The time here is absolutely flying by and Tuesday will mark 4 weeks in Honduras! Over the past month I feel like I've learnt significantly more about this country than I would have done if I had just visited for a holiday. For example, finding out about politics, corruption, environmental standards and history has really interested me, as has learning from our hosts about the biggest problems facing Hondurans today. For example, the average age women have their first child here is between 15 and 20 which as you can imagine only leads to further issues. There's an article about it here which focuses on Guatemala but the situation in Honduras is very similar http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/aug/26/guatemala-rape-early-pregnancy-sex-education-catholic-church?CMP=fb_gu
Myself and Innes are getting used to everything being very different from at home, whether it's from sharing a bedroom with lizards to all village roads being dirt track, to being able to pick oranges from the garden, to several power cuts a week or to seeing 'JesoCristo' (Jesus Christ) 'Dios' (God), Hijo (son) and Rey (King) written everywhere! I'm still getting used to living in a very Christian community and received a hefty kick from Innes under the table the other day when nearly beginning to eat before our hosts has said grace, oops. 
The local buses!
Although we had already started to teach at the primary school once a week, this week we properly started our schedule at Miqueas. In the mornings Gaby and I work with a young boy who is both blind and deaf and due to being severely malnourished when he arrived at the orphanage, he remains physically quite weak. We are doing physiotherapy work with him and activities to improve his motor skills, with the hope to move onto finding ways to communicate with him. This is really interesting and has involved a lot of research into deafblind children. I have a session in the morning and one in the afternoon with children between 4-6 to teach basic english and this week we've been doing animals and where they live. This can be pretty challenging at times (considering I've got no experience working with this age group) but the children are sweet and it can also be pretty rewarding.
Following this I do homework with 4 of the older kids, which can also be a struggle, because no one likes homework right? I also discovered that I can't do the maths the 11 year olds are doing, how embarrassing...
The jungle!
Thursday mornings at the primary school continue to be good fun, the children work hard and are always so keen to show me their work when they're finished.
Maybe now would also be a good time to mention that I have never until this week appreciated how much work my own teachers did for me! (And if any of you are reading, thank you!) The background work, researching, lesson planning, making resources or worksheets, the time, patience and energy, teachers really don't receive enough recognition for this, especially from the pupils. I don't think you can fully understand it until you go through it yourself but it's definitely worth it!
Today consisted of a full-on morning from which we are now recovering in our hammocks which we bought from a big indoor market last week in San Pedro Sula. (Yes we made it in and out of the murder capital of the world, where statistically 3 people are murdered a day, without so much as a scratch or a scrape -proud). On this excursion we also tried our first 'Baleada' which is a very popular local food - tortillas with cheese, beans, butter and avocado and it was delicious! 
Anyway, to get back on track, we got up at 6.30 this morning to climb the hill behind the village. Granted, it was only a short walk but it felt like a real adventure! Armed with a machete, Miqueas's handyman Karin, lead the way! From the top we could see palm oil plantations (hmm) stretching as far as we could see, La Colorada and other nearby villages! It was an amazing view, which sadly didn't capture well on camera due to the morning haze. 15 minutes, no snake attacks later and walking through what appeared to be someone's garden, we were back at the bottom.
My morning continued at a fast pace by taking 6 of the children at Miqueas down to 'El Campo' (the local park/field) for football training which I'm really excited to be doing every week with them. All in all, despite a few sulks, it was very successful, and having played football for about 8 years it was easy for me to make up drills for them. A few are very good but for others the concept of structure, listening, following instructions and good sportsmanship is more important than the skills itself! The pitch is surrounded by palm trees with views of the mountains and if it weren't for the rubbish that the locals leave on it or dump in the woods behind (no infrastructure for rubbish collection here, it's dump or burn it - horrific) it would be beautiful. 
It's a hard life isn't it!
Innes and her Baleada!
Careful kids that's a dangerous weapon!
I hope everyone at home is enjoying the updates, these may be less frequent from now on as we will be moving out of our hosts house and into our own little house in the village which has no wifi. (Which I'm looking forward to because let's face it I have no self control to stop myself using it here).
Adios!
Avocado and orange collection!
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