A new month in a new country...

I can happily report that we did all of the things we had intended to do in Honduras, and more.  We were here just over two weeks and I feel like I’ve really gotten to

 know a significant amount about Honduras.  Coming from Guatemala I noticed everything being a lot more green here.  The grass is super green, almost like someone took a highlighter to the fields.  There are fruit here that I’ve never heard of, but my taste buds thoroughly enjoy.  Where Guatemala seemed to be Mountain after mountain, and volcano after volcano, Honduras seems to have a lot more flat fields for farming.  This could also just be because we spent most of our time on the coast.  Driving along the coastline we saw fields and fields of palm tree and pineapple farms.  Walking down the street you can see banana and mango trees everywhere.  It feels so great to live amongst produce that can only be found in the supermarket back home. 

It was great to stay with my friend Josue, because I feel like I got to see

 more into the daily life of a Honduran family.  We learned how to make some of their food, ate fruit and drank “agua de coco” (coconut water) straight from the trees in their yard, observed leaf-cutter ants make their way from the trees to their home, learned about their uncles farm next door and their milk business, swam in the absolutely gorgeous fresh water river in the back of their house, got to visit his girlfriend Yadira’s family and see where she grew up, helped their neighbor boy with his English homework, and walked around Josue’s property and learned about the different plants he has there and dreams he has for his future farming projects.  One day we decided to go to a place called Lancetilla on the way to the beach.  Our lonely planet book told us it is the second largest botanical garden in the world.  We got to the park and had to walk 4 km just to get to the actual entrance, so it was a hot and long day.  The highlight of the park for us was the layers of forest we walked though.  There were different types of palm trees, pine trees, willow trees, trees that looked painted with different colors of bark, all leading back to the bamboo forest.  Now THIS was awesome!  We walked in and I immediately thought about how my sister has been making references to “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” on several of our photos throughout this trip.  I literally felt like I was standing in the midst of giant grass.  I felt tiny and half-way expected a giant ant or praying mantis to come running out from behind a patch of bamboo.  It was breathtaking.  So, after walking around the huge garden we finally made it back to the front and

 then Josiah honestly looks at us and says, “I think I’m going to go buy a map of the park”.  We all cracked up at the fact that he bought one AFTER we were finished walking around and not when we first got there.  What a silly boy.  Our feet were tired so we waited on a taxi to take us to the beach in a town called Tela.  We had a lot of fun on the beach and got to play in the big crashing waves.  

This being only the second time Josiah has made it to the ocean in his lifetime, we

 decided to push the boundaries being expanded even more and take him to an island.  We heard about the beauty of the Bay Islands of the coast of Honduras, so we looked into couchsurfing to help keep the costs down if we were to go.  A woman agreed to let us come stay with her and her two sons, so we took advantage of the opportunity and headed out…in the rain!  I warned Josiah that I get tend to get a bit seasick sometimes, and it being rainy I was even more worried.  Quickly after we headed out on the ferry we BOTH started feeling ill and Josiah ended up being worsethan me.  

We made it through, but it was a rough 1.5 hours.    The island was beautiful, and I got to see the crystal blue Caribbean water I had always dreamed of.  It was fun to swim in the ocean and feel like you were swimming in a pool.  Too bad the ocean is so dang salty, or it would have been perfect!  Hehe.  The woman we stayed with, Mel, was super sweet.  Her house was comfy and even had a hot shower with good water pressure!  Her two sons, Deo and Ory, were sooooooooooooooo entertaining.  We have a couple of videos that caught them in their silliness.  When we get home remember to ask me to see them!  When we couchsurf and stay with people, we like to cook for them as a way to give back and show our appreciation so we cooked them a spaghetti dinner.  It was a short two-night stay, and we wished we had had more time to spend 

there.  All in all, the islands were a good experience, but still ended up being more expensive than we had hoped.  Most of the cost went into transportation.  Getting there and back on the ferry and no real access to public busses and having to take a taxi (overly priced) everywhere pretty much did us in.  We thought we would have plenty of money with the cash we had on hand so we didn’t want to risk bringing our credit cards.  Well, when we left Josiah was completely out of money and I didn’t have much.  So we have been living the past few days on the cash I have until we can make it to an ATM in La Ceiba.  Ahh!  Then it will be Josiah’s turn to pay for things for awhile!

I feel like Josiah and I have learned a lot about each other in the past couple of weeks.  We, or at least I, seem to have a new appreciation for our relationship.  We help each other out, we rarely have much to argue about, we are very caring and affectionate toward each other, we appreciate each other, we laugh and joke around with each other, and are truly each other’s best friend.  It’s refreshing to still be getting along so well after constant companionship for the past 2 months. 

We left La Ceiba and headed for the capital City, Tegucigalpa.  We met a sweet girl Janelle, from Alaska, in our taxi and we all decided to stay at a hotel near the bus we needed to catch in the morning.  It turns out our hotel doubled as a Chinese restaurant.  I ordered fried rice and the lady looked at me like I was crazy and insisted I couldn't eat that much food.  So, we decided to split the order.  It came out on two separate plates that were HEAPING over with food!  We still couldn't finish our four dollar feast.  haha.   After two long days of travel, and another border crossing, we have arrived safely in Managua, Nicaragua.  We aren't sure our plan from here, but I'm sure we'll be spontaneous and of course safe.  Goodbye Lempiras, Hello Cordobas.

Goodbye Quetzales, Hello Lempiras

After taking a very VERY cramped and long shuttle, we arrived safely in Copan, Honduras.  Crossing the border was pretty anticlimactic as we put our names on a sheet, paid the small fee and got back on our bus. Once again I was bothered by the injustice of us being able to so easily pass through borders while the Latinos coming to my country go through so much hassle and many times denial to enter if tried legally.  I wonder if that will ever change?  I hope so, but I doubt it.

Upon arrival in the small town we found no electricity or running water, anywhere, for the first few hours.  We were tired from not going to sleep the night before and not being able to sleep on the shuttle.  Sigh, but we lazily made it through the day. It’s much hotter here and the mosquitoes are more prevalent.  I’m happy about the heat, but not such a fan of being bit by pesky little bugs.  Josiah had expressed interest in going to the Mayan Ruins of Tikal in

 Guatemala, but it was way out of the way (8 hours each way out of the way).  I had already

 been so we decided to come explore some new ruins, in what is a new country for both of us, Honduras!  Excited we woke up early, ate breakfast, put on our sunscreen and bug rep

ellant and headed out.  Oh man we had so much fun exploring the Ruins together.  We spent many hours in the park trying to imagine and learn about what life may have been like for people once living there.  Josiah did some sketches of the architecture and I did some

 reading.  When you buy your ticket into the park, you can pay extra to explore some tunnels

 thatrun through the ruins.  It’s double the cost and we didn’t think it was worth it.  We WERE really craving to explore what was inside, and well, we lucked out.  You know me, any chance I get to take the path less traveled by I do.  We found a path leading by the backside of one of the ruins and there happened to be a door open to a 

tunnel.  So, we went inside to explore, amazed at what we found.  After spending a good 10-15 minutes a man showed up and asked if we paid to get in so I we played the ignorant tourists who didn’t know you had to pay to get in.  There was nothing that could be done at that point, we had seen everything and have memories engraved in our brains.  Sabooya!  All in all, Ruins were a success.

On to Valentines Day…For Valentines day we decided to go to Macaw Mountain, the most peaceful bird park in the middle of nature.  Included in the 10 dollar ticket price was a guide in Spanish or English.  We looked at each other and Josiah said, “Spanish”.  I was proud of his effort and enthusiasm to understand Spanish.  And I’m happy to say that I only tr

anslated one or two small things for him!  Red Macaws, Blue Macaws, Green Macaws, Parrots, 

Toucans, Owls, Eagles, Hawks and many varieties of each all coincided on the Mountain.  I was thankful to be in the forest as I had forgotten the sunscreen!  We spent most of the afternoon here taking our time walking around down by the river visiting different birds.  As you can see, there is an interaction area where you can hold the birds.  Only having previously seen these birds on T.V travel programs or in wildlife way up in the trees, it felt surreal to be seeing them so close and HOLDING them three at a time.  Many birds are brought here from the wild that

 were born with deformities, or were injured.  Other birds may have been pets, and abused by their owners.  It’s sad to think about these animals being hurt or at danger in the wild, but I’m glad places like this exist.  I’m so excited for my mother to see the pictures as she has an extreme fear of birds.   Another aspect I enjoyed on the mountain was the coffee plants they had.  This is another way for them to fund the project as they roast and sell the coffee from the mountain.  They had a small café where we enjoyed an icy drink. 

 After returning to the city after our wildlife adventure, we were starving and decided to eat dinner early.  We went to a Pupuseria (a pupusa shop).  Most of you are probably wondering what are Pupusas?  They are an El Salvadorian food that I will poorly attempt to explain.  You can choose from various ingredients to have put inside the Pupusa.  Usually its like cheese and onions, cheese and chicken, or other veggies.  On the outside is like a corn-meal bread that they pack all around the ingredients inside.  It’s very thin almost like a pancake and you put on top salsa and a mix of cabbage and other vegetables.  I’m so sorry for all the pupusa lovers out there reading this because I did no justice just now to the art of Pupusas.  I probably even got it somewhat wrong.  Anyway, they are delicious.  Josiah ate many and I got the Valentines Special.  We both had a very sweet Mango licuado (milkshake).

 Full and satisfied we watched a movie on Josiah’s laptop at our hotel.  Then we all of the sudden hear a live band playing Merengue, Banda, Bachata, and Punta.  We didn’t even have to discuss it, and both headed for the door.  This bar was filled with ONLY Hondurans (right up my alley).  We enjoyed the music for awhile and then a merengue came on and Josiah didn’t want to dance.  People you won’t believe this…he didn’t want to dance because “People will be watching us and I feel weird about it”.  WHAT!?  I almost fell out of my chair at Josiah not wanting to be overly eager to get out there and bust a move.  But, next song he couldn’t take it and he had to get out there.  We had a lot of fun dancing and even got called out by one of the band members for our dancing.  They played no salsa, but we weren’t expecting any.  This is how we ended our Valentines adventures.  It was a day I doubt either of us will forget.

 On to La Ceiba.  A few years ago, while I was still in college, I worked at a bilingual call center for a month (that’s all I could handle of sitting still all day everyday answering calls).  Anyway, I met my friend Josue, from Honduras!  Little did we know that 3-4 years later I’d come visit him in his home town.  I got back in touch with Josue to tell him we were coming and he eagerly offered us to come stay with him in his house.  Well, here we are.  He lives on a 15 acre Finca (farm) outside of La Ceiba with his mom and girlfriend Yadira.  His house is beautiful with a nice huge comfy hammock outside.  In the next few days we will be doing a variety of activities:  Swimming in a fresh water river behind Josue's house.  Going to La Ceiba and exploring the beach there, possibly visiting Josue's friend's beach house, maybe taking a bus to see some waterfalls.  We are looking into couchsurfing on the bay islands.  We will see what happens.  We are being open to whatever opportunities come our way.  I guess we'll see where the wind blows us.  Stay tuned for more updates and check facebook for more pictures.  Below is a video I made of the Ruins.  Enjoy!

A Farewell to Guatemala

The time has come for us to move on, one country down, four more that we plan to visit. We’ve spent these last two weeks in Antigua, and we have really liked it here. Antigua was once the capital of Guatemala, and seeing the beauty here makes it easy to see why. Getting around has been a dream. You can walk anywhere in the city in less than half an hour, and there is a stream of cheap public transport to take you any where in Guatemala. There are many museums, ancient buildings, ruins, giant churches, 

parks, Indigenous markets, Ice cream shops, bakeries, and everything else you’d hope to see in a city named “Ancient”.  Tourism is very important in Antigua; it is what drives their economy. Checking out the different restaurants, events, entertainment, art markets, and hotels they are clearly out of the price range of most Chapines. The volcanoes surrounding Antigua are huge and can be seen from almost any where in the city. For a best view of them, there’s a trail that leads to an incredible lookout point over the whole city (Cerro de la Cruz). A few restaurants have rooftop terraces; the stunning views of the horizon really do enhance the dining experience. We enjoyed a meal with our friends Heather and Greg on the roof of the SkyCafe. During the meal, “Volcan Fuego” spat out a giant cloud of sulfur that took the form of Angie’s favorite animal; a seahorse. 

There’re quite a few non-profit organizations based here; people form all over the globe are here trying to make a difference. Angie and I have been learning a lot about how NGO’s work. Watching our friends from “Project Somos” go through and talk about some of their trials in the initial stages of starting their project has been very insightful. Casasito, the volunteer house where we’re staying, alone is supporting around four hundred people. They also assist other organizations by providing volunteers and other materials. The profits made from guest staying at the house goes to community outreach. Despite all that being done, the reality is that there is much more help needed here.

Angie talked about us volunteering in San Mateo. We have been doing ok there. It is difficult to teach that many children at once without just becoming some kind of crowd control officer. Soooooo…we have done the best we could. I taught my class English/Art by drawing a variety of different things on a chalkboard and then writing their English name underneath them. This also covered for knowledge that I lacked in Spanish. I feel bad about just being there for two weeks because I know that these kids really need teachers. They need teachers that will be around, someone that will be there every day. However, I do find a little comfort knowing that there is a group of children out there that don’t speak English very well but would understand someone if they mentioned a ninja, dodge viper, samurai, or snow leopard.

Living at Casasito has been great, especially the having a kitchen part. We’ve made ninety percent of our meals, making everything from chicken fried rice to strawberry chocolate candy bar pancakes; we’ve also mastered the art of guacamole.

I’ve noticed there is an ease in connecting with strangers when you’re all very far from home; everyone can relate in that way to each other. Add that with salsa dancing and it’s like you’ve always known each other. Being a new Spanish speaker, I think it’s pretty cool how everyone is bi/trilingual here and are constantly switch between different languages, yet everyone still understands each other. We’ve made great new friends here in Patrizia(Germany), Gritta(Germany), Rory(Ireland), Josh(US), and Adriana(US) some volunteers here. Patrizia is a great salsa dancer. On one of our last nights there we all got together and made an international feast; it was glorious. Then later we played word board games in Spanish. I didn’t win any games, but I am proud that I was able to hold my own.

I have been immensely surprised by the salsa dancing in Guatemala; it’s incredible here in Antigua. There are a lot of small dance schools here, but the dance level is pretty high. What’s even better is the music. There are live salsa band here almost every night. My favorite band here is “Buena Vista de Corazon”. The lead singer/drummer is the original drummer from the Buena Vista Social Club. His voice is powerful, he is mad with the drums, and the band is awesome too. Best live salsa I’ve seen by far. There is a shortage of good females salseras, but that’s why I have Angie around. The bar has been set pretty high Central America, so watch out! We leave for Honduras at four in the morning, so after dancing Wednesday night are just staying up and waiting for the shuttle. We’re going to see the Copan Ruinas. Into the unknown once again, here we go. Take care everyone.