Before starting a new blog post I always read over the previous one and each time I am startled not only at how each event feels like it happened only yesterday and yet years ago at the the same time, but at how my perspectives have changed over time and what I know now that I didn't know before. For example, my brief mention of Honduran poverty in the last post. Over the last month I have gained a much deeper understanding of the complexity of the such evidently stark divisions in social class and how this poverty impacts the lives of many in this country through what I have witnessed, exchanging stories with other volunteers and from doing further reading. My mind has further been opened to the religion here, I've since learnt more about the school system and I'm pleased to report that at least some of my letters have made it home thus far!
October has seen the gaining of a new pet, WaZowsky the goat, an incredibly stupid animal who likes to excessively tangle himself and his rope in everything in his near vicinity, which he follows with loud bleating until we come to his rescue where 10/10 times he refuses to cooperate in freeing himself. The novelty has rather warn off but we do remain fond of him and by the end of this week we're hoping to have chickens for our garden too!
A few weekends ago Innes and I took a trip to the town of Copan to meet some other Project Trust volunteers - Maia, Alice, Charlotte and Esme. Copan is the top tourist hotspot on mainland Honduras and we could immediately see why. Situated about a 2 hour drive (a gorgeous bus journey, although we here we saw a lot more rural poverty than in the area where we live) into the mountains it offered fantastic views of the surrounding area and the town itself was made up of cobbled streets and quaint colourful buildings perched on almost vertical slopes. There wasn't much traffic besides tuc-tucs, nor an American fast food chain in sight! All of us agreed that it was very refreshing to be able to walk down a street without attracting an unnecessary amount of staring, whispering, hissing and kissing noises from the young male Honduran population! We spent a brilliant weekend relaxing, exploring the town and were lucky enough to visit a Macaw sanctuary. Macaws are essentially big parrots and the birds here are primarily rescued from people trying to keep them as pets and most will be re-released into the wild. They are magnificently coloured and we got the chance to balance several at a time on our arms. (A slightly daunting experience for someone who is not such a fan of winged creatures being any where near her face!).
Copan is also home to one of the biggest discovered areas of Mayan Ruins in Central America. We received an excellent tour from a local guide and were very impressed by the scale of each temple and the detail that had gone into each stone carving. Who knew that the Mayans believed that we lived on the shell of a giant turtle and that a Jaguar chased the sun away each evening and back each morning! They also had a large number of leaders with impossibly complicated names who insisted on making bizarre public sacrifices to Gods with even more complicated names, including cutting off parts of their bodies and holding Stingrays against their apparently not so private parts!
Seeing the other volunteers was great and we spent a significant amount of time discussing our experiences of the country and it's people, our fondness of our projects and the invaluable impact of volunteering when it's gone about it in the correct manner. On top of everything aforementioned we attended an open air concert, I tried my hands - or should I say feet - at Salsa Dancing (anyone who knows me well can picture how this turned out - please picture Miranda learning to Tango) and by complete chance we ran into other volunteers Hebe and Rosie when buying breakfast who were returning from their Belize visa run via Copan! After nearly missing the last bus because 'bus timetable? What bus timetable?' we made it home rather worn out but still in such high spirits from a brilliant weekend!
Last week we met our in-country rep 'Vegas' for the first time, who took us out for a bit of fine dining and to who we were pleased to report that we've faced very few issues in our project so far. The school term is drawing to a close and from the middle of November the majority of the children at Miqueas are going to be off school for a 3 month holiday! This means that we will be running a lot more extra curricular activities instead of classes for the children here, a prospect that we are really looking forward to! Creative writing, Honduran geography, map-reading and football are on my list so far, as well as the Nativity play that Gaby, Innes and I are hoping to organise with the older children!
We've also been making up end of year tests for the public school which is proving challenging as due to the Honduran love of frequent school holidays, we've taught a total of 7 or 8 mornings and by the nature of the school system every child (including the few who can hardly write) have to pass the test to move up a grade!
I have really enjoyed getting to know my co-workers at the school a bit better and the other day I showed them pictures of 'kilts' and 'caber tossing' - both concepts that were completely foreign to them but that they found highly amusing! I love my position in the school and it's so humbling to walk through La Colorada in the evenings and hearing the children running or cycling by saying 'Hello Miss Isla'. Excitingly we have been given the 'go-ahead' by the head teacher to start an 'English club' during the holidays, a project that is going to take a lot of planning and energy but that we're really hoping will be a success! This will involve more practical teaching through games and songs etc. so we're crossing our fingers that some of the children will want to attend!
This weekend, Innes, Gaby and I hosted a Sports Day/Mini Olympics for the children at Miqueas! The rain clouds rumbled around but quite miraculously the rain held off and the children enjoyed an afternoon of silly and competitive group and individual sports at the 'campo'. Our competing countries in the well renowned Olympic sports of; wheel barrow race, bucket throw, skipping, 3-legged race, ball between the knees jump and long jump were; Britain, United States, Canada, China, Spain and Honduras who came out on top as the resounding winners! It was great to see all the children (aged 4 -13) working so well together particularly the older ones encouraging the youngest and there were smiles and cheering all round! Of course the traditional sack, running races and relay proceeded after some much appreciated ice cream, not to forget the 'lime and spoon' race and best of all, the Tia race! A couple of personal highlights of mine were watching the children eagerly running between bases with their team flag and cracking up at some of the hilarious long jump attempts I saw as I held my clipboard and tried to keep a straight face. Innes, Gaby and I all agreed that it was a truly special afternoon in which we felt a real part of the Miqueas family. It was fully worth the extra effort and I would repeat it in a heartbeat!
We are so blessed to be living and working within such a great project in such an interesting, diverse and truly beautiful country! The people here are incredibly kind, only the other day a woman on the bus shared her lychee fruits with me and one of our neighbours is always helping us out from picking oranges to hanging our hammocks to untangling WaZowsky. It seems crazy that this country is the murder capital of the world, as apart from a few suspiciously gun-shot-sounding noises (which were likely to be fireworks) we've seen nothing that would suggest it at all! *Touches wood*. Despite it's negative reputation, this country has so much to offer and I'm so glad to be a part of it.
