Dancing, food, and enthusiasm

After a long day of travel and adventure in Miami airport it was nice to arrive in Honduras and be greeted by children from the Hogar. They rode back in the bus with us to our hotel, although most of us were a bit tired and fell asleep on the bumpy mountainous road.

The first day was all about introductions and hanging out with the kids. Not knowing much Spanish was a challange, but I did figure out that some things don't need words (hand games). We ate lunch at Santiago's house too, who runs the Hogar...it was delicious. His wife prepared an authentic Honduran meal, and since I'm all about eating I was happy!

Yesterday morning I prepared the preschool walls for painting, listening to some music at times and watching the man selling oranges out of his truck. We also grocery shopped for the group which was an adventure with Bob. Bob seemed quite content to watch us silly Americans pick out "safe" food for the week.

In the afternoon I danced with a small group of girls and Abby. We attempted to do some 50's dances to Grease, but the girls actually knew the dances from the movie and showed us a thing or two. Then, Sophia (one of the girls) taught us a dance to a Christina Aguilera song. Fun times.
Abby and I also played jumprope with them and I played hopscotch with some of the little girls.

In the evening we ate another Honduran meal for dinner. My new favorite food items here include the sour cream...yum, and the beans. We were able to walk around the town a bit last night too. While in one of the squares, a young man named Michael (I think) walked out of a side door and took us on a tour of the bell tower. We climbed up and up and were told not to talk as he wasn't supposed to be giving tours. It was neat to get such a good view of Honduras at night, and see how the clock worked. Then, off to search for ice cream for Bob. We found one place with internet access and had a chance to check email and eat ice cream. Thanks Bob!

Some of my favorite things so far this trip include...
1. The food.
2. Hanging out with people at night.
3. Working with the kids and seeing them smile and laugh.
4. Seeing groups of cows run down the street.
5. Donkeys.
6. The chicken, except when I scared it and made it fall.
7. The wood "factory" which wasn't really a factory afterall, just some woodmakers in some guy's backyard. :)
8. The food.
9. Preparing things for the preschool.
10. The view (from my shower I can see mountains...nice!).

I'm excited to go on more "cultural adventures" too. We went to a brick factory today and I gave out candy to the neighborhood kids. That was nice. Bob has some more planned, but he is so mysterious I'm not sure what they are right now.

Well, I'm off to paint some chalkboard paint on the walls of the preschool.
Later.
(Heather Adams)