Tela

Last weekend we took a trip to the beach to celebrate my big 4 - 0 birthday!  It was awesome!  We went to Tela which is a sleepy beach town just over a 3 hr drive from here.  It was just perfect.  The place we stayed at was called VillaMar. In the 70's it was part of the Chiquita Banana plantation where the executives lived.  The boys were so happy.  We spent the whole weekend in the hot sun lounging on the beach or by the pool.  The resort property was pretty big.  It was all inclusive with several restaurants to choose from, activities, entertainment and a private beach with shade, chairs etc.  The beach was very clean and the water was super clear.  It felt a little Jamacia-ish with the Garafuna people walking up and down the beach selling Pan de Coco (Coconut bread), offering over and over to braid your hair (not sure how to say this in Spanish but I figured out what they meant), and young boys selling coconut water.  They carried fresh coconuts and if you bought one (which we did) they did some fancy cutting with their machettes cutting off the top so you could drink.  They even had straws. 

 It was neat.  One of the little girls selling Pan de Coco sat and chatted with us for a bit.  Her name was JoAnn and she spoke French, Spanish, and a little bit of English.  She was 11 and attended school.  We talked with another gal (didn't catch her name) but she wanted to braid my hair I kept telling her later and she would ask why not now?  She was 20, and had 2 small children.  Her little boy was one and her little girl was 5.  She also had a 5 year old sister.  Her daughter's name was Genesis.  When I first asked her I thought she told me the girl's name was Hennesy - I even repeated Oh Hennesy?... and she said Yes! Hennesy... I said you mean like the drink?  She said no, like the first book in the bible.  I was a tad embarrassed. Very nice people, and they were very interested in us as Americans.  Early in the morning the mamas would come walking out on the beach.  They were dressed in brightly colored sun dresses and carried huge baskets on their heads.  The baskets were filled with the Pan de Coco that would be disbursed to the younger ones to sell.   All in all it was a great trip and we've already made reservations to go back in April.  

We've been here 2 months today and it's starting to feel like home.  The boys are doing really good in school.  Jordan got his first progress report and has all As and one B so we were happy with that.  We did just find out that he should actually be in the third grade here because of when his birthday falls.  Oh well - I think we will just leave things be.  We finally got a housekeeper.  Her name is Julie.  She comes twice a week and we pay her 200 limps (which is about 10.00) each time she comes.  Jordan was super excited to learn that she will cook for us, and he asked if she could please please please make him lunch on the days that she comes.  He said to tell her just to make him whatever she would make for her own kids.  The first day she came she made some tortillas and some kind of ground beef/potato mixture with their version of salsa to go on top.  He was so excited to get it at school because many of the other kids have housekeepers that do the same on a regular bases.  The problem is that she doesn't speak any English.  It actually stresses me out a bit to have her here because we have a very difficult time communicating.  She has only made lunch that one day.  One of Jose's coworkers uses Julie and that's how we found her.  Carolina is the coworker's wife.  She is from Chili and speaks perfect Spanish.  Carolina translates for me but that is quickly getting old....  We'll see how this works out.  Julie is only 25.  She has 4 kids.  9,7,4 and 2.  Her husband is a farmer.  She rides a bus an hour each morning to get to Comayagua then I pick her up on the side of the road.  She needs the work.

One of our new favorite things to do is to feed the stray dogs.  We look forward to it every morning.  The hungrier the better - we like em skinny!  We are often in a hurry in the mornings so the boys sometimes eat a bagel w/peanut butter, or a waffle on the ride to school.  Most of the time they don't finish it so we have leftovers for the dogs!  Everett will get in the front seat and point out the dogs to me and then we pull over and toss it to em.  Sometimes they get scared and don't eat it but most of the time they are happy pups.  Every time it makes our hearts happy!  Jose is not so excited about the idea so we usually wait till he is already out of the car.  Another thing that makes our hearts happy is Olga.  She is a housekeeper somewhere in our neighborhood and last week we started giving her a ride home.  It is so hot here and almost every day when we leave to get Jordan from school we see her walking up this big hill in the neighborhood.  I think she walks to the front gate and then gets a taxi from there, but from now on when we see her - we give her a ride.  Not sure exactly where she lives but she is so appreciative to get a ride to the school where we pick up Jordan.  She doesn't speak any English either but she is really happy and smiley and loves Everett.  He talks to her all the time (in English) but neither of them care.  Jose is not too excited about this either but we do it anyway!

Jail Fire

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/honduran-murderer-pardoned-saving-hundreds-deadly-prison-fire-article-1.1026718

As many of you know, there was a major fire at the jail in the town where we live (you can read about it in the link above).  The newspapers share conflicting information of what caused the fire but what is consistent is that hundreds of people died in there and a few hundred inmates have escaped.  The story is tragic either way you look at it.  We drive by this prison several times a day and even today you can see family members standing at the gates waiting for answers.  You can read the earlier articles which show the police having to spray tear gasses at the crowds and shooting in to the air.  What a mess.  They are so corrupt and unorganized in this country I doubt if the truth will ever be known.  The activity duty (American) military is not currently allowed to travel off the base and in to the town of Comayagua.  I suppose it's because of the fear of rioting in the town, i'm not really sure.  The immediate hours after the incident the whole base was on lock down - they were't letting people on or off of the base.  The American and Honduran military members assisted in the aftermath of the fire and on the first day the Honduran military protecting the base didn't even have any weapons as they had let the Policea in town "borrow" them... how crazy is that?  Last Thursday Jordan & Everett's school asked all of the families to send sack lunches to school to help to feed the families that were waiting outside the gates.  A friend of mine lives in another neighborhood in town and her security guard told her that he had seen two men running through the neighborhood in nothing but underwear at 2am the night of the fire.  A little frightening....  The   Policea  are positioned on many of the main corners in the town to make people feel better I guess - although they are known to be very crooked and corrupt themselves.

On a lighter note.... I have started taking Spanish class on the base.  I love it.  I go 4 days a week for 4 weeks in the evenings.  I'm really learning a lot and it feels good!  So much to learn though.... I had a test last night which the boys thought was cool - Jordan made me a sign for when I got back home congratulating me on the "good work".

Remember our car window that was broken out?  Well it STILL isn't fixed.  We have had the pleasure of visiting many auto parts stores and what an experience it has been.  I usually have the car during the day (taking the kids/picking them up etc) so on several occasions I have had to get Jose at lunch and a Honduran coworker that is going to help us and we have to go here, there etc.  Every day it's a different story.  This store doesn't have it but they can get it by this date, then we go there on that date and they tell us to go to this other store and then that store is closed so we go back the next day and then they tell us that they can't get it but this store can so we go to that store and they have to order it and it will be here this date and then on that date it comes and it's the wrong window and so they have to order the right window and then we go to pick it up on that date and the place is closed etc etc.... you get the picture...  The good news is that we GOT the window this morning!  It looks right and just maybe we will get it put in today!!  I am hopeful!
The fun thing is that i've had the opportunity to experience the auto parts stores.  You would not believe it!  They have just about everything you can think of!  Seat belts, steering wheels, headlights, hubcaps, rear view mirrors, and the list goes on and on and on.  The one place we actually got to drive in to was oh maybe 3 acres and they had everything so organized!  All by type of part.  The parts were arranged in containers all over the place.  The containers were Truck Beds!  No truck - just the bed of the truck, no axle or anything else.  I tried to get some pics but they just don't do it justice.  There are also seats, doors, etc all lying around too.  Kinda like a junk yard but a little different.  And of course there were chickens wondering around........

Lessons Learned

Jordan and some of his new friends

Sorry it's been so long since my last post!  It's not really like we are too busy - I have just been unmotivated.  We've done a little exploring and a little shopping, and have had a few setbacks....  So I had my first pedicure here and i'm just now okay to talk about it.  It's been about three weeks and I think I can say I have fully recovered.  What a horrible experience.  I knew it might be different, but what I had expected was for it to take a long time and cost very little.  Jose gets his hair cut for $4.00 for crying out loud and they spend forever on it but do a great job.  I had my friend Nikky take me so her place so I figured it couldn't be that bad.  The place was inside of a hair salon in a little shopping strip and it looked okay.  They put some warm water from the shampoo bowl into a bucket and had me soak - the water quickly got cold but that was the least of my worries. After a few minutes, a gal came back and took some tools out of a plastic bag and got to work.  She had a small desk lamp that she kept plugging in in different outlets so she could see my toes that were on her knee.  I was totally uncomfortable the whole time trying to keep my leg from sliding down her knee but that wasn't the worst part.  The "tools" were an old pointy nail file which she used to push my cuticles back, and a tired old callous file thing!  Not only were they UNSANITIZED but they were PAINFUL!  She made three of my toes bleed and poured nail polish remover on them to stop the bleeding (which didn't work of course).  I was in so much pain but for whatever reason I stayed and endured the whole thing, telling myself to grin a bear it. Uggh!  Finally I had her switch feet to give the first side a break.  My friend from the other part of the shop was giving me the thumbs up sign and saying Muy Bueno Si?  Of course I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I flashed her a smile and just got through it.  I couldn't wait for it to be over, and when it was - she put the used (and bled on) tools back in the bag, and back in the box to be used for the next victim.  I said very little to my friend on the way home, and barely stopped the car for her to get out at her house.  I was anxious to get home to a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.  I doused my toes three times a day for two weeks before they felt better.

Dog on Roof - Security?

Two weekends ago, we visited a nearby town called  Siguatepeque (try to say that fast a few times) Say Gua Te Peck Ay is how it sounds... kind of a fun word to say huh?  We'd heard that they had pretty good shopping so we ventured out.  That day we saw some interesting sites.  As we traveled over the mountain we got stopped in traffic for a tow truck that was pulling a car up from off the side of the mountain.  Jose got out and took some pics - the mountain roads are very windy, I could totally see how that could happen. There are some good restaurants in  Siguatepeque and lots of roadside stands with pottery, honey, hammocks, and birdcages.  We came home with a hammock - which is our all time favorite purchase, some plants, and a ceramic pot for outside.  We have also had some discussion about a bird.  Our last stop was where we bought the ceramic pot.  There were two small kids playing outside and helping their dad.  One of the boys was about Jordan's age and he was filthy dirty.  The other was 2 ish and he had absolutely no clothes on.  Jordan, Everett, and I  stayed in the car while Jose talked to the dad.  My boys were in awe - mouths hanging open wondering why that boy didn't have any clothes on.  My guess would be that he was not potty trained and they can't afford to buy diapers so to be naked is the easier option.... Sad - very sad to see.

Early last week when Jose was coming home from somewhere he had a little run in with a herd of cows.  There was a young boy taking them down the road and one turned his head and broke the passenger side mirror off the car.  I asked if the cow was injured and Jose said - "well he kept walking".  Crazy.  Later in the week (last Friday) we had our usual happy hour with some of Jose's co workers and a few of their spouses.  It's become a regular thing and I really look forward to it since I feel like i'm on house arrest the rest of the week.  This happy hour ran long and we ended up moving from the poolside site at the Golf Club where we live to a social club in downtown Comayagua.  Jose and I drove our own car and met everyone there.   We parked in a well lit spot at the Cathedral and I decided that rather than to risk getting mugged on the street I would leave my purse in the car. Our windows are very dark black tint and the purse was on the floor board very close to the seat in the back seat.  Needless to say - when we came out 2 hrs later our window had been smashed out and my purse was gone.  What a bummer!  Several credit cards/bank cards,  Military ID, Drivers License, etc all gone.  Lesson Learned #2.

Sleeping Boys

Not too much else going on.  We are taking a trip next weekend to the beach to celebrate my big 4 - 0 birthday.  We're really looking forward to that.  The place is called Tela.  I will be sure to Blog about that when we get back.