Adventures

So much has happened since I wrote my last post!  I have been very busy and have not had much time or motivation to write about what I've been doing.  But now is a good time, as I'm sitting in the finca house (the Stephens' farm house), to look back at the past couple of weeks.  Up until Friday I had been in Copan Ruinas, a small and somewhat touristy town where Mike and I studied Spanish at Guacamaya language school.  I feel like I learned quite a bit of Spanish while there, but forming sentences that make sense is still a big struggle for me.  It helps that I have learned a lot of vocabulary.  The thing is, the more words I learn the more I realize how much I still have to learn.  At times I feel like I'm getting further away from being fluent, rather than closer.  But I am also learning that it's ok to make mistakes :)

Of course, we still found time for fun while in Copan.  One day we took a hike in the Copan mountains, led by a Spanish-only speaking guide.  It was a beautiful hike-- everything was really green and there were some amazing views of the city.  We also got to jump over (or crawl under) lots of barbed wire fences.  It was an adventure!  Mike and I went to the Mayan Ruins another day.  We got an English guide this time so we would actually know what was going on, although he had a really thick accent so I still had to concentrate pretty hard.  I had no idea there was so much ancient history in this little town!  I learned a ton during that tour.  Our next free tour with the school was horseback riding in the mountains.  Some of you might know that I'm allergic to horses, BUT i really wanted to go so I drugged myself up with allergy medicine.  It worked and I had a blast.  My horse's name was Chica Loca, which fit her well.  She was a bit unpredictable, but thankfully I never fell off.  That was definitely one of the coolest experiences I have ever had.  Everything in the mountains is so green!  And did you know that the national tree of Honduras is the Pine Tree?  Yep.   The last thing we did was go to the parque de aves (bird park).  The national bird of Honduras is the scarlet mccaw, so we saw lots of those.  They are beautiful!  The best part was the end, when I got to hold them!  I have pictures coming soon to prove it.  The coolest looking bird though (in my opinion) was the toucan.  They look unreal to me.  God has such a great sense of humor.

After our last class on Friday, Mike and I packed up our suitcases once again and got on a bus to San Pedro Sula.  I was sad to say goodbye to my tutor and my host family, especially my 13-year-old brother Luis.  I think he is hilarious.  He likes to practice the little bit of English he knows by asking me (every time he sees me), "What... is... your... name?  What... is... your... phone number?"   He was also my official giant-bug-killer during my time there, so I will have to figure out something else now.  Anyway, we were greeted in San Pedro with a warm welcome by the whole Zorilla family-- Amy and Andres and their two daughters, Abby and Beatrice.  It was nice to get to know our country reps a bit better over Honduran pizza and lemonade.  They are great people, and I feel even better being here knowing that I'm working for them.  Then yesterday we got on another bus with Megan and headed for the Stephens' finca, where I am now.  Besides the extreme heat and humidity (I don't know if I will ever get used to that) it has been great.  I've spent lots of time lying in hammocks.  This morning we drank semi-frozen chocolate milk out of bags and it was heavenly.  Today I also got to do something that I never thought I would do in Honduras-- go sailing!!  Apparently Sean Stephens loves sailing and actually made his own sailboat out of plywood and a tarp (it's legit) and has a friend with some small boats.  On the biggest lake in Honduras!  There wasn't much wind at all but I got to sail a laser for a couple hours, and I was in heaven. 

That's all I've got for now.  On Tuesday I get to see my soon-to-be home city of Tegucigalpa for the first time!  That also means I will be in a bit cooler climate, which I think will be nice.  We will then have our team retreat in Teguc until Sunday, when I will go to my host family.  I start my job at MCM on Monday!  But I don't want to look ahead too much.  I'm excited about the new experiences to come this week, and I want to be present in each day that I spend here.  I'm not sure how much Internet access I will have once I leave the finca, but I'll write an update when I can.  Again, thank you all for your prayers.. they are appreciated!

Paz,
Keila