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.

important addendum

I failed to mention an extremely important event in my previous blog about the sunrise hike...

On the way down the mountain two Honduran men, both whom were at least two and a half to three times our age, passed us, and were out of site within seconds. I'm sure they were thinking "silly gringas!"  Both were likely on their way to the market to buy their food for the week, and then carry it all the way back up the mountain...these people are tough, i mean REALLY tough...

A weekend in Honduras

I just had one of the best weekends I have had so far in Honduras...

It started out on Friday, at about 11:15...I went to the bus time to inquire about what time the bus left for Santa Lucia (where Erin lives) and found that the bus didn't leave until 12:30....so, since I had extra time, i enjoyed an ice cold pepsi from a glass bottle...

Then I began walking toward the main road where there is a bus stop, to see if I might be able to get another bus, or find some other means of transportation.  A truck pulled up next to me, and the driver asked me if I wanted a ride, and of course I did..i love a jalone! I hopped in back, with three other Honduran women.  I have never looked so conspicuous in my life...when I got to my bus stop, I banged on the side of the truck, the driver stopped and I hopped out...I had the 2nd biggest grin of my life on at this time...

I waited at the bus stop for about an hour, and a bus never came...but then I finally saw my original bus approaching, with about 10 boys sitting on top, so I knew the bus was already PACKED, and three more of us had to get on...we squeezed in, and I stood in the door of the bus, hanging onto the bus around the window, next to the ayudante (bus helper), with my backpack totally out of the bus...this was when I was wearing the biggest grin of my life...

also, it is important to know that the road looks like this, the entire way:

actually, this is the good part of the road...

sadly, i was only able to stand in the doorway for about 10 minutes before several seats opened up...

The electricity in Santa Lucia was off for most of the day on Saturday, so I spent the day laying in the hammock catching up on some reading.

Sunday morning Erin and I, along with two other members of a medical brigade at her clinic, woke up at 4am for a sunrise hike.  We hiked for 58 minutes uphill to watch the sun come up, and it was spectacular...i don't really love hiking, and this was worth waking up for, and hiking up hill for:

it was far more beautiful than the pictures portray

After the hike, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and a nap, we went to the river...and walked across this into El Salvador:

the bridge from the picnic/swimming spot

then we swam across the river back to Honduras, then returned to El Salvador for lunch...an El Salvadorian ice cream man even came to our picnic, and we all bought ice cream bars!

See, I'm in El Salvador!

When we returned home, we cut up a HUGE ayote (pumpkin squash) and Maria cooked it for us in a huge pot, and added a ginormous block of brown sugar, whole all spice, and cloves:

it tasted like the holidays at home!

Maria covered it with plantain leaves from the tree right outside the kitchen, and let it cook over the open flame for a couple of hours:

While the ayote was cooking, we went to a little Chinese restaurant in Santa Lucia, where we ate some of the best Chinese food I have ever had...then we returned to the clinic and enjoyed the ayote...it tasted like pumpkin pie, without the crust...next time I am eating it with ice cream, and pouring a little of the juice from it in my coffee to make a pumpkin spice coffee! luckily there are several more ayotes to be cooked!

I hopped on the bus this morning at 6 and returned home to camasca and began my work at schooo, but not before stopping and having "plato typico" (beans, cheese, eggs, fried plantains and fresh corn tortillas) with coffee at the little restaurant in Camasca.

I could get used to weekends like this!