Back in Honduras!

Well, guess the title of my blog isn't quite right anymore...I am back in Honduras for the 5th time, and will be staying for a little over two months this time! I arrived a few days ago, and here's what I've been up to so far...

6/7 – 6/10
Well, I have arrived in Porvenir in one piece! When I got to San Pedro Sula on Thursday, Danny met me at the airport and we went to Pulhapanzak for a day. When we got there, we spent the evening in the town and the owner of the little hotel made us dinner. After dinner, we walked around the town – it’s a nice small town and the hotel owner assured us that it is very safe to walk around at night. We went to the waterfall Friday morning…it was gorgeous! There was also a spot for swimming, but we didn’t stay there very long since the water was chilly. When we were waiting for the bus to go to San Pedro, we saw a guy selling pineapples – 3 for L20 (about $1)! We thought about going to the soccer game in SPS on Friday since Honduras was playing Panama to determine who will qualify to go to the 2014 World Cup, but one of the other volunteers really wanted to go to Cayos Cochinos this weekend, and since Danny organizes the trips and they needed more people to be able to go, we decided to skip the game and go back to El Porvenir Friday so we could leave for Cayos Saturday morning. We spent most of Friday afternoon traveling back to Porvenir, and got back in the evening and went to Jared’s for dinner and to watch the game. We ended up leaving about 20 minutes before it ended, though, since it was still 0-0 and not much was happening. Honduras ended up losing, so we felt a little better about not having gone.

The next morning a group of us left for Cayos Cochinos – took the bus to La Ceiba and then from there, another to Nueva Armenia, where we took the lancha to Cayos. We stopped at one island first to pay the $5 entrance fee, which goes to preservation and education (the kids there have to take a boat to the island where the school is everyday). Then we went to Chachahuate, another island, to have lunch and buy bottled water since the island where we stayed only has a house and little cabins – nowhere to buy anything. After lunch (fried fish, rice/beans, and tajadas for me), we went to the island where we were staying, dropped off our stuff, and then went snorkeling from there. For dinner, we had baleadas made by the woman that lives in the house on the island. At night, when we were all out on the dock (one nice thing about that island is that since it’s so small and there’s enough of a breeze, there are no mosquitoes) and we noticed the water glowing – I had completely forgotten about the fluorescent plankton there – it looks like big fireflies in the water! I must have eaten something bad, since I felt sick in the afternoon/evening, and was definitely sick that night. Hopefully that just means I have gotten that over with and won’t be sick for the rest of the time here! ;)

Sunday morning, we had pancakes for breakfast and then took the lancha to another island to look for the boa rosada, a boa that’s only found in Cayos Cochinos – only not found by us this time! We then spent a while snorkeling there, before heading back to the island where we stayed to grab our stuff and head back to Nuevo Armenia. The ride back was quite rough again, so I ended up sitting with my eyes closed and sunglasses on for the majority of the ride – it was like being in a salty shower for most of the ~45 minute ride. On the way there, one of the other volunteers wore a snorkel mask for the ride – not a bad idea! When we got to the river, we all got out to push the lancha into the river – it can be hard to get it from the ocean into the river, since there’s a sand bar, and the waves can make it difficult, too. Once we got into the river, it was a short, smooth ride back to where we got out and went to wait for the bus. We ended up getting there at about noon, and the bus didn’t come til 1:30, so we went to a pulpería to get something to drink – I got a Sprite which ended up being the only cold drink other than one other Fanta…so a few of us walked over to another pulpería so they could get something cold to drink there. They got a big bottle of Coke to share, and while we sat there, the woman brought us a little plate of food to try and said next time we could get food there – she normally just cooks for the family, but could make more food with some notice. I tried some of the rice, and whatever sauce was on it was tasty! We then went back to the other pulpería, which by then had closed, to wait for the bus. We took the bus back to Ceiba and all went to Pizza Hut to get a late lunch – the Pizza Hut in Ceiba is much nicer than any one I’ve ever seen in the States – here it is the nice place to go. After that, we stopped by the mall to pick up a couple of things, and then took a taxi back to Porvenir. When we got back, Oscar showed me a puppy that is one of Moffy’s babies – only 4 weeks old, and so tiny!! Then I went for a walk with Jim, Oscar, and Vlad so Jim could put the finishing touches on the latest construction project (a toilet and shower for a family that previously didn’t have a shower and only had a latrine that was falling apart), and go find a family for the next project. We went and talked with a few families to see who doesn’t currently have access to a latrine, and is able to have something built on their property (adding a sturdy bathroom could add enough value to the property that the landlord would be able to raise the price of rent to something that the family would not be able to afford, so it’s ideal to build them for families that own the property). Jim ended up deciding on a place to build one structure with two toilets and two showers, for two families to share – so at least 11 people will be able to use them.

Photos:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101291908621668.2983329.10735354&type=1&l=2e830ce7e3
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10101291992493588.2983336.10735354&type=1&l=7892a75fa5