Trip to Lago de Yojoa and Pulhapanzak Falls

Two weekends ago, Faith and I went to Lago de Yojoa, a huge lake near San Pedro Sula, and then to Pulhapanzak falls, a 43 meter waterfall. Here are some photos!!

Lago de Yojoa

Pulhapanzak Falls

Faith and me at the falls

Backpacking through the water

Standing on the edge of the falls, looking down. ah.

Some kids I will miss...

Now it's less than two weeks, and every day is a little bit stranger. To think about leaving. Faith and I went to the theater to ask about taking the kids to Shrek, bad news: Shrek is only coming to San Pedro Sula, not to Progreso. And the only one we could take them to would be Spiderman, but it is in English. So the movies are a no. So instead we are taking the Las Flores kids to the pool and having a barbecue at La Montana for those kids. It should go well I hope.

Here are just a few more photos of Las Flores kids...

Me and Mario, he has the coolest laugh

Coloring on the floor, Daniel with the strange face to mess up the photo

Benjamin, the most fun kid. We were picking berries

Daniel, picking berries

Darwin with a berry


Enemias, after making his egg drop project

Almost done

So it's June now and I only have weeks left here. It's a bit strange because I've been counting by months for so long, when people ask how much time I have left... it was always four months, two months, now it is so strange to say, "three weeks."

Still with three weeks left, I'm already getting quite emotional. I'm really excited to see everyone at home, sad to leave Pronino, nervous about fitting back into things at home...

Faith and I are hoping to be able to take the kids from both centers to see Shrek 3 as our going away gift. Most of the volunteers have a little party at whichever center they worked at before they go, with cake, soda, and a pinata. But the kids just love going out on little trips so much, I hope that we can do that for them. There's one little movie theater in Progreso, that shows one movie a week, and hopefully Shrek 3 will be there in two weeks. We're just hoping that it is dubbed in Spanish, not with subtitles, otherwise the kids won't all be able to read them.

Three more weeks!!

Carnaval in La Ceiba

Last weekend, we went to Carnaval in Ceiba, on the north coast. It's supposed to be the year's biggest party in Honduras. It was mostly what I think Mardi Gras would be like, a lot of costumes, beads, music, street parties, and beer. The parade was really impressive, with elaborate floats, bands, and dancers. Here are just a few photos:

Teatro La Fragua

There's a small theater in Progreso, Teatro La Fragua, that I have been wanting to take the kids to. This month they were showing "Honduran Folktales," so I made plans to take 15 kids from La Montana. The theater was nice enough to give us a discount for the kids' tickets, and my mom and grandparents donated the costs of the tickets.

I told Francisco to choose fifteen kids who have been behaving well to go with us on Friday at 10 AM. So Thursday I biked to the theater to buy all of the tickets...for ten in the morning. Then Friday morning went up to La Montana to make sure the kids were all ready, in nice clothes and got the bus ok with Francisco, Matthias and Laura. Then I biked back to the theater to wait for them there.

When I got there at 9:45, there were at least 100 other school kids there. 100 middle school kids in their white, white, ironed shirts, navy pants, and black shoes. Who came as a field trip with their school, came in their own buses, in taxis, in private cars. All standing in line outside the theater. But I thought, no problem, because we have tickets, obviously they wouldn't sell more than could fit inside (it's quite a small little theater, with wooden benches along three walls).


At ten, the Pronino kids still hadn't come. I walked down the street, looking for them. Faith was holding a spot in line for them. And I was getting nervous that the whole thing was going to fall through, that maybe they took the wrong bus, didn't have enough money for the bus...

Then at 10:20 (the line was just starting to move into the theater), Faith said, "I see some colors." And our kids came right in, lined up at the end of the line, after all the white and navy kids. In their randomly put together clothes, but clean clothes.

We finally got to the door of the theater and the director told me that he had thought we were coming at 7 that night and that there wasn't any more space. I told him that no way could we come back tonight, that we had to see the show now. So he let us sit on the floor.

The kids were so well behaved, they loved the show. Even the tough, hard ass ones were laughing so hard at the silliest jokes. I just wanted to watch their faces for the whole show.

Daniel and Armando from San Pedro Sula

Two weeks ago, Faith, Laura and I went to San Pedro Sula to see a futbol game. After the game we were looking for baleadas and ended up in the center. We found a little baleada stand and were eating when Daniel walked past. Daniel was at Pronino when we got here in January, moved up to La Montana, stayed for maybe a week there and then ran away. We had heard he was living with his family, but apparently he wasn't. We yelled for him, but he ran off.

A bit later, Laura found Daniel again and Armando, who was in Pronino last year but I'm not sure when he ran away. Armando was really excited to see us and willing to talk. He wanted to go back to Pronino, but not Daniel. Daniel was so tough just to talk to. I'd take a step towards him, he'd take two steps back. I had a few sips left of an iced tea and kept trying to get him to come closer for that. But he wasn't having it. And by now, there are a bunch of people around trying to convince Daniel to come talk to us, to go with us. Raggedy old men from the street telling him that this is no life for him, to stop being afraid to talk...

So eventually we got both Armando and Daniel to come with us to eat something. There was another kid with them who wanted to go to Pronino, but he'd never been there before and he needed his custody papers from his mom (he had already tried to get into Pronino the week before). We bought them all baleadas and sodas, and all of a sudden four more street kids appeared. Two had been in Pronino, but were out of opportunities to come back. And there went more baleadas and sodas...

We kept talking and talking with them. Trying to find some magic words that would make Daniel want to come back. Armando was all set to go back with us, he was no problem. But Daniel was being tough. His feet were black, solid dirt and they were both so skinny.

An hour later, the plan was that they would both meet us in the morning at 7:00 at the corner in front of McDonald's. We told them we would buy them breakfast and then take the bus back to Progreso and get to Las Flores. I knew Armando would come, but was so nervous Daniel wouldn't show up. I told Armando to make sure he brings Daniel too. But if Daniel didn't want to come with us, there was no way we would be able to make him.

We got to the center at ten minutes to 7 and waited. The cathedral bells started ringing seven times, and from behind the cathedral came Daniel and Armando. Ready to go with us. We bought more baleadas and juice, and a pair of sandals for Daniel. Walking to the bus stop, I was still thinking they were just going to run away from us, decide not to go back. Then we got on the bus and Armando sat by the window, with Laura next to him and Daniel sat next to the window with Faith next to them. And I sat in front of the four of them, a bit relieved and glad that the two of them were between Faith and Laura and the windows...not closer to the aisle to just get up and off the bus.

Now they're both at Las Flores, Armando being really good, Daniel being difficult. And I feel a bit responsible for them both. Everyday when I get to work I look for them, hoping they're still there.

Switch to Las Flores

At the beginning of last week I switched from working at La Montana to Las Flores. Las Flores is the first center the kids go to when they come to Pronino. It's been nice to change up the routine a bit and get to know the kids at Las Flores. But it's also tough because the kids at this center aren't used to me, I'm not used to them, they don't know what to expect of me, and I don't have their respect like I had at La Montana.

The schedule there is completely different, too. At La Montana there is an hourly schedule- with classes, sports, and the times when groups of the kids go to school. At Las Flores, none of the kids ever leave and the "schedule" is really basic and almost always the same every day: Eat breakfast at 8, play futbol until 10, shower, have a charla (with interesting themes like stealing and hygiene) until 11, make a craft until 12, lunch, chores, free time, and "classes" until 4. The classes are the toughest part for me. For example, I have second grade...which is four kids. The youngest is 11 and the oldest is 14. Two of them can read, only one can write well, and their math is all over the place. Planning and thinking of something to do with all of them together is tricky. It's hard to find something that will hold their attention and is at a good level for each of them.

Plus...I've no idea really how to teach kids, on top of that teaching in Spanish. Hm. We will see how this goes.