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!