Hey, all,
I made it home late last night (Monday, March 9th) but my luggage was delayed. That was the only travel glitch in a full, long day of traveling so I can't complain.
Our final days in Honduras were great but it is also SOOOOO good to be back home and closer to loved ones.
Just to complete the record of our trip I will post a little about our last few days.
Thursday night at the Crab Races at Bay Island Beach Resort there was a really big crowd of resort people as well as a whole new batch of volunteers for the Clinic so it was a really lively night. Judy and I were recognized for our service at theE Learning Center and Camilla gave us both shirts with the E Learning Center logo monogram. It felt very special to be part of a great program.
Friday was our last day with the kids but we just had a normal day and did not make a big deal about it but encouraged all the kids to keep up the good work until we come back next year. We also had a special guest at the Center. Luma is a young man from the Garifuna culture on the Island. The Garifunas are a mix of native Caribbean indigenous people and former African slaves who developed their own language, culture and villages on Roatan. Luma is an amazing artist (painter) who shared with us and the kids his work that he is doing for a book on the Garifuna. Then he spent the afternoon with another volunteer, Kristen, doing an art project with us and the kids. It was an afternoon that the center was chock full of people ranging in age from just a few months (Maria managed the daycare corner!) to parents so it was exhausting, hot and crowded but Luma was amazing. On our way home we ran into lots of the kids from the morning sessions who were just getting ut of school in the afternoon. I think I could get used to be addressed "Miss Maria" by everyone I meet!
We had a quiet evening at home and Judy even got a fresh mattress after hers had been soaked early in the week and we had been bunking together!
Saturday morning we went into West End and did a little "shopping" for the very few things we are bringing back. Everyone can lower their expectations as I am NOT a shopper and I hate all the touristy stuff anyway. Then for the afternoon we headed back to Bay Island Beach Resort for an afternoon of snorkeling and in the hammocks reading our books. For dinner we needed to finish up what we had left in the refrig so we had an amazing meal of garlic sauteed shrimp and tabouleh salad and then our favorite big bowl of chocolate pudding for dessert while we watched HBO. Decadence! Vacation!
Sunday, another gorgeous day, so we just decided to snorkel off of the pier in front of the house and were pleasantly surprised that, after crossing about 150 yards of sea grass, there was lots of lovely coral and fish in the reef area just in front of the house. Current was VERY strong but we enjoyed exploring the extensive area for more than an hour underwater. After lunch we were totally lazy on the front porch with our books and watching the neighborhood hang out on the pier. When the doors on the piers are left open word gets out to the locals who clearly tell everybody in the neighborhood and, before you know it, there are 30 people (families, dogs, teenagers and their friends) all out on the pier with picnics and swimming and jumping into the water. It was really busy and attracted the attention of the local Tourism Police who stopped by (these guys are packin' heat which always amazes me!) which caused about 8 of the young men to jump straight into the water and head out deep into the reef rather than meet up with the local authorities. I am sure there are a few stories there but we did not know the details.
Maybe one of them was the kid we saw yesterday hightailing it down the beach in front of the house with a machete-wielding adult man in hot pursuit screaming "I am going to kill you!!" in Spanish. Or another really annoying young guy who always manages to be tearing up the neighborhood on his motocross at sunset while we are trying to enjoy the lovely view and think lovely thoughts.
Then our friend, Guy (a French Canadian volunteer from Toronto) stopped by for an afternoon snorkel and I just could not resist the invitation to go out one final time. So we headed out for what turned out to be the Mother of All Snorkels! We went way out into the reef which was fabulous until I realized that the current was unbelievably strong and if I did not want to be heading out to sea I needed to TURN BACK! Guy was ahead of me and even farther out but I figured he was stronger so I followed a couple of young guys who were headed back in. I had several minutes where I really had to manage my panic as I was swimming as hard as I could and not moving AT ALL. I felt like those crazy cartoon characters that just spin their arms and legs in the air and don't move forward! Finally, I was able to make a little forward progress and get back into manageable water and saw that Guy had also turned around, Thank God! We both confessed that it was more than we planned for and that we needed to stay closer in. So we continued snorkelling parallel to the shore but against the current for a loooonnnnnggg way until we turned back toward the shore. After all that time fighting the current, I felt like Michael Phelps powering myself back to the pier with the help of the current at last. When we got back to the house Judy had already had a nap as nearly 2 hours had passed while we were gone! I was exhausted and all of my poor little toes had blisters from my fins but it was great. The highlight was seeing a school of about 20 or more squids just floating together through the water in perfect choreographed movements.
Sunday night we packed and, poor Judy practically scratched her skin off as between the sun, the bugs, the saltwater and whatever else she had a big time reaction. The whole month we have felt like a couple of 7 year old kids with our arms and legs all bug-bit and with scratches and welts, but this was on a whole new scale. In spite of constant applications of hydro-cortisone cream, cold packs, claritin and fans she was just miserable.
Our travel day on Monday was long but uneventful starting at waking up at 530 a.m. and my arrival at home in Eau Claire at 11:30 p.m. without my luggage. But it is great to be home and closer to all my loved ones. It was a great adventure and my final thoughts are:
Things I will miss about Honduras:
1. the people, especially the kids, who were so lovely and kind and happy in spite of tremendous poverty and lack of resources,
2. the gorgeous, sunny days and looking out at the sparkling turquoise water with the waves breaking in white foam on the reef,
3. warm, moist air that makes me think I will not dry up like an old leaf and just blow away in the winter,
4. being completely OK doing almost nothing because there is no electricity or no water or I did not have a computer or a cell phone or a car.
Things that I WON'T miss:
1. the constant noise of dogs, roosters, noisy birds, people shouting, noisy cars and motorcycles...
2. being covered at all times with a not-so-thin layer of sunscreen, saltwater, sweat and bug dope,
3. termites, mosquitoes, sand fleas, no-see-ums, and every other biting insect that found us all month,
4. the garbage and plastic waste that are everywhere,
5. the toilets that are so marginally effective that I took up saying the rosary every time I used one,
6. and, finally the Navy showers.
Things that I am more-than-ever grateful for:
1. my beloved family and friends who I missed so much while I was gone,
2. the peace and quiet of my home and neighborhood and city,
3. fresh clean air and water and streets and buildings and public restrooms,
4. a wonderful public education system that gives every kid a chance for success.
I had a chance to read and read and read and I finished Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes which is a "must read" for all feminists, The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood which is a semi-autobiographical story about a woman who takes up knitting after the death of her daughter, Housekeeping fiction by Pullitzer Prize winning novelist Marilyn Robinson, One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Nobel Prize for Literature) and which is still my #1 book of all times, Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund (who wrote Ahab's Wife) a historical fiction about Marie Antoinette, and The Beak of the Finch by Jonathon Wiener about Darwin's Theory of natural selection and the current research that is occurring now on the Galapagos Islands.
My next adventure will be 2 weeks in the Galapagos Islands in June. Stay posted.
I am glad to be back and hope to catch up with everybody soon.
Love,
Maria
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, March 5th
Wow! Our week is really blowing by fast. Thursday already. After I posted on Monday we had a big time power outage and we lost electricity from about 5:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. So Judy and I spent the evening huddled together reading our books by a hurricane lamp at the kitchen table. I really felt like I was the main character in "Little House on the Prairie" except that we didn't have to worry about blizzards or the "ague" (what the heck was that anyway?). After about an hour Judy reminded me that I brought a headlamp (duh) and so I could use that for myself and Judy got the whole lamp for herself for the rest of the evening. We decided we didn't want to start cooking in the dark so we went for "takeout" at a little restaurant across the street. The restaurant was basically a storefront with a stove but we ordered and enjoyed some really tasty "baleadas" which are tortillas filled with beans, cheese and eggs, which I guess would make them "breakfast burritos" in the states. Very tasty. $1 apiece. Dinner for 2: $2.00.
Tuesday morning we headed back to the Center for "work" which consisted of using watercolors with the kids and showing them all about the primary colors and making the secondary colors. Again, picture us 2 old ladies sitting on a hard tile floor surrounded by 10 little kids with paint boxes and cups of water making rainbows. It was great but all this sitting on the floor is kinda hard on my aching back and neck. We try to finangle a chair when possible without making it appear that we are dumping a 6 year old out of it! The rest of the day was a variety of reading books with the kids, helping the high school kids with homework and some English teaching by Maria. All good.
In the evening we again enjoyed a beautiful sunset with our beverage of choice (Maria: iced coffee and Judy: a Pepsi which they pronounce here as if it had an X like "Pexi") Movie night was "Michael Clayton" on HBO. We are always catching ourselves feeling like we are in a time warp when we are watching satellite TV in a place where the roads are nothing but mud. Which reminds me that the highlight of the day was the Road Grader going by and smoothing out all the ruts and filling in all the potholes!
Wednesday we had a power outage again for most of the morning so the computers at the Center (and the lights) were out but we could still read and paint. For lunch we joined a couple of other Americans from Florida who are working on a new water system for La Colonia here in Sandy Bay. La Colonia is a lovely word for a horrible slum of 3,000 people (half of them under 18 years old) that is across the road from us. It is a sprawling, filthy, crowded shanty town that, prior to getting 3 wells dug and water piped to multiple locations was literally a poisonous pit with children dying constantly from lack of sanitation and clean water. Now that the water system is in this group is trying to collaborate with several other groups on the island (including PIER Partners in Education Roatan which is who we work for) to set up a community center there to improve education and provide a soccer field, etc... Very interesting and it would be a total miracle to have something like that available for all the families and kids.
After our lunch together, Henry took us on a "tour" of La Colonia to see the water system and the situation. Unbelievably desperate. But every little step provides huge benefits so it is worth considering a project that would give so much to so many people.
Not much else is happening. Time at the Center is familiar and we know most of the kids and even see them around on the streets with their families and they are so happy to see us. We feel like rock stars. Pretty good for 50-some year old housewives! Tonight we will go to the weekly "Crab Races" at the resort which provides the funding for the Center and many of the other visiting Americans (who are considering the funding for the Community Center) will also be there. So we do have a social life, in case you were worried.
Our time here is winding down and it feels sad to think about not coming back next week when it starts all over again. We shall see what the future holds for next year and what else will be happenin' next year....
love to all,
Maria and Judy
Tuesday morning we headed back to the Center for "work" which consisted of using watercolors with the kids and showing them all about the primary colors and making the secondary colors. Again, picture us 2 old ladies sitting on a hard tile floor surrounded by 10 little kids with paint boxes and cups of water making rainbows. It was great but all this sitting on the floor is kinda hard on my aching back and neck. We try to finangle a chair when possible without making it appear that we are dumping a 6 year old out of it! The rest of the day was a variety of reading books with the kids, helping the high school kids with homework and some English teaching by Maria. All good.
In the evening we again enjoyed a beautiful sunset with our beverage of choice (Maria: iced coffee and Judy: a Pepsi which they pronounce here as if it had an X like "Pexi") Movie night was "Michael Clayton" on HBO. We are always catching ourselves feeling like we are in a time warp when we are watching satellite TV in a place where the roads are nothing but mud. Which reminds me that the highlight of the day was the Road Grader going by and smoothing out all the ruts and filling in all the potholes!
Wednesday we had a power outage again for most of the morning so the computers at the Center (and the lights) were out but we could still read and paint. For lunch we joined a couple of other Americans from Florida who are working on a new water system for La Colonia here in Sandy Bay. La Colonia is a lovely word for a horrible slum of 3,000 people (half of them under 18 years old) that is across the road from us. It is a sprawling, filthy, crowded shanty town that, prior to getting 3 wells dug and water piped to multiple locations was literally a poisonous pit with children dying constantly from lack of sanitation and clean water. Now that the water system is in this group is trying to collaborate with several other groups on the island (including PIER Partners in Education Roatan which is who we work for) to set up a community center there to improve education and provide a soccer field, etc... Very interesting and it would be a total miracle to have something like that available for all the families and kids.
After our lunch together, Henry took us on a "tour" of La Colonia to see the water system and the situation. Unbelievably desperate. But every little step provides huge benefits so it is worth considering a project that would give so much to so many people.
Not much else is happening. Time at the Center is familiar and we know most of the kids and even see them around on the streets with their families and they are so happy to see us. We feel like rock stars. Pretty good for 50-some year old housewives! Tonight we will go to the weekly "Crab Races" at the resort which provides the funding for the Center and many of the other visiting Americans (who are considering the funding for the Community Center) will also be there. So we do have a social life, in case you were worried.
Our time here is winding down and it feels sad to think about not coming back next week when it starts all over again. We shall see what the future holds for next year and what else will be happenin' next year....
love to all,
Maria and Judy
Monday, March 2, 2009
Monday, March 2nd
Hey, all,
Since last posting on Friday night we have had a few adventures worth posting about as well as updating you on life, in general, here in Honduras.
Ths morning started at 1:30 a.m. when Judy woke me up to tell me that her bed was soaked due to a leak in the roof and water was running in from the ceiling! So she climbed into bed with me (a double bed, fortunately) and we spent the rest of the night sleeping rather fitfully due to rain pounding the house, the surf pounding the beach, the wind howling all around us, the patio furniture being blown across the deck and a cat screeching outside of our window. We finally just decided it was time to get up and give up all attempts to sleep at about 8:00 a.m. Outside there were gale force winds and the ocean was in total whitecaps with surfing size waves crashing against the reef in huge swells and massive waves rolling in and up to and under the beach house. It was quite the sight and sound and certainly unlike any weather we have seen so far here. Luckily, we don't have to work at the Center on Mondays so we could just stagger around the apartment for a few hours and hang up the sheets to flap like dangerous weapons on the porch and locate the patio furniture and watch the local kids chasing and screaming and running from the waves on the beach. It has not let up at all so we aren't sure how long it will take before we are driven nuts by the incessant roar of it all.
We don't mind having an indoor day since both Saturday and Sunday were gloriously sunny and beautiful and we spent a lot of both days on the beach and snorkeling until we had lock jaw from our snorkels. On Sat. we went to the Bay Island Beach Resort where they have set up a snorkel "trail" underwater that you can follow and avoid the super shallow areas and see the areas of the reef that are most interesting. Plus there is a floating platform at the midpoint where you can take a break, warm up in the sun and rest before heading back into the water again. The coral and fish were not as good as most of the other areas we have been to but it was still a nice afternoon and then we could hang out at the resort in the hammocks and on the pier to relax. Then on Sunday morning we went back to beautiful Tabayana Beach on West Bay that is our favorite place so far. It was NOT a cruise ship day so the beach was delightfully empty and over the course of the afternoon was just inhabited by locals and their families and other people staying on the island. It was great to be able to just walk out onto the beach, put on your mask and snorkel and just get into the water and find wonderful fish and healthy coral right away. We managed to find the channel to the deeper areas past the shallow part and saw lots of schools of fish (mostly Blue Tang) and many parrot fish munching the coral (you can actually hear them crunching away!!) and I saw those same gigantic fish I saw last week plus another really huge fish that was all black with just some neon blue colored markings all over it. Really wild.
We treated ourselves to the most delicious smoothies (Judy had strawberry and I had creamy coconut) at Rudy's in West End and they were the perfect sweet and refreshing things to have after all the salt water all day. Back at the house we fixed some yummy fish tacos from the leftovers of our red snapper dinner the night before. Lately our routine has been to have dinner and then channel surf for a movie to watch in the evening. So we have enjoyed "Inside Man" with Denzel Washington and "Dead Poets Society" in the last couple of nights. Our other favorite thing to do is to make instant chocolate pudding for dessert and then we just each get a spoon and eat it straight from the bowl. Pretty decadent. We really feel like we are on vacation.
Just to make sure you realize that the house we are living in is not fancy, and in the interest of setting the record straight, here are a few things you should know:
We feel, mostly, like it is just one small step above camping to live here because NOTHING feels really clean. The sheets and bedding all have a vague smell of mildew and NOTHING here ever feels really dry.
The house is full of termites and every day we sweep and have a pile of sawdust and sand every time to clean up. Did I forget to mention lizards? Yup. Mostly small but very surprising when you reach for the broom handle and they jump to the floor.
When we moved in, the front porch was mostly occupied by stray beach dogs that were very conscientious about "marking" their territory every time they came by. After 2 days/nights of chasing them away and using all the plastic porch furniture to block access we have had several "poop free" mornings! So we swept up and washed off the porch as best as we could. Needless to say, we wear shoes all the time on the porch and socks all the time in the house.
Also, every day we seem to be surprised by all kinds of new human visitors which have included other volunteers at the Clinica Esperanza invited by Miss Peggy to enjoy the beach view from the porch, or any one of a number of roving local kids who are chasing each other up and down the beach and through all the houses and porches and piers.
The concrete shower and completely mildewed shower curtain would make most adults cry and run for their lives. We wear shoes in the shower, too. Oh, and by the way, EVERYPLACE in Hoduras has a wastebasket next to the toilet for the TP as NONE of the plumbing in the entire country is capable of handling anything other than human waste.
Electricity is not a given here on Roatan. Routinely we find ourselves in the total dark and without the fans and, of course, without water as well since the water pump is electrical. We just don't open the refrig and hope it comes on within a few hours before the milk curdles.
Also, you cannot, under any circumstances, drink tap water anywhere in Honduras. So all houses have one of those bottled water dispensers that you refill with huge plastic containers (5 gallon?, 10 gallon?) that I am unable to even consider lifting. Luckily for me, Pam and Judy are able to hoist those suckers up and manage to install the new ones into the dispenser without spilling most of the fresh water all over the floors. I love my friends.
So, even though we are not suffering through the cold and snow that our Midwest friends and family are, there are a number of very real drawbacks to life in the tropics.
We love you and miss you all. Maria (and Judy)
Since last posting on Friday night we have had a few adventures worth posting about as well as updating you on life, in general, here in Honduras.
Ths morning started at 1:30 a.m. when Judy woke me up to tell me that her bed was soaked due to a leak in the roof and water was running in from the ceiling! So she climbed into bed with me (a double bed, fortunately) and we spent the rest of the night sleeping rather fitfully due to rain pounding the house, the surf pounding the beach, the wind howling all around us, the patio furniture being blown across the deck and a cat screeching outside of our window. We finally just decided it was time to get up and give up all attempts to sleep at about 8:00 a.m. Outside there were gale force winds and the ocean was in total whitecaps with surfing size waves crashing against the reef in huge swells and massive waves rolling in and up to and under the beach house. It was quite the sight and sound and certainly unlike any weather we have seen so far here. Luckily, we don't have to work at the Center on Mondays so we could just stagger around the apartment for a few hours and hang up the sheets to flap like dangerous weapons on the porch and locate the patio furniture and watch the local kids chasing and screaming and running from the waves on the beach. It has not let up at all so we aren't sure how long it will take before we are driven nuts by the incessant roar of it all.
We don't mind having an indoor day since both Saturday and Sunday were gloriously sunny and beautiful and we spent a lot of both days on the beach and snorkeling until we had lock jaw from our snorkels. On Sat. we went to the Bay Island Beach Resort where they have set up a snorkel "trail" underwater that you can follow and avoid the super shallow areas and see the areas of the reef that are most interesting. Plus there is a floating platform at the midpoint where you can take a break, warm up in the sun and rest before heading back into the water again. The coral and fish were not as good as most of the other areas we have been to but it was still a nice afternoon and then we could hang out at the resort in the hammocks and on the pier to relax. Then on Sunday morning we went back to beautiful Tabayana Beach on West Bay that is our favorite place so far. It was NOT a cruise ship day so the beach was delightfully empty and over the course of the afternoon was just inhabited by locals and their families and other people staying on the island. It was great to be able to just walk out onto the beach, put on your mask and snorkel and just get into the water and find wonderful fish and healthy coral right away. We managed to find the channel to the deeper areas past the shallow part and saw lots of schools of fish (mostly Blue Tang) and many parrot fish munching the coral (you can actually hear them crunching away!!) and I saw those same gigantic fish I saw last week plus another really huge fish that was all black with just some neon blue colored markings all over it. Really wild.
We treated ourselves to the most delicious smoothies (Judy had strawberry and I had creamy coconut) at Rudy's in West End and they were the perfect sweet and refreshing things to have after all the salt water all day. Back at the house we fixed some yummy fish tacos from the leftovers of our red snapper dinner the night before. Lately our routine has been to have dinner and then channel surf for a movie to watch in the evening. So we have enjoyed "Inside Man" with Denzel Washington and "Dead Poets Society" in the last couple of nights. Our other favorite thing to do is to make instant chocolate pudding for dessert and then we just each get a spoon and eat it straight from the bowl. Pretty decadent. We really feel like we are on vacation.
Just to make sure you realize that the house we are living in is not fancy, and in the interest of setting the record straight, here are a few things you should know:
We feel, mostly, like it is just one small step above camping to live here because NOTHING feels really clean. The sheets and bedding all have a vague smell of mildew and NOTHING here ever feels really dry.
The house is full of termites and every day we sweep and have a pile of sawdust and sand every time to clean up. Did I forget to mention lizards? Yup. Mostly small but very surprising when you reach for the broom handle and they jump to the floor.
When we moved in, the front porch was mostly occupied by stray beach dogs that were very conscientious about "marking" their territory every time they came by. After 2 days/nights of chasing them away and using all the plastic porch furniture to block access we have had several "poop free" mornings! So we swept up and washed off the porch as best as we could. Needless to say, we wear shoes all the time on the porch and socks all the time in the house.
Also, every day we seem to be surprised by all kinds of new human visitors which have included other volunteers at the Clinica Esperanza invited by Miss Peggy to enjoy the beach view from the porch, or any one of a number of roving local kids who are chasing each other up and down the beach and through all the houses and porches and piers.
The concrete shower and completely mildewed shower curtain would make most adults cry and run for their lives. We wear shoes in the shower, too. Oh, and by the way, EVERYPLACE in Hoduras has a wastebasket next to the toilet for the TP as NONE of the plumbing in the entire country is capable of handling anything other than human waste.
Electricity is not a given here on Roatan. Routinely we find ourselves in the total dark and without the fans and, of course, without water as well since the water pump is electrical. We just don't open the refrig and hope it comes on within a few hours before the milk curdles.
Also, you cannot, under any circumstances, drink tap water anywhere in Honduras. So all houses have one of those bottled water dispensers that you refill with huge plastic containers (5 gallon?, 10 gallon?) that I am unable to even consider lifting. Luckily for me, Pam and Judy are able to hoist those suckers up and manage to install the new ones into the dispenser without spilling most of the fresh water all over the floors. I love my friends.
So, even though we are not suffering through the cold and snow that our Midwest friends and family are, there are a number of very real drawbacks to life in the tropics.
We love you and miss you all. Maria (and Judy)
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