Guatemala!

So after eating lots of food in Roatan, singing karaoke in Copan, and lots of buses. We arrived in Antigua. A colonial style town an hour from Guatemala city and six from Honduras. Having been to Antigua before I new what to expect. Going on my last experience I would be spending a decent amount of my time lost. Antigua is built mostly on a grid system but then it has a few streets that turn it into a maze. It's hard to get your bearings and all the buildings are of a similar style and colour. Nevertheless, with every plaza you stumble upon; you find a new intricately decorated church, a new part to the endless market, or a new pastry shop. So getting lost wasn't always bad.

Having arrived much later than planned on the Monday we couldn't start our language course til the next day, so we found a cheap hostel, made some food and crashed out. Waking up the next morning and looking at my clock it dawned on me that I should've been at school an hour ago. Oops. Not the best start. But once I eventually turned up, more like 2 hours late (there was a few issues in finding the language school) they were happy to accommodate the fact that I'd have to do lessons later that day and an extra lesson at somepoint during the week. And with that I started spanish school.
Throughtout the lessons they test your understanding and speaking ability, reinforce the verb conugations and take you on walks around antigua and go to the markets and make you talk to the people there. It was extremely helpful for me, it gave me the confidence I needed to speak spanish to people because it showed me that I could both understand and form the verbs needed. Brilliant. In addition to having 4-6 hours of spanish each day you are living with a local family who provides your meals and accomodation for the time that you're studying. I was staying with a ovely family of four who housed 6 students in total. There was me, a polish journalist, a german student, an australian traveller, a 60 year old retired american and a swiss guy. It was a good mix of people and from the first night at dinner I could see I was in for a laugh. And good food. After 4 months of living in a country where salad doesn't exist in any culinary sense. I was served a plate of crunchy, green, fresh salad leaves with peppers, onions, crunchy toast and a nice light dressing. I tried not to let on how much this sad pleased me but I think it was obvious to everyone.
The week spent in antigua was brilliant! I learned a lot of spanish, met some awesome people and celebrated my housemates 30th birthday in style. With cake, pinata, fireworks and in true central american style rum! The market is fantastic. I even managed to get a cheap replacement for my broken rucksack!

Early on a Monday morning we left Antigua for Semuc Champey. This would be a 8 hour bus journey and I wasn't thrilled to be doing it but hey, I'd heard so much about Semuc that I couldn't let a bus journey get in the way... Semuc Champey is a national park that has spectacuar limestone pools and an unforgettable caving experience. We eventually arrived in Semuc 10 hours later, after the bus driver ran a few personal errands, picked up his wife and changed a tyre. So we eventually got settled into the hostel, had some food and chilled. The next day we set out, twenty people crammed into the back of a pick up truck for the bummpiest, most uncomfortable journey of my life. The truck moved at such a slow pace due to the amount of people and the extremely steep constant incline. No airflow whatsoever. Combine that with being pressed against many other people. Things get very hot. We were all extremely relived when we arrived at the entrance to the cave. The guide, a small, nimble guatemalan, told us to take off or shoes and strip down to our swimming costumes. We were then all given a candal and asked if we could swim with one hand. The answer was pretty much yes, and anyone who wasn't sure was given a lifevest. And off we went, feeling somewhat bemused and unsure as to what I was geting myself into.. at the entrance to the cave we lit the candals and proceeded with the guide shouting 'heads!!' And then 'left, left'. As the water gradually got deeper we heard, 'one hand up. Swim' and so on. Climbing ladders, sliding over rocks, jumping off things. All into the complete darkness except for this little flickering candal, our lifeline.
After lots of swimming, jumping and bashing of toes on rocks, we reached the end of the cave. The finale was to clamber up this rock in the complete darkness, and jump into, what can only be described as, the abyss. The guide pointed a candal into the pool and said jump here. I was perched on the side of tis rock, looking into blackness a few flickering candals in the distance, safe to say I was a little scared. And I jumped. I hit the water after what seemed like an age and was plunged into complete darkness as I hit the water. Surfacing again into complete darkness, I was pretty adrenaline filled. I was ready to do it again. But unfortunately we couldn't. There was other jumps to complete.
We headed out of the cave and towards the sunlight. From there we walked to a rope swing. This was one of the most impressive rope swings I've seen. Everyone was in awe of this thing. And so eventually the first person stepped up, and then the next. And every person that jumped ended up landing on their faces, bums., stomachs. I was not reassured but I did it anyway. I jumped on and started flying through the air, at what I thought was the optimum point. Turns out it wasn't. I felt myself falling forward and heading straight for a massive bellyflopp. I decided to tuck and roll. And so I ended up doing a sommersault off this crazy rope swing. I surfaced with a stinging shoulder, and to the sond of cheering. The guide shook my hand and called me 'chica loca'. The funny part is that I didn't even mean it. I was simply savig myself from the king of all bellyflopps. We left the swing with some very red bodied tourists. I think only one person managed to land in the water the way we were supposed to..
From there we headed to a bridge. Apparently we could jump off. It must have been like 10-12 meters high. So I jumped. And it was brilliant. So I jumped again. And again. And once more. God it was good fun. We stopped for lunch and then headed to the actual Semuc Champey park. We hiked up for a few hours and were rewarded with an amazing view of a valley with the limestone pools which were filled with the clearest water. From the viewpoint you cold see the rocks, people swimmig and even some fish. It was amazing. We then headed down and cooled down in these beautiful crystal clear pools.
It was fantastic. The only downside was the cramped, unconfortable truck ride home. But even that didn't spoil my day! What a way to end my time in Guatemala.

Next stop the end of the world.

So sometimes something happens to knock you down.

I've been looking forward to my travels for a long time, it's a chance to see another part of the country, gives you a channce to relax and wind down after a hectic finish to the school term. So off I headed to Roatan, one of the bay islands of the caribbean part of Honduras, for a weeks stay with other volunteers and to help out with a spelling bee. On arrival it was raining, not the best but hey I was on a caribbean island. Things would be good.

Or so I thought. We attended the schools graduation, which was a lovely affair with the girls in beautiful white dresses with red sashs and the boys in suits with red ties. We got free food (always a bonus), music and dancing. We were feeling good and ready to head to a BBQ with the vols and their diving instructor. When we got back to the house I noticed that my things had been messed up, it took me a while to realise the back window had been broken into, the metal bars on the window removed and the screen bent inwards. I went over to my rucksack and searched through it. My small rucksack was gone, along with my months wages, phone,ipod, camera, earphones, sunglasses, flip flops, head tourch, pen knife. Anything of value and more. They even took my toothbrush. And things that were in my rucksack that were of a more sentimental value than  anything thing else. That made me angry, annoyed, frustrated, and helpless.

These guys had done this before, they had methodically gone through all my belongings, opening pockets and rucksacks, going through make up bags, small hidden purses. They knew where to look and what to look for.

We were taken by the school that the vols work for to the police station to file a report. And well, the police are more than useless. They said they couldn't do anything and that if we wanted to file a report we had to go to the other police station an hours drive away. So the bext day we did that and they said a similar thing that there was nothing they could do but gave us the report. And that's really all we needed for the insurance. Thankfully everythings covered under the insurance so there's no point dwelling on it. I was ready to enjoy my holiday.

Roatan is a beautiful place, it's very long, thlin and mountainous. There's lots to do and plenty of brilliant places to eat. So that was our plan. To eat and swim. And that's what we did. We ate lobster in a restaurant that had the most amazing view over the ocean. I ate one of the best burgers of my life (only my dad's could beat it). We had the classic chicken meal that's synonomous with honduras. It consists of a half or quarter chicken with coconut bean rice, tortillas and chimole (which is a pepper, onion, tomato salad with corriander and vineger). Best chicken meal ever. I had a traditional garifuna meal which was mashed plantain with coconut which becomes like a paste and you eat that with a fish soup. Delicious. But extremely rich. I made an attempt but finishing it was beyond me.

The volunteers I was staying with live two minutes from the beach and so swimming was a daily thing. Jumping off the pier into the sparkling, clear, warm Caribbean sea was just wow.  

We had bonfires and star gazed. There is very little light pollution where we were and so the stars were some of the best I've ever seen.
It was a very chilled start to the holiday exactly what I needed really.

I also helped judge a local spelling bee, helping with the organization, decorations and the judging. It was a good laugh and we had three judges; an american, a guatamalan and a scot. Three very different accents. My spelling skills were also put to the test and I was impressed that te kids whose second language is english were spelling words like turquoise and phantoms.

The community we were staying in were wonderful and it has a real Caribbean feel to it. All the girls have their hair braided or combed with beads and threads and there's so .much colour. One of the woman there offered to braid my hair and so I sat for 4 hours the first day and 3 the next. It took ages and I was sitting on the most uncomfortable stool in the world. Once it was done I was pretty happy with the result. I was worried i'd look like an idiot with the braids and red extensions but I'm damn happy with the result. Even if I do look a bit like a hippy with the braids and colorful trousers...

From roatan we traveled to guatemala. This meant a boat journey and two chicken buses and the most unconfortable, stuffy minibus in the word. After over 16 hours of travelling we arrived in Antigua, Guatemala with very sore bums.

So now I'm in antigua, I've been here for a week. I've finished language school, and I'm having a brilliat time. Antigua is vibrant colourful and you meet so many interesting people. It's a meeting point for travellers and it has great markets and treks. Ill save these stories for the next blog.

¡Que Rico!

I've made it to the end of my first school term teaching in Honduras. It's been 4 months since I've moved here, and I have to say, I'm still enjoying it as much as when I started. I could even say it's even better than before. Me and my partner Mali have settled into the community, we have friends!! And, well, things are good. My only complaint is the lack of decent chocolate and cheddar cheese. If anyone would like to send me a wee present of the above items it would make my year! Although I'm not sure the cheese would survive the journey.... Also, a shout-out to my Gran who sent smarties in the last package that made 6 volunteers very, very happy.

I've been slacking a little on my blog recently, and as of the next two moths things might be similar as, as of Thursday I'm off travelling Central America for my winter vacation! I'm not sure how well connected to the Internet I'll be but I promise to keep you all updated on my progress and adventure.

I would like to use this blog as a way of saying a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has supported me up until this point, everyone who helped me organising events for fundraising, people who donated money, ideas and things to sell, anyone who helped me in any way I'd like to say thanks! It's an amazing experience for me to have and I wouldn't be here without the support and continued support from you guys.

Last week was thanksgiving, and while it's barely celebrated in the UK and Honduras it's rather MASSIVE in the USA. We have a friend in the community, with children our school, that is from the states and he invited us to his house for thanksgiving dinner. The whole week leading up to this meal I was dreaming about roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potato, vegetables and gravy. Mmm gravy. When Thursday came it did not disappoint. After a long day at school we were ravenous and thankfully the turkey was HUGE. It's one of the best meals I've had in Honduras. Not because it was western style food (don't get me wrong I love Honduran food, there will be plenty of that cooked when I get home), but because the food was genuinely extremely good! '¡Que rico!' As the Hondurans say. And it was nice to have something different. So thanksgiving was success. We left the house so full, we probably could've rolled home.

Our neighbours have moved out. When we found out this news we were extremely sad, our neighbours are a family of 5, a couple and their three children ages 1,3 and 5. The past month they've been living next door has been one of the best. The kids come over to the house to play in the mornings, we end up inventing games like rolling duct tape down the hill outside our house for the kids (and us) to chase. Great hilarity watching two 18 year olds chasing a roll of duct tape down a hill, well for the surrounding neighbours that is... We also teach the father English on a wednesday night and informally teach the children as we play with them. They also took out washing in when it rained!! So now you can see why we were genuinely sad when the neighbours moved. But thankfully they weren't moving far. Just three (very long) blocks away. We arranged to go over to visit in a few days and were told something about a swimming pool. We thought we were going to go swimming but I think something was lost in translation as we soon found out. We headed out, swimmers on, towels in bag and walked the three long blocks to a part of Trinidad we had never been before, we turned off the main road, and continued along a dirt track, crossing a large river and ten continuing along a dirt track. There we came to a clearing, with two houses, two large swimming pools, another small pool, an outdoor stage, a volleyball and football pitch. All very overgrown, derelict and in need of a clean. It was soon clear that the family were living there, cleaning the place up until the owners (I'm assuming its the owners) come to live here, just before Semana Santa. I was in awe of this place, tucked away in a small corner of Trinidad, it must have once been a beautiful leisure complex where people came to swim, relax, eat, listen to music and play football. It was a shame to see it had been abandoned but with some work it could be a potential business again. We offered to help start the clearing process and were soon set to work cleaning one of the big swimming pools, with the enthusiastic help of the kids. Scrubbing, brushing, washing and running away from fire ants, in a beautiful surrounding in the sun was really awesome. We then started the process of filling the pool, connecting the old pipes together which formed, surprisingly, a functioning water source. And slowly, slowly the pool started to fill. What more was there to do than go for a swim. Well more a paddle as the water only reached the ankles. But playing with the kids in this pool we'd just cleaned was a blast. And to top it off we got a great lunch followed by lemonade and free fruit picked from the surrounding trees! After making arrangements to return after we get back from travelling we said our goodbyes and set off home, tired, covered in bites, mud and scratches but ultimately very satisfied after an enjoyable, fun day!

Yesterday was our last day working at the 'Jardin de Niños' (the kinder school we work at twice a week) for this year. We arrived expecting a normal lesson, but we're greeted with the smell of cooking, and singing children. Profe Anna explained that today we would be having a party to say goodbye and this would involve art class, eating pastilitos (small pastries, filled with a rice, chicken mix and deep fried) accompanied with coca cola. What more could we want? Art and food. Our favourite things! After completing the apple we were drawing and decorating with the niños, we were presented with a key ring each from Honduras, a message was written on it saying 'Para alguien especial que le Recuerda Siempre.' which translates to 'For someone special that we will remember always' a lovely gesture and a nice momento from Honduras. After eating the pastilitos, which were amazing, ¡Que rico!We were sent off from the Jardin with the niños saying 'adios gringas!'. Until next time niños.

Photos from 'the late blog'

A late blog....

I realised I haven't blogged for about three weeks. Now is as good a time as any, sitting in a maca (hammock) listening to the music from the discotheque, to compose a blog about the past few weeks. Where to start?

Well. As we are here on a tourist visa, every three months we have to leave the country for a period of 72 hours (legally that is...). So off we went, having planned to go to Copan, a beautiful town just 20 minutes from the border with Guatemala and jump across the boarder for a couple of hours, pay some money and jump back. Getting all the stamps we need on the way. After a relatively uneventful busy journey of five hours, which I spent in an uncomfortable state as I seriously needed to pee, and we seemed to be on the slowest, bumpiest chicken bus in all of Honduras. It became interesting only when the bus ran over a candy floss vendor. We were made aware of this fact when there was a ridiculous thump on the side of the bus, lots of shouting and witnessing a toppling candy-floss stand. The man seemed to be fine, just shaken, his candy-floss however was not. After paying the man off, with around 500 lempiras ($25) we were off. Once arriving in Copan, I fell in love with the place, it was beautiful, colonial and busy. It had a small market and was surrounded by nice picturesque countryside. We ended up meeting two travellers that we had met previously on a trip to Lago de Yojoa and explained our plan. They were unsure it would work at this particular border and explained that we might have issues at other borders if the stamps on our passports showed that we hadn't been outside the country for more than 72 hours. After consulting a few other people we decided that we'd get a shuttle to Antigua the next day and spend three days chilling in Antigua. Not a bad plan.
Leaving the next day, on an uncomfortable 6 hour bus journey to Antigua, a cosmopolitan and colonial Guatemalan town. The border crossing was no problem, exit stamps, entrance stamps and just over $2 to be paid, we were in Guatemala. The first thing I noticed were the roads, so smooth. Little or no potholes, providing us with a relatively bump free journey to Antigua, if you ignore the erratic driving that seems to be commonplace in all Latin American countries. It seems to me that sides of the road don't really exist here... You can spend a good half of your journey somewhere driving on the opposite side of the road. Somewhat daunting at first but you soon get used to it. Anyway, we made it to Antigua in one piece. Found a hostel and set off exploring. Antigua is another beautiful town. It is surrounded by two volcanoes, which are both currently, slowly and gently erupting (if you can call an erupting volcano gentle). We couldn't see the lava or any of the eruption because the weather was pretty cloudy. It is winter after all. But still like a summers day at home. Shorts and tee shirts are more than enough. The first thing I noticed about Antigua was the amount of tourists. Everywhere I looked there were tourists. And I mean everywhere! Bus tours, backpackers, families, couples, Americans, Germans, Canadians, French..
Now having lived in a town for three months where there is only one other 'gringa' this came as a but of a surprise. And in a weird way, I know look at the tourists and say to myself, oh look white people. As if I, myself, am a local. I'm far from it.
I think I saw more VW Beatles in Antigua than I ever have in my life. I have no idea why, but they are vey popular. An I must say, I think I know why.
Our time I'm Antigua was pretty chilled. We explored the town, and tested about as much food as we could. The weekend in Antigua was spent eating, relaxing and talking to other travellers. And discussing out plans for our winter vacation which starts in just under three weeks. We have 7 weeks of holidays where we plan plan to explore Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua and possibly Costa Rica. This part I'm really looking forward to. But you'll here about this in future blogs!
Antigua was a good place to recover and relax before the last hectic weeks before the end of term.

The last week of term involves, fourth partial exams, final year exams, reinforcement classes, final grades, so much paperwork and of course the end of term party! So while I could say that this has been the reason for my lack of blog, it's just me being a bit lazy...

Me and Mali are working on a project with a partnership school in Washington. It's called 'Bridging the Americas' and it's all about migratory birds that spend summer in the states and migrate to Honduras for winter. So for the past couple of weeks, our heads and lessons have been filled with birds, bird pictures, and facts about migratory birds. It's been good fun. We're just about to send off the information sheets to exchange with the school and hopefully soon we'll get a Skype session set up! As a result of this project we decided to organise a field trip to the nearby mountains to look for birds. Our head teacher owns a small coffee plantation in the mountains, with a small old fashioned homestead with a open fire stove and very simple in structure. We headed off with the kids (only an hour late..) in the back of the pick up trucks. We have now named this method of travel as 'trucking it'. It can get pretty cold sitting in the back of the truck, especially when you're heading up unit the mountains, so I was pretty glad I had my wooly Antiguan jumper on. Heading up into the mountains it got mistier and mistier. The temperature dropped and the air got pretty damp. About 3/4 of the way up the trucks stopped and one for the teachers got out. That week I'd had a bit of a cough and had been sent to the doctors for medicine and was told I had a chest infection. I highly doubt that I had a chest infection, just a cold with a cough. Anyways, due to me being 'very, very sick' I wasn't allowed to travel in the back of the truck anymore. I must say I was very gutted. I didn't bother to protest because it just showed that they cared about my health, which was nice! Although suffering the looks and sniggers from the pupils did make me feel a bit silly.
Anyway, ego aside, it was still a nice journey up to the mountains and once arriving we headed off on a exploratory walk around to look for birds and other wildlife. Of course with a large group of very loud, very noisy and very excited children we saw nothing. But that didn't detract from the experience. We were still able to pick oranges from the tress, and picked up a huge banana bunch, which was now ours to fund Mali's banana eating habits. I'm pretty sure most of the children hadn't ever been up in te mountains like that before. The excitement was evident from their faces. They were having a blast and so were we. After a typical Honduran lunch of fried chicken, beans, tortilla, rice and plantain, and plenty of coffee. Mali, me and two other volunteers headed off with our head teacher, Tato, to forge for fruit. First we found pastatillo (spiky vegetable that is similar to courgette but more watery). Cooking pastatillo in the oven with cheese, salt and coriander is fantastic! After we'd exhausted the pastatillo tree, aguacate (or avocado) was next on the list. The unfortunate thing was that the aguacate tree was the highest tree around. A small problem we thought. Or not. Tato produced a ladder and proceeded to climb up, once reaching the top he started climbing further, barefoot. Once in a relatively safe position he was handed a very long bamboo pole with a small bag attached to the end. This was for knocking the aguacates off the tree. We had to count the number that fell off the tree so we knew roughly how many to collect. As soon as he stopped knocking aguacates off the tree we were off.Running, sliding, crawling about in the undergrowth trying to be the person who collected the most aguacates. I'm ashamed to say I got two, Mali on the other hand collected eleven. Now we're sorted for aguacates for a while....
All that was left to pick was grapefruits. And we got 'hunners'. We couldn't fit them all in the fridge so we gave some to our neighbours, also to say thanks for taking our washing in when it rains.
Heading home in the back of the trucks, laden with free, hand picked fruit, I was happy, content and knackered. I've got to say, that was one of the best field trips of my life.
The photos of the filed trip will follow, soon. I hope!

Turning 18 in Honduras.

Last weekend I turned 18, it was fantastic. Where a majority of the volunteers met up at Lago de Yojoa, at a lodge near the lake that specialised in blueberry pancakes, burgers and beer. We decided to start celebrating my birthday uk time, so at 5pm Honduran time, in a rowing most in the middle of the most beautiful lake, a bunch of British teenagers blasted out happy birthday. Much to the amusement of the local fishermen. Heading back to the lodge, extremely wet and a bit bashed up (after jumping out of the boat and finding some cliffs to jump off) I had my first legal drink, some of the home brewed beer at the lodge. It was somewhat disappointing but the pancakes and bacon made up for that the next morning. Finally i found bacon! Sitting round the campfire talking to other teachers (all American) who were teaching in other areas of Honduras, provided us with amusing anecdotes and it was great being able to compare our observations of the children and find that most of them were very, very similar. For example, if you ever set a piece of homework, the day that homework's due, as soon as you get into the class, you're pounced upon by the kids. 'Miss, Miss, Miss!!! HOMEWORK!!!' and with books thrown at you left right and centre. Over all, having a 31 hour birthday was a great laugh, and what a place to turn 18!! And to top it off, two of the volunteers made the most fantastic chocolate cake, with Oreos and chocolate icing. ¡Que rico!

Honduras loves it's public holidays. This is our 2nd long weekend this month, and that's great because it gives us time to head further afield and experience different areas in Honduras. There was some confusion as to when the public holiday was, it was originally friday, then Monday, and the changed to Tuesday because the national football team are playing against Canada. Finally they decided it was Monday. So off we headed, to the Caribbean coast, very close to the border with Guatemala. The place was called Omoa, and the weather was fantastic, as it always is. We went in search of a quiet beach, and hiked along the road and then down to what seemed like a secluded, peaceful area.. We were confronted by the messiest beach I've ever seen. You couldn't see any sand for the rubbish. Looking along in the distance I figured it might get better, so we walked for about half an hour, finally settling on a spot that was 'cleaner' than most other places. It was beautiful if you kept your eyes out to sea. And we stayed there for hours, chilling and eating fruit, and contemplating how wonderful life was. But it's extremely sad that what could potentially be absolutely wonderful beaches are polluted with so much rubbish. The area around Omoa could be a fantastic tourist destination, but the rubbish limits it's opportunities. And what's more, a majority of it is not even Honduran rubbish. It's from the states, neighbouring countries and possible even Europe.

Later on, back at the hostel we met a group of folks who were motorbiking from Alaska to Argentina. What a trip!! The group was made up if a dutch couple, who were travelling together and writing about the agriculture as they passed it. And two guys from London, who were continuing a round the world journey for charity, having started in the uk, crossed through Europe, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia and onwards, South Korea and then Alaska to Argentina. They all had some amazing stories about the ups and downs, the people they'd met and just generally how fantastic it was. They made a big impression on me, and I found out that whatever I end up doing in life, I want to continue travelling to all areas of the world. And have fun. Life's about living in the present and taking opportunities as they come. These guys seemed to have that down to a tee. If you want to check out their blog, it's toughmiles.com. Well worth a look, particularly if you like motorbikes and travel!

I have also managed to get the best frown tan line on my forehead. Fantastic! All the kids have been laughing at me all week...

The security guard smiles and waves to us as e swings his shotgun over his shoulder.

Having lived in Trinidad for 9 weeks, I think it's about time I told you more about the area I'm living in. Trinidad is a town of around people, its situated in the department of Santa Barbara , about an hour from San Pedro Sula, in Western Honduras. San Pedro is Honduras' second city, extremely dangerous, but if you want to travel anywhere to San Pedro you must go. With Trinidad you can walk from one side to the other in about ten minutes. It's a pretty area, with some wealthier houses, but just two minutes from the parque central (the main square where the church and majority of shops are located, which is a feature of all the towns here) and you can see the houses of the less wealthy residents. And the difference is striking. From beautifully painted houses with immaculate to mud huts with corrugated iron roofs and heaps of rubbish. Walking further out often you come tithe barrios (kind of like suburbs, but as you get further from the town the poorer they get) thses stretch far up onto the hill, and up to 4 kilometres outside of the village. These are the poorest areas, and Mali and I have the opportunity to work in a poverty stricken kinder school in a barrio called Lempira. It's a huge change to the school we currently work in. It's one room, decorated with second hand posters. The children are very young 3/4 years old. And extremely cute. They are excitable and fun to teach. I'll elaborate on this teaching opportunity later in the blog.

Trinidad is a very safe place compared to other areas of Honduras. We can walk around and not feel threatened. Although going out too late after dark is inadvisable, and can be dangerous. Even though we've been reassured of the safeness of our town, the locals still like to carry guns, everywhere. The guards at the bank have shotguns casually resting on their shoulders and pistols in their belts, our landlord walks about with a gun holstered in his belt, walking down the street you'll see two or three people (always men) carrying guns. And you cant help but notice the bulletholes in some of the vehicles. At first it made me very wary and slightly disconcerted, but now, it's just what happens. This is how the people live. There's always a risk of violence. Armed robberies are popular along some of the isolated roads of this department. And with the main occupation being farming, travelling on the isolated roads is daily routine, the farmers feel the have to protect themselves. While this is entirely justifiable, I can't help but think that the amount of people carrying guns can only compound the violence here.

While we haven't witnessed any violence, we did have a moment where at 7am we thought there was a dead body in the street. The street was relatively busy, but everyone kept walking on, as did we. It worried us, until the next day, we saw the same man, lying in different spot at 7am. Turns out he's the local drunk who likes to pass out in the early hours and wake up around lunchtime. This reassured us, while Honduras is the murder capital of the world, Trinidad is not a town where murders happen in broad daylight and the people just walk on by.

Unfortunately due to some issues in relation to public school, we are temporarily unable to teach there. This should hopefully be resolved soon, as I really do wish to continue working there! Before the issues arose, I won't get into the details as it should be easily resolved, we decided we would also work in a Kinder school in a very poor barrio about a kilometre from our house. The first day we started, we walked down, it was a very beautiful walk and it shows you areas of Trinidad that you wouldn't normally see, highlighting the extreme poverty faced by some families in this area. Approaching the school, we soon realised that this would be very different from where we teach in the afternoons. The school was a room, decorated very basically and with 4 desks surrounded by 18 tiny chairs. Te children were all standing up, with one hand on their heart, singing the national anthem as we entered. A daily occurrence here. The children were unbelievably small and extremely cute. You could see the poverty much more clearly here, their shirts were not gleeming white, skirts were faded navy and trousers were ripped at the knees. It was a hard first day. We started by teaching them basic letters and words and matching those words to pictures. At first there was a lack of understanding, but come our next visit, the lesson ran much more smoothly. And the kids were excited for our return.
Address:
On Tuesday, we walked down to the barrio Lempira in the intense heat, to be confronted with only two pupils in the class. The elementary school teachers next door had gone to San Pedro for the day, so that school was closed. Everyone assumed that the kinder school would be closed. But alas it was not and only two pupils turned up. I have to admit, teaching the two cutest girls, one on one, was one of the best lessons I've done. They understood what we were teaching and were delighted when we spent half an hour after class playing with them. It was obvious that they weren't used to the constant attention we were able to give them. It was a good day. Although I am looking forward to having the full class back tomorrow.

There's toilet water flooding the house!!

Awakening to a light turning on is not the nicest way to be woken up. To be then asked,'Who knocked the water bottle over?' at 2am. Was even better. Once my brain had finally registered what was going on, I soon discovered the puddle of water was much larger than a bottle spillage. The whole house was flooded in about 2 inches of water. Unless this was one large water bottle, I concluded that something else was causing all this water on our floor.
Before finding the source of the leak, I realised that standing in a puddle of water while electrical items were plugged in and functional could potentially be extremely dangerous. Swiftly turning off the electrics, I went to the bathroom, the usual source of our plumbing problems. To my dismay, I discovered it was the toilet overflowing. Great, not only was our floor flooded, it was flooded with toilet water. Mali turned the water off, while I scooped the excess water out the toilet. Fantastic. Thankfully there was no poo in sight, as that part of our plumbing is less temperamental now. But still it's toilet water. The best method of clearing the floor was to brush the water out the door, which we did. Our house is all stone tiles so we didn't have to worry about drying carpets. Although all our bags, shoes, paper, basically everything that was on the floor was completely soaked. Lying in bed now, it's 3.30am, the floor is gradually drying, our belongings are on the washing line (hopefully it won't rain), the windows are open to the maximum and the electrics are not getting plugged in until everything is bone dry. We're in for a hot night. L

Having lived in Trinidad for 8 weeks now (it doesn't seem like that at all!) the excitement is starting to wear off, and reality is kicking in. The work is hard, draining and not without it's challenges. Working with kids everyday is so tiring. You are a roll model to them all, you have to be constantly aware of your mannerisms and behaviour. And be the best teacher you can be. Constantly on alert to see which child is misbehaving or not understanding. But when you get that one child, who has struggled for what seems a lifetime, shows that they understand and can competently do something. You feel a sense of achievement. And it's great. No doubt this year is gonna be hard, and not without it's ups and downs. There's already been quite a few. But it'll hopefully be one I remember for the rest of my life as a very fulfilling, rewarding and enjoyable.

And onto oranges! We have been showered in oranges. After getting paid on Friday, we decided to do a big shop, we haven't been able to find oranges for about a week. And I was desperately craving them. So we purchased a healthy amount. Ten minutes after we returned home, some students knocked on our door. I had mentioned, a few weeks back, how much I love oranges and obviously remembering this, brought us copious amounts of oranges. We now have a fridge full of oranges and a very happy Caitlin. With 34 oranges to consume as Mali's not a fan...

We have made friends with a local family, their father is American whi has lived here for 12 years, and cycled around Scotland about 30 years ago. It's a nice point of contact for us to have. They invite us up on a regular basis, to play with the kids, make cake and play cluedo (which can get extremely competitive) and tonight we played football. It was great fun! We played three games, Mali and I were almost dead after that. It was so enjoyable that we've decided to start playing on a regular basis and maybe start a woman's team here. Definitely up for playing more football, as sadly rugby isn't exactly an option (Mali being from Wales is a true rugby fan and of course I am too). Most people just look at us like we're crazy when we try to explain. Although that might have something to do with our Spanish...

Felt the first proper pangs of homesickness this week. Nothing serious really. I was listening to my iPod while witting outside, and Caledonia came on. For those of you who haven't heard it, it's a song about someone who's been away from Scotland for a long time and is finally returning home. 'Calendonia's calling me and now I'm going home.' its a song that instantly reminds me of home, and the landscape and how beautiful my home is. It's a good song that invokes emotion, and now I totally understand why my aunt (currently living in France and has been abroad for 30 years) can't listen to the song without shedding a wee tear. But don't worry I won't be coming home soon, I still have 10 months before I make the journey home. Caledonia's not calling me yet. But I might give that song a miss from now on.

Photos to follow. Having slight technology trouble...

Finally I get to the Caribbean!

Independence day in Honduras is a big deal! They have parades, set off fireworks in the middle of the day, sing the national anthem countless time and have speeches about the important figures in the struggle for Honduran independence. Our school was taking part in the local parade and me and Mali were in charge of the dancers. This involved teaching the girls how to move to the music, dancing and walking forward while moving a hula hoop in a certain manner. It was challenging but we prevailed after much practicing and encouraging.. The parade started early so to avoid the intense midday sun. We walked through the town with the other schools from the area, and the streets we're lined with parents and family. After the parade the children listened to speeches about important figures in the history. Mali and I struggled to understand what was going on but we concluded that it was about the values that Honduran people should have and how they should behave.

After the parade we jumped on a bus as we were off to la ceiba, a town on the coast to meet up with other volunteers. To get to la ceiba we had to got through San pedro sula. Which is a pretty dangerous place. Especially for westerners. We have been warned about buses being hijacked and the people being robbed. In preparation we donned our scruffiest clothes, got our fake wallets in place, hid our phones far into our bags, with money hidden in various places on our body and tried to look as relaxed and Honduran as possible. After all the preparation, we didn't even go into San pedro, the bus station was on the outskirts. We were very relieved. As soon as we got to the station we jumped on the bus for la ceiba. This bus was luxury compared to any other we had been on. It had foot rests and reclining seats. Heaven. It was a 4 hour journey to la ceiba so we settled down to watch the country pass us by.
I love travelling by the buses here, there's something very relaxing and fun about it. The music blaring, the windows all open and the views out the window. I love it!!

La ceiba was great! Meeting up with the other volunteers, getting to the beach. THE SEA AT LAST! It's only been 6 weeks since I've seen the sea. A long, long time for someone who has lived their whole life there. After initially being very disappointed with the beach in la ceiba. It was dirty, full of stray dogs. We consulted the guide book and found apparently the best beach in the area. Another bus journey (yes!) and we were there. It didn't disappoint! The beach was wonderful, the sea clear and very warm. The Caribbean at last! We had a great day. And we got to eat fish. Only the second time in 7 weeks!!

On monday we celebrated teachers day. This meant that all teachers in the area had the day off and were invited to a celebration night. Which involved celebrating the best teacher in the area, dinner and dancing. We went along and had a good time, although for an hour at the start we were the awkward people sitting alone with no friends. After a while the other teachers from the school arrived. An hour an a half after it was supposed to start. People in Honduras are always more than fashionably late.. The next day at school I was told by pupils I looked very happy on tv last night. And proceeded to say that the camera was always on me because I was white. Hmm. What?! I was on tv. This was news to me. Turns out it was a local channel broadcasting the event. And me and Mali were an added interest to the viewers at home.

Today we started teaching at the public school next door. As part of our year here, we have to set up what's called a secondary project. So we decided to start teaching English in the school next door which has no English teachers and the pupils know no English. This was a pretty daunting task. As I, having very little Spanish and them having no English, we have a slight language barrier. But I planned a lesson that introduced basic greetings by solely speaking in english. This is called tesol teaching (teaching English to speakers of other languages) an works very well! As I walked into the 6th grade class, slightly nervous at the fact I was teaching a class of 36 non English speakers, all my nerves vanished. The class was sitting attentively ready to learn. We worked through, introductions, names, asking how are you, and reached where do you live. By the end of the class the children were able to have conversations (admittedly very basic) with each other solely in English. It gave me a great feeling of satisfaction to have been able to teach them and for them to remember so much in such a short period of time. Bring on the next lesson!!

Dia de los niños.

On Monday we had the celebration of 'Dia de los niños' which is Children's day. On this day the children get to come into school in their own clothes, they play games listen to music, eat endless amounts of sweets, drink fizzy juice and bash a piñata. I have now found out the reason behind the violence here. It stems from a childhood of beating a micky mouse shaped piñata to a pulp..
It was good fun, and the children showed off their dance moves, the prepa and kinder kids were putting everyone else to shame. Even me and Mali joined in with the dancing!
We also decorated the doors of the classrooms for the children. Mali and I took the initiative, and instead of using the pre bought buzz light years and other Disney characters, drew our own. Mine being a spongebob and Patrick from a well loved tv show. I'm pretty proud of my artistic talent! And the kids loved it.

Being Scottish and all, I have a love for irn bru. I have to say I've missed it a bit but good news! I have found a replacement. Sort of. It's called tropical banana. It looks like irn bru, it even tastes like it. Right up until it hits you with a very, very strong banana flavour. I suppose it's better than nothing!

We've gotten pretty creative in the apartment over the past few weeks. We started by making birthday cards, moved onto using milk cartons for various storage pots, started making threaded bracelets and our latest burst has been to decorate the apartment with superhero logos. It's a great way to brighten up the place, and superheroes are cool. No matter what anyone says. So far we have spiderman, the hulk, superman, iron man, wonder woman, captain America, cat woman and of course batman.

Clothes here can be pretty expensive when you're a volunteer. But, we've found some fantastic second hand shops in Trinidad. If you're prepared to rummage you can find almost anything you need! Yesterday I managed to get two shirts, shorts, a black dress, a skirt and two tees for only £7. Bargain. And with a little sewing and a good wash they're pretty much brand new. Mali and I have decided that rummaging is the way forward.

Had my first Honduran haircut today. It was well due, having not cut my hair for a year, it was seriously needing it. Mali offered to give it a shot. At first I thought that she was hacking away at my hair, turns out it was the noise of the scissors. Panic over. Halfway through I asked if she'd ever done this before. The answer,being no did not fill me with great confidence. But actually, after much hilarity, I have a perfectly normal haircut. Safe to say Mali will be cutting my hair again!

We went to visit our hosts to catch up and see how try were. They're always very generous and give us bananas or beans when we visit. And always offer us coffee. As a coffee lover I always say yes. And this time I was extremely glad I did! The coffee was perhaps the best coffee I've had in my life! And that's no exaggeration. Conchita explained that when the coffee was ground pepper is added to give it extra flavour. It was amazing. I was so impressed with the coffee they gave me some of that aswell.

"What happened to your face?! I mean, why has it changed colour?!"

So this weekend we headed off on our first proper trip. After 4 buses, which were going through varying stages of decay and all blasting out honduran dubstep at extreme decibels, we arrived at a beautiful lakeside hotel, with cabins, canoes and plenty of character. The place was pretty much deserted which at first seemed a bad omen. But once we had checked in, the rooms were spotless, the place had wifi, canoe hire and fantastic food! Heading off to explore the area we decided to head to one of the 30 wonders of Honduras. A waterfall called Pulhapanzak, this involved even more buses and a walk of about 2km in the midday sun. We were well rewarded when we got there. A cold beer (my first since arriving here!) in a paper cup and tacos for lunch. Then the waterfall. It was fantastic, the cold spray was extremely refreshing, and the swimming was amazing!! It was the first time we didn't look the most touristy people in a 50km radius. The American tourists with name badges and a guide took that award.
After our trek back to the hotel we had the most amazing fish, after not eating fish for a month, me and Ashley devoured one rather large tilapia (specialty fish farmed on the lake) each.

After waking up at 6am, (early beds and early mornings here!) I was in desperate need of going canoeing. Having lived beside the sea for my whole life, 4 weeks is the longest I've spent away from water! I needed my fix. Taking a canoe out for the morning and spending a good 3 hours on the lake, I was definitely satisfied. To top it off the place was astoundingly beautiful, with a huge amount of wildlife, and locals out fishing in their boats. We all enjoyed it so much we've booked a weekend at the lake for my birthday!!

Starting cooking for ourselves yesterday has been something I've been looking forward to for a long time ( no more eggs for me!) The fact that every time we touched the cooking hob we got an electric shock put something of a downer on this.. Remembering a long ago science lesson, wearing shoes, particularly rubber ones should solve the problem. And it did! We managed to finish the meal. Pancakes and banana for dinner just hit the spot! From now on, cook with shoes. Always.

After my weekend away, I've most definitely got more of a suntan. This fact was clarified when a boy at school said to me 'WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?! I mean WHY HAS IT CHANGED COLOUR?!' with a look of extreme astonishment. Being the only gringa in school, I'm going to have to get used to the pupils interest in the changing colour of my skin.

I never thought I'd be glad for a wooly jumper in the tropics..

So four weeks in and I'm still alive and most definitely kicking. I've survived overflowing toilets (I now have no aversion to poo), intense heat, disobedient kids, eggs, cockroaches in the classroom (see later on in the blog), a lack of cold water, car journeys on the roads and I'm loving it! The hours are long and the work is pretty hard, but it's not without it's rewards. Bring on the next 11 months!

Last night we caught the tail end of (what I think) was hurricane Isaac, the hurricane that's just passed New Orleans, the weather was crazy. In just under 15 minutes the roads were like rivers, the school was pretty much flooded, the thunder was deafening with lightening lighting up the sky as if it was day. We weren't allowed to walk the 400m home as we would've been washed away. And I'm not joking. I've never seen rain like it, and that's saying something having lived in Scotland for nearly 18 years. When we were finally allowed to leave, the rain had calmed down, the streets were more like gentle streams than raging rivers, we made a mad dash home. Arriving in record time but still looking as if we'd been swimming. It's safe to say last night I was glad for my wooly jumper. Thanks mum!

Cockroaches in the classroom! I'm not a fan of cockroaches. I think they're disgusting and vile. While teaching 6th grade, one decided to make an appearance. It scuttled out from behind a bookshelf and made a beeline for my desk. The only girl in 6th grade spotted it and jumped up onto her chair. I'm not ashamed to say I joined her, jumping swiftly onto my chair. Having only flip flops on, which aren't exactly prime cockroach killing material, I think this was the best option. The boys of the class took great delight in killing (sorry decapitating) and disposing of this particular cockroach. Next time, for I'm sure there will be many more cockroaches to see this year, I'll be ready!

I'm finding myself check the kitchen every now and then, just to make sure the fridge is still there. It always is. And I love it!

We're gonna make ice cubes. Why? Because we can!!

THE FRIDGE HAS ARRIVED!! This is the best day so far. It's beautiful. And has a freezer part. I have never appreciated a household appliance so much in my life. It's amazing. We no longer have to drink warm water. And can eat fruit all the time. Starting cooking for ourselves this weekend coming. So no more egg!! Just makes things even better. In our excitement, we filled all our water bottles from our lukewarm water container and into the fridge they went. We even made ice even though we have nothing to put it in... Can't wait to make some iced coffee. The coffee out here is FANTASTIC. And Trinidad has many coffee plantations surrounding it, so it's cheap!

This weekend we spent more time with our hosts. Conchita (principle of the school and our surrogate mother for the year, as she told us), her husband (Dr Allan) and two sons (Juan and Rodriguez). After lunch on sunday, they asked us if we enjoyed football, as Barcelona were playing. Of course I said yes. And we headed to the living room to watch the game. Here I bonded with, particularly, the men of the household, with our joint hate of Real Madrid (mostly Cristiano Ronaldo) and our love of Messi. Barcelona won the game, and they asked if we wanted to watch Real Madrid lose.. Naturally we said yes! We seemed to get on much better, things were more relaxed, we joked and they invited us to go with them on day trips if we wanted. Which we agreed to! This was all done in broken Spanish on our part and much gesturing on their part. Giving us a small sense of achievement that they actually understood us! I'm feeling more and more at home the more I get to know people here. They're very welcoming. And considerate of our lack of Spanish. We can only improve!

A challenging week.

This week has most definitely been the hardest so far. On top of teaching from 1 to 6.30 each day, our daily planning, writing exams, and preparing revision sheets, we have been given extra morning two hour classes, from 9 to 11 each day. Tired doesn't even cover it. To top it all off I have been feeling a little under the weather. Consisting of a headache and not being able to eat without wanting to be sick. Challenging when you're teaching in 35 degree heat for 8 hours each day.
But I'm coping. I knew this year would have its ups and downs. And the first month would be one of the hardest. Onwards and upwards as they say. Irma (Conchita's cook) seemed unconcerned to my illness. Unlike the treatment Mali received when she uttered the words 'estoy enferma' (I am ill). This might have been due to the fact that the only other words in Spanish Mali had said until that point were 'Hola' and 'gracias'. Alerting them to the fact that she might actually be ill.

I'm excited to get our fridge though. That's brightened up my week. Cold water how I long for you!!

Discovered a while ago that I have managed to lose one brown sandal en route to Honduras. How I have done this I cannot imagine but it's happened. And Mum, Dad before you ask it's not in my tip of a room, because my room is spotless (if you can believe that!!). Said shoe definitely did not make it into Honduras. The other one of the pair is now hanging on my wall, in memory of the disappearing sandal.

I think I've eaten more egg here than I have in my lifetime.

Don't get me wrong, the food here is great, but almost every single meal has some form of egg in it. Scrambled, fried, boiled, omelette, eggs and beans, eggs and chicken, eggs in tortilla with mince, eggs on the enchiladas, eggs and rice. Worst thing is, I hate eggs. I eat the meals because it's what we're given but I can't wait til next week when we are able to cook our own food! Mali can eat all the eggs she wants, I will avoid them like the plague.

Food wise, today for breakfast we had tortilla with scrambled egg, beans and mantiquilla (almost like sour cream but cheesier) orange juice, coffee and two biscuits. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, and we had chicken marinated in spices, rice and peas, and a green vegetable (that we have yet to find out its name) covered in mantiquilla. Usually we have fruit but today we had a banana custard/mousse. For dinner we had beans, eggs again (this time in the form of an omelette), fried plantain (A banana that's green before you cook it) and a singular slice of white bread. Photos below!

Last night we had an amazing thunderstorm. The lightening lit up the sky as if it was day but with a purple tint. The thunder was deafening shook the house. Then came the rain. Incredibly heavy, the noise it made on the roof made having a conversation with Mali near impossible. The storm continued late into the night. It was by far the most spectacular we've witnessed since arriving.

Accompanying the frequent storms are even more sporadic power cuts. They can happen any time of day. But usually in the afternoon and they're much more likely to happen before or during a storm. When this happens, we lose the function of our fan. This may not seem like such a big deal. But it's SO hot in our apartment, we literally cook without it! Thankfully our power cuts haven't lasted more than 3 hours, yet...

We headed to Santa Barbara this weekend to meet up with Ashley and Emily, two other project trust volunteers teaching in the one of the barrios of Santa Barbara called Gualjoco. The bus journey over was spectacular. We jumped on a packed american style yellow bus, found seats and spent the whole journey staring out the window. The scenery was fantastic! Luscious green mountains, swollen rivers, and then all the villages we passed on the way. Houses lined up along the road side, all painted bright and colourful but very poor. Driving past a gas station I was astonished to see a security guard standing casually on the forecourt with a shotgun resting over his shoulder, a belt filled with cartridges and a handgun in his belt. This is the norm for banks but I'd never seen it before at a gas station!

After we met the girls, went for ice cream and bought supplies we headed to Gualjoco on another yellow American schoolbus. There was confusion from Emily and Ashley about where to get off, so once we did they didn't know where their house was. Cue trekking about Gualjoco in the intense midday sun with lots of shopping. Finally, after half an hour they finally worked out that the house was 2 minutes from where we got off the bus. The watermelon was well deserved when we eventually arrived!

WE'RE GETTING A FRIDGE!! I don't think anyone can understand our excitement at this development, unless they've lived in a tropical country for nearly 3 weeks drinking lukewarm (sometimes extremely warm) water. B This is an exciting day, it also means we will be starting to cook for ourselves very soon. Which adds to the excitement as I will not have to eat eggs. Ever again. Well not quite but much less frequently than now. The wonderful invention, that is the fridge, should be arriving at our little apartment by Friday. This gives us plenty time to work out where on earth we will put it. We're pretty pushed for space, already having the wardrobe in the kitchen due to lack of space in the bedroom....