First Weeks of Year Two

Hola a Todos,

Como estan? I hope everything is good where you are. Down here, although life is much busier with school having just started, things are going well. So what have the first weeks been like? Well...


I returned from San Diego the first week on Tuesday, and so only had a half week to finish out. That went fine: meeting the new 7th graders, seeing my students from last year as 8th graders, and being in a new building from last year. The first week, as I suspect anywhere, is something that you just kind of "get through." Things are crazy, people are trying to get oriented and the like. But no one died and so that was good.

The second week was pretty chaotic too because Honduras's independence day was on that Wednesday, the 15th. That means no one has school that day, but instead everyone participates in a huge parade down calle principal (mainstreet). Monday and Tuesday were used to practice for the parade.
Here is our band practicing. Some of the students are from Instituto Bilingue Santa Clara, where I teach, and some of them are from Instituto Cardenal, the spanish speaking high school that we share our building with.

Ah yes, los desfiles (the parades). This entails arriving at the beginning of calle principal at 8:00 and waiting in the already hot and fuerte (strong) sun for 3 hours before it is your turn to go.

The army was also there...

and firefightersand color guards

and even guys on stilts holding small children.

Oh and the schools too.

People got really dressed up for this.

Check out these students with fedora hats and capes

There were floats

And Miss Honduras, Miss Guatemala, Miss El Salvador etc. (these were actually our students)

We marched through packed streets for 2 hours leaving us with serious sunburns and light headedness. Luckily Padre Ricardo had a bbq waiting for us teachers right after the parade.

Since Wednesday was reserved for the parades and Friday was dia del maestro (day of the teacher), Honduras takes Thursday and Friday off as well as Wednesday leaving you with a five day weekend. Many of the volunteers headed to the north coast of Honduras, which is what I did one year ago. You might remeber my episode of being robbed at gunpoint in Trujillo. However this year, do to lack of lempiras (money), I stayed in Juticalpa. Some of the days were dedicated to school prep, but the I went out and had some fun too.

A teacher from Cardenal, Bany, invited myself and a few other to go hiking up a small mountain, Boqueron. I have done this before (I wrote about it in an earlier blog as a "death march"), but we were going to take a different path this time and so I decided to go.

The two peaks you see above make up Boqueron with a river running between them.

It is super pretty with the water and the forest. Bany told us it would be a long day. We started out day at 6:15 and didn't get home until 5:30 at night, and by that time we were exhausted....here's why....



We hiked up hills...
along rivers that didn't always have paths

sometimes we crossed rivers

through chata farms (chata's are in the banana family)



but we did rest when we needed to. Here's Jackie, the kindergarten volunteer teacher, who also stayed in Juti because of lack of money. Bany is in the middle.

While hiking along river we encountered two snakes. Bany told us neither were venanosas (poisonous).

We decided to leave the river and hike up into the hills in search of a cave Bany said he knew about. Although we were leaving the snakes, things weren't much better on the hill. There was no path and due to the thick jungle this is the best sight I saw of Bany while he blazed ahead.

And then we ran into some serious looking spiders.

But, por fin (finally) we arrived at the cave. Here is Jackie waiting her turn to enter while Norman, the 4th person in our group) went in first.


We weren't the only ones in the cave. Here's a little bat.

But Norman was praying for us, so we felt safe.

Jackie

yours truly

After the cave and some lunch, we decided to head for the little aldea (village) further up the river called La Vispa (The Wasp). We followed this man "bringing home the groceries" until we arrived. It was a small little village and we didn't stay too long, especially with the hombre borracho (drunk man) there to greet us.

It was getting late anyways and we were tired. Here's Norman resting along the river.

But since it was still hot, we decided to to have a swim.

And we weren't the only ones. This is group of locals that loved being in the lime light when they saw me with my camera.

Finally we made it back to the highway where our car was parked nearby...exhausted

It was a long but great day at Boqueron.

After the five day weekend, and the return of the other volunteers from the north coast, we had our first full week of school (at the Instituto). And I am remembering how demanding teaching can be. Sitting here this weekend, I think I am more tired after a week with the students than I was from hiking Boqueron.

However, we're still having fun.

Trip to San Diego

Hello Everyone,

I hope all is well and I apologize for my tardiness on the blog, but school has started and so the summer days of tiempo libre (free time) have gone. Also, for this blog, you need to read it from the bottom up. I started putting the pictures in backwards and when I realized it I was already too far along to want to change it. So.....


The End

Take care and I hope you whether you are near or far from your family and friends you are finding the best in life.


The next day I head back to Honduras where 60 new junior high students and a new school year was waiting. It was great to have seen my family and friends even if it was only for a few days. I look forward to Christmas when I will be coming back again.



and here are my parents showing everyone how a married couple of 20+ years can still enjoy themselves.


Here are Brendan and Julie showing everyone how a newly married couple enjoys themselves.

We ate, talked and danced well into the night.

But now that the newly weds had arrived we could get the party started.

Here's the car Brendan and Julie arrived in...fitting for Brendan whose love of cars comes close to his love of Julie.... just kidding.



and a view overlooking the Pacific. Who couldn't enjoy a place like this?

with catered food...

I definitely enjoyed the reception. It was at a beautiful house in the San Diego hills.

And the knot has been tied. That-a-kid

My Dad commented how Brendan was confident as ever during the wedding, something, he admitted, he was not during his wedding to my mom. Brendan is the first of my close friends to get married. Mabye more will follow now that he has broken the ice.

And the beautiful bride with her father.

And so we got underway. Looking sharp Brendan.

They had a hired guitarist to set the mood. I want to be like this guy when I get older.

Here's Sean, Brendan's brother and best man, and me.

Like I said, the wedding was at the Encinitas Botanic Gardens and the day couldn't have been better.

But enough with history and on to new beginnings.

Here's Dad telling us how he remembers his grade school desk being like this one.

The next day, before the wedding, my parents and I visited Old Town in San Diego. Interesting stuff. Anyone who has gone through 4th grade in California knows that San Diego was a location of a Spanish mission. It is incredible to see how much Spanish influence is in the States, especially California.

Here are Brendan's very happy parents, Brian and Fran. It was a great night. Besides some great food I got to see lots of old friends that were also invited to the wedding. I was awared the honor of "farthest traveled" to the wedding.

Here are the couple, Brendan and Julie. They met in their third year of college at Cal Poly. Since Brendan and I were roommates, this is when I met Julie too. However, Brendan and I go all the way back to kindergarten.

The dinner was at a Mexican restaurant, which you might think ironic (traveling all the way from Honduras only to have Latin food again). Actually though, Mexican food is not Honduran food, nor Central American food for that matter. Mexican food, in my opinion, has much more flavor and is much better. So I was happy.

After the gardens Amy and Steve headed back to L.A. and it was time get ready for the wedding rehearsal dinner. Dad helped me get ready by getting the Honduran dust off my shoes. Thanks pops.

Here's my Dad and Amy checking out a "paper tree" which has super soft bark. When you push on it it is like pushing on a cushion. My parents, Amy and Steve, and one other couple my parents are friends with, all want to all live together when they retire. They have been talking about the type of living situation they would like. Over the years they have come up with some pretty crazy ideas (e.g. a yard full of lamas). This day they decided that the would make their shared house out of paper tree so that when they bump into the walls they won't hurt themselves. Good thinking....

And the Australia section.

The Gardens were interesting. The had sections of plants from different parts of the world. Here is the Africa section.

The next day Steve, Amy, my parents and I went to the Botanic Garden in Encinitas. This where Brendan's wedding would be the next day.

We celebrated my belated birthday with my parents and my godparents, Amy and Steve, who came down from L.A.


After that it was up to Encinitas, a little city just north of San Diego.

So Dad and I had to jump in to see what was happening. It was great.

Until we came along a beach where everyone was snorkeling and coming back raving about how many fish they were seeing. It turned out to be La Jolla Ecological Reserve, a protected water area where lots of fish and seals gather for people to swim with and observe.

We got to spend some time just wondering along the beach.

Here's Dad showing me the aircraft carriers across the bay at Coronado. He lived in San Diego for three years while in the Navy and had stories about when he went out on these floating cities.

Here's Mom and I on my first day in San Diego, Friday.

It was nice to see the Pacific which I have missed greatly since I left for Honduras.


What has Dan been up to lately? Well, much to my excitement, I recently I flew back to the States for my friend's wedding, Brendan, where I also got to see my parents. Here's a shot from the plane on my way to San Diego from Tegucigalpa.