So what is $25....

I'm at an American style bar drinking a beer, connected to free wi-fi, and ordered a burger. Sometimes you have to try and be normal again... right? Especially now that it is Christmas. I thought I would be spending it alone holed up in my house - I'm going to the Islands to get scuba certified on the 29th and didn't want to spend too much time on the road. But fortunately I got an invite from my host family so it looks like I'll enjoy dinner with them. But still it isn't the same, so this burger and beer(s) is my Christmas party for myself.

It's strange how my perception of money has changed since I got here. Now I'm thinking in terms of Lempiras (the Honduran national currency) and I was debating whether to buy a blender as well as a toaster oven. Blender to make refried beans, hummus, etc. and toaster oven just to make things other than stove top foods. But a blender costs 450 lempiras, a toaster oven about 750 lempiras. That seems so expensive! And who knows of the quality? I hemmed and hawed all morning. Should I or should I not buy? Should I wait until a volunteer leaves and then try to buy something off of them cheap? Or should I splurge right now?

To put things in perspective, the exchange rate is about 18 lempiras to the dollar. I usually round up to 20 lemps to keep things easier. So I'm torn about a $22 blender and a $36 toaster oven. hmm.....

well i decided to spend the money on buying monopoly instead (495 lemps). At least I can use that for game nights with the local hondurans... and until I get the tahini that sungnam mailed me I won't really need it as I can still mash my beans by hand.

I would also like to take this moment to share my adventures with my bus.

Two weeks ago I was on my way to the big city to pick up a package my sister mailed me. As usual, I closed my eyes to take a nap for the duration of the trip... but this time the bus stopped just before the main highway. We all had to get out the bus and what I saw was hundred of cars parked on the side of the dirt road and eventually a bit mob of Hondurans. Some had sticks, others were stranded travelers like us and there were lots of cops in riot gear. We had to walk across this stand off to get to the main highway (they call it a highway but its actually a 2-way road that travels all through Honduras) where we saw cars blocked off by boulders and demonstrators. We also passed by military armed with big wooden sticks. The protesters were choking off travel between Santa Rosa (the close big city to me where I buy groceries/pick up mail, and the transportation hub for the west of Honduras) and the rest of Honduras. The protesters were from the town of Dulce Nombre (along with the sister towns of Concepcion and San Agustin, my town) upset because the national government had been saying that they would pave the road from the main highway that leads to Dulce Nombre for the past several years but, surprise surprise, have not yet done so. The other towns were involved as they would benefit from the paving of the road as well - this road through Dulce Nombre leads to those towns as well.

So after picking up my sister's package, I couldn't get back to my site as no buses would be able to go through the area and even if I tried to walk past the protest area there would've been no guarantee of a bus from the protest area back to Dulce Nombre (and not to mention my site). I walked that stretch before and it takes a good 2 hours. I was stranded out of my site, but luckily I was able to take a bus the other way of the protest to another site where a volunteer lived to spend the night and not spend money on a costly hotel. I was eventually able to make it home safely the next day as the government negotiated with the protesters and stated that equipment to pave the road would be sent in. Not sure how that is working out...

Here is to hoping that the holiday travels will not be disrupted, for me here as well as everyone back home. Hope you guys have a happy holiday and a happy new year!!

Happy Holidays

Thanksgiving - good food and goof friends. What could be better?

This year we had a small get together in Salama, Olancho at Mark and TJ's site. We had about 8 people and I was a bit worried how we would cook the turkey as TJ only had a toaster oven (yes, it is possible to buy turkey here in Honduras if you go to the big city), but Mark's host family was kind enough to let us use their oven. Of course we provided them with some food as well...

I cooked the turkey, gravy (from scratch!) and sausage apple stuffing (my usual dishes for thanksgiving) and other people cooked mashed potatoes, yam, green bean cassarole, corn, buns, etc. The only dish we did not have was cranberry sauce, but overall it was a very successful thanksgiving dinner. We didn't get to enjoy leftovers the next day as we went to Catacamas where another volunteer lived (in the nicest house ever!) but i'm sure mark and tj enjoyed the leftovers the next couple of days.

In Catacamas we had an "Always Sunny in Philadelphia" party - apparently it is very popular with the Olancho volunteers, so I stocked up on some episodes to watch. It is like a live version of Family Guy - very inappropriate. After my weekend there, I went to Santa Barbara to visit some people that work with coffee. I learned a lot there and hope to continue working with some of the people I met - I believe that there is a lot of potential in working with coffee at my site.

While in Santa Barbara they had their feria (celebration of the saint the city was named after) and we saw a bull riding event. The highlight was during a break when a dog wandered into the bull pen. The rodeo clown snuck up on the dog while it was licking itself, and then to the delight of the crowd he grabbed the dog by the hind legs and started swinging the dog around! It was the most hilarious thing I ever saw and I was fortunate enough to grab it on video camera. I caught it in mid swing - i wish i got it from the beginning! I will try to post it later. The dog was unhurt, but it was hilarious....

The second most amusing event was that night. In the central park there was an area set up as an outdoor night club and another area with a live band. There was a backup dancer and the band had a guy come up to stand while she danced provacatively. Then it was his turn to dance for her. That part was whatever, but then they brought a little kid up! The dancer danced/grinded on him (but not directly on him), but when it was the little kid's turn, he started dry humping her leg!! Everyone started cracking up and then a band member lifted him up and he was dry humping the dancer's torso! I wish I had a video of that.... but it was awesome.

I'm back in my site now and next up is Christmas. I'm not sure what I'll be doing, but I do plan on going to the bay islands for new years to get my scuba certification! hope to be able to update the blog before then, but if not, Happy Holidays and Happy New Years everyone!