Dia de Independencia

Okay, so I'm falling a little behind in my blogs...I admit, but life is getting a little busier here (i.e., more to do, more tired at night, having more fun, etc.). Let me take you back a little bit to last week.

Last Wednesday the ranch celebrated Honduras' independence day. To celebrate we all went to El Batallon (the battlefield), which is in La Venta the closest "city" to the ranch. From there soldiers from el batallon closed off la carretera/highway and we had a desfile/parade back to the ranch. We had flags, hats, traditional costumes, drummers, a decorated truck, and many kids marching.

Afterwards we met at the school where each group from the parade did a presentation (flags, stick dancing, marching, etc.). Very patriotic.

There was no school Thursday, Friday, or Monday. So I headed off to Roatan, one of the Bay Islands with Annemarie....blog coming soon!!!

**Picture: parading through La Venta. Note: umbrellas in back are very common...not used for rain...women use them to protect themselves from the sun.

Jesus, our ranch director, has created a web site with some fabulous pictures. I know I am only able to post a few, so if you have extra time and are interested, check out this website to see more of the ranch and our events! http://web.mac.com/jhuerta2/iWeb/nph/bienvenidos.html

Jueves/Thursday

Thursdays are pretty laid back days, workwise. I start the day out in the clinic doing therapy with Ariel, the boy who was in the car accident. Update: he has started talking; mostly short words, one-word phrases, many vowels...huge step for him! Will make therapy much more interactive for sure. Then I head down to the school and do individual therapy with two boys from Montessori (a.k.a. preschool). After recreo/recess, I use the time for paperwork and/or testing. Then at noon we usually have a psicopedagogia department meeting. Afterwards we are free to go. I usually head to the cocina/kitchen with Annemarie and/or Vanessa where we have lunch and socialize with the employees, older pequenos, and ex-pequenos. Then, if no special event is planned, I take my siesta, go on a run, shower, head to hogar, check my email, and head back to Casa Personal.

**Picture of Jesus (ranch director from Chicago), Feliciana (Ariel's mom), and Ariel

**Question from Mercy**
Where in Minnesota is Annemarie from, anywhere near Lake City?
When I asked Annemarie where she's from, she told me near Twin Cities (I think that's what she said...haha). When I asked her about Lake City, she had never heard of it before.

**Question from Rosario**
In the picture of the church from Tegucigalpa, are those royal palm trees?
I haven't received a specific answer yet, but I'll just say 'yes' from what I know about palm trees. The picture is very deceiving actually. Tegucigalpa is a very dirty, crowded, poorly planned city...not that I've been to Cuba but I doubt they're similar, other than sharing a common language.

Sopa de Menudo

I have to report that I have done something new: I tried sopa de menudo last night. This is a soup where they use all the leftover pieces of the chicken (heart, neck, feet, liver, pancreas). I didn't love it, but the neck wasn't too bad. The kids here go crazy over it; they suck the patas/feet and ask for more. They are so interested in the way we extranjeros/foreigners react to their food. They ask questions like, "Do they have _____ in the United States?" Tonight I told them that no, we do not eat all these parts of the chicken normally and they were shocked. "That is such a waste", "Do you think they could send the extra parts here to the ranch?", "Do they just throw the rest of the chicken away?", "In Honduras we use up the whole thing." They couldn't believe it. Still, they were entertained by my facial expressions as I tried each organ and were happy to get second helpings off of my plate.

**Questions from mom**
Is there someone overseeing this " cardboard box therapy"?
Next door to Casa Angeles there is a day school called Arca de Esperanza. The employees there are "trained" in this program and supposedly oversee how it is carried out in Casa Angeles. However, Teresa from Germany tells me that they do even more bizarre therapy activities there, so I don't even want to know!

Also for your feeding program, are you following a plan or developing your own?
Past speech therapists leave informes/reports on each child before they leave. Also, I am lucky in that there are two speech therapists right now and Julia is able to provide me with lots of information about the kids since she's been here since January. There is no "plan" or structure to therapy, and with the lack of oral motor materials we are forced to be creative. Current therapists here say that Casa Angeles is the perfect place to "experiment", which I am finding to be quite true. I do a lot of oral stimulation such as, facial massage, using an electric toothbrush on the face and in the mouth, using suckers for tongue strengthening and coordination, and helping with posture and positioning during feeding times.

Is there any paperwork at all so progress can be measured?
Twice a year we write informes/reports on the pequenos on our caseload. These are similar to reports we write for IEP's in the schools at home; however, they're in Spanish. We also keep daily logs of therapy activities and progress notes, but nothing official.

ROATAN

Well, I just got back from my first vacation; I went with Annemarie to Roatan, which is one of the Bay Islands in the Caribbean Sea. It was an amazing place...very different from where I live in Honduras. English is the primary language, they use American dollars, and everything is super-expensive (comparatively speaking). We stayed at the Mariposa Lodge (http://www.mariposa-lodge.com/), which is owned by a Canadian couple who decided to retire early and move to the island. Sue, the wife, is also a massage therapist so she does that on the side. There were many people to be found like that....some came to the island to visit and never left, others retired early, and others are avid scuba divers who came to see the coral reefs. I am surprised that this is not a more well-known destination; it is absolutely wonderful and beautiful, and cheap (if you're used to American prices). Anna and Justin: I am seriously thinking about taking you guys here when you visit in December; there are beautiful, crystal clear beaches, snorkeling, great restaurants, deep sea fishing, scuba diving, canopy tours, horseback riding, souvenir shops; a tropical paradise. You definitely won't feel like you're in a third world country while in Roatan (although there are reminders that you're still in Honduras).
Annemarie and I arrived via a six-hour long bus ride from Tegucigalpa to La Ceiba. From there we took an hour-long yachte to the island. We settled in our hotel and went to the Lighthouse for dinner. Wow -- that's all I can say. It was amazing. We received wonderful service, ate coconut prawns, island beans, and key lime pie for dessert. It was so nice to eat food with real flavor! We pretty much crashed after that.
Woke up early on Friday to crowing roosters and went to Rudy's for breakfast. They're well-known for their licuados and banana pancakes. I just couldn't believe how beautiful everything was. It is out of a movie. I've been to tropical places before (Oahu, Bahamas, Cancun, Cozumel, Key West, Miami), but Roatan has a rugged charm about it that is different from the rest. We then walked to Half Moon Bay and did some snorkeling. No tour guides needed. You just put on your mask and anywhere you go, you'll see some great sites. It was Annemarie's first time snorkeling, so she was extra impressed. We then laid out on the beach for a few hours, got bit by no-see-ums, had a drink at Sundowners bar right on the beach, and shopped our way back to the hotel. We showered up, lathered ourselves in aloe and headed out to watch the sunset at Eagle Ray's. Afterwards we went to the Twisted Toucan, which is definitely the happening place to be on any night. They played lots of reggaeton. The people here are so diverse. Every age, every color, every nationality. And everyone's sooo nice; how can you not be when you're living on a Caribbean island!
Saturday morning we decided to rent bikes and explore the island. The bikes were a little rusty, but we muscled our way up and down the hills. We ended up in Sandy Bay where you can go swimming with the dolphins. Well, with our snorkel gear in hand we decided we would just snorkel past the dolphins without entering and paying the steep tour prices. One of the employees, Errol, jumped in with us and actually took us up to the dolphins where we were able to pet them, feed them, and play with them from the outside of the net. That was cool for sure. Afterwards, we biked back to West End and had lunch at the Purple Turtle. I took a mega siesta that day while Annemarie headed back to the beach. There was Carnaval on the island that night for Independence Day, and the dirt strip was hoppin! We had a pizza dinner at La Pura Vida and then headed out on the town. There was music everywhere, people in the streets dancing, and people cooking up chicken on both sides of the road. The majority of the population of Roatan is Garifuno, who are of African descent. It's strange to hear them talk because many of them speak Spanish and English, but with an island flair/dialect.
On Sunday we went to Rudy's...again and indulged in guayaba/guava licuados and banana pancakes. Then we caught a water taxi and headed to West Bay. West Bay is a large beach with resorts. The water is amazing...no matter how far out you go, you can see perfectly down to the ground. When we arrived, before we even set our towels on our beach chairs, we were attacked by 2 hair braiding women. They started braiding my hair saying they were going to "regalarme" una/give me a free one. Well, they didn't stop and I ended up paying a lot of American dollars to get my whole head braided! Hey, at least I'm giving back to the local culture! We spent the entire day on the beach. By the end of the day we were tired and burnt, but felt real good. That night we laid low, grabbed some snacks from the pulperia/mini drug store/bar and watched Capote on DVD.
All in all, it was a great vacation. The terrain and climate is so different from the ranch. Here on the ranch there are pinos/pine trees, mountains, and a comfortable temperature. On the bus ride you could see the difference change to tropical palm trees, colorful flowers, and increasing heat. My recommendation: forget Cancun, head to Roatan!

Wednesday/Miercoles

Wednesday mornings I start the day in Talleres/workshop. It is separate from the school. All pequenos are required to accomplish at least one taller. It's a little sexist in that the varones/boys partake in metal working, automotive, carpentry, etc., while the girls are in sewing, gardening, etc. There is also a school in talleres for kids who probably would not be successful in a regular high school and/or university (a.k.a. alternative school). In this way, the goal is that the kids will be able to at least have a trade to put to use when the leave the ranch. I do speech-language therapy with Luis Miguel in talleres. He's a 16-year-old with semiparesis. His goals are to produce the trill /rr/. We do lots of oral motor exercises. Essentially he probably will never be able to correctly produce the trill /rr/ because of his paresis, but we keep trying! I then head down to the school and have individual speech therapy with four students. Mostly articulation and basic language activities. School is over at 1:00 on Wednesday through Friday, so I usually meet up with Vanesssa and Annemarie and we head to the cocina/kitchen for lunch together. Then I take my tipico/normal "siesta", go for a run, shower, head to hogar, and then check my email. Sometimes there are parties in Casa Personal (any day of the week) in the evenings where we make pastel/dessert, fun drinks, have fogatas/bon fires, or just hang out. Usually things are quiet and we're all in bed by 11:00 pm.

**Picture: walking to Talleres during orientation

"All-American" Weekend

Let me take a pause in my weekly routine to let you in on my past weekend events. Let's just say it was an "All-American weekend. A group of us (Vanessa - San Francisco, Markus - Germany, Jean - New York, Aline - France, Laura - Mexico, Daniela - Switzerland, Daniel - Austria) went to Tegucigalpa. We checked into the Nan King (the hotel we usually stay in; it has hot water and cable TV), took showers, and got ready to go to....T.G.I. Friday's! It was sooo good. We treated ourselves with pina coladas, hamburgers, french fries, and mud pie! Afterwards we went to the movies and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2; in English with Spanish subtitles. I really liked it, but felt a little cheated because of all the set-up for part 3. Saturday morning we headed to the center and had licuados for breakfast. Then we all split up. Some ran errands, some went back to the ranch, and Markus and I headed out of town. We caught a rapidito/mini bus to Santa Lucia, which is a small pueblo about 20 minutes outside of Tegucigalpa. It is beautiful, up in the mountains, with great views of the city. We spent the afternoon meandering the streets, stopped for a drink, chatted it up with the locals, walked around the lagoon, and did a little shopping. We then headed back to the city, napped, showered, and met up with Miguel. Miguel is an ex-pequeno who now works for NPH. We went to a bar called Duncan's where we had dinner, drinks, and listened to live music (mostly Elvis). We then went to Sabor Cubano for Cuba Libre's and salsa dancing. It was a very chic place for Tegucigalpa standards. On Sunday I met up with Annemarie (Minnesota) for lunch. We went to Pizza Hut and indulged in breadsticks, pizza, and pop. As you can see, I ate very well this weekend! It was a much needed and much enjoyed escape from the daily routines of ranch living.

**Picture of the church in "el centro" of Tegucigalpa

Martes/Tuesday

On Tuesdays Jean and I do our respective therapies at Casa Angeles in Tegucigalpa. There are 13 severely disabled kids who live there. Everything from down syndrome, cerebral palsy, hydocephalus, microencephaly, epilepsy, blindness can be seen here. Even though they´re lucky to have Casa Angeles, it´s sad to see because of the lack of resources/technology/education. The kids are just laid out on mats where the spend practically the entire day. The tias/aunts (caregivers) do these crazy therapies with them called Glen-Downman therapies. It´s hard to watch. For some the place the kids (even the blind ones) in a cardboard box and switch a flashlight on and off as the tias chant in succession, "luz"/light "oscuro"/dark over and over again. I do feeding therapy with the kids during breakfast and snack time. It can get quite messy. These kids have great difficulty swallowing any consistency of food! In the United States many of them would be listed "npo"/no food by mouth, but here in Honduras it´s safer to risk feeding them by mouth than to give them a feeding tube where there is a high risk of infection. I usually begin the day at 6:00 am and we leave around noon. Then we have the afternoon in Tegucigalpa to eat lunch, go grocery shopping, go to the internet/telephone cafe, drink a licuado, etc. Then we either bus it or jalon it back to the ranch in time for hogar. Tuesday nights are usually early to bed, as this is an exhausting day!