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!

La fin de semana.....

The weekend is here….and it means two days of no school. Given that I have  a lot I want to see this weekend I have combined both days in this one blog.

I was still up early on Saturday. Scrambled eggs, toast and fruit was on the menu. Afterwards I headed in to town to post  Friday’s blog over a café latte. First, I checked out the local produce market;

Then it was off to the school to meet the director Enrique who was taking myself and a couple of other students to the Parque de Aves (Macaw Bird Park). The school provides a free excursion every week and this was the trip for my first week. It was a great morning. The park rescues the birds from people who sell them illegally, who can’t keep or don’t want them anymore. The park has a total of 170 birds presently spread over 23 different species.  Included in the ticket is a guide.  Although we asked for a Spanish guide he also spoke good English. I am happy to say that I understood much of what he was saying and he only had to translate a few times for me. We seemed to fly around the park (no pun intended) and at the end I wanted to go around again. I decided to stay and get a tuk tuk back when I was done. The park was very quiet with few visitors…one of the effects of a poor season…although this is still low season. I finished my self guided tour then sat at their café for a little bit of studying. My trusty knapsack with books goes everywhere with me. There is always a few minutes here and there to learn a new word or practice a verb conjugation.  I don’t think there is much point in saying much more about my visit there and I’ll let the photos do the talking;

                          Scarlet Macaws;

Scarlet and a Golden Macaw;

 Keel Billed Toucan;

Parrots;

Good looking birds everywhere;

                                                  

Baby Owls;

                                         Who's a pretty bird then?

Once I got back in to Copan from the parque de aves, I considered going zip lining They have, from what I hear, a really good one on the edge of Copan. It was pretty cool and overcast today so thought I would leave that for another day. Instead, I walked in to town for lunch and a beer over some homework. I then spent an hour or so looking through some of the small local stores. I’m glad I did as I had a couple of good conversations with two of the store owners. It’s a great way to practice my Spanish. It was a little sad as one told me that she is closing her store on Monday. There just haven’t been enough tourists to keep it going. She will be selling her goods on the street from a table like many of the other artisans. Both store owners said they had a lot of frustration. Many tourists have stayed away because of the political instability in the past year but in reality especially here in Copan, it remains untouched and tranquil.

I took a different route home as I have always been taking the main road and wanted to see a little more of Copan.  After dinner I headed in to town. I made a quick pit stop at Ellen’s house to hear the very sad news that she had had her dog put down. He’s the one I wrote about the other day. He was getting worse and there was nothing left to do for him. As Ellen said his last few weeks were spent being cared for and loved;

I went in to town to see a fiesta that was supposed to start at 8pm. By 8:45pm I gave up waiting and headed home for an early night. I still haven’t met anyone who was there so don’t know if I missed something worth seeing or not.

Sunday morning dawned cool and overcast like the last couple of days. I was off horse riding with a friend of Ellen’s. We rode up the mountain to a village called San Rafael and then stopped at one the Haciendas (Hacienda San Lucas) for a coffee on the way back. Beto, the horse owner speaks no English and even when Ana and I were alone she offered to speak Spanish with me as she knows that’s why I’m here. It was a great morning and after dropping Ana back at her house Beto and rode through a couple of the areas in Copan enroute back to my house.  I’m hoping to ask the school director this week if I can go horse riding again as my excursion this week as the school also uses Beto. I would like to go to village called La Pintada where the Mayan Chorti women make dolls out of corn husks. It supposed  to be a beautiful ride.

Beto the guide;

Beto showed us these structures hanging from the walls of some of the houses - Any guesses as to what they are?

Beehives made from old pieces of wood.

After lunch of quesadillas I headed to the Mayan Ruins which are about a one kilometre walk from Copan. I decided to hire a guide which was a little pricey as in reality I probably understood about  a quarter of what she said. I must have got something out of it though as I certainly know more about the Mayans now than I did earlier today.  Although she spoke fast and rhymed off dates quicker than I could process them it was great to hear her speak and her pronunciation. I also heard a lot of vocabulary that is very new to me. I spent about an and a half with her then wandered around on my own for another house or so. Take a look:

Remind you of anyone (hint-my husband???)

After walking back in to Copan I headed home where I am now. I’m watching a movie in Spanish as I type this. Although this TV has some channels in English with Spanish subtitles, I have been very good about only having Spanish TV on when I’m in the room. After dinner I will head in to the centre to post this and do a little homework. On a side note there are two students arriving tonight…mother and daughter. I believe they are from the states. I hope their Spanish is better than mine as I find that pushes me more.

I may only post every couple of day this week as I won’t have much time for anything else. I start 6 hours of class each day this week. Yikes;

Saber es Poder!

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....