Copan Ruinas, Honduras

I said goodbye to Antigua yesterday morning at 4AM and arrived here in Copan around 9:30AM. I can NOT believe it has already been a MONTH!!

The town is much smaller and more tranquil than Antigua. Not very touristy AT ALL. It is SO warm and has a tropical feel to it...even though in the mountains. Beautiful, beautiful place.

I am living right in the middle of town with sisters, Loly and Mercedes. They share a beautiful yellow house on the corner next to the Spanish School (where I will indeed be signing up for more classes!). My room is neat and small with it's own bathroom!!!! Totally different host family experience than living with Silvia in Antigua. Loly has sat with me at ever meal so far, either just staring...or trying to communicate. I NEED more Spanish.

Breakfast is at 6AM. EARLY. I am the only volunteer here in Honduras at the moment--minus the interns on the project--Eric and Pam (32 and 29, married couple, from Boston). Traci (intern in Antigua) is here to help this week too. Lyndsey and Marko, volunteers I met in Antigua will arrive next week. YAY! We need the help.

We hop in the back of a pick up at 6:30AM and ride up the mountain to the village of San Rafael. The school there is much more "developed" and has a more organized and set curriculum. There is one teacher (Carolina) for over 100 children. That is why she needs us! I have been placed in the third grade classroom which is shared with the kindergarten/1st grade class. They are GREAT kids. SO calm compared to the children in Santa Maria (Guatemala). School starts at 7AM and ends at 11:45AM. They are offered a fruit break and "merienda" (afternoon snack) after school which consists of rice and beans.

There is Secondary School that comes at 12:30. These are high school age kids and GVI volunteers do not work with them. However, we will be helping out with an English speaking class once a week and an Adult Literacy class once a week in the afternoons.

After school, we head back down to Copan for lunch with the host family. Dinner is at 6PM and I am meeting up with the others tonight to get some help with my lesson plans for tomorrow. Matematicas tomorrow. EEEK!

Adios!

Cumpleaños Felices

Happy Bir TAY Lindz and Laur :)

Muy Frio

Tiny Melinda

Guicho, got a headstart running and planted one on me!

The love hearts....thanks Seño Kate :)

And Yuri....the clinger....I totally fell in love with her.

The past couple days in Antigua and Santa Maria have been freeeeezing! Now, I know I shouldn't say anything, as I hear NY is getting hit pretty hard with the wintery weather.But as a result of the cold and packing for tropical climates...estoy enfermo. And so is everyone else. Major head cold. I am hoping to kick this little bug in the warmer climate of Honduras. I leave on a 4AM shuttle on Sunday.

Thursday was my last day at school and also Music Day. (I wish I could upload the video of the kids singing...) Kate and I planned only a couple of lessons/activities and then she had them all make "love cards" for me. (Most of them took theirs home with them ;)

At fruit break the twins pulled little envelopes out of their dresses and handed them to me. Their big sister had written:Gracias Seno Li por encenar a mis hermanas y ostros ninos y ninos te extrano Seno Li temando muchas veror y saludor.

The girls colored the page. So sweet. The older sister is in the afternoon class and had told me the day before how the twins came home and told her how sad they were that I was leaving...
At the end of music, I sat on the end of a table as all the kids in the school lined up in front of me. One by one I received hugs and kisses from each of them. Some of the boys tried to plant one on the lips!! Haha. My class was last to go and I am actually not sure that they all even understand that I will not be there on Monday as some of them said: "Hasta Lunes Seno Leigh".

Seño Doreen pulled me aside to tell me more that she had learned about the home life of some of the children. She said I have a very "special" class. One child has an alcoholic father...who will not share the meals. Another a father who refuses to work. One whose mother has died. One whose father left them. The tears were not spared. I couldn´t help it. I just think about them coming to class everyday laughing, smiling, jumping around. Never complaining. Never tired. Never crying.

I just wanted to hug each of them and make class even that more fun and an escape for them.

I am seriously going to miss them SO very much. I cried when the last clinger let go (they are like tiny monkeys...they cling). Kate and I were their first ever teachers...

What if I never see them again???

Journal Entry, January 31st

Laying in a hammock at the Earth Lodge about twenty minutes outside of Antigua, up in the mountains on an avocado farm. Huge full clouds overhead. Breathtaking views. Quite chilly at the moment as the sun has faded.

We all hopped in the back of a small red pick up truck after brunch today, Kate, Karla, Alana, Lyndsey, Marko, and I. We are staying in a tiny dorm style hut in the middle of a large field. The six of us and 2 other girls we just met. Sisters from Chicago, one a Peace Corp volunteer here in Guatemala. She has been building stoves in a tiny town for the past year and a half.

It is now 5PM. Sipping Gato Negro Carmenere from Chile that we bought at the supermercado in Antigua for 28Q...roughly $3.59 U.S. haha. I am looking out at the incredible view of the mountains and the city below listening to the others talk about the next stops on their upcoming travels. I am jealous. Sad. Jealous that most are deciding to extend their time in Guatemala and jealous that many are open ended in their time away... They plan trips hours in advance and fiddle with travel books and maps. SO carefree. I do not have a job pulling me home either...or an apartment to tend to. I am pretty much free to roam as long as I prefer as also. Right. But calls from home remind me of those I miss.

Sad that some are leaving and that my time with them is over. Sad that I will probably never see them again. These amazing individuals that have also devoted their lives to volunteering around the world and specifically here. Sad, that my last week here in Antigua and more importantly Santa Maria de Jesus is nearing.....

I will be starting all over in Honduras this time next week.

Muy Cansada

One of my favorite photos.

Yuri, the twins-Jessica and Diana, and Juan Carlos.

Chicas enjoying sandia.


Sports Day, look at that view!

The work week is definitely harder than I expected it to be.
And the weekends more active and exciting than I expected.

Seño Kate (Australia, 25) and I took over our classes this week. Solo. Eeeeeeek!

This means no help from Seño Doreen. Lesson planning has proved to be tedious and the children finish every project so quickly! We must come up with some new ideas soon. The little ones (5/6) need a new activity almost every 15 minutes. There is only so much coloring one can stand. We have used lots of papel de china (tissue paper) as well...but the glue has proved to be QUITE messy. All the childrens´fingers are stuck together at the end of class-haha. They love to play and fruit break is CRAZY!!!!! They are all so tough and rough house like nothing I have ever seen before. And hardly EVER cry.

Last week, we found out that a little girl (Nayeli) in our afternoon class hadn´t eaten ALL day. The only thing she had put in her mouth since dinner the night before was the orange we gave her at frutas break at 4PM. Now how is a 6 year old supposed to concentrate on an empty stomach??? We gave her some bread to eat and some to take home to her 2 brothers.

Heartbreaking.

They are all so happy and love school and love us. Hugs and kisses everyday at the beginning and end of the day. At fruit break...¨arriba, arriba!!¨ They want to be picked up and thrown around constantly.

Friday was Sports Day. SO MUCH FUN! We walk all of the kids about half a mile away to a huge field surrounded by beautiful active volcanoes and corn fields. The boys are super competitive with their futbol (soccer) and the girls just want to play with your hair and touch your face and make bracelets out of string. I have on a pink string necklace that one of the older girls made me that day ;)

Next week is my last week in Antigua and at the school in Santa Maria de Jesus. I was the little one´s first teacher. A little sad...but excited for the next stop. Copañ, Honduras.

I have so many pics, but will only allow to upload 4 at a time....will try for more soon! Must run to Español Clase now!

Hasta Luego.

City-fied?

Friday Night:

• GVI Barbeque.
  
• LOTS of yummy food and LOTS of vino.

Saturday:

5:45AM

• Internal body alarm (sick...AGAIN!).
• Try to hold banana bread in.
• Pack for Lake.

7:45AM

• Walk to bike shop, pile in van, hit the road.

10:30ish

• Get geared up and on mountain bikes with many confusing gears.

11ish

• Begin 15 mile ride. YES, 15 miles. (but mostly downhill....I cannot lie.)

4ish

• Arrive by boat at one of the most beautiful hotels I have EVER seen. Built into a cliff with views of many many mountains surrounding the lake. WOW.
• Quick dip in the FREEZING water
• An amazing family style dinner

8ish

• Back to room to throw on swimsuit and hit the hot tub.
• First, kill three spiders and two scorpions (while doning the nerdy head torch).

8:30sh:

• Bring wine (to forget about the co-habitating creatures sleeping with me) to the wood burning stove heated hot tub overlooking the lake and under millions and millions of stars.

9:30ish

• Back to room, feeling a little more relaxed about my slumber buddies.

11ish

• Wake up panicking.
• TURN ON THE LIGHT!!! IT´s ON ME, ÍT´s ON ME!!!!!!
  
• Realize t´was just a dream. Sigh.
  

Sunday:

8AM

• Incredible breakfast.

9AM

• 4 mile kayak (BEAUTIFUL)

11ish

• Begin our ¨nice walk¨.

1ish

• Want to have a SERIOUS talk with those that think this 12 mile "walk" is nice.
• It is a HIKE.

2ish

• Have fallen down three times.
• Can´t breathe
• Sitting on rock
• Panicking
• Shaking
• Crying
• Having chocolate power gel squirted into my mouth by our guide-Victor.
• Using an inhaler

2:30ish

• Really embarrassed.
• Decide I must be WAY out of shape and need to get my act together.

3:00ish

• Back at hotel
• Jump in lake with all my clothes on
• Have a fresh fruit smoothie
• Comtemplate a career change
• Nutrition? Personal fitness?

How can a 26 year old, that (used) to work out at the gym during her lunch break AND tended to walk/sprint home (2 and a half miles) at LEAST 3 times a week...be SO out of shape?????

Was it the altitude?
Too much sun?
Too much physical activity in 24 hours?

Not enough water?

Has four and a half years in New York turned me into a city girl????

Must. Do. Something.

Chancho

This little piggy went to market....maybe?

a little out of order....argh, the formatting!