Thanksgiving

Originally, for Thanksgiving, I was planning on going to Santa Lucia (where Erin lives) and helping the cooks in the kitchen make a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the gringos who live at the clinic.  Then, a couple of weeks ago, after previously being told that the bilingual school would be closes for Thanksgiving, was told that there would indeed be school, and that the kids would be celebrating Thanksgiving.  BUT....none of the Honduran's knew what to cook or how to cook for Thanksgiving...so, naturally Jami (who also works for the school) and I were nominated to make Thanksgiving for the kids...and nothing was discussed about how to get the food for the event, or what would be made...but it was discussed in detail who would bring the tamales...the most traditional and most important dish of thanksgiving...

The making of the feast quickly went from 27 small children plus a few adults to 55 people total...and still no plan as to how to get food.  Living in the Frontera of Honduras, getting anything is a task.  It takes 4 hours (minimum) to get to the nearest grocery store...luckily Jami took a trip to La Esperanza and got all of the items needed.

While Jami was away gathering groceries, I took the bus trip to Santa Lucia and did this. Please note that Erin said "I" made pie...that is a lie. WE made pie...from scratch...and it was literally an all day effort...

We even took the pies on the bus the next morning to Camasca to the feast, luckily they were covered in foil, because we have reached the dry season here in Honduras, and they were DUSTY!

Meanwhile, as the Gringas took over my host mom's kitchen, life did not stop for the Hondurans who lived there, so I helped grind some corn for fresh tamales:

this actually takes a of work--the woman who
cooks for my host family makes 90 fresh tortillas a day...which means she
does this 30 tortillas worth, 3 times a day...clearly, I make
it look easy...

And then we had to transport all of the food from the cooking house to the school:

a truck full a food--trying not to spill it

The feast was a success, although the children didn't enjoy it properly. They liked the rice (that the Honduran's provided) and the pavo (turkey). They "took the rest home" to eat later...we should have just given them the tamales, which actually never even got touched.

I will forgive the kids for not enjoying the food though, because they were very cute!

Elkin...look at those eyes!

Walter---who has the best mullet in Honduras

Diego, pretending that he in enjoying his food...

Laura

Edilson--this is the only time I have ever seen him sit still...
he was waiting for his piece of pumpkin pie!

All of the kids, the bilingual school committee, and a few Gringas
(and other people who found out there was free food)

It was really a fantastic Thanksgiving, and gave me a new appreciation for living in the US and having the luxury to drive down the street to a grocery store that has everything you need, and having a mom and grandma who know exactly how to cook everything, and do it for me every year....

Honduran Elections

Last weekend Honduras had their primary elections. I'm not exactly sure of all of the positions that were being voted upon, but they were for sure voting for presidential candidates and alcalde (mayor) candidates.

Since being in Camasca, and teaching at the bilingual school, I have been doing a homes stay with a family.  It just happens to be that my stay is with the Alcalde of Camasca.  For the past several weeks he has been out campaigning in the 13 communities that he will be the Alcalde for.  Last Sunday were the elections, and it was like nothing I have ever experienced.

In Honduras, children are only required to go to school through the 6th grade.  Although, in many cases, kids drop out of school before 6th grade to begin working to help make money for their families.  That being said, the literacy rates for Hondurans is very low. For elections, this has been remedied by posting the candidate's photo above their name, and the voter marks their choice with an "X".  The list of photos then goes into a box, based on which party they voted for, and is counted at the end of the day. Then, a guy pulls the votes out, reads them aloud, and the vote is then confirmed by 3 other people, and tallied (by hand in a notebook) by two other people.  There are representatives present from all parties to make sure that no votes are fraudulently counted. Needless to say, it is an extremely long process.

Finally, after all of the votes were counted, it was decided that Julio, who I have been staying with, had indeed won the Alcalde nomination.  Julio's grandmother, who is 89 years old, had made 300 tamales to share with the community to celebrate Julio's victory.

Julio giving his victory speech-thanking the community for their support, and 'Gracias Adios'

We drank coffee, and ate empanadas and tamales in the street to celebrate the most Honduran evening I have ever experienced. I hope I am here in a year for the general elections.

Wobbly wheels

I apologize for the lack of blog updates as of late...I've been basically without internet for the past few weeks....

In the mean time, life has not stopped in Honduras!

A few weeks ago Erin and I were riding the bus to Santa Lucia (the town where she works) and we stopped in another little town to go to the market.  When we got off the bus, we realized that the tire was falling off the wheel.  The Honduran bus driver quickly got under the bus to inspect the situation and make necessary repairs:

OSHA approved work procedure-under bus, engine running

 The tire must have been fixed properly, because a week or so later we took this same bus to and from Tegucigalpa. 

However, little did I know that this would be the first (and most minor) tire incident that I would experience in about 2 weeks time here. Last Thursday evening I met Erin and the University of Wyoming medical brigade at their site in Agua Salada.  The road to Agua Salada is by far the worst that I have been on so far in Honduras.  The road is probably only 4 miles longs, but took about 45 minutes to get there. It is a wonder that people even live out--it was more like a goat trail than a road.  On Friday afternoon it was time to pack up the brigade and head out.  Me and several other brigade members hopped in back of the first truck out--riding in back of trucks is completely normal in Honduras, and far more comfortable than riding inside of trucks given the heat and road conditions.  About a quarter way through the trip home we were on our way up a big rocky hill, and suddenly we were not going anymore...one of the girls from the brigade yells "oh my god, the wheel just feel off!" I thought she meant the tire, as I have heard of this happening in Honduras, and nearly experienced it myself only a week or so earlier.  After further exploration, I found that she was indeed correct....the wheel was COMPLETELY off the truck....all of the things were snapped off, and the truck was resting on three wheels.  One Honduran stuck a stick in a hole, hoping to remedy the situation (i'm not sure how), but it had no affect.  Needless to say, we had to walk the rest of the way to our destination in the hottest part of the day...About 3 or 4 hours later, while the gringos were playing the hondurans in a soccer match, we saw the truck pull into the tire repair shop...I think it has really been fixed!

 I will post a picture of this when I get one.

¿¿donde??

¿¿Donde estan mis calzones??  it's becoming a real problem...i intentionally brought a few extra pairs of underwear with me, and somehow I have about half of what I came with...

this is quite curious....

teaching spanglish...

Teaching English, or attempting to teach English, to small children is difficult...and sometimes really funny...for example...

A couple of days ago the kinder kids (age 3-5) were learning members of the family...mother, father, brother, etc....when I showed them ta picture of a family, and pointed to "sister" one little boy shouted out "CHICKEN!" and was so proud to be the only one who knew the answer!

The Preparatory kids (age 5-6) are really getting good at their Spanglish...while learning the numbers this week, I heard several saying "twenty-ocho, veinte-nine"...and so on...

we'll get there..eventually...

just when i started loving honduras....

a bat flew in my room...

fleas

i walked into my bedroom a couple of days ago and found a stray dog laying next to my bed...

i have acquired several small red bites since then...in all the places

pretty sure i have fleas.

awesome.