Living the high life

The other day we ended up going out for a "nice" dinner here. That wasn't the plan when we left, we were just looking for some food. When our dinners came to over $10 a person, we wern't exactly prepared to pay the bill. None of the 6 of us. So Rufus kindly walked back to his place to get money for everyone else. Now really, why would we plan on needing more than 200 Limperias in a night? And that included a beer, soup, bread, pasta, and dessert. I love Honduran prices. Even cheaper than Antigua.

The weather has gone from hot and sunny on Sunday to much cooler yesterday (60's?). Today was cool, rainy in the morning, and very windy all day at the open-air school. Stuff was blowing all around. The room next to us needed to straighten a picture on the wall, and upon moving it, realized the back of it was crawling with ants. And so were the backs of the ten or so other pictures on the wall. The kids had a great time taking them all outside to clean off and promptly stomped on the hundreds of ants on the cement. It was kind of gross seeing the cement slab caked with dead ants. But not to worry, the local chickens quickly found their way to the school and helped themselves to dinner. The kids had fun, the walls and pictures got cleaned, and los gallos got fed. I love how things come together here.

Where to begin...

Has it really just been a week since I last posted? It seems like so much has happened! I survived being pick-pocketed in Guatemala last Saturday night, a wild ride to Honduras over roads covered by mudslides, and teaching in a room of 19 10-year-olds, much of the time by myself. With the exception of last Friday, when they were wild little things, teaching with my limited Spanish language ability has gone better than I expected! The ride to and from the school in the back of a pick-up truck along a steep and muddy road above a river adds excitement to my days. Copan, where I live, is a very small little town. There are several bars, restaurants, and cafes, though. Where we teach is very rural. I have seen only one house, and there are cows and chickens making noises outside the classroom.

A few of us visited the Mayan Indian Ruins yesterday, which is less than a mile walk from town. Impressive and incredible to see the structures they built over 1500 years ago. We got to see where they played a ball-game every 52 years... in some cases, the winner was sacrificed in a religious ceremony. A game in which I don't think my competetivness would come out!

This morning I went horse back riding up the mountains just outside of town. Definitely sore now, and I'm sure tomorrow will feel even better. Our horses were at full trots (at least what I consider a trot) up and down the muddy roads!

Either blogger or the internet here (which is more likely) is not coorperating for me to add pictures to my post, so maybe later...

Yee haaa!

Melvin is taking me and 3 volunteers to Honduras tomorrow morning. There have been a lot of washed out roads and some landslides, so it could be an interesting trip. I have been told that there are a lot of cowboys where we are going. Big hats and everything. And they can be a bit racist. Being the only American here with GVI now (everyone's from Europe except me and the Australian meteorologist), I was told i'd feel right at home. They must have heard about the Red Dog Saloon in Navarre.

Finalmente, I'm here

After a long, but mostly uneventful day of traveling, I'm safely in Antigua, Guatemala. Starting the day at 3:30am and getting to my hotel at 3:30pm Ohio time makes for a tiring day, but I guess as far as travel days go, it could be worse. Aside from the chaos and anger at 4:30 in the morning when Spirit Airlines had to downsize their full flight to a plane that holds 70 fewer passengers because of maintenance problems, the day went smoothly with a quick layover in Miami.

Melvin and his wife Kristina, local Guatemalans hired by GVI to do airport pickups, met me at the airport. Melvin was sporting a green Cabela's cap. Cabela's is a massive outdoors store with locations in many states that my friend John would refer to as "Hunt, Fish, Kill." Marty and I actually dropped in at the local Cabela's in Dundee, MI just two days ago. As they have gigantic acquariams with a variety of fish, I was schooled in the difference in large and small mouth bass and got to see sheepshead fish (my catches from 2 weeks ago- see below) swimming around. My first (and only other) Cabela's experience was with my friend Leah a few years ago in West Virginia. We were aweed with the lifesize stuffed animals representing North America, and we ate in the cafe that offered bison, elk, and other interesting meat options. This was all very appealing to my vegetarian friend!

I was driven from Guatemala City to Antigua, about a 30-minute ride, listening to Foreigner and Frankie J. Perhaps the Guatemalans thought I would appreciate this. I surprised myself a bit with my "okay" Spanish speaking with them. I was using sentences and everything! Knock on wood... hopefully this will continue.

I am passing a few hours this afternoon walking around the central park square and sitting in a coffee shop with wi-fi, waiting to meet with the local GVI director to find out what is happening next. I know very soon I am heading to Honduras to stay until Christmas.

In addition to our outing to Cabela's, Marty and I had a good four days in Michigan. Going out with friends to watch the Brownies BEAT the Giants was a nice surprise. The weather kept us from getting in any mountain biking, but we enjoyed a night out for Sushi and dinner with Wei last night. Amber, sorry we couldn't meet up! Being a good sport, Marty took me to the airport around 4am, and has to drive to Ohio tonight.

more later...

It's no salmon...

Last weekend I went salmon fishing with Marty, his father, and two friends, Brian and Kathy. We did some cold camping in Manistee National Forest in northern Michigan. While the salmon successfully eluded us, I did catch my first two big fish. Unfortunately, sheepshead fish are not commonly kept, so we tossed them from the pier back into Lake Michigan. Along with the pics of my fish, here is a photo of Brian with the next biggest catch of the weekend. It is a good thing we were not depending on ourselves to catch dinner.

Last day of work

My wonderful co-workers have been so sweet during my last days of work. Yesterday my lunch group had a surprise pizza/cake party for me. Here is a picture of the cake Trina MADE for me. With peanut butter cookie filling, it tasted as good as it looked! Today was my last day. We had a party in class and several of us partook in happy hour at Hog Heaven after work. . . $1.50 tall Honey Brown drafts:) I wasn't prepared for it being hard to say goodbye to my students and friends at work. It is great to be surrounded by such good people.

Getting Ready

I have officially entered the blogosphere. In two weeks i will be on my way to Honduras, followed by Nicaragua and Guatemala. Work has given me a six month leave of absence, and I am going to be an intern for a volunteer organization called Global Vision International. A lot excited and a bit nervous with lots of emotions going on right now... stay tuned for updates!