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Hello from cold, but sunny Michigan!

I made it home safely on Sunday night. On Tuesday I had an appointment with a neurologist, and as it turns out I do in fact have Bells Palsy (on the right side of my face). **By the way, I am smiling as big as I can in the photo below.**http://www.webmd.com/hw/brain_nervous_system/hw179179.asp
This is kind of what I had been suspecting, so I am quite relieved. The neurologist gave me a prescription for steroids, which should help speed up recovery, as well as eye drops to be sure that my affected eye does not get infected.

Even though this trip was unplanned and not under the best circumstances, it has been nice to be home and enjoy the comforts of the U.S. Thank you to those of you who have been so supportive and concerned; that really means a lot to me. All of your phone calls, emails, and visits have been very, very appreciated. I head back to Honduras on Friday. Enjoyed some R&R and now it's back to the ranch life. I'm bringing my sister Rita with me for her spring break...we're heading to Tela and the Lago de Yajoa. Should be fun, but not looking forward to taking pictures!!

I'm Coming Home...

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be coming back home to Grand Rapids, Michigan this Sunday night (Feb. 18). This is not a planned trip back, but I've got some medical stuff I've got to take care of that probably would be best dealt with in the U.S. than Honduras.

Here's the scoop:

Wednesday night my eyes started feeling really weird. I mentioned it to one of my girls here on the ranch and she told me that one eye looked smaller than the other. I didn't really think anything of it. Later that night I started feeling the weirdness spread. When I got to my room and looked in the mirror, I noticed that half of my face was paralyzed. My mouth looked as if I had spent the day at the dentist. One eye was droopy and the other was wide open and wouldn't shut all the way. I felt a numby feeling all along the right side of my face. Long story short, I had some blood work done and it all came back normal. So, the doctor wants to put me on an antibiotic just in case I have something that is undiscovered. This antibiotic would have to be administered daily for 2 weeks by an injection. I talked to my parents, who talked to our doctors, and they all thought it was best for me to come home to get a proper diagnosis and treatment. So, I will be back home for one week. If all goes well, I'll be back in Honduras next Friday with my sister Rita, who is coming to visit for her spring break. I hope to see some of you while I'm home, even though it's for a short time. I am feeling fine physically...I just look like a freak. haha. Hopefully everything will turn out okay, which I think it will. Just a little detour in my adventures in Honduras!!!

Honduran Driver’s License

Seeing as how my Illinois driver’s license was stolen when I was robbed at knife point back in July, and knowing that I was expecting more visitors from the states, I decided to get my Honduran driver’s license. This way I’d be able to drive my visitors around the countryside, rent a car, and take weekend trips with volunteers. Plus, it would be a great souvenir. It took me four trips to the Honduras DMV until they finally gave me my Honduran driver’s license. I had to make sure I had all the paperwork, stand in numerous lines, and pay a fee. No written exam, no driver’s test…nothing. In order to get your Honduras driver’s license, here’s what you need:

Medical and vision exam (the doctor at the ranch wrote up a quick note, signed and stamped it, without examining me at all)
Letter from NPH stating why I am here and that I am applying for residency
Copy of passport
Blood type (test available at the DMV for 50 lempiras ($2.50)
About 200 lempiras ($10) to get you a driver’s license that is valid for one year

Driving in Honduras isn’t as bad as one might imagine. I’d say driving in Europe is way worse. A few things to look out for when driving in Honduras: pot holes, cars passing on blind curves, people throwing trash out of bus windows, cows, and dogs. Also, make sure you have a clue as to where you are going, because there are not many signs to lead the way.

Retiro

In January, several of the girls in my hogar kept asking me if I would go to “retiro”/retreat with them. I was not sure what this meant; other than I’d get to get off the ranch for three days and spend some quality time with the girls. I asked permiso/permission from my jefa/boss, Saily and on Wednesday, January 17 about 70 pequeños, tíos, tías, and me headed for the retiro. It was about one and a half hours by bus; southwest of Tegucigalpa. The retiro site was much like the ranch, and situated in a bowl-like valley on the top of a mountain. It was so windy there I can’t even begin to describe it. Imagine a strong gust of wind that just doesn’t stop. That’s what it was like. At night I thought a tornado was going through us, but not just a quick tornado, one that rested overhead for the entire night. Plus, it was really, really cold! I had to borrow a pair of María’s socks from my hogar, that were wet, sweaty, had toes and were too small, but I was desperate. The retiro was pretty much ranch life and ranch activities, just in a different place. The theme of the retiro was “valores”/values and teaching them about HIV/AIDS and drugs. We did a mini-olimpiadas, where I was designated to be in charge of the shoot-out game…bad idea. For those of you who know me, I am not (and never was) a soccer player. They put me in charge of blocking goals for 70 kids, all of whom have soccer in their bloods. It was a little scary, but I think it was entertaining for the kids to see me try and block their running-start kicks. One big difference between retiro and the ranch – the food! The food was sooooo good: chocolate milk, chocolate-covered pancakes, banana bread, pastries, sardines (what?!), spaghetti, beans, and other typical Honduran fare. However, this food was delicious; even better than many restaurants I’ve eaten in. The retiro ranch also had animals: monkeys, peacocks, burros, goats, toucans, and weird, large rodents I have never seen or heard of before. Retiro was a nice (although long) escape from the ranch in which I got to know a lot of the kids better.

Escape from the Ranch to El Lago Yajoa

We volunteers had been stuck on the ranch for over two weeks. The weekend of January 5-7 Vanessa, Douglas, Kris, and I decided to rent a car and head to El Lago Yajoa. I had been there once before with my sister Anna and Justin, and was really looking forward to a chill, relaxing weekend. Kris braved the pothole-filled, mountainous roads of Honduras in our Chevy Aveo. We stayed in the same cabin I stayed in before, complete with Jacuzzi and water you can drink out of the sink. We relaxed for a bit and then headed out to eat corn dogs and beer. Yum! Who would have thought that I would come to Honduras and order a corn dog?! But at the D&D Brewery they are sooo good! The four of us hung out and were pleased to see Malcolm, the 60-something, bird watching hippie from England. He joined our table and shared lots of stories with us about his crazy traveling life. Not long after we got a phone call from Jesus, our ranch director from Chicago. It turned out that he and his friends, Cesar, Julio, and Oscar, were also at El Lago and were staying at the Agua Azul, another hotel not far away. They invited us to join them for beers and pool. By the time we arrived, most of the beer had already been consumed, but we had fun hanging out -- listening to music, taking pictures, playing pool, and listening to these guys speak in the most Mexican Spanglish I have ever heard in my life!

The next day Kris, Vanessa, and Douglas woke up early to eat blueberry pancakes, but I stayed in bed until 11:00am. I had never slept in that much since I got to Honduras. I am telling you, the brewery is the best place to relax! After they ate breakfast, they joined me back in bed…haha. When we finally got up we decided to go to Pulhapanzak, a park not that far away from the lago. It is a park that has a river you can go swimming in, hiking trails, a restaurant, and a beautiful waterfall. We laid out for a while in the grass by the river, went swimming, had a couple drinks, and soaked up the sun. We were then approached by a 21-year-old local guide who asked us if we wanted to hike the falls; meaning actually go into, through, and under the falls. For just 100 lempiras/$5 we could do this. We thought about it and decided to go for it. We didn’t have appropriate hiking gear though, so we quick went back to the brewery to put on better shoes (and we left Vanessa who was having stomach issues). So, Douglas, Kris, me, and our guide headed down into the falls. It was incredible!! I have never done anything like this in my entire life. To give you an idea, the falls are maybe five- or six-stories high. We had to jump off mini-cliffs in order to get from one point to another. The water around us was roaring. It was hard to see anything, especially with my contacts. It was as if a hurricane, tornado of water was blaring all around us. We made it under the falls into a little cave and were able to look out and up through the falls. It was gorgeous. On our way back our guide took us on some cliff jumps, maybe about two-stories high. I was nervous at first, but after seeing Kris jump right in without hesitation, I had to follow suit. This experience was a natural high, and one I won’t forget. I hope to be able to bring my sister Rita here when she comes at the end of February. Afterwards, we met back up with Vanessa at the brewery and hung out on our front porch lounging in hammocks and listening to music. That evening we ventured out to eat a fish dinner; the lago is known for tilapia. We stopped at the first nice place we saw, called Chalet del Lago. We indulged in anafre/bean dip, whole fish, and dessert. It was delicious. After dinner, we headed back to the D&D for beers, iPod, and cards. I taught them how to play Gin, which was fun. Bob, the owner of the brewery, hung out with us as well. He played us CD’s of him playing the slide guitar with a band, showed us pictures, and shared jokes.

On Sunday, it was time to head back. We first enjoyed a blueberry pancake and hash brown breakfast, and then hit the road. When we got back to Tegucigalpa, Kris, Douglas and Vanessa kept on going back to the ranch, but I stayed to work at Casa Angeles the following day. I met up with Jesus’ friend visiting from Chicago, Julio. We went to Los Reses, a restaurant/bar, and ate chicken wings and shared a cubetazo/bucket of Imperial cerveza/beer. It was fun to share stories and reminisce about Chicago. It made me realize how much I miss it and enjoyed living there.

All in all, it was a fun-filled weekend, one in which we felt we especially deserved after spending the holidays on the ranch.

Ano Nuevo/New Years

Just as strange as it was to spend my first Christmas away from home, it was equally as weird to spend New Years away from my friends.

New Years Eve day on the ranch was spent playing mini-Olimpiadas. Basically, it was a mini version of the grand Olimpiadas that took place in August. We played games such as:

Knocking over a tower of blocks by kicking a soccer ball
A relay race on a slip n slide
Cebollitas/Little Onions -- one person hangs onto a pole, another person hangs onto that person, another person hangs onto that person, etc. Team members from opposing teams try to pull the ‘layers of the onion’ apart until all team members are pulled off the pole.
Crossword puzzle race
Put a pencil into a bottle using a string and your mouth
Blindfolded race following a string in the woods. It was a fun day. Afterwards, we all headed home to shower, nap, and rest up before the big New Years celebration. From what I had been told, this is one of the biggest parties of the year. The kids wear their new estrenos/outfits and there is a dance, which goes until 3:00am. However, it is tradition that the volunteers only hang out until 1:00am. At this time we all return to Casa Personal to have our own party.

In keeping with my Cuban traditions, I made little baggies of 12 grapes for each of the girls in my hogar. For those of you with whom I have shared New Years, you know that it is a tradition of my family to eat 12 grapes when the clock strikes midnight; one grape for each month of the new year. Twelve grapes each, for 32 girls…that’s a lot of grapes! I gave the grapes out around dinner time because I knew we’d all be all over the place when the clock struck 12. I should have known that many of the girls would not wait until midnight, and many of them ate their grapes right away. Oh well.

We had a misa/mass in the evening and then all the hogars had dinner together in el rancho/girls side. Afterwards, it was time to party! We headed down to talleres/workshops, where there was a d.j., disco lights, a five-story fogata/bonfire, and lots and lots of fireworks. This was one Honduran tradition I was not prepared for. Little five-year-old kids were running around with sparklers and setting off fireworks. Older kids rigged up helmets that were filled with fireworks, and they ran around with fireworks shooting out of their heads. When it was midnight, they set of a muneca/doll; or in other words a pinata filled with fireworks. This muneca is said to represent the old year. This is when things got freaky. They set the pinata up right by the mega bonfire. So, all the kids gathered around nearby to watch the fireworks display. When the pinata went off, the kids started scrambling away from it because it was so seriously huge. However, the only escape route headed towards the gigantic bonfire not that many feet away. So, there was this huge scrambling, screaming commotion of kids, adults, volunteers running all over the place; meanwhile all of this being consumed in a gulf of smoke and flames. According to visiting ex-volunteers this is typical on the ranch for New Years. But I was freaked out! I felt like I was watching Real TV: “New Years Party at an Orphanage Gone Wrong!” It was out of control. We danced, ate our grapes, and hung out until 1:00 or so, and then we headed back to Casa Personal to start the real party…haha.
It was a great party, one of the best I have to admit. We had an iPod battle, lots of snack food, drinks, and dancing. It was fun to party with all the visiting ex-volunteers and Jesus’ friends from Chicago. We stayed up until 6:30 in the morning having a great time. The next day we spent recovering in a great way. We slept till about noon. We made a delicious breakfast of eggs and home fries. And then, we bummed out and watched Laguna Beach on DVD all afternoon. It reminded me of spending days recovering with my friends at home eating junk food and watching TV and being bums. It was great!