Many Hands Make Light Work......

And that was certainly the case over the last two days. It's amazing what you can achieve when everyone pitches in.

Friday was the start of my weekend as I had no classes planned, having condensed them in to four intense days during the week. In the morning I met up with Ellen and along with four other "gringos" we headed back to the villages of Sinai and Chilar. Ellen had had two tables and four benches made for the school at Sinai. Many kids had been sitting on the floor or sharing a chair. The children were so excited to see us and raced out of the school with great enthusiasm to proudly carry their new furniture in to the school;

Ellen...getting loaded up!

All hands on deck:

The kids get to enjoy their new tables and benches....

After Sinai, we headed to Chilar. One of the "gringas" with us was a women named Carol. She runs a small organization called "A Better World" (if i remember rightly) and the Granja (Chicken farm) at Chilar was sponsored by "A Better World" as well as PSS.  Carol wanted to see how the construction of the Granja was going. Arriving in Chilar we learnt that the father of the only Grade 7 student girl had died the day before. The entire school with us in tow headed to the widows house to pay our respect. This family lives in tremendous poverty and it's hard to say how they will fare now. Many of these families live in immense poverty and it often becomes even harder when the mothers become single parents. We asked how the father died but the response was somewhat noncommittal. Perhaps the person we asked didn’t know or didn’t like to say. The entire school, students and teachers, and us gringos crammed in to their mud house. It was very dark and smokey from the family’s fire smoldering in one corner of the room. Obviously there is no electricity here and the room was lit by candle light. The father was laid out in the center of the room wrapped in a grey silk looking sheet in some sort of wicker type coffin. Candles burned at his head and feet. I learnt that he will stay in the house for 24 hours before being taken out. I didn't find out what happens then. Burial I assume only because I have seen cemeteries here but perhaps cremation, I'm not sure.

Other traffic on the way to Chilar....... 

Travellin' Honduran Style......

Classroom in Chilar;

Turkey dinner anyone?

Going to pay our respect (with the entire school showing us the way);

After Chilar, Friday afternoon was an excursion with the school. I had chosen to go horse riding again with Beto to La Pintada, a small village about an hour away by horse back in the mountains. The women there run a weaving cooperatve and make scarves from a local plant. I forget the name of it now but it is a plant that grows naturally in Honduras. It can take up to a day to make a scarf. I bought one for $8 (no haggling - my choice). In Pintada I was somewhat accosted by the children who try to sell the tourists, dolls made out of corn husks. The dolls are actually very clever and sell for $1. It's horrible trying to choose between which children to buy from....but how many corn husk dolls does one person need? I got lucky and at one point only four children were nearby so I bought from one each as well as a scarf.. They will make great souvenirs.

Tomato processing (on way to Pintada);

Crossing the river to get to Pintada;

View of the river;

Pintada local making mud blocks to build a new house;

Gives hand washing a whole new meaning;

Weaving demonstration;

Saturday morning dawned hot and sunny. I was picked up by Marel and his family. We were headed to El Bonete a village about 15 minutes outside of Copan for a painting excursion. The school has three rooms and was badly in need of a freshen up. Ellen had to stay behind to take care of other business. We arrived in El Bonete to be greeted by many of the children and parents who had come out to help. As we unloaded the paint and got to work inside, the dads started ripping off the old netting on the outside of the school and replacing it. Many of the students went out back with one of the teachers and raked all the old grass from behind the school to burn. I say rake but they use sticks to push the grass in to bundles then roll the bundles in to a heap for burning. The students run back and forth with water bowls and throw water on the fire when it gets a little big. They also use a branch to bash out any flames that start to creep in the wrong direction. It was great to be a part of this and what was even nicer was to see students, parents and teachers coming together to clean up and repair the school.

Getting to El Bonete we crossed the river;

Many hands.......

                      
                                                Before;                  

During;                
One of the teachers;

  

Curious onlookers;

Even the bookshelves got sanded;

Cleaning out back;

And the dads replacing the mosquito screens;

After;

I got back from El Bonete a few hours ago. Stopped by to see Twiggy who is doing incredibly well. She is a different dog in just three days. It's amazing what a some food, a bath, secure environment and some love will do. I was also really happy today to see her putting some real weight on her paw. It may not be completely broken and I am hopeful that she may heal from this. I think it also helps that she doesn't have to walk miles everyday to find food. If only I could get her home......

Have a full day tomorrow as another student and I are off to the Finca on a full day coffee tour. Have included a few photos below of various shots in and around Copan...

Enjoy!

Some of the adobe houses (made with mud);

BBQ Honduran style (tried it last night);

Overlooking the river;

Fruit anyone?

The carwash; 

And more fruit;

Honduras has stunning views like this everywhere......

 View of the church in the plaza;

The plaza;

Deb Out!

Hasta la lunes.....

Perros y Pistolas!

What a day! I’m still processing the events so will start by telling you a little bit more about the week thus far.

It’s Wednesday night and I really haven’t had time before now to update the  blog. It’s been crazy busy with six hours of class every day. Four hours in the morning and then two in the afternoon. My teacher this week is Dunia. She is fabulous and although I really liked Delmy I am loving Dunia. I was going to try to switch teachers each week so that I could get the experience with different teachers and their pronunciation but I may ask if I can stick with Dunia. She is strict and picks me up on everything but in a very nice way. If I don’t say something right during an exercise she will say “Escucha Debbie”. Literally this means “listen Debbie” but her tone implies “listen up and try harder”. Classes fly by. During our morning break I usually have just enough time to run and grab us both a coffee and get back and chat for a few minutes with the other students. The school provides tea, coffee and water but you can’t beat the coffee at Café Villa Mil (my favourite place). This café has a roof top terrace overlooking the mountains. It is a great place to study and to try and get away from the noise.

Speaking of noise, this is a noisy town but I think that is indicative of any Central/South American town. The noise never really dies down. The honking of horns is a constant from the cars and tuk tuks. Then there’s the horses passing by and usually about 10pm at night the dogs begins. The other morning around 4:30am I was woken by a cat fight right outside the window and that was followed shortly by fire crackers (it must have been someone’s birthday). Although that is not the norm, you can certainly set your alarm by the cockerels crowing. That’s at 5am sharp with the dogs also getting in on the action once again. This continues until I get up at 6:30am.

I also realised today that I’m at the mid-way point in my trip. Not sure if I should be happy that half the trip is still left or sad that half has already gone. There is still a lot to cram in though so I shall take the glass half full option.  I am very happy with my Spanish although I get good times and bad. I’m worse in the morning almost as if my brain needs time and coffee to start working in Spanish. Overall though I am getting out of this what I had hoped…now only if I had another three weeks!

I haven’t eaten out much since I arrived here. No need as my house mum feeds me so well. I did get the chance a couple of times and my favourite Honduran dish is something called Baleada. It’s a very thin tortilla, black mushy beans (for want of a better description), cheese, cream and eggs…….yum! You can actually put almost anything in the baleada.  My house mum also makes a mean Baleada.

So today was one of those days that you wonder if what happened really happened. After afternoon class I was picked up my some friends of my teacher (who I’ve never met), went to their house, picked up my teacher’s husband, headed just outside of Copan, drove 10 minutes up a mountain and went target shooting with their hand guns. In Honduras, you can carry a gun with a permit and they all have their permits. They thought it would be fun to take me so when in Honduras…….I was a little worried at first if this would be akin to the OK corral but I shouldn’t have worried. They are very safety conscious and it was a lot of fun, just odd shooting a gun on a mountain in Honduras.

After dinner I headed in to town for a little homework and I thought the opportunity to post a blog. I was heading towards a café that I don’t usually go to but wanted to check out their internet. On the street I came across a little dog that I have met several times before. I would say she is about 6 months old and is beyond precious. She is flea ridden, has ticks, and I believe a broken front paw. She has beautiful brown eyes, huge ears and is skinnier than any dog should be. I have been feeding her for the last few days or so and was trying to figure out how to get her back to Canada. I had gone as far as to contact the airlines as well as Canada customs. Some things concerned me though and without going in to detail this option slowly became impossible. I then approached Ellen of Project School Supplies. She has “Hotel California para Los Perros” (I think I have mentioned it before). This is an area where she can take the odd dog to help them get better and then will try to find them a good home. Misael, a local Honduran man is really good with the dogs and can give medications etc. There are no vets in Copan, the nearest is over the border in Guatemala or three hours away in San Pedro Sula. Hotel Califonia was my only option and I know she will be loved and cared for. Ellen and I had just been talking about how to get the dog to the “Hotel”. This is a street dog and finding her is half the battle. This little girl usually live in the rough ground across from the school so I didn’t like seeing her so close to the busy restaurants and cars etc. I was sitting on the side walk with her and giving her some food when two guys stopped. Turns out one is from Saskatchewan and the other from the west coast of Canada. They were only in town for two days but had already seen this little dog. Saskatchewan Gary said he was determined to do something if he came across her again as she is so darned cute and with the broken foot she must be in a lot of pain. They asked me about her and I told them that I had a place to take her but needed to get her there. They offered to get a tuk tuk so I figured no time like the present. All three of us with flea ridden dog drove up to Ellens only to find that her gate was locked. After scaling the gate and letting Ellen know what was happening, she had Misael on the phone. Quick directions to the tuk tuk driver (as I can’t remember how to get there, then off to meet Misael on the corner of I don’t know where). He also jumped in the tuk tuk and all four plus driver plus flea ridden dog made it to Hotel California. We left our no name dog in the shelter with some food and water for the night. There is a blind boxer there right now who without Ellen’s help wouldn’t have a chance. I then headed back in to town with the guys and we went to a local café for a beer to celebrate our doggie intervention. I will also say that Gary kindly donated some money that he gave to Ellen as he wanted to pay something towards the cost of this little dog’s recovery. I took his email address so will send him some photos in the next week of the dog. Ellen and I have planned to go down early in the morning to visit her before school.

"Hotel California para los perros"........

Lots of room to run safely

and a shelter with water and blankets inside (I shut door briefly but dogs can run in and out at will).....

and our girl "Twiggy" (as I've named her)....Ellen says she is the only dog in the whole of Honduras with a trust fund!!! As you can see from the picture she LOVES belly rubs!

Presently her "roommate" is a blind boxer!

I have a lot of plans for the weekend. Friday I will head out with Ellen to one of the villages in the morning and have an excursion with the school in the afternoon to a nearby village. I also want to try the canopy tour in the afternoon. Saturday we are heading to a new school to paint it and try to take in some supplies. Sunday, another student and I are heading to Finca El Cisne, a coffee farm about 45 minutes from here. It’s a whole day but I have heard from several people that it is well worth it. On a side note it’s funny that all the students speak only Spanish with each other. Even out of ear shot of the teachers we always speak Spanish. It just seems to be understood that we are all here for the same reason and so Spanish it is.

Attached are a few pictures from visits to the schools last week as well as a trip past a chile processing plant (courtesy of Ellen);

Hasta la tarde!