Navidad

This was my first year spending Christmas away from my family. I mentioned before in a previous blog how I did not feel in the holiday spirit here in Honduras, due to weather and other environmental differences. However, Christmas on the ranch was a very special time of year that I hope to be a part of again.

When Anna and Justin came to visit me in early December, they brought with them University of Michigan t-shirts for each of my 32 girls as well as Grand Rapids Public School lanyards. I wrapped each t-shirt and attached a numbered key chain (1-32) to each lanyard. In this way, the gift-giving would be like a game. I did turno with my girls on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve we spent the day playing blackjack and listening to my iPod. In the evening, we had a candlelit march from Casa Suyapa to the church. All the pequenos received "estrenos"/new outfits, which they all proudly and excitedly wore. On the way, during our parading march, we sang Christmas carols. Misa/mass lasted two hours long. Then we headed to El Buen Pastor, where the boys' hogars are, and had a communal dinner of nakatamales, which are Honduran tamales. The rest of the evening was a bit of a "relajo"/craziness. There was a huge fogata/bonfire, a showing of the movie of the birth of Christ, soccer, coffee, and apples. The activity went until 12:30am. I was super-tired by this point and getting a little nervous about playing Santa in the middle of the night for my hogar. When we returned to hogar I read Charlotte's Web to my girls until they fell asleep. Then I set my alarm for 4:30 in the morning so I could lay out their presents. Whoa! I have so much respect for my mom and dad for being Santa all those years! It was really hard to place all the presents without any of the girls waking up! Shannon, a fellow volunteer, gave me goodie bags to place in each of my girls' beds. Well, the goodie bags were made of cellophane and made tons of noise as I moved them around. Not to mention that I had to climb triple bunk beds in the dark...it was not easy. I also had to wake up one of my girls, who has HIV, in the middle of the night to give her medication, so I did not get much sleep.
My girls woke up around 7:00 and 8:00am. They discovered their goodie bags filled with lip gloss, hot sauce, hand mirrors, candy, etc. Then I handed each girl a lanyard. The number on the lanyard indicated the order for which they would pick out their gift under the tree. When all the girls had their gift in hand, they opened them in unison. It was fun to see their reactions as they opened the gifts. Some were really happy, others wanted to trade for a different color. Again, I sympathize with my mom and dad now and how they felt all those years of my sisters and me opening gifts and pouting. I had all my girls put on their t-shirts and we took a group picture of the hogar all U of M'ed out. Soon after I went to get the extra lanyards that were left over, which I was going to give to the tias/caregivers of the hogar. But, they were gone. Here comes the Christmas morning drama.

The lanyards were in a plastic bag hidden next to a shelf and now they were gone. I know robbery and theft on the ranch is common, and not to be taken personally, but I was not going to stand for it on Christmas day. I asked who had taken the lanyards and told them they were for the tias. Girls started accusing each other and arguing a little bit. I raised my voice and let them know that I was really disappointed in all of them. I didn't care who stole the lanyards, I just wanted them back. They had just received gifts from me and we had shared in a really great morning together and now it is ruined. I told them that I had other surprises waiting for them, but if the lanyards didn't show up...no more surprises from me. Some of the girls started going crazy trying to figure out who did it. Others were pleading with me that it wasn't fair and that only one girl had stolen the lanyards, so only one girl should be punished. But I held firm and told them that they are one hogar, like sisters, and they need to work together. Then I left...furious, disappointed, and sad. Vanessa, Kris, and Monica were all in Casa Personal when I got there, so they were really supportive and understanding. The ranch activity for Christmas day was to walk to neighboring pueblos and deliver presents. As fun as it sounded, my spirits were low, so I stayed behind. I also wanted my hogar to understand that I was seriously hurt by what had happened, so I didn't go.

Later in the afternoon, I brought a plastic bag to the hogar. I sat all the girls down and told them that I didn't care who stole the lanyards. All I cared about was them working together to get the lanyards back. I placed the plastic bag under a bed and told them I would be back for dinner. If the lanyards were in the bag, cool, no questions asked, we're all good. If the lanyards were not in the bag, no more surprises, cakes, candy, etc. I think they took me pretty seriously because they all started to "revisar"/check each others lockers for the missing lanyards.


When I returned at 6:00pm for dinner, the girls came running out to tell me that the lanyards had appeared. I checked the plastic bag under the bed, and in fact there were lanyards in the bag; however, they were not the missing lanyards...they were lanyards that the girls had received and put in the bag in order to "save the hogar". Well, I explained to them that it was really great how they worked together and sacrificed their own lanyards; however, they were not the correct ones. Then I started to walk out the door. Well, the girls started going crazy once again looking for the lanyards. I went outside and sat down. Some of the girls were mentioning to me that they saw Cindy, one of the girls, with the lanyards. So, I sat down next to her and asked her if she knew anything about the lanyards. She looked me right in the eye, and said, "No.". The next thing you know I hear a bunch of screaming and cheering coming from inside the hogar. The girls had found the lanyards...in Cindy's backpack. Man, did she feel like crap! She bowed her head and wouldn't look at anyone. The girls were all so proud of themselves for working together and earning back their privileges. While I felt bad for Cindy, I hope that all of this taught her (and the rest of the girls) a lesson. It turns out that Cindy was going on a "visita"/visit with her brothers to visit her mother the next day and wanted something to give to them as presents. It is my thinking that this is why she took the lanyards. To this day, Cindy will not look at, talk to me, or accept anything from me due to her "pena"/embarrassment.

While Christmas day involved some drama, it was a memorable day. I believe it brought me much closer to my girls and we have a much stronger bond now.

Holidays on Rancho Santa Fe

From December 23 through January 2 all volunteers are committed to remain on the ranch and spend Christmas and New Years with the kids. All the employees, tios y tias are on vacation, so we volunteers, as well as ano familiares (high school and university pequenos doing a year of service on the ranch) work as tios and tias in our hogares.

While Christmas season was being celebrated at home, I just didn’t really feel the “Christmas spirit” here in Honduras. Something about summer weather, palm trees, and ghetto Christmas decorations in the city just don’t match up with my vision of Christmas in Michigan and Chicago. However, I had an amazing time being with my girls. We had a lot of time to hang out, bond, and connect. I did turno/sleeping in hogar three times, on my own, which was really nice.
There was a lot of down time on the ranch during these few weeks, so I taught my girls how to play Blackjack. If anyone knows my family at home, my parents are big gamblers. My parents frequent casinos, read (and even write) books on gambling, and on holidays at our house we usually end the night playing cards at the dining room table. So, this was a fun family game/tradition that I was happy to share with my hogar. I bought a bag of 1,000 dulces/candies for the girls to use as their bets. My dad forwarded me his strategy sheet that he created so that I could “teach them properly”. We spent (and still do) days and nights playing blackjack and listening to my iPod, which was a Christmas gift from my parents. They are really into it. It is so much fun!

During the evenings, the volunteers in Casa Personal were able to loosen up a bit as well. We would stay up late, party, and have iPod contests (each of us with iPods takes turns playing songs). It was a really fun time for all of us. We really had fun making connections and getting to know each other in a different way. Monica, Vanessa, Annemarie, and Kris are probably the girls I am closest to on the ranch. We have fun.
Holidays on the ranch are often times when ex-volunteers come back to visit. And this year was no exception. Casa Personal was full of current and ex-volunteers. Hilary, the speech-language pathologist whom I replaced in August, came back, as well as Carrie Slaymaker. Carrie is also an SLP who works for Bilingual Therapies, my company in Chicago. She is one of the ones who told me about NPH and prepped me on all I needed to know before my arrival. So, it was really nice to see her and share stories.

Jesus, our director from Chicago, also had some visitors come to the ranch -- Cesar and Julio from Chicago, and Oscar from Mexico. We had tons of fun hanging out with them. They’d stop by Casa Personal every night, we partied on New Year’s Eve, and even met up with them at the Lago de Yajoa. Cesar and Julio are definitely guys I would love to meet up with again when I return home (in Chicago).

Cursos Vacacionales

Summer vacation comes early here in Honduras. The kids are on “summer vacation” for the months of December and January. During these months they elect vacation courses. For example, modern dance, knitting, music, soccer, baseball, as well as Spanish, math, and other core subjects are all options. As for the therapists, we have to continue with therapy as usual. It’s a little more laid back though; we only have to work until 1:00, which is nice.

Visita de Anna y Justin

Over a month has passed since their departure, but I want to share with you my first visitors: my sister Anna and brother-in-law Justin. They arrived on December 2 and stayed for eight days. I picked them up at the airport in our rental SUV Suzuki Vitara and we headed to the mall so Anna could shop for a bathing suit, we picked up some groceries, and had lunch at Wendy´s…so Honduran, right?! My roommate Monica also had her boyfriend Jake visiting as well, so we spent the majority of the week together. We arrived at the ranch in time for dinner. I brought Anna and Justin to my hogar, where they were overwhelmed with the presence of 32 11- to 13-year-old girls. The girls had fun practicing their English, teaching Spanish, and posing for pictures with Anna and Justin. The ranch activity for the evening was a soccer game and a fogata/bon fire. Afterwards, we headed to Casa Personal to have our own fogata in celebration of Monica´s 23rd birthday and Anna, Justin, and Jake´s arrival.

We woke up early the next morning, packed our bags, and headed out…destination Roatan! We stopped on our way at the Lago de Yajoa for a quick lunch, which turned out to be a great stop. We wound our way through curvy, mountainous roads and traditional pueblos in search of the only brewery in Honduras…the D&D Brewery. It is owned by Bob, a guy from Oregon who picked up and moved to Honduras about 14 years ago. He brews his own soda and beers. The brewery has cabins and rooms for rent, all situated in a quiet, peaceful garden area. We had a quick beer and blueberry soda, and ordered corn dogs to go (they were sooo good). Bob gave us a quick tour of his gardens, naming all the plants, even letting us eat some of them. We all fell in love with the place, and knew that this was a place we wanted to return.
We continued our travels, with Monica as the driver to La Ceiba. In La Ceiba we ditched the car and hopped on the ferry to Roatan. Anna got a little seasick and puked when we arrived on the island. We stayed, once again, at La Mariposa Lodge, had breakfast licuados at Rudy’s, beached it at West Bay, and had a wonderful dinner at The Lighthouse. We were pretty much beach bums; too tired to do anything at night from spending too much time in the sun. One of our days, we decided we wanted to explore the island. Justin was into fishing, and Anna and I wanted to snorkel. So, what better way to get the best of both worlds by renting a water taxi?! Not quite. While Monica and Jake were exploring the island on a scooter; Anna, Justin, and I hopped into our water taxi, which is a large motor boat with a small motor. Justin was the driver, but not for long. Soon after we headed a little off-shore, we realized that our boat was not meant for sightseeing. We almost tipped once. The waves were way bigger than we were. We settled for anchoring the boat in the West End and hopped out to do some snorkelling. The snorkelling made up for the money spent on the water taxi. It was absolutely beautiful; National Geographic in real life. We spent three nights and two full days in Roatan. Our original plan was to head back to the ranch, but we were tempted by the D&D Brewery, and just had to return for two more days.

Monica and Jake stayed in Roatan, whereas Anna, Justin, and I headed back to the mainland. We went back to the brewery and spent a conversational evening with Bob, the brewerer, and Malcolm, a 60-something British hippie birdwatcher with long gray hair and a braided beard. The real adventure was about to begin.

The next morning we woke up really early, ate blueberry pancakes (there is a blueberry farm nearby) and headed out. Justin went with a local fisher named Rafa, who has super long finger nails, to the Lago to do some tilapia fishing. Anna and I went with Malcolm to hike the cloud forests (rain forests up in the mountains). In order to reach the beginning of the trail, I had to drive our Suzuki Vitara partway up the mountain. This was not easy. The roads were pretty much non-existent, being very rocky and muddy. I’m surprised the car survived. We parked our car at a family home; a very typical, Honduran home. Marcos and his 10-year-old son Neri would join us as our guides. Marcos is the husband and father of 10 children. They live in a three-room house with mud floors and newspapers covering the walls. Chickens and dogs come and go as they please. I have never received such a warm welcome. They offered us chairs, brought us coffee, and the kids stared at us like we were from a different planet. Now this is Honduran culture at its best! People with little to nothing offering others (complete strangers) anything and everything they have, with lots and lots of Honduran pride!

The five of us (Anna, me, Malcolm, Marcos, and Neri) began our ascent. Keep in mind that this was a spontaneous stop on our trip, and Anna and I were not totally prepared for serious hiking. In fact, Anna had to borrow a pair of tennis shoes from Bob’s wife. Yes, tennis shoes; whereas a prepared hiker would be wearing serious hiking attire. The terrain was intense: steep hills, muddy, rocky, high altitude. But the views and scenery were priceless. We would hike for a while and then just stop and observe. Malcolm was constantly looking through his binoculars and consulting his bird watching guide. Anna was excitedly taking tons of pictures. Marcos had lots of stories to share about past travellers. And Neri was clearing the path with his machete. We hiked for about six hours. We were with Malcolm to witness his first sighting of the Quetzal; a large, tropical bird with a really long tail. At times I felt like I was in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids because the trees and ferns were so huge. We went through some “campesinos”/farmers lands, ate carrots and banana bread. After our incredible hike, we returned to the mountainside pueblo, only to be welcomed by all the kids who were waiting for us. We went back to Marcos’ home, had another coffee with cookies, and Anna and I were escorted into the kitchen to chat with the women of the household. It was a great way to witness and share, firsthand, Honduran culture with my sister. It was a day that will remain in our memories for life. That evening we met up with Justin, who had an interesting, yet uneventful fishing day on the lake. I forgot to mention that Justin does not speak any Spanish. Well, Rafa, the fishing guide, does not speak any English. Justin said he had a “quiet” day, but I guess they must’ve found someway to communicate. Ha-ha. That night we had a really nice dinner at the brewery. Anna and Justin stayed up and chatted with fellow travellers, but I hit our cabin and enjoyed a nice, relaxing Jacuzzi. It was wonderful!!

The next day we left the tranquil, serene lake and headed back to the dirty, dangerous city of Tegucigalpa. Justin was not too excited about that! This was my time to show them how we volunteers live here in Honduras. We checked into the Nan Kin, known for its hot water, cable, and late night moaning. We met up with the other volunteers at Pincho Loco, a typical Honduran restaurant. The rest of the volunteers were out celebrating the Jean’s despedida/going away party. We had a nice dinner of pinchos and gringas and then headed out to go dancing at Bamboo. We danced the night away to reggaeton and Latin beats. I think it was a little bit of a culture shock to Anna and Justin, but we all had a good time.

Saturday morning we headed back to the ranch, went to misa/mass, and Anna and Justin got to spend one last night with my girls. The girls fell in love with Justin, especially Digna and Evelin. We spent the night goofing off and playing around; a typical night in Estrellas de Belen.

The next morning Anna and Justin packed up their things and headed to the airport. We got lucky and scored a jalon/hitchhike from the ranch porton/gate to the airport. Anna did a little last minute shopping in the airport and then it was “Adios”!

It was nice to finally be able to share a little bit of my life and adventure here with others that are close to me. I am definitely looking forward to more visitors!!