Honduras Day 16.

Journal Day 16 May 28, 2013

            Today was our last “real” day in Honduras; by real, I mean that tomorrow we are just driving all day to get to San Pedro Sula, and then on Thursday it’s back to the States.  So lucky for us, we went out with a bang.

            Breakfast was at 8:15 and we had pancakes, fruit, eggs, bacon, and other American delicacies.  Nothing like a good, hearty breakfast to start a long, eventful day!

            First event of the day: visit the Copan Ruins!  These ruins were an ancient Mayan civilization: one of the last ones built!  Our toothless guide, Tony, joked and told us that the Mayans just didn’t like Guatemala and Costa Rica and wanted to stay in Honduras.  But we followed Tony around as he told us the history of the different structures that we saw.  There were temples, statues depicting past rulers, such as 18 Rabbit, a ball field, burial grounds, and more.  Most of the structures we saw were the exact structures that were excavated, and they were in the same place as when they were found!  Only a couple were replicas.  We got to climb up some of the structure and see the great view of the city.  And naturally, we took a bunch of pictures.  Additionally, our BGR SOCs asked us to take pictures in Purdue shirts at the different places we are around the world and post it to a Facebook page, so Lindsey, Aidan, and I all took some cute pictures in our Purdue gear and then hopped up on one of the ruins and recorded the BGR Common Bond dance to “Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepson!  It was really fun!

            After the ruins, we ate some lunch at the cafeteria there (I had basically the same thing as the night before) and Eloisa even treated us to ice cream cones!  It was wonderful.

            Upon arriving back to the hotel, we had our final class while sitting around the pool.  We discussed our experiences at ABSS and some of the pros and cons of bilingual schools like it.  It was hard to focus though because right after we went horseback riding!  Almost all of us walked down the street to where a bunch of horses were tied up, and we got to pick which horse we wanted.  I unfortunately picked the one named Tortuga, or turtle.  And yes, he did eventually live up to his name.  But anyways, we all got on our horses and began our walk up the mountain trail to visit an indigenous village up there.  The ride was mostly uphill (like I said, mountain trail) and the horses weren’t the biggest things in the world.  I basically felt awful the whole time and thought that maybe I should be the one carrying the horse.  But there were 4 guys with us to make sure everyone’s horse was behaving, and they continually had to click at Tortuga and hit his behind to keep him moving.  In fact, on the way back, I was the last one the entire ride.  But it was really fun because everyone’s horse had some temperamental moments (such as when Jenny’s kicked another person’s), some people had to get off their horses and switch, and some horses had to stop and go to the bathroom and such.  I even had to stop and get off my horse once because my saddle wasn’t straight apparently.  But somehow, I managed to stay on.

            I had mixed feelings about arriving in the village.  It was really cool because we got to see yet another side of Honduras (one that still spokes some of the Mayan language), but it was hard to see, because all the children immediately swarmed us, waving their cornhusk dolls in our faces, practically begging us to buy them.  I felt so guilty for continually turning them down, especially because they were so cute and cheap, but I had already bought some.  Plus, the couple of people who did buy some were subjected to the whole group of the kids surrounding them, wanting them to buy theirs and nobody else’s.

            It would have been nice to stay a little longer and maybe check out the school and some of the buildings or join the kids’ soccer game, but we saw the clouds rolling in, and the last thing we wanted to be doing was trekking down a steep mountain slope on horses who might get skittish with the thunder and lightning.  So we cut our visit short and headed back the way we came.  Since the storm was so close, we were forced to be in a continuous trot, which, if you ask me, is the least comfortable speed a horse can go with a human on its back.  Why, you ask?  Well, you tell me if you’d enjoy a constant bumpy ride with your butt slamming into a hard saddle and your vertebrae smashing together every second.  Yeah, didn’t think so.  But the rainfall started as soon as we dismounted, so we had a nice run back to our hotel.

            We took some time to chill and shower and whatnot, and then it was off to dinner!  Our horse guide recommended a place called Twisted Tanya’s, so we checked it out.  It was a good thing we did!  The bar/restaurant was in a building where you had to go up a flight of stairs to get to the main part.  It was basically a giant covered balcony that overlooked the city streets.  It was really quaint and cute, with paper lanterns and cozy decorations everywhere.  And the best part?  In English!  Woohoo!

            I ordered some quesadillas and a brownie and ice cream for dessert (hey, it was our last real night in Honduras), and we had a blast!  The waiter even let us hook up our iPods to jam!  It was a really fun last night.  We even saw our “friend” there…the guy we met last night who was the New York med student that took our pictures at Via Via.  He had met up with some other travelers and they were eating dinner.  We later saw them again when we all went to Via Via after dinner, and they showed up and sat by us.  The med student began doing personality tests on us too which was kind of fun, albeit random.  We all decided there was something a little off about him.  But I did have a nice conversation with his friends from Switzerland who had been backpacking the past 4 months.  Can you imagine?  Just showing up in a new country and not knowing where you were going or what you were going to do that day?  Crazy!

            When we decided the night was over, we went back to our hotel, which we were temporarily locked out of, until the front desk man came and saved us.  We were very sad that it was the end of our reign in Honduras :( 

Photos:

BGR

BGR

BGR

On top of the world

Copan ruins!!

Macawwww

Horseyssss

Village

Swarminnn

Twisted Tanya's with Katie and Laura

Twisted Tanya's with Kayla

Breakfast

Lunch

Honduras Day 15.

Journal Day 15 May 27, 2013

            We had to say goodbye to our beautiful hotel this morning and start our last leg of our journey to Copan.  We started with a hearty buffet breakfast of eggs, watermelon and pineapple, beans, plantains, French toast, pancakes, and juice.  When breakfast was over, we all went out to the lake to walk around for a little bit since it had been storming the night before and we didn’t get a chance to.  It was so beautiful!  There was a rickety old bridge that went over the water that we all walked out on, and the view was spectacular!   After that, we were back on the road.

            This bus ride was a lot longer and a lot less eventful than yesterday’s.  We jammed a little at the beginning, but other than that we were reading or fitfully sleeping.  For 5. Straight. Hours.  It wasn’t the most pleasant thing in the world, but worse has happened.  After the seemingly endless drive, we made it to Copan and our hotel for the next few nights!  Lindsey and I added Ivy to our room as our roommate, and somehow I lucked out to get the big bed of the 3 in the room!  I’m not complaining J.  It’s kind of a small room, but it will be fine for a couple days.  I’m just glad we’re in a 1^st floor room and I didn’t have to lug my 50+ pound suitcase up the stairs again, even if that meant we couldn’t have a balcony. 

            A spaghetti and garlic bread lunch awaited us after we put our stuff in our rooms, and it was pretty good, especially after 5 hours without food.  When lunch was over, we were free to roam the city of Copan to shop!  And let me tell you, Copan is absolutely gorgeous!  All the streets are made of stone and there are a bunch of little shops lining the street selling a variety of different things.  There is a little plaza in the middle too, where a bunch of people just chill and hang out.  It’s really pretty and quaint!

            We unpacked a little, and then we decided to go out and shop a little bit, even though we were all groaning because we’re running out of money and we still really wanted to buy stuff.  But it was a fun experience to meander through the cute little streets.  We also asked these 2 high school boys where a good place would be to go dancing tonight, and they said Papa Changos.  They tried to give us directions, but then they said they could just take us there.  We began following them as a group, but after about 5 minutes, we realized we were no longer in the cute, quaint little Copan where our hotel is, and we were beginning to enter the outskirts.  It got to be a little bit creepy, especially when we passed a handsy drunk guy, so we thanked the boys for their time and headed back before reaching our destination.

            When we were finished exploring, we all took showers and headed out for dinner at 7.  Beings that we were all in an unfamiliar town in an unfamiliar country, we had no idea where we wanted to go.  However, we went where Eloisa suggested, a place called Via Via, which was an American-like bar where things were actually written in English.  Hallelujah.  I got these cheese/lettuce/salsa tortilla things which were pretty good!  We were fortunate to be sitting outside on the patio, and it was absolutely gorgeous.  It was a lot of fun despite the fact that we spent 3 hours total there, waiting for food, eating, and waiting for our bill.  Perhaps that’s just the Honduran way.

            As we were about to leave, we met this guy from New York who said he was a medical student and was down in Honduras by himself.  We had him take our picture and then we were asking him where a good place to go out and dance would be, but everything was closed since it was a Monday night.  Rats.  Since that was a bust, some of us went to the plaza area and had our own dance party with the mini speakers.  The little city was so quiet and beautiful at night! There was almost nobody around, and it was just so nice and peaceful, although most people were sketched out a little bit.  But it seemed like something out of a movie!  The dance party soon disbanded when a random group of guys whistled at us, so we rushed back to the hotel.

            At the hotel, some of us just messed around in Katie, Laura, and Lia’s room, creeping on people and talking and such.  It was a good time, and a good first night in Copan!

Photos:

Dinner at Via Via

Kayla learning some Spanish

@ Lake Yojoa!

@ Lake Yojoa!

The beautiful Copan

Aww yeah, fruit-flavored sugar

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Honduras Day 14.

Journal Day 14 May 26, 2013

            We woke up this morning to the awful realization that we would be leaving Zamorano within an hour.  Why was I upset?  Because I feel as if we actually established lives there!  Even though we were only there for 2 weeks, we had worked in the school as if it was our job,  we had gone to the bank and the store, and we had made friends that we hung out with regularly.  We had even developed a good relationship with the cafeteria people! So, even though we were excited to be going to Copan to begin round 2 of our adventure in Honduras, it was definitely bittersweet.

            We met for breakfast at 8 and had our last meal in the cafeteria: cornflakes, cheese quesadillas, and scrambled eggs.  Oh, and that delicious breakfast juice!  As soon as breakfast was over, we walked our last walk back to the Kellogg Center, past the pretty trees and under the tunnel.  Wow, I’m sure going to miss that place.

            After one last room check, we brought all our stuff downstairs to wait for the bus.  Katie and I also stopped by our friend Wendy’s room to say goodbye to her.  Unfortunately, Karen was in Nicaragua for her brother’s birthday, so we weren’t able to say goodbye to her.  Then, before we knew it, we were on the bus/van for a 3 hour drive to Lake Yojoa.  And what an interesting drive it was.

            Both Megan and Becca had gone out with Ivy last night, and Ivy didn’t feel good when she got back.  She was fine this morning, but Megan and Becca both felt extremely sick!  They were convinced it was a mixture of dehydration, sunburn/sun poisoning, and the bean dip they had eaten.  So, about 20 minutes into the drive, Becca asked for a bag, which I gave her and into which she promptly threw up.  Anyone who knows me knows that I hate puking, so I was kind of freaking out to be sitting on a closed space with a bag of puke.  We had to stop on the side of the road and throw it out the window, which sounds really bad because that doesn’t happen in America.  However, in Honduras, as you drive down the roads, trash just lines the street.  We stopped at a gas station then to get them Gatorades and so people could use the restroom.  Fortunately, the girls both felt better after getting some electrolytes in their systems, and then proceeded to laugh about their illness the rest of the day, comparing it to the scene in the movie, Bridesmaids, when everyone gets food poisoning and starts sweating and looking pale.  Honestly, the description fits perfectly!

            The rest of the bus/van ride was pretty uneventful.  We played some CatchPhrase and had a nice jam sesh with my speakers and Kayla’s Copan playlist.  Luckily, there were no more illnesses for the rest of the trip.

            Last night we had voted on the place we wanted to stop for lunch today.  Jubin wanted us to mess with JoAnn and vote for the pupusa place because she doesn’t like it, and so we did.  However, when we did our real vote, we still picked it!  But when we got to the restaurant, we saw that Wendy’s was right next to it, and most of us changed our minds and decided that we wanted fast food instead.  And thank goodness we did, because FROSTYS, HOLLA!!  I have developed a whole new appreciation for frozen delicacies since going without during this trip.

            We drove the last 40 minutes to the hotel at Lake Yojoa and got our rooms with the same roommates as in Zamorano.  The rooms are gorgeous!  We each get a double bed (which is so awesome, because I miss my big bed at home and the Kellogg Center only had baby beds) and there’s even a hammock hanging up in the room!  I’m currently laying in it as I’m typing this, and I even took a nap in it before dinner tonight!  So freakin’ comfortable!  But we only had a few minutes to admire our rooms and change into our swimsuits because we were leaving to go to a park right away to go under a waterfall!

            The ride to the park was only about 20 minutes, and as soon as we got there and got out of the vehicle, we could feel the humidity blanketing our skin.  It was so incredibly hot!  But it wouldn’t be for long!  We met our guide and stripped into our suits and began our H2O adventure.  Everyone decided to participate, except for Shazia and Eloisa, who were the official photographers of the experience.  It was only 200 lempiras, or 10 dollars, so why not??   The waterfall was so incredibly beautiful, so we couldn’t wait to see what it was like up close.

            We began the tour by following our guide down this path on a cliff next to the pool at the end of the waterfall.  We were all barefoot, so many of us came away with scratches and bruises on our feet with all the rocks and gravel on the ground.  It was like a freakin’ obstacle course with all the climbing around on rocks we were doing!  But we finally got down to where the water was, and it was absolutely amazing!!  We ended up behind and underneath the waterfall, so when we looked up, we could see the water falling from the top, and it was awesome!  It was so hard to see sometimes, because the mist from the waterfall was spraying in our faces.  In fact, most of the time we were maneuvering around the falls was spent holding hands in a long chain so we could find where we needed to go even though we were blind from water.  We even got to go inside this cave type thing that was basically pitch black that was behind the fall.  We were all constantly screaming and yelling and whooping and telling each other, “Can we just stop and reflect on our lives right now?” because it was just so gorgeous and amazing.  The best part was that it started pouring down rain while we were there, but none of us could tell because we were continually getting sprayed in the face with the waterfall water!

            On our way back up the cliff, we stopped on this little ledge and did a short 10 foot or so jump into a mini pool.  It was a lot of fun, but Megan got really scared and said she couldn’t do it.  We were all screaming and cheering for her to do it, and finally she did, but only after the guide jumped in with her.  Lia slipped on the rock and everyone gasped because we thought she hadn’t jumped out far enough from the rocks on the edge, but she was okay.

            But that little jump was wimpy in comparison to the grand finale of our tour: jumping off a 25 foot cliff and into the water at the base of the waterfall!!  It was so much fun!!  When I got to the very edge of the cliff, I was a little nervous, I admit.  I mean let’s be real: it’s not rational to be excited about jumping off a cliff into potentially snake-infested and mercury filled water.  But I’m so glad I did it, even if my butt did hurt a little after it made contact with the water.  Megan and Lia were the only 2 that decided they weren’t able to jump off, and Ivy took a lot of convincing!

            Since it was still raining when we finished jumping off the cliff, we were all so soaked and piled onto the bus/van dripping wet.  A hot shower was first on our agenda back at the hotel, and then dinner after that at a restaurant at the hotel.  I had chicken fajitas, beans, and platanos verde, which tasted like potato chips.  It was really tasty!

            Right now, me, Lindsey, Laura, Katie, and Kayla are watching a movie in our bug-infested room and listening to the thunderstorm outside. Unfortunately, the internet doesn’t work, but it’s very peaceful and relaxing, and I know I’ll sleep well tonight!  

Photos:

Waterfall with Katie and Laura!

So purdyyy

Hammock in our room!

Cocoon

Breakfast

Dinner

Honduras Day 13.

Journal Day 13, May 25, 2013

            Another free day in Zamorano!!  We met at 8:30 for a scrumptious breakfast of French toast, cornflakes, a banana, and juice.  I seriously love this French toast!  I want to bring it back with me!  It was also great because I went in my pjs J

            Since we’re leaving for Lake Yojoa and Copan tomorrow, some of us went to the bank on campus to exchange some money.  It wasn’t as difficult as we thought it would be!  We just had to wait a really long time in line.  The line started outside the bank, but when we got to the door, a guard had to check our purses and had a metal detector wand!  When we got inside, we still had to wait in a long line.  We weren’t even sure if we were in the right line or if we needed our passports (which I didn’t bring!).  But when we got to the window, we just said. “Necesito hacer un intercambio.”  The woman exchanged our money, and that was that!  I was slightly surprised because Miss Lacey had said that everything in Honduras, including banking, was inefficient and took forever.  This seemed pretty efficient to me, even though it took a long time!

            After the bank, we went to the store next door to buy some food before we left Zamorano.  I had to stock up on Chiky cookies in all the flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  Yes, I spent 150 lps. ($7.50) on cookies.  #fat.  But when I went to pay for them, I also saw a Chiky candy bar.  So I impulsively bought it. #fatter.  Then we went to Espresso Americano later in the day to get mochaccinos, which were basically Oreo milkshakes with a shot of espresso. #fattest.

            The good news is we spent a long time at the pool, so we were burning off those calories, right?  Wrong!  Actually, we were just burning up.  (Thanks, Laura, for that joke.)  Everyone looks like a tomato now, especially Aidan, whose nickname from last night was Tomate 15, so it was fitting.  At noon, we all went to lunch and had pizza, which was fantastic!  Then it was back to the pool.

            We all left around 3 to go back to the hotel, and then Laura and I went to the soccer court to watch Jeffry and Juan play a pickup game for a little while.  It was really funny because Juan tried to score so many times and wasn’t able to, and everyone yelled, “Juan!!” in exasperation.

            Dinner was at 6, and it consisted of chicken sandwiches, fries, and soda and mangoes.  Unfortunately, we had to pack after that, which is never fun.  But then Laura and I met Jeffry outside of the Kellogg Center to say goodbye, so we hung out for a little bit.  As he was about to leave, he said he had a surprise for us.  He told us about how when you finish each year of school in Zamorano, all your friends sign your uniform shirt.  So, he pulled a blue uniform shirt out of his backpack that said, “We will miss you! Don’t forget us!  This is not a big thing, but it’s special and we give you with all the love possible. THANK  YOU! Was a pleasure to meet all of you! From: Jeffry, Gustavo, and Juan. To: Laura, Katie and Kasey.”  Literally, this is the cutest thing ever!  It was so sweet, so the three of us decided to pass it around, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants style.  Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye then L.

            Kayla, Lindsey, Katie, Laura, and I hung out in our room after that, talking and playing games and being ridiculously sleep-deprived.  We’ll sleep well on our 4 hour van trip tomorrow!

 Photos:

Our new shirt!

Mochaccinos!

Breakfast

Honduras Day 12.

Journal Day 12 May 24, 2013

            After two weeks of being in ABSS, we woke up this morning with dread because it was our last day.  Breakfast was cornflakes, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich (what? This is breakfast?), juice, and Jello!  Jubin joined us for breakfast for the first time as well, and we walked to school and explained to him the ways of the stray cat and Tyra, the bridge lizard.

            When we got to school, Becca and I made a birthday card for Norman because it was his birthday today.  We also helped Miss Lacey get the math lesson together by making a poster to hang up on the board.  The math lesson was individualized, so the students that really understood the lesson got to work on extra practice problems while Miss Lacey worked with the students that needed a better understanding.  The way the extra practice was set up was really cool because the students had 3 choices that were scaffolded to get increasingly more difficult.  The students all chose the most difficult option, which was really cool!  Plus most of them really seemed to get it.

During Language Arts time, the students displayed their comic strips they had made earlier this week using contractions and compound words.  They were so funny!  The storyline would be one thing, and the next thing you knew, a cowboy popped in for a frame or two.  It was so great.

Since it’s Friday, we had Kinder buddies and finished the bean counting activity we did last week.  After that, we went outside and sang a song and also played, “Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?” with a fake cookie.  It was really cute to see the little ones singing and playing that game with my third grade.  For lunch we had some pieces of meat, rice, tortillas, refried beans, and plantains.  I think I might end up missing the cook’s food during lunch, because it was always so tasty!  Some of my students came into the library after we were done eating because they wanted to give us massages!  Becca, Megan, Lia, Aidan, and I were all pampered as they willingly gave us free massages.  It was wonderful!

Becca and I helped to introduce the new Word Wall words after that.  The procedure for Word Wall words is to show the students the word, have them read it out loud, clap the syllables, spell it with a part of their body, and then give example sentences.  It sounds easy, but when you’re trying to teach third grade the difference between there, their, and they’re, it can get pretty challenging!  I did my best to give them some examples and tricks to help them remember the difference between the words.  The students played Sparkle with the words after, and that was fun to watch.

Since it was Miss Aidan and my last day, we wanted to do something special with them and for them.  First, we took a class picture out by the playground, and it was really cute, despite all the bunny ears the students insisted on doing.  We also wanted to play a little charades with them, just for fun.  It was really cute to see the students act out their words!  Afterwards, Miss Lacey and Miss Krisna and the class presented us with cards that they had made and signed for us with little notes!  They were way too cute.  Becca and I also gave our students personalized notes that we made last night, as well as some candy.  We then gave our teachers our gifts (mine were Purdue mugs and Purdue post-it notes).

It was really difficult to leave the school today because this would be the last time we’d say goodbye to everyone, and that breaks my heart because I’ve really loved working with these students the past 2 weeks.  A couple of our girls even started crying!  I really didn’t want to have to go, and some of the students around the school even asked JoAnn if we could stay one more week.  I wish!!

Laura, Katie, and I went to the pool afterschool, which was probably a good idea since we got to see some of our students at swim lessons.  Gracia had been sick earlier and hadn’t been in class, but she came to swim lessons after and I was glad I got to say goodbye to her.  We didn’t stay long though, and we went to dinner at 6 again with the rest of the group.  Dinner was meat, rice, veggies, tortillas, and juice.  Again, I wasn’t feeling it too much, so I didn’t really eat it.

After dinner, the group split up: Megan, Ivy, and Becca went out with Jairo and Sara, some of the teachers at ABSS, while Brian and Lia went to the library to work with some of the Zamorano students.  The rest of us met up with Gustavo and Jeffry and the other guys at their place, where they were having another cookout.  We refused to eat the food though, considering they started the fire with some chemicals and even joked about using Axe.  We played Uno and BS for a little while, and then hung out with some of the guys, singing and dancing.  We learned a dance they love doing, called, “Ai Se Eu Te Pego,” which is apparently a Brazilian song that is in Portuguese and they don’t even know the words to.  We also learned about a word, maje, that the students use to call each other “dude” or “bro.”   Gustavo then told us that he was going into Tegus tomorrow and that we’d have to say goodbye to him and his friends tonight!  It was so sad because I’ve loved hanging out with them and learning the culture from them.  They were so welcoming and nice and I always had a blast!  We said we’d keep in touch though, and that we’d write each other and Skype, so there’s comfort in that.  I just hate the idea that we have to say goodbye to people that we might never see again.

            On the way back, we saw a baby lizard, so Kayla tried to catch it, but its tail fell off and stared wiggling around.  We were so grossed out but it was pretty funny.  Kayla, Laura, Katie, Aidan, and I chilled when we got back to the Kellogg Center and “worked on our journals,” which was actually getting on Facebook.  We went to bed around 1:30, which probably wasn’t such a good idea.

Photos:

Diego, the one who calls me Chicalina

Noe

Norman y Leo

Laura

Deb

Kenneth

Who stole the cookie?

Deb's awesome massages!

Andrea y the librarian

Norm opening his card

Gabriel's comic...seriously sooooo funny!

Hangin out!

Katie and Gustavo's wedding

Otto

Juan :)

Jeffry

Girliesss

Aidan and Otto

Preshhh

Jeffry and Laura, Hah!!

Spanish keyboard!!!!

Leeeeetle leeeeezard

Class pic!

Get sillayyy

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner