With the good, there´s the bad...but usually its good.

The holidays are over. We had a wonderful time in La Ceiba last week. It was a well deserved vacation of speaking English, eating fresh sea food, and laying on the beach. We hiked Pico Bonito, a tropical rain forest reserve with waterfalls, swimming holes of turquoise blue, and wildlife teeming from the canopys. We heard howler monkeys in their original habitat, and we boated the Caribbean sea. I swam with angel fish and almost stepped on a hermit crab. The high point was when simon got stung by a stingray. Don´t worry, he´s ok! Just a little swelling on his stomach, nothing serious.

We´ve started English classes and they are pretty successful so far. I´m not really excited about teaching English, but the people in my class are very willing and wanting to learn, so I´m not going to stop them. They want to learn a foreign language for the same reasons as me, so I can hardly deny them of that. Beisbol starts next week! This I am excited for. The kids are so happy about it!

I play alot of cards. If anyone wants to send me some Sudoku puzzles, or a cribbage board, I would be grateful. Our house has tons of 'animalitos' (these are unknown animals larger than bugs, but smaller than dogs, basically) in the ceiling that pitterpatter all night long. I think they are bats and rats. Also, lately Ive been having a hard time sleeping. Partly because of the noise from Chickens and dogs, and partly because Ive been having a difficult time coping with G´s death and that my friends are all at home and I can´t do alot for them. Considering G signed the paper to get me here in the first place is upseting, but Im hoping to do some fun work with the drumline in the village at the top of our mountain, Los Andes. Maybe we can play a song for the opening of our new library in May. G would have loved that.

All in all, things are good. Its going to start getting hot soon. Starting in March, we can have visitors, so start looking for tickets! Its really relaxing here, tranquillo, as they say. I hear of a rumour that there are tickets to Roatan and San Pedro airports for 300-400 dollars out of Atlanta through Delta air. Ill keep everyone posted if I find anything.

peace and pineapple, Crystal