A Navidad ill never forget

I thought this year was going to be hard.  My first Christmas away from home, I had no idea what to expect. No family traditions? No lights on the beach? No decorating the house? No candy canes?! Well, yeah I did miss all that. But this was by far the best Christmas. I didn’t wrap a single gift. I didn’t receive any gifts under the tree. I didn’t deal with the madness of the holiday. And I didn’t have to freeze from the cold! What did I do? ... spent it what I love doing most.

Christmas Eve morning we woke up bright and early to begin a busy day. We headed down the street to meet a few other volunteers to help pass out gifts to some neighborhood kids. A select few homes were chosen to be part of this distribution of gifts, clothes, and food. Homes and families that were in obvious need of help this year. We went around, house to house and passed out gifts to parents and children. The Minister of Youth in Honduras was present and so were his media and a local news crew. Not sure if this was out of the pureness of his heart, or just a publicity stunt, but an interesting morning indeed.

Around lunch time, Rafael picked us up and we headed to a campesino village in Jutiapa, about an hour out of town. He had prepared food ahead of time to hand out to the local children. We spent the afternoon there, then back to El Porvenir for the remainder of the evening. We put together some last minute gifts for the kids in the kinder and had an amazing dinner at Charlie and Amalia’s. Rice and beans, pico de gallo, potato salad and of course, tamales. Whats a Christmas without tamales? Janna and I headed to Christmas Eve service, which all I can say was interesting. A service I will never forget.

Christmas morning I woke up to sunshine. Sat on the porch for a few minutes to enjoy the beach, on Christmas! Perfect. We had planned a day full of eating, watching movies and relaxing at the beach. Breakfast began with cinnamon rolls and pancakes. Movie time then to the beach! Back to make some fries, puppy chow and some more movies! Mmm, all this food ive wanted for so long now, so good! Its actually a bit ridiculous the amount of food we ate that day.

Sunday was another jam packed day. This is Santa day with the kinder kids! We headed over to Charlie and Amalia’s to start cooking all the food at about 8:30 in the morning. About 12:30 we rounded up the kids in Charlie’s pickup truck and brought them to the house. Charlie dressed up as Santa and each kid received a toy from him. Some were thrilled, some were scared, others had NO idea what was going on. Rice, chicken, apples, cookies, cake and candy, soon they were wound up. Each kid got to choose a pair of shoes, which they were very ecstatic about. Ronal came up to me after so excited to show me the pair of shoes he picked out. I took him home afterwards on bike, when his brother rode up besides us. Before he could say anything, Ronal shouts out to show him his new shoes.

It was a perfect Christmas. Reggaeton blaring through the streets of El Porvenir. Neighbors cooking tamales in each and every house. Families on their porches. Kids out playing. Christmas songs on the radio. Church nativity plays. My first Christmas away from home, yes, I did miss my family and friends. But, I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

“Alabanzas al Rey” by Marcela Gandara

A breaking heart, full of scars

Two weeks ago, Mom, Allison and Riane came to visit me. It was everything I wished it could be. They got to see this life that I love, the kids I wake up for each morning, and the town that glows more and more each day. They were able to put faces to the names I write about in my blog. They saw the flawless mountains in the distance, the beach from the porch of my house, the wild cattle roaming the streets, and hear the chickens waking us up every morning. They saw grandma Nerea, at the corner of the block, each and every minute of every day. They saw the old man at his window, with his music blaring and a friendly wave each time we walked by. They got to know Rigo, better known as Manny (from Modern Family) as we often called him. They met Senor Funez, the owner of the local Mini Super down the street, greeting us daily with an “hola babies!” And we mustn’t forget little Bryan, cuter than ever, which they all fell in love with the moment they met him. Now, they understand why im here for a year (if not longer).

Sunday they arrived from San Pedro Sula, three hours away, with a taxi driver that claims he knew me…Im still not sure how. We wasted no time and immediately started playing with the kids. It was a perfect, a bit too hot, day so we took the kids to the beach. Couldn’t have been better. Sand in our clothes and in our hair, sweat pouring down our face and salt water in our mouth. But kids smiling left and right, laughter surrounding us and hugs to last us a year, made it worth all our time. We piled into the back of Charlie’s pickup truck and headed home, but not without a million questions of when we would come back again!

Monday we headed off to Cayos Cochinos. Islands of paradise you could call it. The most beautiful colored blue water I have ever seen, with islands that looked like a picture out of a magazine. So beautiful I would have believed it if I were told they were fake. We spent the day snorkeling, exploring and relaxing on several islands in the Caribbean. Even saw a past Survivor TV show, island! For dinner we ate on the beach in El Porvenir, swinging in hammocks over the water. Perfect day with the most perfect people (minus dad!).

Tuesday night we had dinner with our Kinder teacher, Rosa. We can always count on her to make an amazing dish. Empanadas with potatoes, beef and veggies. Everyone thought they would have to force the food down, just being polite and eating what was in front of them. But none took me seriously when I said Rosa is an amazing cook! One bite and they were sold.

Wednesday night we had a pizza party at the SOS orphanage. Food and dancing with adorable children and it was another perfect night. Thursday, thanksgiving! We had our morning vacation care class, including environmental week and making baskets with any and all types of decorations you can think of. Then, we went to a woman’s house down the street for Stone Soup. Locals and volunteers came by and we had a huge pot of soup, tortillas and pie to enjoy together. Off to afternoon vacation care, relax a bit, and Mayan ceremony time! Interesting sounding, I know. And it was. I really cant explain what a Mayan ceremony consists of, without it sounding completely bizarre, so I won’t even try. It was just a bonfire and we celebrated close to how the Mayans might have celebrated Thanksgiving.

Friday is the big day. And the best day I have had in Honduras thus far. There have been favorite activities, favorite nights, and favorite trips, but this was by far the BEST DAY. Our kids in vacation care were putting on a talent show, “El Gran Show de Talentos” reads the whiteboard. Everything from lip singing, to dancing, and poetry reading. Definitely a winner with the kids, they even loved our modeling show that the volunteers put on. We came home, grabbed lunch and headed straight to the beach. A few Christmas pictures with the fam, then Thanksgiving dinner time (one day late)! We all dressed up as either Pilgrims or Indians, to get us in the Thanksgiving spirit. We all chipped in a few dollars and a few of the volunteers made a huge dinner for everyone. We ended up having chicken, the turkey might have flown away? After our feast, it was time for something we have all been waiting for all week. THE CIRCUS! Yes, the circus has come to El Porvenir! Only $2.50 got us front row seats in the “box” section. All of us parade into the tent and the crowd of people in the stands starts cheering. Not quite sure why…but we went with it. So the line of gringos enter, sit in our box seats (plastic chairs on the ground) with hoots and hollers for a good five minutes. We start the wave, however that didn’t really go very well. The show begins. Nothing at this time could be better. I really couldn’t stop smiling. Three little girls come out and do a front flip on a trampoline, another girl does a back flip on the trampoline, the whole time one of the workers is literally holding the trampoline down on the ground. If this doesn’t tell you how the rest of the circus went, I really don’t know what to say. There were clowns, who went off on the fact that all us gringos were there. They had a SpongeBob Square Pants dance with the same girls that were the trampoline girls. The same guy that was the clown, was also the motorcycle rider in the cage, and who also sold pasteles at intermission. One of the women, who danced to random songs throughout the night, was also the tortilla lady and the ticket collector. Very multitalented circus performers, to say the least. I wish I could put into words how very funny the whole situation was. After the circus was over, a few of the workers from the SOS orphanage came over to celebrate Poppy’s (volunteer) birthday with Karaoke.

Saturday morning Mom, Allison and Riane left. It was honestly the perfect week, perfect weather, and perfect adventures. Plus, they brought me candy :) THANKS FOR COMING, LOVE YOU GUYS!

Along with them, they brought a special gift that many of you have contributed to. I honestly don’t have the words to express how much this means to me. You all wrote me letters that mean more to me than anything I could ever ask for. Mom put them into a scrapbook, with a few pictures from my trip in Honduras up until this point. These letters are such an encouragement to me, especially being so far away during the holidays. I have read each and every letter (there were many) and they have each brought me to tears. I love you all dearly and I can truly see the support and love I have from each of you.

Allison, wrote me something that I really think we can each learn from. This comes from and relates to something she learned in her anatomy class…”so when you break a bone, it hurts. It looks ugly and brings tears and a few moments of purely painful moments. However, when it heals, it really heals. In fact the bone becomes stronger than before. And you can see the scar on the bone for the rest of your life, but the bone itself is better. CRAZY! Everytime I read your blog or talk about you, this is what I see. Your heart is keeps breaking. It is painful to hold a sick boy. It is beyond words ugly to see the pain and suffering in a four year olds eyes as they walk to school with no shoes on or taking care of their family. Being a households provider and defender when they should be playing outside. Carefree. But, everytime you experience these things, you grow. You get stronger. You are forced to draw closer to the Lord, and your faith strengthens. And I pray you always have those scars so you remember who you are and how you got that way and who was a part of that.” I think Allison, really captured my feelings in the perfect way. Each time my “bone breaks” I just want to work stronger, love deeper and grow in my faith. Its hard sometimes. A lot of the time. But its worth it. Its so worth it. I pray that we can all take this metaphor and really live by it. To not pity others, but to really do something about it. To not let that bone break, but heal, and let it become part of who you are.

You better BELIZE it!

I was off to a country I knew nothing about. We “planned” our trip the best we could, but a lot would be up to us to figure it out when we arrived. Belize? When would I ever travel to Belize? Well, to renew my visa that’s why. Every 90 days I have to leave the country to get a new tourist visa. Of course Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are considered “one” country visa wise. So you have to travel outside these four to renew your tourist visa.

Sunday morning, Cristina, Janna and I left the beach house and made our way through the country to Puerto Cortez, on the northwest coast of Honduras. We spent the night in a hotel and woke up early the next morning to take care of our visa business. The ferry guy came to pick us up, take us to immigration and then to the boat, only 3 hours ahead of time. Nothing like sitting on a boat, with the smell of fish around you, and nowhere to go, for 3 hours, right? Around 11:30 am we finally got going to begin the two hour ferry ride to the coast of Belize. We pulled into Big Creek, Belize, which was actually a big shipyard with boxes and boxes of cargo all around us. No “Welcome to Belize” sign, no one around, not even a dock. The immigration lady came onto the boat, pulled the immigration stamps out of her purse and stamped all our passports. We jumped on shore where a different lady checked our bags, on the ground. We were told to keep walking to the gate where we could find a taxi to the bus stop. So we walked. Keep in mind this was all outside, through cargo box after cargo box. We got to the “gate” and got in a taxi where we were dropped off at the “bus stop”. It was an open dirt lot, someone’s house and a small run down restaurant. No sign saying it was a bus stop. So we sat and waited. About an hour and half later we figured out we should walk across the street in front of the grocery store to wait for the bus. Makes sense? The bus comes, we jump on and make way for our 5 hour ride to Belize city.

The scenery is beautiful. This country amazes me. Rolling mountains beyond mountains in the distance. Im trying my best to figure out the culture. The official language is English. I see a Hispanic lady and start asking her a question in Spanish (forgetting they speak English here) and her response is “I speak English”. This is WILD. On the bus I hear dialects of English, Spanish, Creole and what it seems like, a million other languages. This is so weird to me. Im in awe. I feel like it’s a hidden country of wonders that no one really knows about. On the bus comes an Amish Family. I feel like Im in a movie. If I woke up and found myself on this bus, I would really not know what country I was in. I honestly felt like a representative of each country was on the bus. On comes a family, all with dreads. From the toddler and the older girls, to the parents, they all had dreads. I can only laugh. I think I’ve found my new favorite country! We finally arrive at our hotel in Belize city. Were right on the water, it’s a beautiful night.

Tuesday morning, its cave tubing time! We strap on our life vests, secure our head lamps, sit in the tube and we begin our adventure! We enter the cave, see natural sculptures of rocks all around us, waterfalls and openings. All we do is sit and relax in our tube! We float a bit down the river and its all over so quickly! Short and sweet :) 

Once we get back to Belize city, we must catch the boat over to Caye Caulker, an island off of Belize in the Great Barrier Reef. Not before catching the boat are we attacked by anyone and everyone wanting to sell us stuff. Everything from nail paintings, to jewelry and bags. Oh yeah, we even made some new friends. “Hi, they call me Weed. Ya want some?” …. So we get to Caye Caulker and immediately fall in love. I don’t even care that we had to search for a hostal for an hour, the island is just so adorable and the weather was great, it was so worth it! We get settled in our hostal for 6 dollars a night and eat dinner in a restaurant on the beach with swings for chairs! Mmm, this is the life!

Wednesday morning we wake up to sunshine. I eat breakfast in the hammock by the beach. I could definitely get used to this. We sign up for a full day of snorkeling  and lay out for an hour before the snorkeling tour begins. As were getting on the boat, it starts to rain…bummer. “No worries mon” were still going out to sea! By this time its pouring. They encourage us we will still see everything we normally would. We start out, in two sailboats, to our first destination. Not before long does one of the sailboats break down so we all have to cram into one boat….in the pouring rain. However it turned out to be a very fun day, even with the rain! We saw and even touched sting rays and sharks. We also snorkeled with eels, turtles, and a ton of huge fish. They fed us on board with chicken or fish sandwiches, fruit, ceviche and drinks. Even through all the rain, it was an amazing day at sea, one I will never forget!

Thursday morning, it was still raining. We found a nice bakery with 25 cent cinnamon rolls, exactly what we needed. We got the boat back to Belize city where we took another 5 hour bus ride to Placencia, a beach town to the south. We stayed there for the night in a rickety-rack room so we could catch the ferry back to Honduras in the morning. Friday morning we woke up at 6:30 am to take advantage of the town, since we arrived once it was already dark the night before. The beach was beautiful, even on a gloomy day. Everything was so colorful and calm, giving it a nice beachy feel to the town. That “calm” feel didn’t last very long. We boarded the ferry and started to make our way back to Honduras. Well, this tropical storm, that was bringing all this rain, also upset the seas. I was honestly scared for my life. Not only was the boat quite small and the seas rough, the engine kept turning off. I don’t normally get sea sick, but I was this time. The waves were as big as our boat, on both sides. Then the engine would turn off and we would just be chilling in the middle of stormy waters. The waves would toss and turn the boat dramatically. My hands were clenched to the seat. I tried to put in my ipod to take my mind off it. The lady next to Cristina was throwing up. The passengers facing me on the other side had eyes wide open everytime we would crash into a wave or turn sideways a bit too much. I honestly considered what I would do if the boat tipped and we went underwater. Let’s just say, it was good to be on land. Back in Honduras! Now just two more bus rides and a taxi and we would finally be home…9 o’clock at night and we finally arrived. Ah, the feeling of being back in El Porvenir, so gooooood!

Overall, I enjoyed the trip to Belize. Everyone we met was exceptionally nice. They would go out of their way to help us. The country was a melting pot of cultures. I was in awe the whole week, one thing after another was just so amazing to me. Its beauty, the people, the languages, all of it. Incredible. I guess you could say it was…unBELIZEable.