now, get this, I had been carrying my sun umbrella, so I start chasing this kid, with an open umbrella yelling obscenities in English (Spanish had completely escaped me in my moment of fury!). I have to laugh now thinking what that must have looked like. Now, the umbrella was causing understandably a lot of wind resistance, so I wasn’t going to be able to catch up to the kid, also considering he was half my age and a faster runner than I am. (It never occurred to me to drop the umbrella the whole time!)

When I realized I was never going to catch him, I took the water bottle I had been carrying in my hand and hucked it at him. Somehow (and I am the worst shot ever), it got him in the back! Of course, an almost empty plastic bottle did nothing, but I sure hope it scared him. I’m sure it did, because the look on his face when I first started chasing him was of complete surprise!!!

Crazy, huh?! The fury and my reaction was a complete surprise to myself….I seriously just flipped out. I get SO tired of the treatment women get here, so tired of the machismo, that when this little kid went and took that extra step by physically touching me, I just lost it!!!! It’s just one of those times that makes me REALLY look forward to being back home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We opted out of the big volunteer thanksgiving gatherings that go on here in Honduras to do our own thing this year. We made thanksgiving dinner at home and invited Conor over...it was my first attempt at making a holiday dinner without knowing and experienced matriarchal figures around to help. It actually went pretty well! Of course, we were greatly aided by the fact that we did not make a turkey, due to cost (expensive import from the States!) and sheer amount of meat that would have resulted (we couldn't justify 16 lbs of meat among 3 people). So, Conor picked us up a delicious Honduran fried chicken (whole) and Javi and I made all the fixins!

Traditions are important to carry on, even more so when you are away from home and in a foreign country. So, we tried to have a day as close to thanksgiving as we could get.

Example tradition 1: Carving the turkey (in our case, pollo frito)




Example tradition 2: Watching "foosball" on the tele (at Conor's house)

Example tradition 3: Baking pies

(I was quite proud how my apple pie turned out...isn't it pretty?)

Next year we will be back home and Thanksgiving will once again be relegated to those older family members who really do it right. Back to cooking all day in the kitchen with the ladies, men on the couch with top pants buttons undone and watching football, etc..... Although I miss the traditional family get togethers now, some day soon we'll be home and we'll always have the fun memories of putting on holidays here in Honduras!

Hope your's was nice as well. Happy thanksgiving!

Wires!

Honduras has a sort of haphazard infrastructure in some aspects. Roads, public transport, water delivery, etc. are all sort of "random," but one thing that really exemplifies this are electrical wires. They are strung up and around in such disorder and in ways, in what appears to my non-engineering perspective, as extremely dangerous. It seems like it was jerry rigged the first time, and then jerry rigged a 100 times after that, and you get what you see today. Its one of those things that you really notice when you first get here, and then after a while, it sort of just fades off in the distance and you become oblivious to it. For some reason, the other day I was inspired to put something about it on the blog, so I walked around Comayagua and took a few shots.

Check this one out.....holy crap!

This seriously can't be safe!

Wires strung across the front of city hall:

A "telephone pole," on our street:

Growth on wires:

Nicaragua Vacation

Nicaragua was a great trip! It was actually surprising how much there was to see and do. Here in Honduras there are a few cool things to do, but you can't have too high of standards for all the supposed "tourist destinations," so we weren't expecting the moon or anything. But it was really fun!

Here is a map (although tiny, of course) to look at if you want to see where some of the places we visited are located:
First stop, Leon:

A liberal city, with a good vibe. The cathedral above was one of many scattered around town.

Next, Granada:

(colonial city on Lago de Nicaragua)

The lake at sunset:

We met this painter who showed us some of his artwork:

Granada has a lot of fine places to eat and chill. I really liked this place in particular, with its interior garden, hammocks and colonial architecture:


From Granada, we spent one night on an island in the middle of the lake (Isla de Ometepe). The island was two active volcanoes, and here is one of them:

San Juan del Sur:

(southwestern Nicaragua near the border with Costa Rica)

The view from our hotel in San Juan:

This hotel had a fabulous balcony, as you can see. We loved it! And it was the cheapest place we stayed the whole time...just $10 a night. However, the room also came with ferocious biting fire ants, that bit at night in bed as we slept, and attacked anything and everything in our bags and trash (including dirty laundry and clipped fingernails....gross)!

Another balcony picture:

San Juan had more surfers than I've ever seen in one place. They came from all over the world for the waves that crash on the beaches just north and south of San Juan. Although we didn't try surfing (this trip at least) we took a water taxi north one day to see some of these beaches.

This really cheesy guy came up to me on the beach and started flexing to get my attention. It didn't work!!!

The waves were really big and scary! We both got rocked a few times and after one good scare I decided to keep my distance from the crashing waves while swimming in the water.

Our last stop on the trip, the Laguna de Apoyo, just south of Masaya.

(a small, peaceful lake in a crater)

We spent just one night here, although we could have done more. While out on kayaks on the lake, we could hear monkeys in the trees, even though we didn't get to see any.

In several places on the trip, we met travellers backpacking through Central America. (Central America sort of lends itself to the backpacking traveler - cheap, lots of countries close together and many fun and exciting things to do.) Its always fun to meet those travelling types and hear their stories. You get to meet people from all over the world. We even met two American guys bicycling from Cancun to Panama City. Although we were joining them in many of the same destinations, we couldn't help but feel a little different from the backpackers. Understanding the language, the culture of the region, etc gives us a different perspective. You definitely see the difference between a person who is backpacking through and someone who has lived in the area for awhile. It was nice to be the latter.