Roatan, Roatan! (sung to the tune of Mayatan)

After living here for the better part of two years, I finally went to a Honduran beach. I had been to beaches in Guatemala, though most of my beach experiences were in Belize, but for the first time, I went to a Honduran beach.

As a self proclaimed 'codo' it was hard to imagine relaxing enough to let go of the money it would take to go to a place like Roatan, but I did it. I had saved up some money and I had some money that I hadn't touched since Christmas (still in USD) that I just dedicated to the trip.

It was beautiful. White sands, clear waters, coral reefs within wading distance of the shore. I got my fill of new types of lizards, wood peckers, and fish (I know that's an odd combo, but hey, it's me).

We took off at 6am from Copan and rode buses around until we got to Ceiba at 4pm, just in time for the 4:30 ferry. I do believe that the Galaxy was the biggest boat that I've ever been on. I sat up on the deck and buckled down for the rather choppy hour and a half ride to the island.

As we went, the sun was setting. It was beautiful and cliché in every way. I mean, in every way. I watched a giant cruise ship (a thing I have never seen before. I think they are monsters and I am both in awe and disgusted by them. Those things could house a small country.) sail off into the setting sun. Very cliché, very beautiful.

We took a taxi to our hotel, and English-land began. Much like in Antigua, Roatan is so touristy no one even bothers speaking Spanish to you. It was strange.

 The hotel was great. We were three to the room, Danielle, Vadal, and me. (Though, we started traveling with Emily, lost her in San Pedro when she went to the airport to get her sister and sister's husband. Then we traveled to Ceiba with Dave; he left to go hang out with his uncle. Then we met back up with Emily and company on the Galaxy. They went to their hotel in West bay, we left for ours in West End. Kat and her friend where staying in our hotel as well; this was planned. Ragan and her mom were there too; this was a pleasant surprise.)

Anyway, the room has a single bed, double bed, kitchen, and porch. There was a nice place for reading on the water, and a very pleasant ambiance.

We had two days on the island, which was awesome. It was really funny to me, though, because I have gotten accustomed to my 2 days of travel, 1 day vacationing trips to Belize. We squeezed everything into the first day and almost didn't know what to do with ourselves on the second day.

The first day was bright, sunny, and skin burning. It was a relief, then, when the second day was overcast and rainy. I was badly burnt on the first day, but I believe that's because of the brief morning rain that came right after I applied my sunscreen. That and a failure to reapply. I peeled. It kept me up at night. I am recovered now.

I ate lots of sea food, enjoyed a beach massage (best invention ever), bought myself some new earrings and a necklace, and over all enjoyed the experience.

Of course, we snorkeled. This is where most of my cool pictures would have come from, had I had an underwater camera. However, I did not. Somethings just need to be remembered. It was a very different experience from my Belize snorkeling. For one, no boat was needed. We just walked out into the water with our rented equipment and looked around. It was mostly warm, until we came to the drop off. It wasn't as epic a drop off as in Finding Nemo, but it was pretty cool. And cold.

Among the various types of coral and fish, a couple really stood out. We saw a young barracuda. He did not look like he wanted to play. Or swim. Or be near us. We also saw a large school of really cool fish just making their way through the reef. I followed them for a while. The most beautiful fish to me were a dark blue, with glowing lightning blue spots or strips, depending on the fish. That brilliantly bright blue was amazing to me. I also saw a bigger fish with crab legs in his mouth. Happy fish. Jealous Sarah.

We had the option of a 3$ water taxi ride or a 45 minute walk to and from the hotel to the good beaches. We usually walked. I really enjoyed it. It gave a chance to see more and stretch our legs. It did, however, involve a death climb and decent up and over a canal on a metal bridge. I say death climb, because the stairs were rusted and falling away. You had to put on your shoes, step on the edges of the stairs and hold on in case you fell through. And hey, I updated my Tetanus shot recently!

One evening we had the pleasure of catching the tail end of a fire show used as a fundraiser for a local school. I wish we could have seen more of it, these people were really talented. I've seen fire shows before, but never anything like this.

On our second morning, we took advantage of our kitchen and made breakfast. The cinnamon roll was purchased, and the beans were from a bag, but it was awesome. Plus, we saved a buck and considering how expensive food was, that was a good thing.

Once it was time to go, I was ready. Roatan was nice, but there were a lot of tourists and it was hard to get to know the local people. I find that I really enjoy small towns, which I knew, even for my vacations, which I suspected.

Anyway, this is a cashew fruit and nut.

Saturday was too

Saturday I gave myself some quiet time in the house.  I did some laundry, listened to music, and ate good food.

Around 1 I left to venture into the park.  There I encountered several of the other teachers and some of our students playing with chalk in center.  Other kids had come to join, some to draw, others to have chalk wars.  It was entertaining.  As the afternoon wore on, more and more of my students came into the park.  There seemed to be artists everywhere.  Several passed by to work on the mural of bottle caps that my students helped collect.  One was in the corner doing caricatures.  One of the students got one done and we waited for him before going a few blocks down, with the students, to see the mural in action.

When we got there, we helped sort through the bottle caps.  A pile of those that we could use and a pile of those that we could not.  The artist drew lines in the cement he was laying on the side of the wall and showed the kids how to mount the bottle caps into it.  They took turns helping out.  I was keeping an eye out for a girl who had gone to ask her mom before coming, and I knew she was going to end up heading the wrong direction (she knew we were near the fair grounds, but they were 2 blocks below us).  When she arrived, I went down to get her, since a few drunks were stumbling by.  Two of the boys followed me, and then ignored me when I instructed them to go back.  I got uncomfortable having disobedient children around drunks, so we went back to the park.

I went home for a short time, and then texted Katie from Urban Promise.  I knew that she was going with some of her youth to the fair and wanted to join them.  However, what I had not understood and then signed up for, was a trip to Nueva Esperanza (up the mountain a bit) to collect 20ish 7 year olds, and helping with one of the groups of 7 year old girls.  We went from 6-8 and I had a blast with my three new, young friends.  One of my girls was a bit prissy and didn't want to follow the rules.  In fact, for most of the time, she despised me.  Toward the end she had a change of heart and we were inseparable. 

The girls clamored back onto the bus when it was time to go and I waved them goodbye to join some of the teachers who had come down to the fair as well.

Friday was Amazing

This post may resemble my old posts in that I just want to talk about one day!

I woke up Friday morning and walked up to school. I had an hour and a half of academic time to work on our daily things, take a spelling test, and write our first drafts for an essay competition. During my academic time, however, a student had brought in her new pet "Zibi." Zibi got free and flew around my room until I became the Monster Tamer and got her back in the box. I'm not going to lie, it was awesome.

Then, we headed off to the ruins with 4B. Unlike last year, this trip was well planned, given an appropriate amount of time, and Emily and I were able to get in for free. The teacher who planned it communicated really well and in advance in the weeks before. The kids had a blast and, generally, behaved themselves. My quietest, shyest girl, who normally keeps to herself, was practically glued to my side for the day. The eighth graders were also there, and we ran into them toward the end of our trip. One of my kids ran off with my camera for a while, and he actually got some very nice pictures. We also got to be witness to a flock of Macaws flying across the grounds. We were away from school from 8:30-12.

When we got back, we gave the kids a short lunch period. Over the course of this week my students collected 3,351 plastic bottle caps for a competition with the other 4th grade class. We were collecting to help an artist who is here for the Copan Feria, which starts today. He is known for his recycled art and he is making a mural with the plastic bottle caps. The winning class was promised a popcorn party, and so I bought several bags of popcorn, allowed them to bring food into the classroom, we listen to music, and played games for the rest of the day (until the last 15 minutes, when we cleaned). Most of my boys were playing tazos, which appears to be a form of the game "Pogs." Most of my girls played 10,000 the dice game.

As I swas leaving school, Nahomy had been showing Zibi to more people, and Zibi had once again flown out of the box, this time landing on a very brave third grade girl who did not scream or kill the giant bug crawling up her leg. i was once again the Monster Tamer, and safely got Zibi back in her box.

At the end of the school day I went home to change, grab a jacket, and meet most of my coworkers outside of the Marina Copan. We hopped on a bus to the Welchez coffee finca for a free tour and dinner. Edgar, a friend of mine from last year, was our tour guide. While we were touring, it started to rain, and though it was cold, I ran around a lot so I didn't feel cold. Kat and I skipped around, laughed a lot, and sang in the rain. We ran back and forth on the swinging bridge and took lots of pictures. The last time I was at the finca, the berries were ripe, but this time the plants were covered in beautiful white flowers. I had never seen coffee flowers before. The dinner was delicious and I drank a lot of coffee, which was later regrettable, but I don't really regret it.

I got home a bit after 8 and went to sleep around 9:30. I, for some strange reason, wasn't sleeping well, and heard English walking by my window at 11:30. I thought some of the teachers were out, so I sent a text to Emily, who was sleeping. I could hear a lot of commotion in the park. I decided to head out and see who was out. The party in Barcito was winding down when I got there, but I still got to catch up with a number of people. Katie, one of the Urban Promise girls and I were able to have a real heart to heart, which was nice. I only stayed out an hour and came back and tried sleeping again, which went a little better the second time.

Quickie Update!

Let's just say teaching while you're sick is the pits. I've gotten to a point where I do not get sick very much anymore. I do not like it when I do. The last two days I've been fighting the onset of a cold, using the netipot, drinking water, eating more oranges than my stomach knows what to do with (that's not true. My stomach loves them, especially with salt), and sleeping all the time. However, today it became apparent, that the cold was here and ready to stay. I went down to the market, loaded up on ginger, and then went to the farmacia for some numb-these-symptoms pills. Wish my luck!

I've been in a bit of a teaching lull, and need to work my way out of it. Go-go energized Sarah! I'm hoping that getting my kids jazzed for a competition with fourth grad 'B' will help me get there.

The Copan fair starts this weekend and an artists, I believe from Tegus, is coming to make a mural with recycled items. Mostly, bottle caps from plastic soda bottles. We have some friends that are local artists and are helping out with the fair, and the boys need 3 large garbage bags of bottle caps. The Mayatan fourth graders are doing their best to find them all over town (for once, the amount of garbage here is helpful) and competing for the win! The winning class will get a popcorn party. I really enjoyed the fair last year, and hope to enjoy the first half this year.

For the second half of the fair week, we have off from school. I will be taking advantage of this opportunity to travel. In all my time here, I have yet to go to any of the Honduran beaches. So, I have been saving up my money and am just going to go for it. I am going to Roatan. The most expensive, well known place in Honduras. I leave in a week and 2 days and I am stoked.

In 6ish weeks, my lovely parents and wonderful grandparents will be here to visit. I have already booked their hotel in Copan and our hotel in Antigua. We will be staying in tree houses and I am pumped!

Also, right now, I will refuse to think about anything after that point. However, it seems like bunches are people want to stay a second year so I'll have all my Honduran friends and old gringo co-workers to come visit should I find a way to do it next year!

That's my quickie update!