Recent events

My absentee ballot has not arrived. Its getting to be that time where its either going to come in at the last minute, or it will stay lost in Mexico for a few years and show up in Honduras around the time of the next election. Hopefully Mexico will give my apologies to Obama.

My email account was hacked into and 500 messages were sent out in English and French to everyone in my address book, and 450 other people who i don't know. This was really fun. Gmail turned off my ability to send messages for 24 hours because i had "exceeded the sending limit." Really fun.

Sarah and I made reservations in a hostel in Copan Ruinas for Halloween this weekend! The Peace Corps kids in Honduras throw a party there every year for Halloween. I got most of my costume today, just need a little gold nail polish, some glitter, and goddess shoes. I had a white sheet, so i decided to be a Greek Goddess, or some sort of Goddess anyway. If you guys have any ideas of what other sort of goddess i could be, let me know. goddess of spanglish? i am really good at it. post a comment or something. Anyway, Halloween in Copan should be sweet. We haven't been there yet, so i'm stoked to see a new place in Honduras.

For most of this weekend Sarah and I were volunteering with Copeco. There have been massive tropical storms and a lot of the country is flooded, we are in a state of national emergency, people have lost their homes, its really bad, blah blah blah. So Copeco has been gathering donated clothes, food, and medicine to bring to the towns that have been severely affected. We went to one of the collection centers all day Saturday and most of the morning on Sunday to sort donated clothes and put some of each type of clothing in plastic bags to bring to families in the flooded towns. It was pretty cool actually. Not only were we helping out, but we got to hang out with some Honduran soldiers with big guns and talked with them a little bit in Spanish. Also, we got more exposure to Honduran inefficiency, which is good for our cultural immersion and acceptance of differences :)

There's hope for saving the warm and fuzzies

With the memories still fresh in my cerebrum, I will share my couch surfer experiences with you.

Couchsurfing.com

Honestly, I know its probably been said before by a million couchsurfers, but WHAT A GREAT IDEA! Tonight we hosted our third set of couch surfers (I'll include the Brits in this count, even though they were found on the street and not on the website). Sarah and I have a profile on the site, which fellow couchsurfer travelers can see, and they can request to stay at our house. Seeing as how we have three empty bedrooms, an extra bathroom, and a wide array of extra bedding, we are glad to fill up the space with some cool peeps. Bringing the warm, communal, hostel atmosphere into my home is by far one the coolest things I have ever experienced. We don't get too many tourists around here, so its always nice to make the ones who do come feel at home.

Leaving our house a couple months ago to watch a futbol game at a bar, we spotted two backpackers looking hopelessly lost. Before learning their names, we invited them to stay with us. David and Adam turned out to be some of the most comical humans to walk this earth. They were our entertainment for the night, full of jokes, stories, and that wonderful British dry-wit humor. After drinking in numerous bars, we headed to the karaoke bar where we all shared in the experience of being bombarded by drunk Honduran men. The Brits made the most of it and definitely had a good time, inspite of the fact that they spoke absolutely no Spanish. The night continued on our roof, and by that time my stomach hurt from laughing so much. So ended our first couchsurfing experience.

A couple weeks ago we got a request from a young newly married Canadian couple who wanted to stay with us. They took us out to dinner, were extremely sweet, and we took them to the orphanage on Sunday. Rebecca played the guitar and sang for the kids and Ryan seemed like he was born to play with underprivileged parent-less children. They definitely left here with a little place in their hearts for Santa Rosa.

Today we had our third set of surfers. They were only with us for a mere 10 hours, if not less, but they were delightful. Yes, I did just use the word "delightful", and I meant it. We hosted two friends: Agustin from Mexico City and Pasquale from Italy. Agustin has to be the sweetest Mexican alive. Pasquale is not your stereotypical Italian who are typically full of compliments to try to get you into bed. Pasquale insisted on making us pasta, since that's what Italians do best. Sarah, Pasquale, Augustin, and I shared two bottles of wine, one huge pot of pasta, music, and travel stories. How could a Friday night have been any better?

Now that I've shared my house with all these beautiful people, I have places to stay in Italy, Mexico, Canada, and England. Couchsurfers makes the world just a little bit smaller and has made me part of this world wide couchsurfing community. Should I never stay at any of our guests' houses, its no big deal. I'm happy just to have met all these people and shared a night, a day, and a conversation or two with them. Today I learned that Mexico City has a great music scene and isn't nearly as dangerous as the U.S. media makes it out to be. I may definitely be staying on Agustin's couch in the near future!

Like I said before, I love bringing the hostel feeling into my own home. Young travelers all have the same energy and a lot of the same openness and desire to change the way we think and perceive the world. We are all interested in what others have experienced and seen. We listen intently to each other, sometimes hanging on every word, editing our mental lists of where we MUST go before we turn 30. We share pictures, music, stories, food, our houses, and our selves. We feel very free, a feeling of being unattached, away from our home country, language, and culture, away from all that is familiar, making our minds as blank as possible so as to take everything in with unspoiled minds. It's a state of being many young travelers have in common, so that when we come together, the energy burns brighter. The excitement, the freedom, the almost frenzied thirst to learn, to do, to make a difference can be nearly tangible at times.

I have one very worried email from Laura's dad saying, "I'm a little concerned about having strangers stay in your house, but you are more trusting than I am." I do understand the concern and its always good to be cautious. But so far, so good, folks. The good times keep on rolling down here in Honduras.

We've got some beds open...hit me up if you wanna couchsurf with us! ;)

A day in the life (and a little bit about the weather)

I've just woken up to find the rain has finally gone away and it's a beautiful Sunday morning. I am definitely welcoming this rare bit of sunshine, not only so I can work on my Honduran tan (jk, or maybe not...), but also so that my clothes and bedsheets on the roof will finally dry! The rainy season has finally started in lovely Santa Rosa. According to those who have lived here longer than I, and are thus far more knowledgeable about weather patterns, its going to be sunny until about 4pm every day and then it will start raining. Well, thats all well and good in my book, since I'll be done with school and home by then. These Copanecos tend to be quite sagacious about the ways of Honduras, but they have been FUCKING WRONG about the weather. No hard feelings though. It seems to me that it rained for about 5 days straight, stopping only occassionally so that the clouds to have a siesta and the stray dogs could come out of hiding to find some sopping wet food from the garbage. My sincere hope is that this past week was a fluke, a trick, una broma de Madre Tierra, if you will, and that from now on we will have at least a few hours of sun everyday. Wow, I really sound like I'm complaining about the weather. Goddamn Californians ruining my unassailable Chicagoan attitude about the weather...

I've just made my morning coffee; Honduran coffee straight from our coffee factory here in Santa Rosa. Unlike my Sunday mornings back in Chicago, I am not nursing a tequila hangover or recovering from a long night out in Wrigleyville. Last night I called up Chris (our English friend who has lived in Honduras for two years now) and we decided to go out for a relaxing beer. As soon as Chris had walked down the hill from his house to ours, he, Sarah, and I were off to Cheros, one of our favorite little spots in Santa Rosa. This family owned and operated place, with 6 plastic tables and a TV invariably turned on to a fútbol game, has amazing food and cheap beer. Whether its day or night, there's a crazy drunk man or two that it pays to ignore, but the food is worth it, and the drunks tend to leave you alone if you ignore them for long enough. Last night, como siempre, I ordered two tostadas de pollo and a Port Royal (my fav beer in Honduras). The three of us spent an hour eating, drinking, chilling, and watching the last half of the Marathon - Olimpia fútbol game. On the way home, in the rain I might add, we stopped in to the ice cream place down the block from our house and Sarah and I got some ice cream. At home, slightly damp from the rain, Chris sprawled out on one of our uncomfortable couches and we talked for a bit while he dried off and prepared for his hike up the hill to his house. After Chris left, I retired to my room, watched two episodes of Entourage, season 5, and then passed out for the night (I'm all caught up with Gossip Girl, Californication, and The Office).

Today I think I'll go to the Sunday farmer's market down the street with Sarah. We have yet to peruse the wooden stalls at this market, but we've heard that they have some great produce. Then I'll need to attend to my teacher duties: grading papers and writing some tests. Around 3, Sarah and I will probably head over to the orphanage to volunteer for a couple of hours before dinner.

And that, my friends, is a pretty typical weekend in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras. Its a pretty chill life, if i do say so myself.

This is the view of my town from the roof of my house.

side note

Since my computer is connected to the internet through Honduras, my pop up ads and annoying blinking advertisements have changed. I now see, daily (in spanish), "Checking eligibility....YOUR COUNTRY IS ELIGIBLE! CLICK HERE to receive your U.S. GREEN CARD!!!" and " Want to live in the U.S.? Want to work in the U.S.? Don't miss your chance to live and work in the United States! Click here before time runs out! You can live legally in the U.S.!!! Click here!!!"

What I want to know is WHO is putting up these ads? They can't be for real, can they? Some of them say "governmental lottery" on the bottom. Ummm, I don't think the government, any government, is advertising to get people into the U.S. legally. Nope. Not a chance.

Volunteering at the orphanage

This Sunday Sarah and I went to volunteer at one of the orphanages in our town. The one we went to is a girls' orphanage run by nuns. As soon as we walked in, we had children hanging off us, holding our hands, and following us as we went to find the head nun to let her know we wanted to volunteer. The head nun, whose name escapes me at the moment, was extremely nice; there was something of a tranquil aura about her. interesting. Anyway, so we went into the main outdoor area and just played with the kids. The mochileros who were staying with us this weekend came along and they played children's songs on the guitar and got the kids singing and dancing.
There are about 50 little girls at the orphanage. There are only so many volunteers and workers, so they don't get a lot of one-on-one attention. And you can imagine how difficult it would be to give 50 girls some physical comfort and love every day. Sitting on a bench, I had a girl on each side of me in my arms and one on my lap. They just need the comfort of being held. So most of the time I just sat there and played with their hair, scratched their backs, hugged them, and put my arms around them. They are so adorable and so sweet, I just want to take a few of them home with me. Obviously, this isn't really an option for me, and I also learned that Honduras does not allow out of country adoption. Its highly unlikely that anyone in Honduras would adopt them, so most of them will be in the orphanage until they graduate high school or their parents are able to take them back.
The girls have many different reasons for being in the orphanage, all of which are extremely sad. A permanent volunteer at the orphanage told me about some of them. A lot of them were abused and/or raped in their homes, so they were taken away and put in the orphanage. There really isn't a psychologist or anyone they can talk to, so I would imagine that its a difficult transition, not to mention a difficult situation to deal with when you are just 6 or 7 or 10 years old. The permanent (as in staying for 1 year) volunteer does one-on-one talking sessions with the girls so that now they are at least able to talk to someone about their feelings, and they get a little individual attention, which they need. Some of the girls don't have parents because they died or ran off. These girls, along with some others who ran away from abusive homes, end up as street children and eventually are found by someone and given to the orphanage. Others are simply not wanted by their families. Or their families know they can't take care of them or afford to take care of them, so they leave them at the orphanage. These kids have parents and family that come to visit them.
Sadder still, is the kids who were so malnourished that they were taken away from their families so that they could live in a better environment at the orphanage and have food daily. Imagine, in a third world country where so many people are malnourished, how bad the malnourishment has to be for someone to take the child away. It'd have to be pretty bad, i'll tell you that. To be a parent, and not have the money or means to feed your own children must be a heartbreaking experience. Most of the time, its not their fault that they aren't able to feed their kids, and then, for the kids' safetly and health, they are taken away. That is a life I can't even begin to fathom or understand.
It sounds like a lot of the kids come from the villages in the mountains, which tend to be extremely poor with little or no electricity or running water. I'd like to make it up to one of those towns at some point while i'm here to help out with a medical brigade or to help the orphanage when their workers go up there to pick up kids or check on their living conditions.
Its sad that these kids have had such difficult lives and so much of their innocence has been taken away from then. Nonetheless, things are better for them at the orphanage than they would be at home. They go to school (and the older ones get funding from the states to go to private high school), they get enough food, can see a doctor if they get sick, have playmates, and are taken care of by people who really care about them. Though you can tell by looking into their eyes that they've been through more than you or I ever have, it seems as though they are as happy as they could be in their situation. They love having visitors, they played and laughed and danced for us. I saw more smiles than I would have expected. So though its sad, there's definitely hope for them. Its an amazing feeling to know that even just for that day I was able to give them a little bit of love and attention and to let them know that they are wanted and loved, even if its not by their parents.
Sarah and I are planning to go back every Sunday. Though depending on my school schedule and amount of work, I'd be down to go more often.

p.s. There is a graduate of the orphanage that is now married and has her own kids, that came to visit a few week ago. She brought her family and threw a little party for the girls. Thats a very encouraging success story of an orphan. It's especially nice to know that she loved the orphanage so much that she would come back and visit and give something back to it and the girls that are there now.