Koinonia: On Location

The highlight of this week was having dinner at my friend Sarah Shub´s house in Cofradia. My former housemate, Peter, was there visiting her as well. We all stayed in a hotel. It was so good to see them and catch up. I needed a visit from my Regular Life.

We all had a goodbye party with our Cofradia host families on Thursday. Each house made up a skit, and then said nice things to our mamas. The girls in my house got sweet cards from our host sister. They were a nice family, and I liked my time there.

That being said, I´m reeaally happy to be back in Tegucigalpa today.

Pedialyte, anyone?

I got sick my last day of vacation...the dreaded ¨amoeba.¨ I think I picked up the little parasite from lettuce. Anyway, I won´t go into the details, but it was miserable. Luckily, my two travel buddies brought me to the hospital and a very kind doctor in Antigua took care of me. I feel much better now! The wonders of modern medecine...

Ride the tourist train.

Spring break is coming to a close.

I went to Antigua, Guatemala for a couple days (I´m not really a fan) and saw some sweet cathedral ruins. We also hiked a volcano. There was a lot of cooled lava that we climbed over, which was really sharp and gashed my leg. But as we neared the top, you could feel the heat and see the orange lava flowing. Some guy was roasting marshmallows.

We (we meaning Sylvi, Sarah, and myself) went to a town called San Pedro de Laguna on Lake Atitlan (also in Guatemala). This place has a mix of indigenous people who wear traditional clothing, and gringos with dreadlocks. We kayaked on the lake, surrounded by mountains. We discovered what is my new favorite restaurant, Zoo La, where you sit on the ground at a low tables with pillows. Open air, hammocks, neat lamps, mobiles, good music, healthy food.

I also drank a lot of licuados (smoothies made on the street) and bought lots of banana bread from old women and young girls.

We stayed in a smattering of hostels, some rather nice, some rather seedy (re: fleas). What´s great about exchange rates: our hostels cost less than $2 a night!

Chocobananas.

I've been in Copan this weekend, which is my favorite place in Honduras thus far. Beautiful.

Yesterday we walked around the Mayan Ruins.

This morning I went to mass by myself, and stood the whole time because it was packed. I couldn't understand anything, but it was really interesting people-watching. I liked that everyone kneeled on the cement floor, and that they all touch each other a lot. Lots of shoulder patting.

I saw my friend Sarah Shubitowski (from Calvin) on Thursday. Me and a couple others found her school and surprised her. She is an elementary teacher in Cofradia, and gave us a tour of her school. It was so good to see a familiar face.

I discovered the wonder that is frozen chocobananas with sprinkles. :)

At my host family in Cofradia, there is only running water at night, so they fill up huge barrels to use during the day. So I took my first bucket showers, which are really kind of nice. A little cold, but nice. The barrels are a neat way to see just how much water 9 people need to use in a day.

Kurt's former bodyguard/assistant, accompanies us on trips often. He is super-serious and never talks to anyone. Lots of us have never heard his voice. (He doesn't speak any English, which may be part if it). One of the highlights of my weekend was making him laugh last night at dinner. It is soooo satisfying to say something funny in Spanish. That's what its all about. :)

Amapala

I had an amazing weekend on the island of Amapala. Lots of swimming, loads of sun. The highlight was our (free) day-long tour of the islands in a long, wooden motorboat. There was another North American, a Belgian, and a Guatemalan with us. Our best stop was at a sandbar in the Pacific, where the water was so warm, and soft sand, with sand dollars. I haven´t felt that good running in the sand and messing around in the water since I was maybe six years old. Sometimes the driver, Roger, would just stop the boat and we jumped out to swim. I love salty water! We ate fish at night on the beach. One of the neatest parts was on our 4-hour bussride back. We got on the bus late, so we had to stand, and it was really crowded and hot. There is an unspoken rule that at the rest stop, everyone gets off, but that seats are ¨saved.¨ I sat down to rest for a few minutes at the halfway point, and when the elderly man seated there before returned, I started to get up and he just smiled and ¨sit down.¨ He refused to let me give him his seat back. How special, and how undeserving I felt as a young vacationer to get recieve such a favor from an old man. The kind things that people go out of their way to do to help make us feel comfortable as visitors is really touching. North American hospitality pales in comparison. Most of the time we don´t even let these people cross our borders! Now we are in Cofradia for a week, with new host families. Yesterday we toured a maquila (sweatshop/U.S-owned factory) that makes t-shirt cloth. It was sooo fascinating. Tomorrow we go to Copan to see Mayan Ruins. Then it´s Spring Break!

Celebrate the Day.

Today there was a banner at the Pedagogica, announcing that it was International Women´s Day. Sweet.

We have been having dinner at Kurt & JoAnn´s every Wednesday, which is just a breath of fresh air for me. They cook great vegetarian food (plato típico Americano) and we discuss ¨The Irresistible Revolution¨ (a book I´m pretty fond of).

It´s the long weekend now and I´m going to Amapala (a little island on the south coast) with a couple other muchachas. First though, I am going to introduce my host family to the wonder that is homemade Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookies. They don´t sell chocolate chips here, so I am going to cut up some chocolate soccer ball candy.

For the next few weeks, we will all be in Cofradia, which is where a dear friend Sarah Shewby is living and teaching. A lot to look forward to!

Holding hands.

I had quite the weekend.

We went to a village in Olancho, which is about as rural as it gets. This is a picture of Morgan, not me, but it gives a good idea of the area.

Sylvi and I stayed with Dilma and her family. They are raising 7 grandchildren, from 14 mos. to 10 years. The kids were so fun, and really wore me out. We played a lot.

-swinging on the swing and in the hammock, and spinning them in the air

-hide and seek in the dark outside

-pedaling a bike with Belkie, 9, sitting on the crossbar

-swimming in the river, with a current so strong it was hard to cross

-letting them do our hair (Tanya, 3, tried to comb my hair with a shoe polish brush several times when I wasn´t looking)

-washing clothes on a washboard and rock

-giving two little girls a bath. (To do this, we poured cold well water over their heads and rubbed them with soap that looked like sidewalk chalk, while they stood, shivering, so disciplined).

We also ground corn to make tortillas, and tried to pat the dough into tortillas. The 96-year-old ¨Papi¨stood by and laughed at us, ¨No puede! No puede!¨(You can´t do it!) Ha ha.

We ate meals with our busdriver, Olvin, who is really nice. We shared lots of laughs, including about our plan to do one more push-up every day so we can do 70 by the time we leave Honduras. (We are only at 11).

While washing clothes, we met Meri, who was my friend Maree´s host last spring. We visited her house later, and she gave us Pepsi. What a wonderfully warm and neat lady.

¨Belkie, do you think it´s strange that I´m 21 but don´t know how to wash clothes or make tortillas?¨

¨No.¨

¨You can tell me the truth.¨

¨Yes.¨