Semana Santa

Hello All!



So it has been a long time since my last blog update and you will have to forgive me, but things have been busy. On the bright side though that means I have a lot to tell. I believe we left off at the beginning of Lent last time. So what has happened since then? Well, we had about 4 full weeks of school since during that time and then got out for a week of spring break (Semana Santa). Now it is two weeks after we returned from Semana Santa. We are beginning the fourth and final quarter of our school which is only about 2 months long. Things are going to be wrapping up quickly at Santa Clara: end of the year parties, students graduating, and making summer vacation plans. All the updates on this are sure to come in the blogs to come.



Getting back to the past, during the 4 weeks before Semana Santa, lots of thing were happening, (too many to talk about right now actually) but one of the things that happened was the completion of Santa Clara's science fair. Teachers and students alike worked hard to investigate questions about the natural world around them using the scientific method. It was not easy for anyone, and stress levels were higher than normal, but in the end it yielded some good results.











Here is the 7th grade the day they displayed their projects for all the parents to see.

good job gang

Jose Carlos investigated the strength of magnets under different temperatures.

Ana wants to be a doctor and so she studied the disolving speeds of different types of stomach relievers.

The science fair display day (thursday) was great not only because it meant the completion of a long and demanding project, but also beause it marked the beginning of our spring break!

After school on Thursday, myself and 3 others (Mary, Kate and Jason) packed our bags and jumped on a bus to begin our journey to Mexico! The journey would take us, by bus, 21 hours over three days...and so we were ready with books, ipods and snacks.

We stayed in hostels.

This was the cathedral ceiling in San Salvador, which we stayed a night in (san salvador that is)

and the altar

Then, we arrived in Tapachula, Mexico. We arrived on Saturday night and after the long bus ride decided to chill out and see the town on Sunday.

This was a cool, modern church we found there.

And we got some good dinner too.

Then on Monday morning we left Tapachula, for our main destination of our journey...Volcano Tacana. This picture was taken from inside a bus taxi that was taking us to the town at the base of the volcano, Union Juarez.

We arrived.

The hike to the top was a long hike, so we started as soon as we could. In fact we planned on taking three days and two nights for the hike.

A view from the beginning of the hike.

We were carrying our food, water and camping gear.

There were wild calla lilies.

yours truly

Mary

As we hiked we encountered some little villages on the volcano. These villages were really isolated. People growing there food and living pretty simply.

We stopped at one of the houses to ask for directions and possibly get some water. The lady, who was big into growing flowers, was happy to help us.

Us: "So what is the name of this place?"

Lady: "Guatemala."

Us: "Oh this little village is called Guatemala?"

Lady: "No you are in the country of Guatemala."

Us: "....."

Somehow we had taken a wrong and ended up in the wrong country. Half the volcano was in Mexico and half was in Mexico, but according to our route we were suppose to stay in Mexico the whole time.

The lady informed though that going back to our planned route would take several hours and that this way would get us to the top, so we decided to keep going.
It was not easy though and we lost the path a couple of times.

Luckily we met two Mexican guys who were hiking to the top and knew the way. They must have felt bad for us because they decided to stay with us and make sure we didn't get lost.

We hiked for probably 6 or so hours. The Mexican guys told us that there was a shelter we could camp at "just ten minutes" farther. However every time ten minutes had passed we never seemed to arrive. We were getting tired, hungry and annoyed that we never seem to arrive at the shelter. Then it started to hail. Here's Jason trying to stay dry with his jacket.

Then we arrived at the shelter. Take a close look at the black figure in front of the shelter...yes a cow. The shelter was a cow barn!

However, we were wet, hungry, cold and tired and so we were happy to have a place out of the rain. So we set up camp and tried to get warm. We wanted to make a fire, but there were no dry sticks...so we tried cow poop...didn't work though. So, the four of us jumped into our single tent, ate our cookies, canned tuna and coca cola for dinner and snuggled together all night for warmth. I think we might have gotten 20 minutes of good sleep that night.

Before the hike had started we had intended to watch the sunrise from the summit. Since our camp was only about 1 hour from the top, according to our Mexican friends who had also made camp in the cow house, we decided to get up at 4:30 to keep hiking. So we strapped on our wet shoes, packed up our tent and attemped to stay on the path being only led by the moonlight and the trail of garbage left from past hikers, something all too common to Latin America.

We didn't make it to the top before sunrise but we still got a great view.

we had gotten above the cloud line.

This is Volcano Tajumulco, the highest peak in Central America at 13,845 ft, followed closely by our Volcano Tacana at 13,320 ft.

Jason and Kate.

Mary was a real trooper, she had come down with a fever at the end of the day the day before, but didn't complain at all.

Then finally we make it to the top...valio la pena (it was worth it).

We couldn't believe this unique black clouds that just appeared when we were up there :-)

After taking photos and enjoying the top we headed down a little, into the crater of the volcano, a little valley where people camp. We found a lady there who sold food to hikers like us. We were not bashful about ordering a large breakfast of tortillas, eggs and beans.

These white pillars had a been along the trail a few times on the way up and during breakfast the lady selling the food informed us that they marked the border between Mexico and Guatemala...something that would have been nice to know the day before. I didn't mention this at the beginning of the blog, but one of the reasons we went to Mexico for Semana Santa was because every 90 days you are required to leave Central America for 3 days to renew your passport. (Mexico is not considered Central America). Our three days were spent on the volcano, but mistakenly we had wandered back into Guatemala. So here is picture of me breaking international law by being Guatemala. Don't tell anyone.

So after a good breakfast, we began the hike down and was it steep. Just to give you an idea of how tall this volcano was, take a look at how many different environments we went through on our way down.

We stopped for some lunch after several hours...more tuna with some dorrito like chips

And then kept going.

and going

finally we reached the bottom, however, we thought the bottom would be the town of Union Juarez where there was a hotel with comfy beds and warm water...but no. when we got the bottom it was a road with a couple of men selling fruit. they told us that Union Juarez was 6 kilometers down the road and that there were no taxis running until the next day....and did I mention a lightening storm had just begun too. Tired of walking, we had probably been hiking for about 7 hours now, we were desperate to get back to Union Juarez. So we went up to a house a little ways down the road and offered to pay the people there to drive us into town. After some negociating over the price, they agreed. Here's Jason in the bed of the pickup with me. They put a yellow tarp over us to keep the rain off.

But finally we made it back. It was one of the sweetest sites we had ever seen.

After a night of rest and warm showers we took taxis back to Tapachula, the first city in Mexico, had breakfast at a great little diner we had discovered, and then jumped back on our bus to head back to Honduras.

However, we were going to spend a day in San Salvador with some friends of my dad.

We arrived on Thursday night, but the next day was Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified. My dad's friend and our guide, a lady named Marybeth, took us to one of the many processions occurring.

In turned out that the procession finished at church, but not just any church.

This was the church where the El Salvadorian hero, Oscar Romero, was killed. He was a leader in the church that spoke our against the many killings that were occurring during the horrible Civil War in El Salvador. He was eventually killed because of his stance.

But he was certainly not forgot.

After spending some time at that church, Marybeth continued to lead us through the city. She took us to a wall in park near the center of town.

This wall was a memorial for all the killed or "disappeared" people during the civil war.

This wall had 30,000 names on it.

And was about half a football field long.

After spending some sobering time there, we pressed on to the center of the city. Here's the outside of the cathedral we had been in several days earlier on our way to Mexico.

Since it was Good Friday, people were making alfombras (street art with colored salt).

Some were really big.

At the end of the day we headed back to the little community my dad's friends were part of to have a little Good Friday service of our own.

The next day it was time to leave San Salvador. We needed to get back on the bus and head back to Honduras. Here is Alba, Rebeca and Marybeth who were so good to us during our time in San Salvador.

This pretty much wraps up our Semana Santa trip. I didn't included all the details, but from what I did talk about, you can tell we had a great time that Jason, Kate, Mary and I will never forget. Until next time...

Daily Volunteer Life in Honduras

Hello loyal followers :-) I titled this week's blog "Daily Volunteer Life in Honduras," and although nothing out of the ordinary happened (i.e. no trips to other countries, snorkeling on foreign islands or cooking with indigeneous families), I still want to share with you the daily life of a volunteer in Honduras that I find to be extraordinary.


During the first week of every month we have a mass. Padre Ricardo said the mass.

He got the students involved in acting the homily...it was cute.

Here is a picture of the backside of our school.

On Monday, I got sick and had to go home early. I stayed home on Tuesday also. I think I ate some bad cheese. Luckily I had plenty of good people around to take care of me and was back up and teaching on Wednesday.

One routine that my roommates Liz, Tony and I like to do, is a nightly reflection over our day. This is Tony and Liz in our living room with a little lit candle on the floor.

During the week Liz took some shots of me explaining some math to one of my students, Ivonne.

She has improved a lot from the beginning of the school year. Her mom, Ivonne Sr., was the 5th grade Spanish teacher, but sadly this week Ivonne Sr. and our 1st grade Spanish teacher left Santa Clara for public school teaching jobs. Public schools offer a much better salary and better benefits. In fact teaching positions at public schools here in Honduras are sought after professions, unlike the USA. It was amazing how fast our teachers left. Monday the 1st grade teacher was gone for interviews with the public school and Tuesday she came to school to say that her new job started that day and she had to leave. No two weeks notice or anything. Very similar situation for 5th grade. Students were upset and people were worried about who was going to teach these classes, but so far Annie has managed to find some replacements until we get things settled. Again, expect the unexpected while volunteering in Honduras.

It was a full week of school with the science fair preparations, rushing to make lesson plans, but not forgetting to celebrate small victories with some wine in the evenings. I think I am getting better at this teaching thing thanks to all the support I receive from the people around me. I have a long way to go though.

Friday comes like it always does and after some intense basketball games with the university students Tony, Liz and I went to get some pizza and beer.

It was just perfect for Friday night.

On Saturday I made lesson plans for the coming week, but I also found time to accept some coconuts from our neighbor Norma.

Tony tried to cut some open but ended up cutting himself open.

Luckily, Norma had a machete (who doesn't down here?) and so we got to eat our coconuts.

Saturday night a bunch of us went up to Nazareth, the special needs school, where a new group of temporary volunteers are staying for a week. They are from Massachusettes. Here is Sarah, Liz, Tony and Carlos's son Andre. It was a beautiful evening in Juticalpa.

Here is Tony next to Tula, one of the office staff, demonstrating how he is probably the tallest person in Olancho.

If not Honduras.

It is always great hanging out with the volunteer groups that come down, not only to get free food, but to talk with them.

And that brings us to today. Liz was feeling especially wonderful this morning and so made Tony and I banana pancakes...thanks Liz!

buen provecho (bon appetite)

After breakfast, Liz went to Jutiquele for mass while Tony, my old roommate, Mario, Mario's current roommate, Jay, and I went up to Mario's hometown, San Francisco de la Paz.

Here is Jay and Tony in the town square.

And now Tony and me. This is the first town square I have seen with a basketball court in it.

We went to mass.

I liked this shot. Notice the cowboy hats on the window sill. All the men put their hats up there during mass.

Then it was off to enjoy Honduras's favorite sport.

futbol (soccer) Here is the town's soccer stadium.

Mario's team was in the city finals. After this they play teams from other cities.

It was a great day for a game although the sun was definitely out in full force.

Here are some people trying to find shade next to the stadium's snack bar.

The other team was pretty physical but over all it was a clean game.

And what a game it was. At the end of regulation time it was 2-2. This is after these players had played in the intense sun for over 1:30 hours. Then they played a 30 minute overtime, which still left them tied. Next they went to penalty kicks where each team got to take 5 shots. Both teams made 3. So finally they went into penalty kicks where a team would take one shot and if they made it and the other team could not answer the first team won.

Here is the other team about to shoot. The eventually beat Mario's team for the city championship. It was quite a game, but Mario's team still gets to go the next level, just as the 2nd seed.

So it was a great week, overall, with nothing out of the ordinary, but still extraordinary. This coming up week I will be at school for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but for the latter half of the week, I get to go to the capial, Tegucigalpa, with Annie and another teacher volunteer, Mary, for a teacher workshop. I am really excited.

So, until next time, vaya con Dios (go with God).