Rancho Santa Fe Accomodations

Life here on the Ranch is very basic, but for the most part comfortable. I am living in a dorm room with all of the new female volunteers. There are 4 of us in a room filled with bunk beds and a large bathroom. There is a lot of dust, spiders, webs and the occassional cockroach. We sweep almost every day and are planning to get a can of raid to kill the bugs. When we arrived, we were given sheets, blanket and a pillow. The sheets are cheap and feel like sandpaper. I brought my own sheets, but it is good to have another set to use while mine are drying. We are all able to have a bottom bunk bed, which is great since alot of dust and dirt falls from the ceiling onto the top mattresses. The mattresses are increadibly uncomfortable and sink under my weight straight through to the bed frame. I have three mattresses on top of each other at the moment, which makes it a little bit more comfortable. I initally chose the bunk closest to the bathroom, but had to relocate after the frame broke while I was sitting on it. I haven't eaten anything since (just kidding mom:)

The bathroom is the most "interesting" part of life on the ranch. The tank of the toilet has a faucet over it and we have to turn it on to fill the tank before pulling the rope on the side of the tank to flush. Also, the plumbing is so bad that we are not allowed to flush toilet paper, so there is a trash can next to the toilet for the paper. Gets pretty smelly, ewwww.

When the old volunteers move out in the middle of February, we will move in to our permanant rooms, which everyone swears is much better than the dorm room. These rooms have 2 single beds, a closet, desk and private bathroom. Some of them even have hot water showers! I can't wait to finally get settled into my room! This will be luxurious after living in the dorms.

Thank goodness some group donated a washer, so we no longer have to hand wash our clothes. (This is a recent upgrade). There are still a line of sinks with hand washing stations if needed. There is no dryer so we have to hang our clothes on lines around the courtyard of the house. There are always a bunch of clothes hanging around.

The house has one kitchen, which everyone (about 20 people) share. When there are that many people using one kitchen, it is impossible to keep it clean. We all have chores and it is cleaned at least twice a week, but it doesn't last long. There are always bugs and I have seen a few roaches creeping around on the floor. Everytime I move the coffee pot or toaster a group of bugs come running out from under. The stove and oven function fairly well, but the oven door doesn't stay shut and we have to prop a chair against it to keep it closed.

I guess this all sounds a little rough, but it really isn't so bad and the commraderie in the house makes it all easier. Also, we only spend one year in this situation while the kids spend their life this way. And it is usually much cleaner and more comfortable than wherever they came from.

Arrival at Rancho Santa Fe - Tegucigalpa

So the 7 hour bus ride from La Ceiba to Tegucigalpa (Tegus) was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I was prepared to spend most of the trip reading and studying my spanish. However, I never opened a book. I was consumed with looking out the window at the countryside and various living conditions. It was very eye opening. The road was lined with huts, shacks and cement block homes flanked with Hondurans of all ages. Everyone was dirty and sparsely clothed. The kids were playing soccer and running along the busy highway. I don’t think I saw any with shoes. The terrain was mostly mountainous and I prayed for my life as the bus sped around every corner in the drizzling rain. (Ahhhh!) Surprisingly, I made it to Tegus alive. During the trip, we stopped at a rest stop for food and a bathroom. During this stop, it became obvious to me that I was on a different bus than planned. I had boarded the bus at the Cristina bus station in La Ceiba as instructed, but the name on the bus was Kamaldy. As we departed the rest stop, I noticed another bus with the name Cristina on the side. Hmmm, that could be a problem on my arrival to Tegus.

So, I arrived at a bus station in Comayaguela (a section of Tegus). I searched for anyone that may be looking for the only white girl getting off the bus. Nobody was looking for me. After everyone had left the station, I attempted to call Cate, my boss. The call would not connect. If this had been my first arrival in Honduras, I would have freaked out, but after a month of missed meetings and late arrivals/departures, I was barely phased. After a very rough conversation with the station attendant, I learned that I was not at the Cristina bus station where I had told Cate I would be arriving. Eventually, my phone rang and Laura, the person responsible for picking me up, asked where I was in a slightly panicked voice. I explained the situation to her and luckily the boy driving the car knew exactly where I was. So, it all worked out in the end.

I arrived on the Ranch in the evening, so I wasn’t able to see any of my surroundings. I joined the other volunteers in San Vincente (our housing) and dropped my things in the dorms where I will be living with the other new volunteers over the next month. There are a total of 6 of us (4 girls, 2 guys). Ule is an older woman from Germany who will be working as the visitor coordinator. Ana (Brooke) is 23ish and just graduated from DePaul in Spanish and French. (She is originally from Valdosta, GA) She will be teaching English to the older kids. Vincent is 19 and from Germany. I guess he is doing some sort of mandatory service here for the year and will be the PE teacher at the school. Ben is 23ish and from North Carolina. He has been working in Guatemala for the past few months. I believe he will be working in the social services department. There is one other new volunteer, Marta, from Spain, who is a nurse and will be arriving this weekend. Everyone seems very nice and it is great to have Ana here to reminisce about Chicago.

Orientation is going to be 2 weeks filled with speakers and visiting the various homes on the ranch and in Tegus. The day typically begins at 8 am with a 2-3 hour lunch break and ends at 8 pm when we return from the hogars (the homes where the kids live). One objective during this time is to chose the hogar that I will spend the rest of the year helping out and building relationships with the kids. We will be visiting all of the Hogars in the evenings over the next 2 weeks. At this point, I am leaning towards San Francisco, which are the 8-10 year old boys. However, I have really enjoyed all of the homes and could be assigned to any of them.

Before leaving the states, I received a lot of information on the Ranch through brochures, packets, videos and my friend Hilary, who worked here in the past. However, nothing could have prepared me for what I have seen. The Ranch is an amazing place full of extremely caring adults and hardworking kids. It is amazing to see how the kids care for the ranch and everything on it. It seems they are always doing chores and they clean their living areas several times a day. It is very strange to see 7 and 8 year olds washing their own clothes by hand, which they do almost every day. They have very few possessions and take pride in what they do have. However, they are acutely aware of the things that they don’t have and constantly ask to borrow or to be “gifted” the personal things of the volunteers. It is difficult to say no, but we have been told that it is forbidden because obviously we can not give something to every child. Another strange phenomenon is that, although these kids have everything they need, they tend to rummage through our trash for any desirable objects we may have thrown away. We even have “special” trash cans for those things we may throw away and don’t want the kids to see. For example, beer cans, liquor bottles, cigarette boxes, etc.

Today we visited the agricultural area of the ranch. Almost everything we eat is produced on the farm including all of the vegetables, fruit, chicken, eggs, milk, etc. The kids help out with the farming as well. Each of the homes has an area where they are responsible for growing fruits and vegetables. They give half of their crop to the ranch and half is for them to do with whatever they want. We were told that they will typically try to sell it to us. It is like the Rancho Santa Fe girl scout cookie time :)

Whale Sharks!

First of all, thank you for all of your comments. I love reading them and I am glad that so many people are enjoying my stories.

Things have been pretty steady here in La Ceiba. I have school in the mornings, study in the afternoon and hang out with the ever changing gang at night.

I went back to Utila last weekend and stayed at my usual hotel on the Cays. I was able to stay Friday and Saturday night, which was a lot of fun. The hotel was full, so there were quite a few people to talk to and it is alway interesting to hear of the different experiences they have had. The type of person who visits Utila, and especially this particular hotel, is typically very adventurous and most of them have been backpacking their way across Mexico, Central and South America. I have learned so much about travel just by talking with these people.

On Saturday, I did 2 fun dives and was very proud that I have finally figured out how to control my buoyancy and can now fully enjoy all that the ocean has to offer. I saw many cool fish and underwater creatures, but still have not seen the sea turtle that I am seeking. However, the day was not a failure because instead of a sea turtle, I got to swim with whale sharks!!! It was amazing. After our first dive, our boat driver, Louis, rushed us back into the boat and we were told to take off our tanks and get ready with just our masks and fins. He took off in search of the whale shark, which I guess is easy to find because birds are circling around the area. We spotted him and on Louis´command all slipped into the water where the whale shark swam right by us! It was huge! I would say it was the same size as our boat if not bigger. After losing sight of him, we dragged ourselves back onto the boat and went off to follow the shark. We swam with him 2 more times, each time getting closer and closer. On the final time, I was first in the water and was able to postion myself directly over the path of the shark. He went right underneath me. I had to hold my arms close to my body to keep from brushing up against him. It was very thrilling!

We spent Saturday night at the Cay View resteraunt as usual having dinner, drinks and dancing.

On Sunday, I decided to hangout at the hotel and layout on the dock all day instead of diving. It was a beautiful day and there were plenty of people to talk to on the dock. At the height of the day, I slipped into the water with my swimming goggles and did some laps between the dock and nearby island. It was great to swim again and a very enjoyable workout. It was very different from swimming in dark, cold Lake Michigan. I was able to watch the fish swim through the coral underneath me. There were even some small fish that brushed up against me. I never quite got used to this and freaked out each time. Of course, the day wound down and I had to take the ferry back to the mainland. Again, I was very sad to leave. Hopefully, I will return someday.

Well, this is the end of my time in La Ceiba. I will be moving to Tegucigalpa on Saturday to begin my job. Hopefully, I will a lot of new adventures to share with everyone.

Ano Nuevo

First let me introduce the new characters (students) who arrived at the spanish school this week. First is 3 guys from San Francisco, Mike, Kevin and Ike. They are medical students from San Fran State and are here for 4 weeks during their winter break. Also arriving on Monday, was Paula, who is a woman from the states (not sure where). There is also an older man from Korea and another from San Francisco.

The first surprise for me here was the introduction of gifts this week. My house mother was wrapping small gifts all week and by the end there was a small collection under the tree. Christmas seems to have carried over this week and the radio and stores still played Christmas music most of the time. On New Years Eve, the women in the house spent all day preparing food again with the wonderful aroma of Casaba filling the air (mostly garlic, mmmm)

The school sponsored a party for all of us at the house next door to mine where one of the instructors, one student, Katerina from Denmark, and a past student and volunteer at the Jungle School, Christine from Kansas all live. They did a great job with tables and chairs set up in the yard, a cooler and a DJ. The house mother cooked a delicious meal of tomato salad, potatoes, rice and chicken. There were many people of various backgrounds and we all had a great time. Also at the party were Christine’s brother, his wife and their 2 small children. They arrived last week and have rented an apartment near by because they plan to stay in La Ceiba for several months to learn spanish and do some volunteering. They are even thinking of enrolling their 3 year old son in a bilingual pre-school. It is amazing how mobile and resourceful many of the people that I have met are.

At midnight, there were many fireworks, kisses and feliz nuevo ano wishes. The party continued well into the night, but I returned home to see what my family was doing in celebration. I was a little disappointed because I obviously missed the majority of the celebration. However, Dunia, Edgar and Marcela were winding down in the family room. I presented them with the small gifts that I had brought from home: a 2009 Chicago calendar, some Franco chocolates and a Ghirardelli bar. They seemed to enjoy the gifts and were very grateful. There were hugs, kisses and new year wishes all around. I retired to my room and watched a movie, but Marcela (who is my age) stayed up for several more hours and had about 6 friends join her at the house to celebrate. When I left my room briefly, I saw them sitting on the couches talking and drinking coffee (a little different than my typical celebration).

Right now, I am eating breakfast and watching the Rose Bowl parade with Edgar, which Dunia has put on the TV. I am planning to go to Humfrey’s house to watch football for the rest of the day. I can’t wait! The guys from Cali talked about joining us, but not sure how we will all get in touch.

Jungle River Zip Line 1/2/09

So, for Beth’s last day in Honduras, she decided to brave the zip line. This is something I wanted to do while here, so I took the opportunity to go with her, and Humfrey joined us. After class on Friday, we walked one block over to the Jungle River Lodge office. We waited about 2 hours for transportation to the lodge (no surprise they were about an hour late). We were joined by a college aged couple vacationing from Oregon and Canada who were going to do some rafting. It was a very interesting 25 minute ride up the mountain to the lodge. Very bumpy on an unpaved, pothole ridden road. We saw dirty children playing in the street, run down shacks and even just tarps where people were living. We passed the Jungle School, where many of the people I have met spend their days volunteering with the underprivileged children. As we neared the lodge, we passed several large beautiful homes that were a far contrast from the typical shanty on the side of the road. The lodge itself was a small wooden hotel built into the side of the mountain. There was a restaurant/bar on the main level with a great porch over looking the river. Below the porch was a natural pool formed by rocks where people were swimming. It was beautiful and very relaxing. Again, we waited about an hour for the canopy tour to begin.

The tour was guided by two young Honduran boys, who spent the entire time flirting with all of the women in the group. There were 6 of us in the group. The three of us and then 2 women and one man who were visiting the lodge with their large family as a vacation. The two women were from Honduras and the man was from Mississippi. I am not sure, but they all seemed similar in age, however, I believe one of the women was the very young wife of the man’s father. It was confusing, but I think that makes her his stepmother. It is very common for an older American man to have a young beautiful Honduran wife. In this case however, the wife seemed very well educated and put together. The entire group spoke both Spanish and English.

The first zip line crossed the river and was an amazing view. After that, we had to hike about 30 minutes up the mountain in order to begin the descent on the cables through the trees. During the hike, the guide gave us a lot of information about the flowers, plants and bugs that we saw. He even convinced us (all but Beth) to eat termites. He said that if lost in the jungle, it can be a good source of nutrition. He also recommended that we squish them in our hands to make a paste that can be rubbed on the skin as a very powerful mosquito repellent. They actually didn’t taste bad and everyone agreed they really just tasted like carrots. Never did I think I would eat a termite. Survivor Honduras, here I come!! We were warned against tarantulas, snakes and scorpions as a possible threat during the hike, but no sign of them. Darn!

Many of the lines were so long it was impossible to see the end and the path was so narrow we were brushing up against trees. It was very thrilling. There were a total of 8 lines at various degrees of decline and various heights. The final line was a pleasant surprise as it was impossible to see the end at the start and about half way down, I zipped out of the jungle and over the river again for another amazing view. It was worth every penny.

After the tour, we went back to the lodge for fresh fruit and ron y coke (rum and coke is apparently the typical Honduran drink). Humfrey and I ventured down to the natural pool and stood on the rock high above the river. From behind us, the man from our canaopy tour took a running leap off the rocks and plunged into the flowing river below. I was shocked when he resurface near the visibly shallow rocks. He instructed us on where to jump to land in the deep part of the river and how to ride the current to the edge. Then Humfrey and I did it. We jumped about 40 feet into the river. It was awesome and we did it 3 times each! Finally, our ride back to La Ceiba was leaving and we had to dry off and jump in the jeep. I wish that we had been able to stay the night (a dorm room is free with the tour), but Beth had to be at the airport early in the morning and she was looking forward to going out for a farewell party that evening.