Last Vacation: Guatemala and Utila one more time

Because this was my last chance to travel before returning home I really wanted to hit all of the spots that I hadn’t yet visited during my year in Honduras. So, my hope was to see a little of Guatemala, hit Copan quickly and then return to Utila to do some diving.

The trip began with a less than ideal bus trip to San Pedro Sula. I decided to splurge on the expensive bus so that I could get there faster and be more comfortable. Unfortunately, my money was not well spent. The bus smelled like the inside of a toilet (strange, since there wasn’t even a bathroom on the bus), which just got stronger throughout the trip. There was a couple sitting in the seats across the isle from me who where much more affected than I and were throwing up most of the trip. I did get to San Pedro sooner than my friends who had taken the MUCH cheaper bus. We spent the night with Santiago, one of the NPH pequenos who is going to University in San Pedro and lives with his two younger sisters who attend high school there. They were some of the best hosts ever. It was so strange to stay in their house, eat their food and let him pay for our taxi when I know where he has come from and how little money he has, but I also know that he would be offended by any offer of money for the stay.

The next morning, we took a bus from San Pedro Sula to Guatemala City (“Guate” to the locals). We were hoping to get there in time to take a shuttle to Antigua, but we didn’t make it, so we had to stay in Guate. We went to a hostel that was recommended in the Lonely Planet guide book. The building was very old, which gave it a lot of charm, but also a lot of physical damage. However, it was cheap, clean and we had our own room. Luckily we were only staying for one night because I am not sure the neighborhood was very good. When we paid for the room and the man working the desk needed to go next door for change, he peaked out the front door and waited until nobody was passing on the sidewalk. Then he scurried next door and sprinted back, quickly closing and locking the door. We went for dinner at the Chinese restaurant next door and carried out because the hostel owners recommended that we spend as little time on the street as possible.

We took an early shuttle the following morning to Antigua and arrived by 10. We spent all 4 nights in a great hostel called Hostel 5. It was simple, but clean and the woman that owned it was so nice and helpful. She even let us spend 2 nights in a one bedroom apartment next door for the same price ($10) because the room we were in was booked. The only downside was that there was nobody really staying in the hostel the first few nights, so we didn’t meet other travelers. We did meet several people during the day trips we took. We spent one day climbing Volcan Pakaya. It is an active volcano, which took about 3 hours to go up and down. This volcano was very different than the one that I did in Nicaragua because it was barren and covered in volcanic rock rather than a wet, dense cloud forest. The attraction to this volcano is the lava and we were lucky to find a flowing river of hot lava. The day after that, we took a day trip to Lake Atitlan, which is a large lake surrounded by 3 volcanos. During this trip we met Gus, a Canadian man traveling from the Arctic Circle to somewhere in South America on his motorcycle. (After spending the next 2 days with him, Angela actually got a ride back to Honduras with him.) We also met an Indian couple from NYC who were a far cry from the usual backpacker crowd we find while traveling. They were very nice, but so funny to watch in the setting of Central America with their high expectations for quality and service.

My original plan was to head to Copan (famous for its Mayan ruins) after 2 full days in Antigua. I was disappointed to learn that the bus was full the day I wanted to travel, but it turned out to be a great change of plan because we spent that extra day visiting the NPH Guatemala house. It was so amazing to see how different it was from the one in Honduras. The home has less children and is much smaller in area. The home is much newer, so all of the buildings appear much nicer and cleaner. The kids and volunteers live much differently than we do. I could definitely see myself volunteering there. The only disadvantage that I noted was the poor therapy resources.

I spent the entire next day on several buses from Antigua to La Ceiba (my old stomping ground). I spent the night in Ceiba at the cheapest hostel I knew off and met a fun group of Aussies while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. The next morning, I took the ferry to Utila, which I later heard referred to as the great iron puke bucket. (Very appropriate since I have been on the boat 8 times and never made it all the way across without seeing someone vomit.) I got off the ferry and went straight to Captian Morgans Dive Shop. Right away, we hopped into a motor boat to Hotel Kayla in the Cays. I was hopping to reunite with some of the people I met last year, but the only familiar faces were of the owner and the boat driver, Luis, who actually remembered me. I suppose that is common because most people in the diving world are transient. Between the other Captian Morgans guests and the empolyees, we were a very diverse group. One of the dive instructors was from Mosambique and his regular (or not so) job is as a archaeological biologist, but since he is just contracted for each job at a time, he also does dive instructing in between jobs. He travels all over the world doing both jobs. What a great life! I also met 2 couples, one that just finished a year of travel around the world and another just beginning their year of travel. They were full of great valuable travel information.

I only dove one day while in the Cays and as it turns out, it was the best day to be there. The boat driver spotted 3 different whale sharks that day and we were able to swim with 2 of them. This was my second time, but it was just as exciting as the first. After our dive, the dive instructors had planned a party on Water Cay, which is a deserted island near the hotel. We spent the rest of the day drinking beer, eating a local coconut fish soup called Bandu, talking and snorkeling. We stayed on the island to watch the sun set then headed back to the hotel. The following day, I was planning to hang out on the dock and catch some sun. However, it poured rain all day long. When the dive boat returned to the hotel that day, I had to get on it and head back to Utila to spend the night since the ferry was leaving at 6 the next morning. Luckily, there was another couple taking the same ferry, so we were able to share a room. One of the guys, Shandel, had been fishing with one of the local fisherman and had 2 large fish to cook before leaving. We took the tuna to an island style restaurant and they cooked it up for us. We shared our dinner with 2 of the other dive instructors and boat captain. We had a good night partying on Utila, but all agreed that we preferred the tranquility of the Cays. I dragged myself out of bed the next morning and spent the day on various modes of transportation heading back to Tegucigalpa.

Visit To The Finca

I have a Honduran friend, Jorge, who lives on a farm north of the NPH ranch. The farm is primarily a dairy farm and he makes his money by selling the milk to a large Honduran dairy company, but also occasionally butchers a cow to eat and sell the meat. He has been bugging me for months to visit the “finca” to have lunch, meet the cows and see the small pueblo where he grew up. This Sunday, I finally gave in.

When we arrived, I was surprised to find that he has quite a few employees who live and work on the farm. His home is very simple and typical Honduran, but spacious, clean and comfortable. The farm was positioned on a large, fairly flat piece of land, but surrounded by lush green mountains. I am not a farm (or even outdoor) girl, but even I will admit that it was beautiful.

For lunch, we traveled down the road to the home of a man who occasionally works on the farm, but also has his own small tilapia farm. His house, which he built himself, was very simple. It was made of concrete block and consisted of 2 rooms. One with a wood burning stove, counter top, sink and small table for eating. Another room with one double bed and one single bed was the bedroom for him, his wife and their 5 year old son, Diego (who, when asked, told me he was 10). The bedroom had one window that was covered, but the windows in the kitchen were just open spaces. There was not one toy in sight (although, I am sure they own a soccer ball) and Diego played with a stick and the dog the entire time we were there.

The man led us into his backyard where he had 4 small square ponds that Jorge claimed he dug himself while Jorge drank beer and slept in a lawn chair. He told us each pond had about 1000 fish and as he threw food into one of the ponds it bubbled like a Jacuzzi as all of the fish mouths opened and closed against the surface. He tossed a net into the pond and within seconds removed about 8 fish. With the help of Diego, he untangled the fish from the net and put the good sized ones in a bag and tossed the little ones back into the pond. After 3 cycles, our lunch was picked out and they began skinning the fish. As we each sipped on cold beers, his wife floured and fried each whole fish. (I actually made a special request to have the head of mine removed. I just can‘t eat him when he is looking at me.) The fish were obviously very fresh and delicious.

After returning to the farm, Jorge and I went for a tour of the near by pueblo on his 4-wheeler. Driving that big machine up through the mountains was not easy and I can still feel the little muscles in my arms that got a workout that day. The ride was amazing and there were several points where we had great views over looking the valley towns and even an old mining sight outside of Tegus. As I drove through the cobblestone streets of the pueblo, Jorge pointed out all of the antique Spanish buildings and even an old water purification system built by the Spaniards that is still used by the people living there. The town was so cute and very well maintained by the people there. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a camera to capture the sights.

Quinceaneros

In the latin american culture, the 15th birthday is a very special event that is typically celebrated with an elaborate party that can sometimes rival a wedding. Of course, here on the ranch, it is impossible to throw an elaborate party for the 15th birthday of each individual. Therefore, each year there is one elaborate party to celebrate all that have completed 15 years that year. It is the biggest party of the year.

This year there were 8 girls from my hogar that turned 15. That made the quinceanero celebration very special for me. They began talking about the party months before the actual date and were fitted for special dresses way in advance because they were hand made by a ranch employee. Each girl has a padrino (godfather) and each boy a madrina (godmother), which is typically an employee or volunteer who is their escort for the evening. My girls began asking for padrinos way in advance and of course all of the quinceanero boys waited until the last minute. Because I don’t really have much contact with them and don’t know those boys very well, I was not a madrina. Because of this, I was able to spend the entire night with my girls.

I spent Thursday night giving pedicures, which is not a pleasant experience since many of the girls have a foot fungus that never seems to go away (for this, I think I should win volunteer of the yearJ). Then on Friday, after work, I spent time watching them prepare their hair, nails and make-up, taking pictures all the while. Of course, walking through the boys side of the ranch, one would never know there was a big event planned for that evening. They were all found playing games in the dirt or soccer on the cement court. When the preparations were finally done. The girls and boys lined up with their padrinos and madrinas outside the church for presentation in front of the entire ranch at mass. After mass, those participating in the evening took a bus down to the school for a special dinner.

The dinner was held in the school auditorium, which had been transformed into a banquet hall with beautiful handmade decorations that the tias had been working on for months. There was a balloon arch where each boy and his madrina was presented and an ivy covered swing set where each girl and her padrino was presented. The ceiling was draped in hundreds of pink paper flowers.

The dinner was typical Honduran fare, but with a small red wine toast to all of the quinceaneros. Almost all of the kids and some of the adults took one sip of the wine and declared it undrinkable because it didn’t have enough sugar. Anyone who has visited Honduras will not be surprised to hear this. I was able to take advantage of this and accumulated at least one full glass of wine. After dinner, the rest of the ranch joined the party. Each quinceanero had one dance with their padrino/madrina as we all watched. It was obvious nobody here does much “waltzing” (as they called it) because they were all bouncing off of each other like a bunch of balls in a pinball machine. After “the waltz”, the quinceaneros had their own performance and did a more modern dance choreographed by my roommate Candy. The night was completed with a big dance party that lasted until about 1 in the morning. This was without a doubt the best night I have had in Honduras.

Physical Therapy on The Ranch

My job is going great and everything is coming together. I finally have a set schedule that is working well right now and all of my “patients” have been attending regularly. I love every minute I spend in the “specials” house, Santa Maria Reina. There are 2 teenage girls with CP (or possibly some genetic disorder that presents very similarly) who I work with trying to do range of motion, positioning and caregiver education. There is also a girl who has some significant physical and mental problems of unknown origin who is very challenging, but also very fun to work with. Another girl has residual problems resulting from a case of menengitis when she was a child. She is a very sad case because she is totally normal and bright in the cognitive sense, but trapped in a body that doesn’t function very well. She can walk, but with very poor coordination and balance making it really unsafe. I have been trying to find something to help her walk, but have been unsuccessful as of now. I also work with the “special” boys house, Casa Emmanuel. These boys have a large range of problems, but all of them can walk independently, although it isn’t always pretty.

My favorite day of the week is spent in Casa Angeles, which is a house in the city for those kids who are very significantly impaired and need to be close to doctors. These kids are the most challenging for me because many of them are in need of splints, braces and wheelchairs that can’t be afforded. They spend their days lying around in the big room of the house, but I am very impressed that every Wednesday most of them spend the morning in hippotherapy (for those who don’t know, this is therapy with horses). I attended the therapy once and was able to actually get on the horse with the kid and do therapy. It was great and the little boy was so much more cooperative than normal.

The rest of my work time is spent in the physical therapy gym in the school. There I treat the kids who have minor physical problems. Most of these kids are between the ages of 5 and 10 and just have some delays in coordination and strength development. For me, the biggest challenge with these kids is behavior. It is very different from my previous jobs in that there is no parent to discipline (or threaten discipline) the kids. It is also difficult for me to motivate them or scold them in Spanish. There are several older kids that receive physical therapy and they are much easier to work with, but still challenging in other ways. Louis is a sixth grader with torticollis. This is a shortening of the muscles on one side of the neck that causes the kid to maintain the head tilted to that side and rotated to the opposite side. It usually affects babies, but they either receive therapy or grow out of it by the time they start walking. Louis is proof that kids don’t always just grow out of it. He consistently has his head tilted and now has developed a significant spinal scoliosis. Because the position of his head is a habit that has developed for 12 years it is impossible for me to fix. My only goal is to keep it from getting worse and try to manage his scoliosis.

The other older kid that I work with, Angela, has a syndrome that has caused abnormal growth of her long bones, malpositioning of the joints and other various abnormalities like having 6 toes on each foot. However, she has normal cognition and is quite bright. A few years ago, she went to the States with an orthopedic doctor who volunteers on the ranch several times a year. He surgically repositioned the bones of her legs to allow her to walk more normally. She lived with his family in Minn for 9 months during the recovery time and she speaks English very well. She has been helping me with my Spanish. Again, my goal for her is to maintain her strength and mobility.

Visitors Day

Three times a year Rancho Santa Fe has a visitors day for all of the family members of the kids living on the ranch. Those kids who will have visitors during that day go to the school early in the morning to wait for their visitors to arrive. Those that will not have visitors, spend the day with us, the volunteers. The day starts at 7:00 for everyone and the activities end at 4.

This visitors day we did an elaborate scavenger hunt all over the ranch. The kids had to run from one end of the ranch to the other looking for things that were hairy, shiney, soft, usefull, etc. The kids had a great time and the activity distracted them from thoughts about their lack of visitors. In fact, one girl on my team was called to the school because her father and brother had arrived to visit her, and she refused to leave the game to see them. She actually ran off and hid in one of the older girls homes to avoid being sent to the school. I spent at least an hour walking around the ranch looking for her. I was very frustrated and still have no idea why she didn't want to see her family.

After the scavenger hunt we went to the pond for hotdogs and swimming. Unfortunately, we were not able to swim because the water was too low and stagnant, which meant there was a possibility of dangerous microorganisms. Because we were not able to swim, time passed slowly at the pond. This was also the time of day when those kids who had been waiting in the school all morning for visitors who never showed up were sent to us to be entertained for the rest of the day. These kids all handled this situation differently. Some arrived at the pond sad and disappointed that their families had said they would be visiting and didn't show up. Others arrived happy to be able to participate in our acitivities and happy to stop the process of waiting around in the school. These kids also said that it was more difficult to be in the school watching all of the other families play and celebrate their time together.

After the pond, we moved to the park in front of the volunteer home for pinatas, cake and party bags. This was everyone's favorite part of the day. I was in charge of the older girls pinata, which sounds easy, but the older girls become little girls at the site of a pinata and candy. After about 3 whacks at Dora the pinata, she went flying through the air and landed on the ground with just a small hole in the head. The girls pounced on Dora attempting to tear off all of her limbs. Thankfully, Candy, another volunteer grabbed the pinata and started running while spewing candy on the ground. (I am really sorry that I don't have a picture of this, but it just happened so fast!) This was great because we eliminated the inevitable whack on the head while diving under the pinata for candy; the pushing, shoving and sometimes punching fight for the last peice of candy and finally the domination of the pinata by the biggest strongest girl. The down side is that the bigger girls were finished before the others and ran to steal candy from the pinata of the small kids. Like I said everyone looses control at the site of the pinata.

As a whole, the day was a success! By the end everyone was exhausted, emotionally and physically.

El Salvador Trip

Route: NPH Rancho Santa Fe>Tegucigalpa, Honduras (night 1)>San Salvador, El Salvador (night 2)>La Libertad>El Trunco>La Libertad (night 3)>San Salvador>San Miguel>Jocoro (night 4)>Santa Rosa>El Salvador-Honduras border>San Miguel (night 5)>San Salvador>Santa Ana (night 6)>San Salvador>Tegucigalpa (night 7)>NPH Rancho Santa Fe

Once upon a time, two beautiful gringas decided to travel from Honduras to El Salvador…

Looking back, my trip to El Salvador was a great one and without a doubt the most educating of all of my travels thus far. We, Brooke and I, began our adventure with one night in Tegus in our usual hotel Granada. Nothing eventful occurred that night since we both committed the night to one bottle of wine, which we couldn’t even finish (Where did my tolerance go?), and unlimited TV watching. The next morning we took a very early bus out of Tegus that went directly to San Salvador. We were excited to see that there were not many passengers, allowing us our own pair of seats in which to lie down. Unfortunately, the bus ride was a bit turbulent (many winding roads at top speed) making it difficult to sleep. On the positive side, I got a great core workout just keeping my body in the chairs. Brooke actually fell asleep for a minute and was immediately thrown to the floor.

Surprisingly, we arrived in San Salvador safely. We questioned a very well fed woman (aka obese) if it was possible to walk to the center of the city and she told us that we were skinny enough to do it, so we walked the 5 min (!!!) to get to the center. We found our hotel and were told that we could take a bus to get to the very popular restaurant/bar area, Zona Rosa. About 3 blocks from where we boarded, we saw what looked like it should be Zona Rosa, but figured it couldn’t be that close if we were told to take the bus. Thirty minutes later and fully sweat soaked, we arrived back at the original stop having gotten the cheapest (20 cents) tour of the city of San Salvador. We went to one of the many roadside restaurants and refreshed ourselves with a bucket of beer. For dinner, we finally settled on “American” quesadillas (Does anyone else see the irony here?) because the waitress repeatedly told us that they did not have the ingredients to complete each menu item we attempted to order.

Brooke woke up the following morning with what seemed to be a bad case of pink eye. Because her eye was very swollen, I asked the hostel manager for ice. Without even questioning the reason, she handed me a very dirty plastic ice pack. (Don’t people usually ask for ice to put in their drink? Oh well, worked out in our favor.) After Brooke finally pried her eye open, we left the hostel to find medication and the bus to our next destination, La Libertad (the beach!)

When we arrived in La Libertad, we walked around the city looking for a place to stay. Of course we were attracted to the shady Hotel Surf. We thought we were getting a great deal when the owner told us we could have a room with air conditioning, private bathroom, 2 double beds, microwave and fridge for $15. Little did we know that the toilet didn’t flush because the handle was broken, the sink and shower didn’t work because the plumbing system couldn’t get the water up to the second floor and the foul smell was a result of the bathroom not being clean, which the owner promised she would clean while we were out (!?!?!) We took a walk down to the pier where the fisherman were selling raw fish and shrimp. This is where I had the best food of the trip. I paid $2 for a big bowl of fresh ceviche made on the pier! It was delicious. We met some guys from San Salvador in for the weekend to surf who told us that we should really be staying in El Trunco, which is the touristy beach town where all of the extranjeros go to surf. (We later learned that La Libertad is dangerous enough that the Peace Corps volunteers are prohibited from staying the night there.) We took a taxi to El Trunco and immediately fell in love with the small surf town. They even had a great coffee shop that had soy milk (unheard of!). We spent the rest of the evening drinking beers on the second level dock and watching the huge waves soak the dock below. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped into a small convenience store/home to buy one more beer. Inside, the family (mother, father and 2 small children) who owned the store were having a nice quiet dinner, which we very definitely interrupted. There was a time when I would have thought this odd, but it is the case in so many shops that I didn’t even blink.

The next morning we found that the only way to bathe in the hotel was by bucket, so I took my first bucket shower. I was relieved to see that the water in the bucket was crystal clear, which is more than I can say for the water we typically bathe in on the ranch. After the “shower”, we attempted to go to the beach, but found that there really wasn’t much of a beach as we know it, so we took the bus back to San Salvador. We traveled from San Salvador to a small pueblo near the Honduran boarder called Jocoro, where we had made arrangements to couch surf with Brian, a Peace Corp volunteer. Jocoro was great and Brian introduced us to many of the local people. It was here that we finally ate pupusas, the national food of El Salvador. It is a cheese filled tortilla that typically comes topped with a slaw of cabbage, onions and carrots. Delicious and perfect for the vegetarian diet. We spent the night in Brian’s room on a mattress. He lived in a single room with a back porch and outdoor bathroom and shower (again, by bucket, but thankfully not the same bucket used to flush the toilet). We were feeling very thankful for the “luxurious” living conditions we have on the ranch.

The next morning we hopped on a bus that took us to the border. When we handed our passports and residency cards to the immigration official he asked us if we were aware of the political state of Honduras. We quickly assured him that we were aware and that we lived in Tegus. He confirmed that we knew that the previously exiled President Zelaya had returned to the country and that there was an indefinite curfew throughout the whole country prohibiting any kind of travel, including the buses across the border. I am sure our shocked faces were somewhat comical. We had heard nothing of the sort. As we debated our next move, he processed our return to Honduras. When we decided it would be better to stay in El Salvador, we had to walk around the building and enter the country all over again. I had noticed a nice looking hotel when passing through San Miguel, about 2 hours away, and we decided to go back there and wait for news. It was a bit expensive, but had a pool, so we were finally able to get the sun that we had been deprived at the beach. We constantly checked the TV news and internet for any information we could find about what had occurred and what was happening in Tegus as a result. Of course, the news made it sound like Tegus was being burned to the ground.

The next morning we decided that we couldn’t stay in San Miguel another night because it was expensive and we weren’t feeling very safe walking around the small and boring city. Since we had no idea how long the curfew would go on and when we would be able to return, I decided that it would be a good idea to try to find the NPH El Salvador house where we could sleep and eat for free. We took a bus to San Salvador then another on to Santa Ana, which was the city address of the NPH house. When we arrived in Santa Ana, we learned that, like NPH Honduras, the El Salvador house was in fact about 1 hour outside the city. Nobody knew where the house was located and there didn’t seem to be buses that passed the house. It was getting late and we decided to find a place to stay in Santa Ana. Luckily, we decided on a hostel that was nearby the mall where we were doing our hotel research via internet. The hostel was, in fact, a large, beautiful home owned by a single man, Javier. There were 2 large rooms with single beds (usually they are bunk beds) and because there was only one other girl staying there, Brooke and I were able to have our own room and bathroom. The house was decorated very well with objects from all over the world. It was very clean and I was even able to take a hot shower without my shoes! (Most people know that this is unheard of in a hostel.) We spent the evening talking with Javier and catching up on the news. I think that he was disappointed when we all decided to go to bed early.

The next morning, we learned that the curfew had been lifted and the bus would be running between San Salvador and Tegus. We quickly packed up and headed back to the city. The bus ride back to Tegus was uneventful until I got a call saying that they had just announced a curfew beginning at 7 pm. This was the exact time we were supposed to arrive and there was no way we would be able to travel the 45 min back to the ranch. I was even worried that we would not be able to find a taxi to take us to a hotel and the bus station is in one of the worst areas of Tegus. Luckily, a friend offered to pick us up and we spent the night back in the Granada right where we had started.

Mom and Dad Visit Honduras

I had been looking forward to my parents visit since before it was even planned. It is so difficult to describe Honduras and The Ranch over the phone. I was so excited for them to finally see the things I talked about and meet the people I described to them each time we talked.

As we drove from the airport to The Ranch, Uli and I pointed out notable places in the city and Uli gave us some great history of Tegucigalpa that even I didn't know. As we pulled into the ranch, I pointed out the various buildings (clinic, school, tallere, etc.) that they had heard so much about. I think they were surprised that I have been able to live so far outside the city and in the woods for the past 8 months.

As is typical of Honduras and the ranch, we were celebrating dia del nino (day of the child), which required a full day of planning and full day of celebration, which meant I wouldn't be doing any therapy while my parents were here. It was a little disappointing because they didn't get to see what a typical day was like, but also fun because we played games and interacted with the kids. However, as is also typical, the day was very chaotic and tiring. I think that it was a little overwhelming for them and made worse by the face that they didn't understand what anyone was saying. I also didn't really realize how much we have to walk to get around the ranch until they pointed it out and looked haggered by the end of each day.

For me, one of the most important things to show them was the hogar where I spend my nights with my 14-16 year old girls and their tias (caregivers). We spent 2 nights in hogar with the girls and again I think they were a little overwhelmed, but the girls loved meeting them and tried hard to communicate with them. One night the tias cooked tajaditas (fried plantian chips) for them, so that they could try a homemade traditional food. I love tajaditas, but I am not sure they were very impressed. Also, this was after we had just finished a dinner with a small group of girls from my hogar. We cooked Baleadas for them, which is another traditional Honduran food that consists of a flour tortilla filled with scrambled eggs, beans and a cream called mantequilla. This event was really fun for me and I was so proud of how well behaved the girls were around my parents.

After 3 days on the ranch, my parents were ready to move on the Roatan for a short beach vacation. I think they had eaten enough traditional Honduran food and were ready to get to a location where they could communicate with people. We arrived at our hotel in Roatan and were a little disappointed to find that it wasn't exactly on the beach and wasn't the fancy resort style we had been looking forward to. We stayed in a cabin situated on the rocks at the end of the West Bay beach. However, it didn't take us long to appreciate the small community of the hotel and enjoy waking up to the same faces every morning. Every employee of the hotel knew who we were and greeted us by name throughout the day. The hotel had its own dive shop and I was able to scuba dive privately with the dive master for one day and with only 4 of us the second day. This was much better than the large dive groups we saw leaving from the other hotels. The weather in Roatan was not ideal because it was extremely hot and we spent a lot of time laying in the air conditioned room or floating in the ocean. It was a vacation full of rest:) Another downer was the presence of sand fleas who covered us in bites the first day that just got worse as time passed. We had been warned of these, but never could have imagined the damage they could do without being seen or felt. On the upside, mom and dad totally spoiled me by feeding me very well and surrounding me with the things that we don't have on the ranch. I soaked up the air conditioning at every oportunity, ate a lot of fresh sea food and vegetables and the best was watching college and pro football while sipping on cold beers.

It was great to see them and finally I can tell stories about the ranch and they will be able to visualize the places and people. I also think it opened their eyes to the life and situations of the kids.