Ya viene la lluvia...but that`s not always good.

Note: That whole blog was a bunch of crap. The rainy season hasn`t been that bad AT ALL this year. It`s either going to stay this nice, or we are in for a surprise in October. We`ll keep you posted.

Oh, and I have pics to post soon from our visit to the bay island, Utila. Next time. Speaking of Utila-it was the absolute cutest and cheapest little island ever. And a backpacker's haven. Full of clean and cheap hotels, good restaurants with endless fresh seafood.

You can walk the entire Island in a day. We walked a good portion of it before succumbing to the heat and ending up at the beach.


Currently, our town has had a very constant, very heavy haze lingering over it for the past 4 weeks now, and this means one thing. Rainy season is quickly approaching. Sometimes looking up at the haze covering the mountains can be almost eerie.

For me personally, this is a good thing. Things will get nice and green again. It`s the closest thing to a season we have here. The rain on the tin roof helps me sleep, and the smell of the rain on the roads lifts my spirits a bit.

The humidity breaks to a manageable point and that`s really nice.

Unfortunately, this is bad for the internet, and also for phone calls. Our computer time is going to be cut in half and we won`t be able to call out unless we are in San Pedro Sula (note:every couple of weeks). Its hard to say what day the clouds are going to break exactly, but when it happens, nothing works very well. The internet is already becoming frustrating.

Be on the lookout for more snail mail. Just a fair warning.

later,

Crystal

Feliz día de la madre

So this one is for you, mom.

Mother´s Day isnt taken lightly down here and with good reason. It seems that the mothers of the family do everything- cooking, cleaning, getting the kids to school, running their shops, doing the laundry and having dinner ready by 6pm. And that´s just the easy stuff.

Well one of our schools decided to bring the holiday in with style by having a Mother´s day Celebration of sorts. After being called up unexpectedly to give a speech to all of our students mothers(gulp), I tried my best to capture the day.



The stage was all set. ¨Felicidades Madres¨ (Congratulations Mothers) it says.






Then the Honduran Flag made an appearance, followed by the National Anthem..¨Tú bandera..Tú bandera¨..Everyone watched slyly to make sure I knew the words...I do.








Then the fourth grade boys dressed as ¨Reggatóneros¨ (gangsters who rap to Reggatón..is that a fair translation?) to dance-rap to everyone´s favorite Daddy Yankee song, ¨Gasolina¨. Those of you who haven´t had the thrill of listening to Reggatón music 20 hours a day, when we come home I´ll teach you all 6 songs.



Then it was the grand finale. A speech was given to all moms for their hard work and good food. Afterwards, there was a fashion show to display all of the very important roles of mothers everywhere!

Here were the given roles, from left to right...
1. a nurse
2. the housewife
3. a muchacha (who is a women that is hired to come clean your house and do laundry)
4. The ¨fresa¨ wife (a fresa is a strawberry, but in Honduras it is a nickname for ¨rich city person¨)
5. the pulpería (corner-store) worker
6. Baker
7. Seamstress
8. and last but not least...Dancer.

A little different than what we would have seen at home, right?




Mass ammounts of ¨pastelitos de arroz¨ and ¨Horchata¨ (little fried rice things and thick rice-sugar drink) were passed out to all. As I turned to get out of the room and escape the craziness, I ran into 3 boys from our class. They were all dressed up in their little Honduran cowboy outfits and just too cute. They saw my camera and that was it. I was there for another 20 minutes taking pics of the kids. Hopefully more can be posted later, but here´s a pic of the boys.

So, that about wraps up this mothers day. Simon is out of town, and I´ve been invited to a neighbor´s house for some pastel y coca (Cake and Coke).

Happy Mother´s Day to all! Love you mom!

Crystal

...y ya cepillamos los dientes. que rico es.

Today we taught our first graders how to brush their teeth! Cogate has a dental program for schools where they donate the tooth brushes and toothpaste, and provide little fun colored calendars so the kids can keep track of how often they brush their teeth. Dental hygiene is hardly existent in the campo and more rural areas of Honduras. Many children end up having their baby teeth pulled out only to find that the adult teeth underneath are also rotted.

This is mainly due to the amount of sugar in the Honduran diet. Kids eat nothing but candies and coke all day. Partially, because they aren't taught about what foods are good for them, but also because coke is cheaper than bottled water in some places.

We were riding the bus one day, and I turned to find a women feeding her baby coca cola out of a bottle. Yep, a baby bottle. And little baby was sucking it all down. Other times, we see babies drinking coffee out of a bottle. Why not water? Because in the smaller aldeas, people are not taught that coke is better than water. And when there is little food to eat for their children, coke provides calories, no matter how unhealthy those calories might be.

Anyhow, the kids were pretty pumped to learn how to brush their teeth. So excited, in fact, that more toothpaste ended up on the ground and on their faces than on their teeth.