I am finally here!

Things that I love about Honduras…

·    The fresh juice (straight from the fruit) that my host-mom serves with every meal.

·    My host Family, the Vegas, are wonderful, and I like the people here in general, as well.

·    If you were to feel like washing your car, it is only logical that you would drive it down to the river, out onto the riverbed, and wash it there. It’s fun and functional!

Things I have learned…

·    Always check your clothes and bath towel for cockroaches before putting them on. Additionally, make sure the cockroach is actually dead the first time you think you have killed it. Otherwise, 20 minutes later it will end up in your hair (yep, actually happened).

·    Not to be alarmed when men pass you on the street with very large machetes.

·    Never be too far from your headlamp, as the power outages are almost a daily occurrence around 6:30pm when everyone is in their homes using electricity. It is also unfortunate if you happen to not be at home, but say, in the middle of the street somewhere and you have to find your way home on the uneven sidewalks and cobblestone road in the dark.

Things I am improving at…

·    Remembering to throw my toilet paper in the trash can. It’s really hard to break a habit that I have been practicing for 20 years. I am very proud to announce that I am now at about a 90% accuracy rate with remembering to not let go of my toilet paper over the toilet.

·    The obvious one… my Spanish. I have 4 hours of class each day with my wonderful teacher Gaby. It took about a week for things to click in my head, but now I am feeling fairly comfortable speaking with others without having to formulate every sentence in my head before I say it.

·    Looking both ways before I cross the road. Yes we all learned that when we were three, but it is serious business in Latin America; pedestrians do not have any right-way. If you hear a vehicle coming, it is best to just wait or else you might end up with MotoTaxi tire marks on you (and no, that luckily hasn’t happened yet).

One last story about my New Year’s Eve. After a few hours of church with my family, I spent the later hours of the night with some solo travelers I had met that week… one from Poland, another from France, and another from Germany. It was pretty amazing to be four of us, each from countries of a different native language, and we could still all communicate just fine… in English. It reaffirmed my belief that our American school system fails us when it comes to learning other languages. At midnight, we left the bar and went outside to the center plaza and watched a pretty impressive display of fireworks. It became increasingly dangerous when kids started igniting very large fireworks that were not aimed properly and they would shoot across the square at people. After resisting the urge to duck-and-cover multiple times, I decided that was a good point to call it a night, and possibly the most interesting New Years Eve that I have had.

There are many things that I find humorous about my daily life here. Each morning I wake up to the family pet parrot screeching outside my window. My host-mom prepares meals for me. I go to class in the morning. I have free time in the afternoons and evenings, in which I can explore the safe, lush little town of Copan Ruinas, go to a café and study Spanish, or play games with my little host-sister, Dulce. I am really loving Honduras and so happy to be here. I truly am enjoying the culture, both the expected and unexpected parts. My first week was a little difficult being that it was my first time traveling alone to a place where I knew no one. Now there are two other volunteers with me at the language school. For now, it is a pretty laid-back life, but that will all soon change when I start my work at the children’s home. In another 10 days, we will travel to Tegucigalpa together to start our service.

 My Host Family, the Vegas... my host parents, their three children, daughter-in-law, and two little grandchildren.

 Sitting ontop of the Mayan ruins of a Frog. This location was a Mayan fertility shrine.

 Indiginous Maya-Chorti woman sitting at a traditional weaving loom.

Just two cute little kids

The view above Copan Ruinas

My Host Family's home.