Since Being Sick.. July 10, 2011

Hola Everyone! Im sorry I havent been blogging often, but all is well in Honduras and I am feeling much better after my trip to the doctors last week. The few days I was sick I didnt so much besides lay in bed and eat crackers. Now that I am feeling better the fun times have started again! 

Lately we have been spending a lot of time at my new favorite restaruant Zotz! It has delicious home style food for a really cheap price. Also on weekends they play really great music and have a fun atomsphere to be in. Zotz also has a VIP section that we plan to use for my birthday next Saturday which I am really excited for.

My work placement has been changed from single mother day care to San Jose Orphanage. Working in an orphanage is really hard work but the kids are so sweet and loving which makes it all worth while. The orphange is a Catholic orphange ran by a group of nuns. The kids rang from new born to age 5 so they defiantly keep you on your feet! The kids all indivually have such a positive character, and are full of spunk regradless of their past and current living conditions. The work is difficult because its hard not to feel bad for them and wonder where life will take them in their futures. It is also hard because of the lack of funds to the orphanage the kids are stuck wearing cloth diappers so when they are wet or smelly its hard to run away from them when all they want to do is cuddle and play with you. I am slowly trying to look past that and just be there to support and show them the love that they need. 

During our workshops through the week as a group we are continuing to learn about gender violence  and gender equailty. The workshops are training for us for when we start to make school and home visits to spread awarness. In detail we have learned exactly what the different types of violence are from sexual,physical,psychological , and economical abuse and the different prevention matters.The workshops have been really fullfilling and have had a really positive outcome on me.

Today we spent our Sunday on a family outting to the natural hot springs and visited some historical sites outside our city Santa Rosa. Our first stop was an old castle/ fort in Gracias Lempira that was built in 1863. The fort was built to defend the city  and is also the burial place of Honduras's most important presidant , Presidant Juan Lindo.Our second stop was also in Gracias Lempira and was the natural hot springs. The water was the perfect temperature and felt like a nice hot bath. If you rub the 2 rocks together that the water is in it makes a creamy face mask which left my skin feeling so smooth and refreshed! The hot springs are surrouned by tropical trees and lots of different types of flowers. Also the water had a nice lavender scent to it which made your skin smell good. Although we spent most of the day at the hot springs our next stop was my host mothers brothers house/farm. His house was on top of a mountain and had the most amazing veiw. His farm was full of animals and many different dogs. The inside was plain and had a wood burning stove but the location and the veiw makes up for it all! The day was a lot of fun and  I now have a nice sun burn from riding in the back of the pick up all day to and from destinations!

I am so far really enjoying Honduras and really learning a lot about myself and about the culture. During the mornings and afternoons its bright and sunny but in the evening thunders,lightnings and rains. I am still warming up to the food and actually starting to crave beans! hahaha Im taking it day by day and staying as postive and motivated as possible! :)

Miss and love you all!, Adios :)

Stuck Sick at Home July 4, 2011

Hola eveyone!

Today I am spending my day at home in bed, but lucky for me I can use the time to catch up with eveything :). I think the heat, the food, and lack of sleep is all catching up to me which is making me feel so sick and drained! With all that aside this past weekend was a lot of fun! On saturday we celebrated a girl from the groups  birthday named Jeanne. We surprised her with cake and gifts at her house followed by a night out in town to a bar and lounge called Flamingos! Flamingos had live music, dancing and really good cheap food. Im sure we will be spending a lot of time at Flamingos since its the closes thing to a club and during the week they have kareoke!
  On Sunday my parnter Gabby and I woke up early to attend mass at the local Catholic church. The church is located in centeral park and is 203 years old! The mass was done all in spanish but still easy to follow. Sunday afternoon was spent doing laundry, which was not an easy task. I had to wash all my clothes by hand on a cement style sink washing board, and hang them to dry hoping the rain would hold off.
For the pass few days my house hasnt had any running water so its been difficult to perform everday tasks like flushing the toilet and showering. The way flushing the toilet works is that you fill up buckets of water and poor it into the toilet to wash it all down.  When it comes to showering and doing dishes its also done basically out of a bucket. Hopefully the water comes back soon so I can go back to having hot showers and not having to lugg around buckets of water LOL.

And the best part about the weekend was that SHANON AND MIKE ARE GETTING MARRIED WHOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!! Congrats to the happy couple! =D

Adios amigos!

Honduras Update! July 1, 2011

Hola Everyone!

Im finally at an internet cafe with much to say about my first week in Honduras!

After a long day of flying we finally landed in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and from there that 2 hour bus ride we thought we would be taking turned into about a 4.5 hour bus ride to our orientation camp in the middle of a mountain basically. The drive to the camp was an expirence in itself. Of course theres the insane drivers and windy roads, but seeing the life style and houses there was a real eye opener. All the houses are basic pieces of wood  kinda held together by mudd and ropes. The streets were just packed with different people selling different things and basically just walking around. Once we arrived to our camp we had a very nice welcome from the Honduras team. They welcomed us with dancing and lots of food. During the 3 days at camp we hand a number of different people talking to us about the community of Santa Rosa de Copan, general safety, and a wonky sex ed class that was very dramatic. The bathrooms and bedrooms at our camp werent the nicest and showers were freezing cold but the amazing few made up for it all. When it was finally time to leave the camp and head to Santa Rosa we had to climb up this enourmous hill to the main road where we packed 23 people into a mini van style vehicle!

Our first night in Santa Rosa de Copan we were introduced to our host families and brought to our new homes. My counter part Gabby, and I are extremely lucky where we landed. Our family consist of just our host mother named Mizra and her son Gustavo who lives next door with his wife and 7 day old baby boy. Our house is a lot better then what I was expecting! We have our own bedroom with our own outside enterance that connects to the rest of the house through the backyard. I also have my own bed and  bathroom with a hot shower and flushing toilet! so we are considerd to be extremely blessed. My host family is extremely welcoming and friendly. 

When it comes to food in Honduras so far not too bad! just a lot of beans, tortias, cheese and bananas!  The bananas here are amazing so much sweeter and fresh. Its also really common to deep fry bananas which im slowly trying to adjust to. Im shocked at how many different ways you can eat fried beans ahaha.

Santa Rosa de Copan is a beautiful city, full of shops, vendors and historic buildings! A typical day for us is 9-3 still orientation then we have evening to hang out and spend time with our families. All the buildings are very colonial and cute. Santa Rosa is fullllll of hills so lots of walking and lots of sweating LOL! Its also good because everything is sooooo cheap and accessable. The weather here is very hot and very humid. It also thunders, lighting, and down poors quite often because its their winter season.

Monday I will be starting my job with a orginization called Centro de Cuidados Infantiles O quardria where I will be looking after kids  raised by single mothers. Also as a part of my job i will be helping to organize events to help fundraise for the kids. Also during the week we will be spending time with women who are infected with HIV and who suffer from domestic violence.

I have gotten my own cell phone 011(504)9593-6085 so call anytime!

Im enjoying myself here in Honduras but cant wait to return home! Miss and love you all ta ta for now!

 adios!

Flight Info

5:45am -Wake up call

6:30am -Hotel check Out


11:00am- Fly out from Toronto with Taca Airlines
Flight LR621 to San Salvador (arrive 2:00pm)

2:30pm- Fly out from San Salvador to San Pedro Honduras (arrive 3:35pm)

Then from the airport there will be a bus shuttle to take us to our next camp to meet the rest of the group =) after 2 days we will leave San Pedro for Santa de Rosa Copan!

June 24th -Day 3

Hola everyone!




My basic daily routine for the past few days has started with breakfast from 7:30-8:30 with the group then straight into orientation 9-5 with lunch breaks and snack breaks in between. Days have been long but very informative. We are learning all about working together as a group and how we should be working through different challenges we may face in the future. The group is really starting to warm up to each other and really starting to bond, but already today  a girl decided to go home and wont be coming back. 

Tomorrow we leave early morning for Honduras! I am feeling a little scared and nervous but mostly curious and excited! We are taking two flights to get there and all together will be flying for about 7.5 hours. Once we land in Honduras it is another two hour bus ride to our camp where we will be meeting the rest of our group. We will  be staying for 2 more nights of more orientation before we finally drive another 2 hours to Santa de Rosa Copan to meet our host families and to see our work placements!!!!

Although i am extremely home sick I am super excited for whatever is to come. I am expecting the worst, and hoping for the best basically.  The hardest apart  besides being away from family and friends is trying to sleep at night ,and not having internet or my cell phone. Its hard not being able to talk anyone I want especially being in such an emotional state.

Well that's all for now. I probably wont have any internet for the next few weeks so ill update whenever I can.

Love you and miss you all so much. Thank you for all your support and prayers. 
Ttyl.


Adios!

Day 1 Toronto

Today has been an emotional rollercoaster that's for sure. Had a very good flight and so far everything is going as planned.I finally met the group of girls that I will be spending the next 6 months with. They are all super cool and come from all over the country.Its been a long day of orientation and planning to go into our hotels hot tub pretty soon. I am really missing everyone back home and wishing I was there back in vancouver.We head to Honduras reAlly early Saturday morning and have a stop over in El salvador before reaching Honduras's main air port. That's about it for now until I can get use to this blogging thing. Miss eveyone tons and thank goodness for hotel wi fi and iPod touches! Adios

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