Chilar and Chickens.........

This morning  (Friday, February 11th), after a breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit, I had time for some studying before Ellen and Marel arrived to pick me up. We were headed for a brief trip to the village of Chilar. PSS is in the process of building a granja for the school. As we were heading out on the road  we passed two little boys carrying a chicken. A couple of marbles later they were happy to pose for a picture;

There are chickens on the side of every road, even in Copan, but they are particularly more prevalent in the countryside. They seem to be everywhere...chickens, cockerals, baby chickens and birds that I'm not even sure what they are.

Approaching Chilar;

Arriving in Chilar, we were greeted by the children and then the dogs. The children were excited to see visitors I think, but especially happy to see Ellen and Marel. The dogs have figured out that when the truck arrives there is often a handful of dry dog kibble courtesy from Ellen’s bag. I have to mention that I think this bag must be bottomless.  In every village she has stickers, marbles, pony tail holders and dog food that she keeps pulling out. The kids were so excited and raced over to us. They were helping the teacher get the classroom ready for this semester. They were very willing to chat with me and more than happy to show me their classroom.  Marel also showed me their toilets and pilar (basically a sink) that PSS is trying to finish. They have the shells of the bathrooms constructed as well as the pilar but it will take another $300 or so to finish it completely. You'll notice in some of the pictures, the blue and green wigs. We've got a lot of mileage out of them so far and this kids just love them.

A warm hello;

The kids in front of their school. The kinder is just up the hill;

Lining up to get a sticker;

The nearly completed bathrooms...

I then visited the kinder class. All three of the teachers seemed really nice and Ellen spoke highly of them. The kinder at Chilar is one that benefits from the pediasure and vitamin program supplied by PSS. Unfortunately funds don’t permit for this program to be extended beyond the kinder program yet it painfully obvious with many of these children that it is desperately needed. This seemed to be one of the poorest communities I have visited with PSS. Even the teacher explained to me that he has a lot of trouble keeping the children’s attention. They are malnourished and hungry and trying to get them to pay attention in class under those circumstances is hard. I learnt about one little boy that has fainted in class from hunger. He was taken to the doctor and his tests paid for courtesy of PSS. They found 600 worms in his stomach. Even the clinic couldn’t believe this. The children were so adorable and my heart went out to them. Many of them had no shoes and live their life running around in bare feet. One little boy had green runny gunk coming from his eyes and nose…he was bare foot to boot. Yet all the kids, with typical childlike innocence seemed oblivious of their situation. They have absolutely nothing, but had the biggest smiles on their faces. They ran ahead of me and excitedly showed me their “granja para los pollos" (chicken farm). This is a project by PSS. The children will learn to care for the chickens, learn about having to pay for feed against the production of eggs etc and be able to gain some nutrition from the eggs the chickens at the same time. The granja is just about finished and all it will need then are the chickens;

It was hard again to leave Chilar. How can you leave these little faces;

This little girl from the kinder class loved one of the toys we had brought;

Like Boca del Monte, the children in Chilar were so much fun and less suspicious of me. I had taken again a few things but it wasn’t much. I left with a feeling that I wish I could have done more. I should put a word in for the dedication of the teachers in the campos. The teachers in Chilar live in Copan and have to take a tuk tuk as far as the road permits everyday…and that is often dependent on the weather. They then walk the rest of the way in to their respective villages. Once at the school their battles have just begun. They work with few supplies, non-existent assistance from the government and periods when they don’t even receive their pay. Yet they show up day in, day out and are an integral part of the community they serve.

After leaving Chilar we headed back to Copan. On the way back I saw  woman plucking a chicken. Hope for the chickens sake it was already dead! Then a man riding down the road towards us with a chicken tied upside down by the feet, one hanging from each side of his bicycles handle bars.

One of the mud houses typical in the campo;

Once back in Copan, after a quick look at the stands in the market I headed home. There wasn’t much time before lunch then it was time for class.

I arrived home after class to find the house a hub of activity. Sara and some ladies from her church were getting ready to cook tamales to sell tomorrow. This is a fund raiser for their church. The tamales are rolled in banana leaves and will be cooked in the morning for about three hours on the fire;

Banana leaves;

Meat for the tamales;

Sara had made me spaghetti for dinner as I had told her I liked when we had been having a conversation the day before about food.....how nice! I will have tamales for my dinner tomorrow....

Not much else. Tomorrow morning I am of the the Parques de Aves (bird park) and then Sunday morning will go horse riding...

Hasta mas tarde....

Third Times a Charm........

And it really was a charm…..wow, what a day! I arrived at Ellen’s to get the good news that Boca Del Monte was a go. It was the best part of the morning as so far I had woken up to still no electricity which meant cold water for a shower if I wanted one. I decided I didn’t want one. We jumped in to Marel’s truck and headed off to the equivalent of I guess Home Depot. After much waiting around we were loaded with rebar which we were taking with us as it is needed for the construction of the bridge. Because the road to Boca is bad and Marel was going to have to shift gears constantly, I jumped in the back of the pickup with Hugo, the builder (sorry dad).

Home depot

Rebar galore;

Travelling the Honduran way;

The road to Boca is stunning. Along the way Ellen pointed out a Ceiba tree. This was not the biggest one we saw but I thought this one made a good picture. If you notice the road to the left that goes to the village of Chilar (where we are visiting tomorrow) and the one to the right is the one we took to Boca.

Ceiba Tree;

Gate access to Boca del Monte;

Arriving in Boca we went to drop off the rebar and then to inspect the river. It’s not much to look at now as the water has subsided. About half the children who go to school in Boca Del Monte however live on the other side of the river. As I mentioned before, especially in the rainy season the children either wade or swim to cross the river or simply don’t go. The bridge will be an unbelievable addition for the children;

Hmmm…where to build;

The river;

We then hit the school and I had such a fun time. The kids were so excited to see us but especially Ellen.

Rushing over to say hello;

PSS has repaired the roof, painted the school (with the help of volunteers and the children) and provided much needed supplies.

I grabbed a few things from my bag and the kids went nuts for a plastic rugby ball, Frisbee and skipping rope. We had an awesome time playing ball. This is of course is the time that I would post a great video, which of course I have, but technology is failing me tonight. If I figure out the problem I will post it at the weekend. When I had arrived in Copan, I had given Ellen $200 from a friend (thanks Doug). He is part of a small group of guys that run a yearly golf tournament in support of various charities. He had kindly given me $200 from their funds and Ellen had used it to buy back packs. The children have to walk to school and have nothing but cheap plastic bags for their things. It’s especially hard for those that live up the mountain. Ellen sorted out with the teacher which ones didn't have packs and they were told to go to the truck. The kids went nuts as for most of them this will be the first time they have had something new and for themselves.

A few of the happy children;

I have to post the picture below of the old lady. She was lovely. She kept thanking me…I had given the teachers just a few toys and school items but it was really very little. Her gratitude was quite overwhelming and made me wish I could have done more.

This little boy, like all the children, thought the wigs I had brought hysterical;

 I was sad to leave Boca….out of all the schools so far, the children here steal your heart. They had great fun being chased by me and were less timid. A couple of children even asked me for help in tying the straps on their backpacks. What a breakthrough for this gringa.

I returned to Copan, dirty and dusty and was glad to see that the electricity was back on at my homestay. After a much needed shower and lunch I was off to school. I arranged with the director, Enrique, to take an extra four hours of class next week.  My schedule will be Monday to Thursday, 8am – 12 am an 1:30am to 3:30pm. Friday will be a free day unless I decide to take a class. It won’t leave me much time to go on trips with Ellen but I still have week three and I have to make the most of the school while I am here. Most of the other students are from Quebec and it is so funny to hear them speak Spanish. Their French accent is very noticeable and it’s hard for me to get past that. We don’t have opportunity to converse much as we all have private lessons but when we do it has to be in Spanish. Even if we are on our break the teachers are quick to correct us on our grammar. Today’s class was on prepositions and reflexive verbs. My teacher Delmy is very strong on the grammar and keeps me on my toes. I will have a different teacher next week but in some ways that is good as it gives me the opportunity to hear different pronunciation.

I returned from school and during dinner with Sara I thought for the first time that I conversed without trying to think of every word I was saying. I am also much more aware in conversation about using the right form of a verb and can hear it more easily when I overhear a conversation or if I have the TV on in the room. It’s not that I didn’t know it before but the revision and the fact that you hear Spanish 24/7 is definitely helping. Onwards and upwards I guess!

Hasta tarde…..

Light's Out

So I showed up at Ellen’s at my now usual time (8am) to find that the river has still not subsided sufficiently to allow us to cross it to get to Boca del Monte. We shall try again tomorrow. Instead Ellen took me to her doggy hospital that she runs separately from Project School Supplies. Perhaps this is a good time to tell you a little more about PSS (Project School Supplies). Ellen came here to Spanish school about three years ago. She did her one week of studying, went back to the good old U.S of A, sold her belongings, packed up what she hadn’t sold and moved to Copan where she now lives permanently. Seeing a great need she started out trying to help some of the local schools with badly needed supplies but over the three years has morphed in to so much more. Building toilets for schools, repairing and even building new schools, fixing roofs, assisting teenagers with high school grants, putting in drainage, providing milk, vitamins and pediasure and building bridges….just to name a few things.

Ellen’s doggy hotel is something she is doing above and beyond. There are street dogs everywhere and in deplorable condition. I would say that they are considered disposable items but that would suggest that at one time they were a wanted commodity. That’s not the case. Most of these dogs were not wanted from the get go. The dogs breed prolifically and only a lucky few have caring owners. Otherwise they fend for themselves and have had an extremely hard life. In some ways you can’t blame the people as they have enough on their plates feeding their own families. This is afterall a poor country. But with no checks and balances it’s impossible to see a solution or end in sight. Ellen is able to rescue the occasional dog and has been able to house a few. She took me to see “campesino” today and my heart went out to the poor fella. Ellen found him under a car and would feed him occasionally. As his condition worsened she was able to coax him to the edge of town where a very kind man “Misael” tries to nurse them back to health. Although campesino has received a lot of medication his condition is worsening and Ellen said today that perhaps his time was up. She reckons he is around 10years old. He was such a friendly fella and it was heartbreaking to see him. But sadly he is one of the lucky ones. He has had food, shelter, water and above all a kind word and some pats on his old head. If indeed these are his last few days they were at least his best. No kids throwing rocks at him or trying to kick him and probably for the first time in his miserable life he didn’t have to fend for food. The more time I spend with Ellen the more respect I have for her and the work she does here. But it’s also difficult and a challenge to the emotions.  She admitted to me that every so often she will find a day that above all others is particularly hard.  I can see why.

Anyway, enough of the somber stuff….shortly after the doggy hotel, Ellen and I parted ways…she to her errands and me to the Casa de Todo (another café which I wanted to try) for some study time. It was stinking hot and by mid-morning I headed back to my homestay for the shade of the breezeway where I sit regularly to study now.

Notice my desk on the left below my bedroom window;

Sara, my house “mum”, took me to her outside “stove”. She showed me the beans that she cooks outside. She told me that this will last about 5 days. She uses the outside stove for beans and large pots of soup that won’t fit on her kitchen stove.

Beyond that a quiet but good day. Lots of time to study before class, a pit stop at the fort (I know nothing about it yet but plan to return) and then off to school. Today in school was the Future and Conditional tense review. 

Here's the view from the front porch of the school;

Then home supper, study and a return trip to Casa de Todo for a beer and homework (FYI – I speak much better Spanish after a beer). While at the café we lost all power but it was quickly restored. It didn't sink in until a few minutes later that while we had power, it was because they were running a generator. After paying, I left the café stepping literally in to a wall of darkness. The entire town (as far as I could tell) was without power. No storm or hint of one so I don’t know why….I’m told this happens a lot here though and people are used to it. Once I got my bearings I headed towards the square figuring I would take a tuk tuk. Neither of the two taxi drivers could be bothered….guess my 8 lempiras (50 cents) wasn't worth it and they couldn’t decide which one was going to make the effort. So needless to say I wasn't going to wait and decided to walk home (sorry dad).  I was three quarters of the way when Ernesto my house “dad” called out to me. He had come out to look for me as they were worried I would get lost. I was so touched by this. They really are a great family.

So I am sitting here by candle light……..thank goodness for the modern conveniences of battery power.

Just a few snap shots from Copan;

Working horses;

This house is directly opposite my home stay...cute!

Senora selling tortillas door to door;

Beautiful flowers are everywhere;

 Entrance to one of the small hotels in town;

Road repairs;

Perhaps tomorrow will bode well for our visit to Boca Del Monte….after all;

Querer es poder……..

The Best Laid Plans.....

Even with the best laid plans, nothing seems to go to plan and it is even truer here in Honduras. I arrived at Ellen’s this morning for our planned trip to Boca del Monte and Sinai only to find that thanks to the rain we had here last night our plans were on hold. Ellen explained that the road to Boca was impassable as the river was too high (which we have to cross). Some quick rethinking and it was decided that we could make it to Sinai. As we waited for out tuk tuk, Marel explained to me that the children, if they wanted to get to school in the community of Boca del Monte often had to wade or swim across the river after the rains. They had wanted to build a bridge that could take cars but it was cost prohibitive. Instead they settled for a foot bridge that will allow the children to reach their school in any weather. The road to Sinai (pronounced sin-i-e) was uneventful if you call magnificent scenery and mountains right in front of your nose uneventful. Honduras is an exceptionally beautiful country and I don’t think I could get sick of just looking.

Sinai is an exceptionally poor community with many Mayan Chorti people. We were welcomed at the school and visited the two main classrooms. The kindergarten teacher has three grades in her class. When we entered there were children sitting on the cement floor and smaller students sitting two on one chair. There simply isn’t enough furniture to go around. This was also the case in the other class. The kids are shy, especially of me. Some of them are very friendly with Ellen as she has been many times before but I am a strange gringa and only a couple of kids plucked up the courage to speak with me. They are adorable and seemed to enjoy my attempts to chat with them even if they didn’t reply.

Marel showed me the two toilets they built for the children just behind the school as well as a very simple yet effective drainage system that diverts water away from the back of the school. Prior to all of this the kids would go to the bathroom behind the school, then when the rains came, feces and excrement, both from humans and chickens, would be washed passed the school in to the front yard where the kids play. The toilet provides them with a bathroom and a place to wash their hands with running water. Such a simple thing that does so much!

Bathroom built by Project School Supplies (with running water so students can wash hands)

Curious students;

Notice the two young girls at the front who have to share a seat;

This is also one of the schools that Ellen helps with her kinder feeding program that gives out pediasure, milk and vitamins. We were able to leave a few toys behind and as I left the school yard I couldn’t resist giving a marble to each of the little boys in the adjacent yard. Obviously they don’t go to school and it was heartbreaking to see the way they looked. There is nobody to enforce school attendance so children like these really slip through the cracks. As Ellen said, if she could even get them in to the school they would at least be part of the kinder feeding program.

These children are in the yard immediately adjacent to the school;

Back in Copan, I headed home quickly to pick up my netbook and school books and headed off in to the centre. Many of the cafes and bars have free internet which is great and I have been making good use of it. On the way back, I pit stopped at a table where a lady was selling handmade jewellery. She told me that she makes them all herself and showed me one she was working on. I liked the look of a bracelet which was made out of wood. She started at 30 Lempiras (just under $2) but quickly said OK to two bracelets for the same price. I ended up giving her 40 lempira and got three. That’s about $2.50 in total. She has a big stand on Friday and Saturday when the market is set up, so I will be back. I also like the look of the colourful hammocks that many of the stores have. They sell for about $25 so will bringing a few of those home as well. I still can’t get over the friendliness of the people here. I think this is what has stood out above all else. It’s been a hard year for them. The political unrest in the country has scared away many tourists and they are really feeling it.

Lunch today was chicken with “mucho ajo” (much garlic), rice, veg and tortillas. Then last minute studies before heading to school. Today we spent four hours reviewing all the tenses in the past form. It was good revision for me. We spent a lot of time doing exercises and I although my brain was somewhat fried at the end, it was good for me. You have to remember that my teacher doesn’t speak one word of English so she is explaining all the concepts to me in Spanish. Luckily I have a pretty good grounding in it and I'm happy to say that I understand most of what Delmy tells me.

My study area at Guacamaya; 

I’m in a bit of a routine, for this week at least as after classes I race home and start my homework. Then it's supper, and then back in to town to a café that has internet and a place to study. I’ve been able to Skype with Brent and my parents a couple of times. I’m told it’s still very cold there (ahhh) so it breaks my heart to tell you how hot it is here.  On another note, I asked Ellen why we often saw the younger children in the poor communities with no pants rather than no shirt. Simply, it’s often because they are not toilet trained so saves on the laundry I guess. I’ve started thinking about this weekend as I will have two days class free although still studying to do. I think on Saturday I will head to McCaw Mountain Park. It’s a rescue centre for parrots and McCaw’s but also has a great place to have a coffee and study while sitting by the river. Sunday, possibly horseback riding in to the mountains. Ellen (a source of local knowledge) says she will point to a local Honduran man that does treat and feed his horses well.  I refuse to get on one that looks half dead! Every morning at about 7:30am two young boys ride down the street in front of my homestay house herding several other horses. They are used for excursions for the tourists but look like they’ve never seen a good meal.

By the way, thanks to my niece Molly…she is the spelling police and tell’s me she has only found two mistakes so far in my blog. Between her and my nephew Oliver (who just won a speliing Bee at school) I am going to have to keep on my toes!!! Not that it is an excuse but I type my blog at night while sitting in bed,after homwork, then usually have time in the morning before class to go to a café to post.

Two things I wouldn’t be without here….my knapsack (comes everywhere with me) and my netbook (light weight and portable)….just FYI.

A few More pictures of Copan;

What balance;

Nada mas, para ahorita. Manana!