Playing Catch Up

I have not been very good at updating the past week or so. I apologize and now I’ll take the time to bring this thing up to date. We have done most of the things on our to-do list except for visiting a coffee plantation. That will be checked off the list Thursday. As far as the rest of the week, we plan on hanging out, going to class, and doing some last minute shopping. We are going to return to the bird park tomorrow because the passes are good for three days. Today a new student arrived from Alabama and we are taking her as well since she has not gone yet.

Last Thursday during class we took a “field trip” to the hot springs or “aguas termales” with the teachers and the other students in the school. The road there and back was very curvy and when it rains (which it did) the road gets washed out and it was hard to get the van up the muddy hill on the way back. The hot springs were really pretty and we spent  a lot of time in an area where the hottest water filtered down into other little hot tub areas and the further down you went, the less hot the water was. We also used the mud for mud masks because it’s great for the skin.

Friday we arrived at kindergarten to no children. We helped the teachers set up a stage and cut a large crown out of cardboard and covered it in silver paper. We couldn’t figure out what this event was for when asking the teachers about it. We figured it out soon enough…a beauty pageant! It was so cute but that would never fly in the US! They had to come dressed as a sports player (horseback rider, tennis player, soccer were the popular choices) and then they had an evening wear category as well as introducing themselves and asking for our support.

Saturday we took a trip to Guatemala. Let’s just say the tour wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. The ride there was supposed to be a little over an hour. 3 hours later and a flat tire later, we arrived and went to this really cool cathedral where they worship a Jesus made out of black metal that they call “Cristo negro.” We then ate at a fast food place called “Pollo Campero” which is like the equivalent to KFC in the States. We then attended mass where we sat so far back that all the Spanish blurred into words that we couldn’t understand and every once in awhile the incense would waft back to us and almost knock us off our feet. We then tried to convince our guide to take us back to Honduras but he insisted on driving us through all these small villages even though it was pouring rain and we were all getting car sick. I had never been to happy to see the “Bienvenidos a Honduras” sign in my life. The plus side of this trip is that we all got Guatemala stamps in our passports and a pin for my pin collection from the assistant director of tourism at some gas station. And playing cards for Claire’s card collection.

Hopefully I have time to update once more before returning, but thank you all so much for reading and the comments. It means a lot!

Toucan!

Sign.

One of the beauty pageant girls.

Another pretty dress.

The stage we helped set up.

Where the hot springs came out of a rock.

The mud bath and our teachers.