Hollywood comes to Honduras

The Kinder that is being run by Charlie and Amalia is for young children that arn't in school yet. However, for the older kids, we hold tudoring sessions and art classes. Since school is run irregularly if at all (with teachers striking among a host of other problems), these extracurricular sessions help to further stimulate the kids.

















This particular day was a blast. The kids made jewlery out of beads and string. In minutes they were transfromed into movie stars, posing for the papparazzi (me). They absolutely love having their photo taken so they can se themselves. The class ended right as the sun went down, and we caught a beautiful sunset to cap off the day.

Building a Bridge

The first step for building the bridge was to dig pits for the foundation on each side of the sludge river. Even in calling it a sludge river, I am being gracious. The assorted trash and unmentionables create a smell in the afternoon heat that could put a skunk to shame. Charlie did a bacteria test on the water and it overwhelmed the culture.

In case I may not have mentioned him yet, Charlie is the representative from Helping Honduras Kids in El Porvenir. He and his wife, Amalia, moved to El Porvenir to help those in need here. They are a great people, and a true blessing to this town. Charlie is a classic Texan, with his southern accent and hospitality. Amalia is Hondurian in heratige, but from the US. She is a fantastic cook and may convince me to stay permanently if she invites me to any more dinners.

As for the bridge, cement was chosen as the building material upon a recomondation from Charlie. Although wood would be much easier, apparently it is a hot comodity and has a tendancy to grow legs and wander off, no matter how many screws and nails you put in it. Whereas, a two ton cement bridge would make for a very impressive heist.














After the pits were dug, we built the form for the cement foundations and went to work a-mixin'. During the last project I worked on in Belize, we were fortunate enough to procure a cement mixer. I don't thing they've even heard of one of those here. Instead, all the cement was mixed on the ground in some of the most back breaking work I've ever done. I had about 4 of the local guys helping, and we were able to knock out the two foundations fairly quickly. After a long, sweaty day, I took a refreshing swim in the ocean just out my front door.

Day trip to Pico Bonito

The mountains in the background of my pictures from town are part of a huge reserve called Pico Bonito. Amalia once again spoiled us by setting up a trip to the mountains. One of the local guys from El Porvenir, Oscar, was our guide (in the yellow shirt below). We drove through Dole´s pinapple fields to get there. The fields butt up to the mountains and make use of all the water running down.




























Once we entered the park, the jungle closed in around us closing out most of the light. The first warning we got was to stay on the path because of poinsonous snakes and spiders... don´t have to tell me twice. Sure enough, I saw my share of spiders, and we happened across a snake on the path. Sloane, one of the Aussies, almost stepped on us. Oscar told us it was poinsonous, but didn´t tell us till 5 minutes later that if bit by that snake, we would have to make it to a hospital within 10 minutes... or else.
















































The hike we did was to a waterfall, and it only took us about 45 minutes. The water was a clear as can be, and alls I wanted to do was have a swim, but the locals use the water for drinking so swiming was prohibited here. Once we got back down to the base, however, there were a couple of nice swimmin holes. One had a big waterfall that the locals were telling us to jump off of. When they wouldn´t do it themselves, we thought better of it. There was another spot further down the river where you could jump off a high rocky bank. You can see in this picture I am working on my Pterradactyl imitation.



































There was also a natural waterslide built into the river. It reminded me of a place called 7 falls in Santa Barbra, Ca. We spent a couple hours escaping from the heat in the water before we finally got too shriveled up and had to head back to El Porvenir.

Day trip to the Wildlife Refuge

Amalia, who works with Helping Honduras Kids, has been like a grandma to me here. Making us meals and looking in on us, it wouldn´t be the same without her. To add to her kindness, she set up a trip to the Cuero Y Salado Wildlife Refuge. To get there, we had to take a little train that was built from the chassis of a little truck. The railroad ties looked like they were put together with a soldering iron, but we never got out of first gear so any kind of crash would have been a slow-motion comedy at best.




























The refuge borders the beach and is filled with mangrove trees. The way to see it is by boat. We had a tour guide take us through the waters pointing out the various animals. Home to a variety of animals, the trees teem with life, emitting constant noises of bird calls, bellowing frogs, and the infamous howling monkeys.














The Howler Monkeys create a bone chilling sound that makes you feel like you are in a prehistoric land and humans are no longer at the top of the food chain. Pirates used to use the waters in the refuge as a hide away. When they first arrived, they were afraid to go ashore because they didn´t know what made the thunderous howling noises. Once you see the monkeys though, you are amazed that such a small thing can belt out that noise.














They also have crocodiles in the swamp, one of which we got up close and personal with. The guide was able to spot his two beady eyes from 50 feet away. When we got up close, the two little beady eyes were only the tip of the iceberg. What had appeared as a little croc turned out to be a 7-8 foot ´beaut´! When he finally got sick of us, he splashed down in the water sending the 3 women in the boat into a fit, ¨Vamanos, Vamanos!¨

Honduras Part 2

August 30

The second week here has been even hotter than the first. Sweating has become a full time job, starting at 8 sharp and continuing until after the sun goes down. Those of you who know me well, know I am more at home in the snow than on a beach, so needless to say its not my ideal climate.




























Regardless, things have been picking up with work. I am still doing some teaching with the kids in the kinder. I´m glad for the opportunity to work closely with them, but it is tiring work. I don´t think I could ever teach kids as a full time job.














More and more I´ve been working on a couple construction projects. One is the new Kinder being put up for the kids, so they don´t have to meet in the first floor of our house. The shell of the building has been completed, and we are working on some finishing touches, i.e. installing ceiling tiles, ceramic floor tiles, plumbing, electric wires, and windows. We also make use of the local labor to put money into the economy, not to mention the daily wage around here is like 7 bucks, so its well worth the extra pair of hands.















The other project I am working on is a bridge for one of the houses Helping Honduras Kids works with. It is essentially a grandma who runs 5 or so families of children who are orphaned or only have one parent who has to work all day. The current bridge they have is pretty bad, with kids sometimes tripping and falling into the disgusting sludge below. The new bridge will be made of concrete with hand rails and all. Additionally, it should still be functional during the flood periods when the water can rise 7 to 8 feet overnight. Below the kids are checking out our progress- a big hole in the ground.

Honduras, First Impressions

So I´ve finally made it to an internet cafe. Only took a week. My first impressions of this Central American country are that life couldn´t be more different than back home. Not necessarily in a bad way, just different. The landscape is gorgeous: lush, dense rainforst covers mountains that poke high into the air to points seemingly unreachable heights. Tropical weather is always in full affect, leaving beads of sweat permanently dripping off my nose. Here it is a cold shower that leaves you lingering wanting to stay forever. Living here makes me want my next volunteer location to be the Himalayas.

The Hondurians are a beautiful dark skinned people. In El Porvenir I am working with a group of youngins who´s parents are gone, or have to work in the pineapple fields all day. They are such a lovely group of kids, and are soooo trusting. The first day i met them, they all came up and latched on in a loving hug. I´ve been doing some teaching here so far, basic abc´s and stuff. Its good for me because my spanish is about the same level as thiers.

I living down by the beach, literally. Below you can see the view out my window. I´m really ruffing it, I know! There´s no surf, but a nice dip in the water after working with the kids is unbeatable.

As for security, Ma, dont worry! Our house is like fort Knox. There really isn´t an crime in El Provenir, but if there was it wouldn´t be coming through that razor wire. Drugs and gangs tend to be bad in Honduras in general, but this little town is actually a relatively clean and safe place due in no small part to the volunteer work that has been done.

Fairwell BBQ in Chile and a Day in Miami

In a most wonderful gesture, all the people at the hostel got together for a big BBQ to show me off. Getting the grill going was quite an adventure. They didn´t have lighter fluid, and the charcoal was really just burnt wood which is kinda hard to light. Four of us Americans were trying to get the Barbie going for a while, when finally this Chilean guy felt bad and gave us his newspaper.














We cooked some dank american style burgers with the works (perhaps not as good as yours bro, but pretty close), and I admit I got a little homesick. There´s nothing in the world like biting into a big juicy burger.... mmmm. There were girls from Argentina, Finland, Sweeden, and a couple guys from Chile that I think had the best burger of their life. But alas, I eventually had to hop on the bus to the airport and leave Chile behind.














I had forgotten that I had a 12 hour layover in Miami until I got on the plane departing Chile. I think my original plan was to have a day at the beach, but who knows. Maybe if I could get some sleep, it could be a wonderful day in Miami. However, the plane I flew back on was the coolest flight I´ve ever had. Each seat had its own TV with a couple dozen movies on demand, not to mention endless music, games and TV shows on demand. On top of that they served free booze. I didn´t get much sleep needless to say. I caught a couple more hours of sleep in the airport waiting for the sun to come up, then made it down to the beach. A $1.50 bus ride got me all the way to the beach, a steal compared to the $35 cab ride, and I even got to hang with the local flavor.














I found a sandwhich joint about a block from the beach and was overjoyed to see Yuenglings in the store. So I made myself a little pic-a-nic basket and spent the day on the beach.

After an afternoon of swimming and napping, I made my way back to the airport to go return to foreign soils. It was quite a fantastic day of being ´home´again, but the journey must continue. This next stage is the greatest one, for I hope to put some engineering know how into some building projects and do some basic teaching. I can´t wait to tell you all how this goes. But for now, I am safe in Honduras in the hotel. On a side note, I was greeted at the door to the hotel by a Tarantula the size of my fist. The bigger they are, the bigger mess they make.

Weathering the Storm

Sure enough, the morning has brought with it a wild storm. Rain pounded my window all morning as I tried to will it away with more sleep. It would not relent, so eventually I left the comfort of my bed to weather out the storm in the lounge here at Pichilemu Surf Hostal.














The view out the windows is awe inspiring. The tremendous waves crash this way and that, like white horses galloping along the water, eventually either colliding with each other at full speed or rolling head over tail until they disappear under the water. It is a great battle between the constant push of the current and the randomly swirling winds. The windspray off the top of the curling lips seems to be the wind pulling away the fingers of the wave, at times all together disintegrating the wave before it can realize its grand crash. At other times the wind plays the waves against each other, redirecting them towards each other into a brilliant explosion of white frothing sea.














Every now and then I see a nice break with a fantastic barrel, and think I could weather it out on a board. But then the very next wave is a single overhead that closes out right where I would have to sit to catch the previous wave. I can see how this would be a nice place to surf in good weather.














It would be a good deal more interesting if I were not the only one staying here, but there are enough books to keep me busy for ages. Not to mention good music and a fully stocked bar. I will make the most of it and head back to Santiago tonight.

Pichilemu, Down by da Beach

After having to give up on snowboarding because of my ankle, I still had a few more days in Chile. Rather than spend them in Santiago, I made for the coast again, to spend a bit more time at the beach. A friend had told me about Pichilemu, a fairly small coastal town known for its surfing. It was supposted to be heaps better than the last place I went, Con Con, so I set out on a bus early Thursday morning. Again, I found myself meandering through the foothills with vineyards on either side.














Little known to me at the time, I ended up taking the ´long´bus which meant a 5 hour ride instead of a 3 hour ride. It was manageable, but I´m sure as hell not making that mistake twice. When I finally arrived, hungry as a dog, I found a nice resuraunt on the beach to grab a bite to eat at. The pic below was my view from the table.














After a delicous $4 sandwitch, I was on my way again trying to locate the hostal. This task proved to be quite difficult, since my directions sucked and no one seemed to know where it was. On top of that, rain was steadily falling and the wind was picking up. My hopes got up when I saw a big building with the name of the hostal spray painted on it, and it looked to be quite the prime location (it is the building on the point in the picture below). However, it turned out to be a cheap version of a billboard and the building was all locked up.














Finally, I flagged down a car and used the guys cell phone to call the owner. I finally found the place and took a half hour long hot shower. It was absolutely beautiful. The hostel itself is a nice place run by a Deutch guy who has more or less permantently moved to Chile. 15 years ago, his friend told him the women and surf were great in Chile, and he´s been here ever since. The weather´s not supposed to pick up, so I´ll probably not be getting a surf in. The place is beautiful though, and there´s a great view out my window in the hostal, so I can´t complain too much.

More Snowboarding

Another blue bird day with a nice dusting of fresh powder, mmm.... I´m getting too lucky here! I also got to ride with a few pro riders from Holland (yes they do have pro´s in Holland). We hit some nice powder runs and made some trips through the park. One of the riders was a 17 year old girl that was absolutely kicking my ass. Sorry I couldn´t represent the States a little better boys.














My day was cut short however, when I found out the ticket I bought from a friend was no good. I had been riding for half a day before they caught me though, and I got my money back from the guy, so all in all it was a free day with some nice riding.

That night I went out with some guys in the hostal to a private party for ski instructors and equipment promoters. It was held in a cozy little bar which was soon full of people. The drinks were cheap and the music was great. A guy was playing guitar and singing all my favorites, Sublime, Led Zep, Eric Clapton, etc. until the DJ took over and played equally good music. He even played a Katchafire song, one of the best bands to ever come out of New Zealand. At the end of the night I made my way home in a zig zag; I´m still not sure if it was because I´d been boarding all day or because of the last couple liter ´o beers.














The next day was not so beautiful, no new snow and quite cloudy. However, there was absolutely no one on the slopes. I had 100 foot wide groomers all to myself. It was nice to have so much freedom, but an old injury was flaring up. My ankle had been getting more and more swollen over the last few days, and it was pretty much impossible to ride another day. So it was to my dismay that I left the mountain and made my way back down to Santiago.