Take your breath away-beautiful

I cannot take the credit for finding this video.  There is a woman who lives on the North Coast and we follow her blog from time to time.  She posted this video from You Tube and it's stunning.  Honduras is such a small country, that in the 5 short months that we've been here, we've seen many of these places, and plan to see the others during our two years here.

Take it with a grain of salt... this video was produced by the tourism board, but it is worth the 4 minutes to take a break from your normal routine.  Hell, I even enjoyed the "break from the normal routine", and I LIVE HERE!  And the music is nice too.  You can file this under "Stuff White People Like" (that's another funny website, if you've never checked it out).
Just watch it...  it is everything Honduras deserves to be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQv6OZxsCdg

Eric and his dad went to Roatan today.  They got in two dives, despite the rain.  My parents arrive tomorrow and we're driving to La Ceiba Tuesday, will spend the night there, then catch the early ferry on Wednesday morning.  There forecast calls for sunshine from Wednesday through the weekend, with a high of 82 degrees F.  Yay!  We plan on spending a lot of time on the beach, in the water, playing Uno with grandparents, visiting the pina colada lady's shack, swimming with dolphins!!

Then we will be off to Copan until New Years.

Happy Holidays!

While Papa Bruce was in the city with us we took a drive up to El Picacho.  It's a giant statue of Jesus on a mountain overlooking the city.

Jesus

The gardens around Jesus' park were beautiful.  One might even say, Garden of Eden-esque.  It's not really Jesus' park, it's called Parque Naciones Unidas (United Nations Park).

Linnea at her Pre-Kinder Christmas concert.  They sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Oh brother!  So much for trying to shelter our kids from the commercialization of Christmas and the over-emphasis on Santa and gift-giving.  Actually, it's been good because our kids have been saturated with Santa.  He is EVERYWHERE!  We saw him in the grocery store today.  We've seen him riding in the back of a pick-up truck.  One day we were at the mall and there were FOUR of them!  Nothing like 4 Santas to blow the mystic and myth out of the water...

Oh, and that scarf tied around her tummy is her own personal flair.  She has her own style, and no one is going to stop her!  See how the other boys are dressed?  It was 85 degrees that day, but it doesn't matter.  These kids are dressed to the 9's on non-uniform days.  Love the red scarf and hat!

Chunky Jewelry - Revisited

For those of you who have known us for many years, you may (or may not) remember that we were married on December 20, 1998.  Some of our friends and relatives may have been cursing us under their breath for deciding to get married amidst the craziness of the holiday season.  But, if I can say so myself, it was a beautiful time to get married.  It got really cold the night before and it actually snowed on the hills above Forestville and St. Helena.  That Sunday morning, it was bitterly cold, but crisp and clear.  We got married at Paradise Ridge Winery and the vines were beautifully dormant; their gnarly, woody branches naked in the cold.  We could see perfectly across the Santa Rosa valley to the western hills of Sebastopol and Forestville.

Tomorrow is December 20.  Our 11th anniversary.  The passage of time is a funny thing.  In many ways, we are not the same people that married one another that day.  We had no idea what life held for us.  Rich or poor?  Sick or healthy?  Fun or a real drag?  On the rocks or blended?  Coffee or tea?  Japanese or domestic?  PC or mac?  Sebastopol or Tegucigalpa?  You know the answer to that one.  But what I am thankful for is that the people that we have become still like one another.  OK, we still LOVE one another and are still enjoying the adventure together, where ever that adventure may be.

So to commemorate our 11th anniversary, I am sending Eric a few days early to Roatan with his dad so they can maximize their diving time before the kids, my parents and I arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday.  He will be able to get in a few dives a day and think of me... his loving wife who selflessly sent him off to paradise a few days before the rest of us.  It this what happens after 11 years of marriage?  I'm OK with it.

Remember a month or so ago I wrote about my new affinity for chunky things?  Well, I have a chunky thing now of my own...  he gave me a beautiful Mayan bracelet for our 11th.   The silver buckle has two Mayan people on it and it has taupe colored pearl strands.   I've included a picture so you can enjoy it too.

Distractions and Procrastinations

We are counting down the days until our 2 week break.  Eric's dad arrives this Friday and my parents will be here next Monday.  We have 3 1/2 days left of school, and I will admit I have quite a few papers to grade and a test to write.  But it's just so hard to stay focused; Linnea and I went to a b-day party today, there is an art opening tomorrow night (with wine AND cheese!  Can you believe it!?),  a concert on Wednesday night, and the list goes on of all the distractions and fun festivities.  So you can see, it's not so fun to grade papers.

So I thought I'd add another distraction to the list and mess around on the computer and put together a compilation of pictures that we've taken over the last few months.  Some are mundane, some ugly, some funny, some down right beautiful.

I hope you enjoy them.

This is a shacky, shanty town just outside the city.   These houses are about half way up the mountain.  To me, it's about the most beautiful mountain in the city.  It's not far from our school and I admire it every day.

One Saturday, it rained buckets and flooded a lot of city streets.

This tangle of power lines was funny, but even more funny was the mangled mess that lay in the street.  If we hadn't been in a bus, We'd have gotten a picture of that too.

This was taken from our balcony.  The construction workers treat the street like it's their job site.  The gray splotches on the street are where construction workers mixed the concrete while working on the house.  Not far from our house, there is a "concrete sculpture" where someone mixed concrete on a busy street, then left the pile there and a car drove through it and then it hardened.

Saturday morning stroll.

Ominous bird on a church in Ojojona.

Dahlia's, just the like ones that grow in our garden in Sebastopol.

A beautiful vivero (nursery) with the jungle in the background.

Selva Negra, Nicaragua

It's getting late tonight and I'll be heading to bed soon, but wanted to get some pictures up of our trip to Selva Negra, Nicaragua.  It is a organic coffee plantaition/hacienda in the mountains of northern Nicaragua near the town of Matagalpa.  We had planned on a 2 day trip, but the Nicaraguan government had other plans for us.  They closed the border Saturday morning to "protest" the elections that were scheduled for Sunday in Honduras.  We drove the 3 hours up to the border on Saturday morning only to be turned away.  We were told by the Nicaraguan national police that the border might open Monday or Tuesday.  So we headed back to Selva Negra for 2 more nights and made it back to Tegucigalpa safely on Monday afternoon.

The view from our car, looking at the Nicaraguan border.

On a swing outside our cabin.

Coffee drying out in the sun.

And these are the beans, even though they look like peanuts.

Coffee beans ready to be picked (just the red ones).

Fishing

Here you can see a Howler Monkey there were about 12 monkeys in this tree! Just outside of our room.

The streets of Sebaco were lined with hundreds of these stalls.

 

At the border again, this time ready to go home.  This is the line heading into Honduras.

I saved the best for last.  This is an actual road sign outside of Matagalpa, Nicaragua.

Trash Collector

      Today at the morning pledge for elementary, the principal made an announcement that some younger students had been seen picking up popsicle sticks and plastic spoons out by the Big Toy.  (Big Toy: think over sized play structure).  She wanted to commend these students for taking pride in their school and taking action when they see that some trash needs to be picked up.  Who were those kids picking up trash?  You guessed it... Dempsey and his friend Gabriel.

      You see, a lot of people in this country, and Central America for that matter, treat the world like it's their trash can.  Our school is a bit of an oasis from this trashy problem, but not entirely.  There are still plastic water bottles, napkins, food wrappers and more found here and there.

      I guess you can take the kid out of California, but you can't take California out of the kid.

Happy Thanksgiving!

            Just under 400 years ago, some brave souls left the Old World for the New World for better opportunity, a new start and the dream of riches.   They landed on the eastern shores of the New World in the cold of winter and these city slickers that had inhabited the Mayflower for nearly 3 months were now were faced with illness, lack of food, and inadequate shelter.  They were not farmers by trade and therefore were ill-prepared to farm in the poor soil of what we now know as New England.  These were the Pilgrims, or pelegrenos (according to my Spanish teacher).  They sought refuge in the kindness of strangers, the Wampanoag, to help them through the harsh winter.  These kind indigenous people taught them how to plant crops successfully, find ripe hunting grounds and prime berry patches.

             Jump to 2009.  An unassuming family of four from bucolic Northern California hops on an airplane to a foreign country.  Only seen on a map and on the wondrous internet, this family blindly sets up house in a large, Central American city.  With only work contracts and the hope of adventure, the family lands in the new world in the midst of political crisis and strife.  Poco a poco the family meets new people,  known as Hondurenos.  The Hondurenos take this family in and provide important information; like how to navigate a city where only 1% of the roads and streets actually named and how not to be afraid of men on motorcycles with huge shotguns - because after all - they are guards, not robbers.   In fact, we are feeling increasingly safe with the pervasive presence of weaponry.  Maybe that's not such a good thing, but I digress....  Over time, this North American family starts to feel more a part of the new world.

              Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  We have celebrated Thanksgiving twice already - the first was last Saturday at the high school principal's house.  We ate all the traditional foods.  Someone even made creamed green beans and broccoli with fried onions sprinkled on top.  I ate some, that was a first.  Yumm.  And as you can imagine, the principal lives in an outrageous neighborhood with a view of the city I had never seen.  I thought we had a great view from our 4th floor roost.  But this was amazing.  Wish I had my camera.

               The second Thanksgiving feast happened today.  Our school celebrated the first meal of the pelegrenos and the indios.  A little strange, if you ask me, that we are celebrating this event in Central America, but at this point I'm not going to complain about getting 2 days off of work.  From kindergarten to grade 12, each student in our school partook in the traditional feast of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and corn bread.  The room moms organized each class's feast.  I wasn't sure how the kid's would respond to the food, but they went crazy for it!!  Our class ran out of turkey and my students were going to the other 4th grade classes to see if they had extra turkey!

The picture at the left is our Thanksgiving spread, with some room mothers dishing up the food.

Instead of pumpkin pie, we had turkey shaped shaped sugar cookies.

               So many Hondurenos have asked us if we will be celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow.  We will not be celebrating it in the traditional sense.  We haven't had a day off of work since Sept 18, so no, we will not be cooking a turkey tomorrow.  We are heading for the mountains of Nicaragua for some rest and relaxation at a beautiful coffee plantation.  We will, however be celebrating the spirit of Thanksgiving.  We are thankful for our health.  We are thankful for a roof over our heads and good food on the table (I won't rub it in that it is cooked by the maid).  We are thankful for a supportive family that didn't disown us when we told them we were leaving our cozy life in Sonoma County for the unknown life in a not-so-stable country.  (*NOTE: The presidential elections are on Sunday.  Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.  Just remember not to double cross your fingers - that's bad luck.)  We are thankful for hope that Honduras will be able to return to "normal" and that the play-ground politics that have plagued this country for too long will give way to a more even handed government.

                We are also thankful for our family and all our friends who have kept in contact with us as we have chosen to travel so far from home and set up a life in a new place.  You may not know it, but even a little message from home goes a long way.

                GobbleGobble.

Quick Post

Today Linnea asked if she could wash the dishes in the sink.  She started sudsing up the dishes and she said "I'm washing dishes, just like our maid!"  Aaaaaahh, the perks of living in Central America.

Linnea at last week's pinata.  This one was for her friend, Diego.  Today, we went to another one for Hernan.  She loves pinatas.

 

Dempsey's futbol team finished in primer lugar.  Their final game was on Friday, they beat the Lions 7-1.  He has been wearing his medal all weekend.  He is already talking about signing up for Eagle League Basketball which starts in January. 

Last Friday, Dempsey was honored for his integrity.  Each teacher in the elemetary selected one child from class to be honored for one of the three values we have focused on since the beginning of the year; pride, integrity and loyalty.

Last week, we had a six day work week.  We had to work on Saturday to make up for all the days we have missed since school started (h1n1 and Mel Zelaya).  It was a long and tiring week, with 3 of Dempsey's futbol games after school, progress reports due, first quarter grades had to be entered into the new online grading system and writing assessments had to be scored and turned in on Friday.  We are glad to have only a 3 day week ahead of us.  Our plan is to go to Selva Negra in Nicaragua.  Check out www.selvanegra.com

The elections are next Sunday, November 29.  So far, things in the city have been calm and quiet.  We were planning on being gone the whole 4 day weekend and returning to Tegucigalpa on Sunday, but we have been warned that traffic getting into the city and all throughout the city will be messy because of all the people voting, so we decided to not take any chances and return on Saturday.  Keep your fingers crossed that things go smoothly on election day and this country will begin to mend the damage that has been done over the last few months and years. 

Thoughts on dogs

I though my dog barked a lot.

However... my dog Milo is a sweet, quiet, peaceful canine compared to the viscous beasts that live in our colonia.  Milo is the Marcel Marceau of dogs.  Yeah, High Street, take that.  I know you're thinking that you're happy that the black barker is gone, but do you know that he would be considered a horrible watch dog, a mute, by Central American standards?

The dogs here are loud.  They bark at all hours of the day and night.  No, I have not seen said beasts, but they have deep, throaty barks that only lead me to believe they are German Shepherds, Dobermans,  Rottweilers, or worse.  It's obvious when it's a foo-foo yapper making noise behind the wall, but when one of those 90+ pound dogs begins barking, you know it's a big dog.  

I have been missing Milo a lot lately.  He went to live with Kathleen, John and Shelby before we came south.  Our only collateral damage.  I am thankful beyond words that he lives with a great family that has a daughter that lets him sleep on her bed and eat cupcakes at her birthday party.  Well maybe she doesn't let Milo eat cupcakes at her party, but he sure did help himself to one.  And although I don't want Milo to be scaring any kids by stealing their cupcakes, I am glad that he in enjoying the pleasures of one.

This is a tribute to Milo and the 6 great years we spent with him...

Milo at his new home.

Milo in his old garden, literally laying in the garden bed.

Celebrating Milo's 6th birthday.  Yes, Milo is kissing him IN the mouth.  We really love this dog.

Linnea and Milo about 2 years ago.

Typical Milo.