Jackpot--Las Vegas, Santa Barbara

So this week we had our final interview with our Project Manager about our soon to be site for the next 2 years. And, so far, things have been looking up for us and getting better all the time.

Im about 95 percent sure that I know which site S and I will be living in. Ready? I hope so because its....Las Vegas! Las Vegas, Honduras, that is.

Let the Vegas jokes begin.









So the town is somewhere between 15 and 25 thousand people. Its decently sized. The best thing about this site? A little history...

Las Vegas is situated in a little valley way up in the mountains of the department of Santa Barbara in the West-Central side of the country. It is said to be one of the most beautiful parts of the entire country. It is located on the west side of the only lake in Honduras, Lago de Yahoa. On the other side of the city, is a protected National Park--Parque Nacional de Santa Barbara. The town was formed and built to help support the miners who live it's sister town, El Mochito. Currently there is still an active mine in the mountains, though we're not positive what is being mined there yet.

Apparently Las Vegas is known as a little wonderland by Hondurans, hidden from everything else and somewhat of the beaten path.

When I asked my host mom about it, She said one sentence, ¨Las Vegas is precious.¨


Other stats:

1. We have a baseball team and will be traveling for games.

2. Simon will be teaching teachers to teach Geography and History (Never happened by the way)

4. We will be on a committee for the new library being built in our town, and have to do advertising, news things, start clubs for the kids, and form a traveling library to the poorer communities. (NOTE: Also never happened...the Library Committee turned out to be corrupt and the new Mayor ignored the project.
5. We have the support of the Municipality, so Simon can work with the Mayor´s office on whatever we please (if they get re elected next week, that is)NOTE: They didn't get re-elected. The new Mayor wasn't a fan of Americans and didn't really ever help us with anything.

6. And here´s where I thought things couldn't get any better. I have been assigned to assist my own...High school BAND to work with for 2 years, mainly with percussion!
NOTE: This did work..and it turned out to be one of our most successful work endeavors.

7. Apparently, we will be moving into a brand new house!! Our boss went to check it out on Tuesday, and she said we will be able to move into a house she found which has indoor bathroom and kitchen, and also has a yard with a fence, and is near the town center. We will have to wait for them to install the tile for the first couple weeks, but it will be worth it. Score! NOTE: We lived in the house for 4 months. Nobody ever came to finish it and the landlord took advantage of us. We had to move to a different house.

The faults of our site:

1. I don´t know if this is actually true, but our PM told us that during the rainy season, which is like 6 months, the roads to our site all wash out, leaving us sort of trapped in this little valley. I guess its hard to get back up the mountains and out. I have to investigate this, though. NOTE: It was like being in a little valley, but we luckily never got trapped. The roads in our area were far superior to those in other areas of the country where our friends lived.


2. There is a dude from Oregon who opened a Microbrewery near our site, in fact it is the only microbrewery in the country, and he offers such delights as mango, pear, and coffee beers. Wait, I'm sorry, this is the coolest thing ever!!!! I guess if you don't like handcrafted beers, chillin out in hammocks, birdwatching, national parks, or large beautiful lakes with waterfalls, don't come visit, cuz that's what we are gonna have ( i hope ) for the next two years...

NOTE: We did have that. And it was really awesome. Robert is the owner of the D&D Brewery--Check out the D&D Website here.

We highly recommend visiting D&D Brewery and saying hello to Robert. He is a very interesting guy and is quite knowledgeable about Honduras in general. At the time of our departure, he was doing so well that he was in the process of putting a second Brewery in Copan Ruinas.

Viva Las Vegas.

That´s it for now. We'll update you more later.

Also, its yucky and rainy from hurricane Gamma right now. This is our second Hurricane down here, and so far they have been pretty wussy, just a lot of rain here in Siguatepeque. However, the BBC website has some pictures of Honduras´ North Coast which has been taking a beating this year.

Adios. C&S