Central American Sunday.....

When sharing about my last year to a lady at dinner last evening she kindly asked......"Why are you going back to the States? Why did you leave?" She asked me. "I can tell in the way you speak that you are so passionate and you are so grateful for your time there."

 I smiled. Took a big deep breath. "Well........"

I explained, came up with a handful of reasons but proudly said I am excited to be back close to family, friends and back in the mountains. (this is the truth).

I am humbled at her kind words and grateful that sharing my story articulates my very feelings. Becuase  my time in Honduras changed me for the best. I have absolutely no regrets about going and or leaving my job to do so. Funny how I thought I would miss out on all of these things while I was in Honduras and now I feel as though had I not gone I would have missed out on that much more.....

Truth is now I am going home..... Less than two weeks now. How far away this time seemed and now it is here. So this morning while every muscle in my body was screaming at me and my body ached, I took mind to Colorado....... Walking at Washington Park, Broncos football season, A margarita at Lolas, a cold summer night at a Rockies baseball game, Sunday church at DCC, watching the sunset over the top of the mountains, seeing friends, celebrating Megs baby, Heading to Kentucky over Labor Day.......... (time sometimes cannot move quick enough).

How lucky I am to have something to look forward too..... and "something that makes saying goodbye so hard."(Dr. Seuss)

I have not spoken much about the women that I am doing my teacher training with here but I really should. First let me say that they are some of the most generous, kind, honest, broken, beautiful women I have ever met.  We range in age from 20 to 62 years of age. Students, parents, step parents, single, married, widowed, divorced, dating, business executives, artists, yogis but mostly just women. There are many times that it can be a bit overwhelming to be with 22 women for so many days straight but at the same time is a tremendous encouragement. We sweat. We cry. We laugh. We share stories. We complain. We work hard. We study all amidst the rain forest of Costa Rica.  They all have incredible stories, many different reasons why they are attending a yoga teacher training but we all share a love of getting sweaty doing yoga......

It is now Sunday. Hope you have a great day. I am feeling a bit fatigued but the show goes on...... my pants fit tighter than ever (muscle I surely hope). My tan is fading (being inside all day doing yoga).  But I am learning about myself and soaking up my last two weeks of Central American sun.... Cheers to you.

San Juan del Surf....

Monday around lunch time I checked in to my hostel Pacha Mama, just one block west of the ocean front. Judging by the record book of passports I am the only American staying and have been the only one that has checked in for the past few weeks. I think we can thank the US. Government and narrow minded news coverage for that. The horrid stories and overly advertised warnings about this part of the world has led many to visit other places.

With that being said, I could  not be more happy with my decision to visit San Juan. My expectations were moderate but this place has far exceeded all of my expectations. Perhaps it is the diverse hostel community, the stunning remote beaches, the Pacific sunset, late night live music or my $30.00 two hour surf lesson and all day board rental I am not sure...... or perhaps it is simply that I am yet again reminded how incredibly beautiful the world is and how small my world was before moving here.

I am sitting drinking a coke out of a bottle beach side at the shore of San Juan Del Sur... In an hour I am heading to beach Maderas. It is my last day in San Juan del Sur and I have been meaning to write everything down before I forget... So forgive me if it is a bit choppy/confusing and long :)

Live shot right now....

The below picture is of me on the bus studying up for yoga school. I as well read from my bus mates Lonely planet about places to see in San Juan. I took a few pictures of pages to use as reference. It has become quite handy to have. (My book... A rough guide, is not as helpful).

My breakfast pre bus ride (all of this for four dollars) Mango, Watermelon, Banana, Papaya and toast. Yum. Coffee takes the cake here...

Below Me crammed on a chicken bus (As you can tell by how crowded it was) I hold my backpack despite the efforts of many to assist me in placing it above my head. (No thanks) This has my laptop and valuables so I choose to keep it on my lap. I listen to music but keep my phone in my bag. As you can tell the skyline from Managua to San Juan Del Sur passes along Lago de Nicaragua. The two volcanoes that you see as we drove make up the Island De Omitepete. It is also a popular place to visit. (Wish I had more time). I arrived and checked into my dorm room bed ($8.50 per night, clean sheets each night), sleeping amongst 12 others and to be honest on certain nights I think much more. I am glad in this circumstance that I am a heavy sleeper (I don't hear anything) even if two people are in the bunk just next to me. Or last night during open mic night hosted by our hostel and 60 people are listening to live music, singing and dancing late into the night. 

 I quite enjoy the community of it all. My bunk mate (sleeps on top bunk) is a guy from England, to my right Mike from Australia, and to my Left Kari from Canada. Across the way are two girls from Israel (guitar and music playing). We all share two bathrooms and two showers. Yesterday I had a full five minute conversation with another Aussie guy while we both were in our showers. (funny). It is amazing how normal it seems, brush your teeth, get ready with everyone else. This is as well the best way to meet people (Especially traveling alone). The first night I found myself in a pub crawl ( we visited five bars before I crashed asleep). All with my bunk mates. I knew then that night that my time in San Juan would be great......

Our dorm

Sunset Monday night in San Juan.

Tuesday morning I got my tennis shoes on and decided to climb to Jesus. The second largest statue of him in the world. From the top I could see both the pacific coastline of Costa Rica and the Northern beaches. Pictures speak for themselves....

Returning back from my hike, I had coffee, a muffin and yogurt from a fantastic coffee shop in town with another dorm mate from the Dominican and a girl from Canada. It was then decided I would take surf lessons.... :) and head to Hermosa beach.

Below are pictures..... I just realized it is nearly 11:26 and I need to get changed for the beach. More update on my sweet wave catching, sunset, frog killing and my plan for tomorrow.

Real adventure – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world.

Last night we said goodbye Thomas. An impromptu acoustic singalong occurred in our room after dinner.... one guitar, seven of us circled around, singing along with lyrics, the final sips of wine and a candle slowly burning away. Singing along to Oasis, Wonderwall, Damien Rice and Hallelujah .... with small bits of laughter, only to suppress the emotional reality that we have only two weeks left together...

I look at pictures of my kids and tears begin to welp up.

Taking the bus home Sunday, I was looking out the window at the Lake and took a deep breath. In my mind I was heading home and the home I was referring to was Pena Blanca.... Almost ten months have passed and its hard to even imagine life some place else.

Wednesday while hiking in the rain with Matt and Lotte, Matt held out his arms wide as the rain drops poured. I could not help but think that is exactly how I feel. Arms stretched wide, trying to soak in every last bit of what is left. Experience everything. I am overwhelmed looking back at the past year and I cannot imagine having gone my life without this being apart of my story. 

I must admit I am a bit afraid to go home. Excited? Absolutely. Perhaps more nervous because I feel so different. And I know that things will look the same when I get back. Very little will have changed yet I come back someone new.

Of course there are more weddings on deck, more babies due, more houses purchased, more graduations that have happened. ....My car will start back up again. My things will be moved out of storage. Pictures will hang back on the walls. But the me that returns is not the same.

If I was honest I am afraid of how quickly it will wear off and how quickly I will get tired of it all. Get tired of the stuff, the bills, the things that seem like tragedies which are merely hiccups to the heartbreak here. Afraid of how much my heart will be left here.

I know I will think of the sweet faces, the big brown eyes, the long eye lashes,  and the shouting of "Miss". I will long for the days of stinky hot kids running in from recess. Long for the nights spent in the dark with my roommates because the power has gone out yet again. 

How long ago it was that we hiked to the waterfalls and ran to the bus in the pouring rain. How many nights we spent while Matt crashed in one of the girls beds. The countless family dinners. The mouse sitings, sunbathing, traveling......

How foreign this place felt and how normal it seems now.......

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

Tegucigalpa x2

Long overdue weekend recap.....

Last Friday at school was the Dia De Familia. (family day) It was a hot, long and exhausting program but my kids did so good. :)  In true Honduran time the program was set to start around 1:00 pm, which meant it started quarter till 2:00 pm... and did not finish until 5:30 pm. (could you imagine being a parent and sitting that long???)

 

Leaving the program before it finished we caught the bus around 4:30 pm and were Tegucigalpa bound. (Yes we went again, this time with Philip in tow) We arrived earlier than expected and Fernando picked us up. We quickly transformed from our teal Family Day Tshirts into our "Suit and Tie" attire for Hector's birthday party that we were attending that evening. Fernando had made reservations to stay at the Marriott for the night, so he was gracious enough to let us stay as well. To say the Marriott was nice is an understatement. After hostel hopping/ B&B staying in Central America, it felt so nice to walk on carpet, fall into a big comfy bed, watch TV, have the option for room service, take a hot and cold shower (meaning you can adjust the temperature). We did not want to leave.

Before heading to the party that night, we sat outside on the patio of the Marriott overlooking the city and the twinkling lights of the city. We drank cocktails and ate a yummy appetizer before heading out to the birthday party. We arrived at the party and it was so nice to walk in and see the same faces that we just seen the weekend before. We danced, talked and ate incredible appetizers at the poolside party until after 4 am in the morning. We finally fell asleep just as the sun was coming up at 6 am in the morning. It was a great night. I cant remember the last time I was up that late.

Saturday we made our way to the pool at the hotel around 12:45 pm to have lunch and relax. We laid poolside listening to the best of "Our Dads Music" (Bee gees, Elton John, Bread, Lionel Richie, Earth Wind and Fire, Bob Dylan, Commodores etc.) while soaking up a bit of sun.

That evening we went to the Angry Beaver. A pub owned by a Canadian man, that houses over 100 different kinds of beers from around the world. It is safe to say we were in beer heaven. Between the six of us we must have tried nearly fifteen or so different beers. I think Faye said it best, "I was more enamored by the outside seating area which would not have looked out of place anywhere in Europe. It was filled with an eclectic mix of 20-something Hondurans, mostly speaking English and listening to some really ‘interesting’ music. Needless to say we spent a very long time there." (I had a Anchor Steam: San Francisco  Prestige: Haiti, New Castle: England)

That night we headed to bed early, as we were still really tired from the night before.

Just before catching the bus on Sunday, Fernando took me to the grocery store in Tegucigalpa so I could buy chocolate chips, and a few other things I am unable to get in our town. I walked every aisle just to make sure I was not missing something..... After a four hour bus journey home Sunday, we all slept well that night. Now it is already Wednesday! My goodness time is flying.

Tomorrow evening we are saying goodbye to Thomas. He took a job with the Nashville Teaching Fellows in the States so he will be leaving Honduras two weeks earlier than the rest of us. We are hosting a family dinner potluck. I am going to make Kentucky Beer Cheese.... (Wish me luck). Looks like Friday Kylie and I are going to adventure our way to Ciaos Cochinos (rated one of the places in the world with the clearest water) on the Caribbean coast. (Only a few weeks left, got to squeeze it all in).

Below are some pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

The Truth About Honduras

If you a do a google search of Honduras. (Don't worry if you googled because you are not sure where it is on the map) You will probably find the following words come to the top of your findings: coup in 2009, murder, drug cartels, poverty, earthquake and hurricanes. You will probably discover the US Governments strong advisement that Americans should be careful when traveling here or that they should otherwise go someplace else on your travels. 

What google search does not tell nor do the latest news report share is the real story.

It does not tell of the people, the landscape that remains mostly untouched, the hillsides that hover near the tips of the clouds, the birds that sing songs that are beautiful remedies for a country that is rich in soil, lined with coffee fields, faces of sweet children, long eyelashes that surround brown eyes showing wonder and grace, crystal blue oceans that adorn two coasts, providing some of the best snorkeling in the world and some of the most beautiful villages hidden amongst trees and hills.

So before you sit down with your cup of coffee and your Ipad news feed to read that this is statistically one of the most dangerous countries in the world......don't think you are now the expert. That you get to be the one to judge what this place or isn't simply because you have spent twenty minutes reading the pages of CNN or ABC World news while tossing your finger across your E Reader.

You don’t get to be the judge. 

It is much more than the papers will ever write, more than statistics will show, more than words will ever do justice. It is a place that was hand crafted by the same God that created the snow capped Rocky Mountains, the depths of the South Pacific, the jungles of the Amazon, the tundra of the North, the majestic Alps, the rolling hills of the English countryside and the vast Sahara. The same hand made those and this place.

It is a country rich in so many more things than the supposedly "Richest Country in the World" ever thought of being rich in. Rich in things that matter. 

So while you are comfortable, surrounded by all your stuff, don't judge these people, place them in a category, reduce them to a number, nor make statements about what they are or what it is like. 

This place has become my home, one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen. And now that I am soon to say goodbye to it, I am realizing I too misjudged this place. 

Thanks Honduras for putting me in my place.

Love Me

****Sorry if it is a bit harsh... I was just as guilty

24 hours in Tegucigalpa

One thing I wish would do itself....... grading kids papers.  But I must say listening to James Taylor while doing it... eases the pain a bit..

I am a bit late on the recap from the weekend. Perhaps it is because it was so great that I am afraid words will not do it justice or I am simply coming to realize that this chapter in Honduras is coming to a close more quickly then I realize. Suddenly I feel a bit rushed and busy, so the blog was not a priority..... But alas here it is...

Last Friday our weekend started with the last rotation of family dinner. Matt and Thomas cooked an incredible meal with roasted chicken served over pasta with cheese. Emyle the preschool director came for dinner as well with her son. We decided to speak only Spanish for the night. So funny. Matt, stole the show reminding Emyle "Te Quiero Mucho" (I love you very much) and randomly speaking about the few things he knows in Spanish. It was a good dinner full of lots of good food and laughs. (Note: Family dinner started last fall, by random draw, two people were paired to serve a full meal for everyone. We did four rounds, dinner was each Friday. Only remains one final dinner potluck)

All of the girls were in bed around 8:30 pm (yes that is correct). Kylie, Faye and I had an early departure for Tegucigalpa in the morning. Below is a bulleted list of what I liked and the things I did not (mostly good)..... Such a fun weekend to say the very least

• I like leaving for the bus early in the morning so my roommates and I can admire the girl making baleadas. Like a champ. Honduran women are experts at pounding out some tortillas.
• I like having a local show me the city they grew up in. Fernando was an incredible host. (thank you again)
• I like the view as a passenger of a car, not on a bus or in a taxi. 
• I like hillside cities. Cities that are so perfectly placed on hillsides offering stunning views. The lights lit up the city at night like tiny stars.
• I like fancy hotels. Like this one. We stayed here. Having a cosy room, with views that overlooked the city and an amazing swimming pool. I like that. So wonderful.

• I like hotel piano players. Made us girls feel like we were on proper holiday.... Drinking out of real wine glasses and having gin and tonic on Saturday evening.
• I like cramps.... (picture below) Cramps is the name of a drink made famous by a bar in Tegucigalpa that takes an old mayonnaise jar, pours in gin, night train (form of sherry type wine), and sugar. They put on the lid, shake it up and pour it in your glass and you drink it. Strong? Yes Good? Surprisingly

• I like liquor stores that carry more things than just beer and cheap rum. Like a proper wine cellar. We got lost in the shelves and racks of wine Saturday evening. 

• I like Via De Los Angeles..... It was a beautiful cobble stoned village outside of the city with lots of small souvenir shops, incredible pupusas (El Salvadoran originated food, click here for more information) and a landscape that appears so much like Colorado ( i may or may not have said this a few times)

• I like the joke that the statue of Jesus that overlooks Tegucigalpa is compared to the statue of Jesus in Rio, Brazil. Jesus hands pointed out, "Wow thank you, look at this beautiful city of Rio. Jesus hands pointed down in Tegucigalpa, Thank you for this place, what is this city?" Just so you know, I loved Tegucigalpa and don't think its even close to the reputation it has developed. (picture below Tegus and then Rio, perhaps the landscape is a bit different)

• I like showing up to someones house and immediately feeling like you are at home. On Saturday evening we attended a birthday party with all of the people we had met in Utila during Semana Santa. We indulged in wine (beer or anything you desired), talked, danced and spent our evening at a beautiful house outside of the city. It felt like we have been friends with all of them for years. It may very well be one of my most favorite nights I have had in Honduras....

Our entire group...

• I like Sunday brunch at the hotel. Yum

• I like big swimming pools and laying in the sun, counting down till the last possible second that we could stay and not miss the bus....

• I like having a roommate that used to be a bartender and goes to the bar, helps the pool bar lady whip up some Bloody Marys with the few things she had there. Yum again. (picture below of us with our Bloody Marys)

• I like that we can go back on Friday.... even getting in a bit late. It is Hectors Birthday.... Better to arrive late then never.

What did I not like you may ask.......

• I didn't like having to leave on Sunday. We debated. Kylie insisted we stay. Faye said she had too much to teach her kids. We thought maybe we could pretend we were sick. I wanted to stay. We all did. But we had to come back.
• I dont like seeing a woman completely naked walking across the road. Yes this happened. One of the most bizarre, strangest things I have probably ever seen. Breaks my heart.
• I didn't like the fact that my rainbow sandals broke (my favorites, just got them at christmas)
• I dont like that it is over but I am so glad we get to go back on Friday.

Well suppose I should grade my kids papers..... Sweet Baby James please make it a bit easier to do. 

Thanks again to all of you for reading. This teacher is worn out and ready for a new day to start.

Warmest to you
Kristina