facebook, email, and other internet withdrawals

So it's been a while...probably about two weeks since I've had access to the internet. But now I'm here and ready to catch yall up on the past weeks. Going back to Utila which was when my last blog was posted.This is from one trip into town...
about a 30 minute walk from the hotel in Utila.

I also got a bad case of Honduran chicken pox...

only these came from walking at night and are often called bugbites. This is why I have to take malaria medicine I suppose. We were all scratching so bad that me and Kate made a bet that whoever scratched first (from the waist down) had to buy the other dinner. Well we all know how cheap I am...and stubborn. We lasted about 2 days before we called a truce.

On the left is Kate and to the right of me is Anne. They are the other World Hope Volunteers who are working at the orphanage. This was on the deck overlooking oh just the Carrabean...

After Utila we took a few buses to Copan which is my favorite spot in Honduras. It is the perfect mix of tradition and tourist stuff. We got to visit a bird sanctuary. I was a little disappointed because I thought the birds would be flying around but instead they were in cages. But it turned out to be really awesome because at one point of the tour, they had birds you could hold. I'm talking parrots not just parakeets.

I was excited.

These birds kept walking on my shoulders
and it tickled. I looked real cool I'm sure.

We also went to the Mayan Ruins. It was pretty amazing. Our tourguide used a stick with a feather on the end as a pointer. It was pretty hilar.

Anne and I took advantage of having a little fun where some people were probably sacrificed a few centuries earlier...

At the hotel, a few of us played spoons. Ultimate spoons where we had to run down the hallway. A couple was walking down the hall when someone got it and when we all went running by they immediately knew we were playing spoons. I guess it's universal because they had Australian accents. The second night we got fussed at for being too loud so we moved the game outside to the city square without running. It wasn't as much fun so I taught them the word game!!

Tim, Emma, myself, and Kate played along with Tristan
who called it an early night before we took the picture.

We also got to go horseback riding. The horses were small but that was ok since it was my first time. It was about 3 hours with a 30 minute break at the top of a mountain. Coming back down, we got to go through a river which was awesome.

My horse's name was chicaloca (crazygirl) and crazy she was. She kept stopping to try and eat. She was a road hog too. She wouldn't let any other horses pass her even though she was old. If a horse tried to get in front of her she would speed up. She also bit at another girl's horse when it tried to pass. I got stuck with her coming back down too. She made the trip interesting though.

Me on chicaloca

I left Kate and Anne at the orphanage and met up with the group at El Paraiso which is my favorite small town place. It is a poor town but the people there are amazing. I took some pictures and experienced my first 3 hour church service in which I understood close to nothing since it was all in spanish. I stayed with a family there for homestays and they were really nice. They couldn't speak english but we still had conversations with my elementary spanish. They didn't have running water because they city turned it off so I now know how to flush a toilet without running water and I also had my first bucketshower.

One day, the church had a game day for the community and of course there was soccer. Gringos versus the locals who made up about 4 teams. I was taking pictures but we lost all of them and were supposed to play the girls so it would be more even. I played in that game because they needed a more agressive girl. Or at least a more competitive girl. I scored while playing in my chacos. Oh yeah! We were tied 5-5 and had to have pks to decide the game. I scored another goal so I scored two goals that day when I usally never score. There must be something in the water here... But we won by one in the shootout.

I then made my way back to Tegus to take pictures for World Hope. I had a lot of interesting experiences there. But Casa Hogar is where I stay and is a lot nicer than I expected.

This is the view I get to see every morning when I wake up.

It's ok to be a little jealous

This is the view at night which is georgous

They have a little kitchen and running water. Although there is no hot water. I'm pretty sure no matter how many cold showers I have, I will never get used to it. I still can't get in all the way.

The kids go to bed after dinner which is at 5ish. So we have a lot of time in the guesthouse. We usually eat a snack. Kate is alergic to red 40 so I picked out all the red fruitloops so she could have a snack.

This is proof that I do help out every once in a while:P

I've also learned some valuable lessons here. One is don't leave your trash out overnight on the porch.

Or at least when there are two dogs that live here

Also sweeping really does no good.

We sweep every morning and this is what it looks like. It's mainly from bugs.

They have mango trees at the orphanage that the kids climb and pick. They are really sour but they have no problem eating them. They also showed us lemon trees . We picked some. They smell so good. And they are huge.

And by huge I mean HUGE

I also went to a barbeque with Chofa. I don't know where I went or what I took pictures of but I knew I had some good food. There were 6 of us. Kate came. We had grilled tortillas, beans, steak, and sausage. Ahhhh it was so good. One of the men had a lot of trees and plants and he was showing us around when a butterfly flew on his arm.

This is a butterfly or mariposa

We also went on like a ten minute walk to an overlook of the moutains. It was so beautiful.

The pictures fail miserably at showing how beautiful it is.

We also went on a hike. In the rainforest. Although there was like a path which was more like a road but cars aren't allowed back there. We walked and walked and walked for about 30 minutes to a waterfall they said was grande but it was pequeno.

It was still pretty. They wanted us to swim but it was too cold.
It's winter here but in the summer, everyone apparantly swims here.

At lunch, they showed us a chili pepper. They said it was really hot. Kate broke it open and put it on her tongue. Her mouth was burning for a good 10 minutes. Her eyes were a little watery too.

Rule of Thumb:
If the locals don't eat it and say it's hot
then you shouldn't either.

I also discovered my new favorite fruit. I'm going to butcher the spelling and just write it how it sounds because I have no clue how to spell it...maracuda. It is sweet but sour but not really. It is amazing.

We had this juice for lunch with our barbeque. I had several glasse. They had the plants at their house and they picked a few for us to take back. But sadly, they dont have these in the states.

This is a view from the poor part of Honduras. They have the best view while all the rich people live in the city. The opposite is true in the states...

Oh there was also a plane crash at the airport. The plane was landing when a local downpour started and the plane couldn't stop in time. This is the second most dangerous airport to fly into in the world because there is no room for error when landing. I got to see Honduran journalism at work. They don't block off the area like in the states. They taped and photographed everything. People were coming out all bloody and they showed one man receiving cpr. It was crazy. 5 people died including the co pilot and the president of the national bank and some people in cars. They are no longer letting the big planes fly in so I am going to have to leave from another airpot. So now I'll be finding my way around 2 airports instead of one where no one speaks english. Just one more way for me to work on trusting God!!