michelle emily: Mas del viaje de Honduras

DAY 4
While the medical people went over to work in a clinic in town, the rest of us went to help out at the CAIPAC, which translates to a center for the blind. We made bracelets and chatted with the lovely people at the center. It's a great resource that gets people more self-reliant and get the skills necessary to survive.
My group walked around Santa Lucia and had milkshakes at this little place with an amazing view.

In the valley, over that ridge, is Tegucigalpa

That afternoon, we picked up some of the Casa Noble boys and headed to the park for futbol and futbol americano. As my mom says, these boys were born with a soccer ball.

After they creamed us, we taught them good ole American football. One of the Americans in our group, Ryan, is on the varsity team at Tualatin High School, so we redeemed our sports reputation a bit haha. It was loads of fun.

dodging cow pies

DAY 5 (Wednesday)
Our group went to a small village in Naguara where there is a one-room school with about 40 kiddos. The teacher walks about 10 miles to and from the school every day, and he has changed these children's lives. Talk about a saint among us.
We did a field day with 4 different stations: parachute, cultural music, face painting, and bubbles. I was in the parachute group and I just about died from the cuteness. One thing that I thought about the whole trip is the fact that kids are the same sweetness and innocence in a remote village in Honduras as the kids in America or England. I have worked with kids around the world and I realized that all children really are born innocent and sweet, and it has testified to me that we really are all God's children. He loves us no matter our circumstances and He will take care of His little ones. He loves His children SO much. That is one of my favorite things about being a teacher; I've been able to feel His love for His little ones, like I did during this trip.

Honduran children don't really smile for pictures, but we promise that they had fun.

We played games in the next door cow and horse patch.

We played lots and lots of Pato, Pato, Ganso.

The kids had to shoo away cows while we played

We did a little touristy shopping in Valle de Angeles, a city near Santa Lucia. Tried some Honduran ice cream (not the best). Brother bought a cool machete. That night, we relaxed and watched some TV in Spanish, including "LOTR." Fun thing about that is that they all dub over the grunts and screams in addition to the Spanish.

lunch at a Honduran Italian restaurant

central plaza

DAY 6
The group got up early and drove far, again, in order to see two more villages/schools. The first place was El Campo, and on the way we drove through miles of sugar cane fields. The bus driver, Olman, had to shoo some cows and pigs. We did field games, again, and hung out with the kiddos.

When we drove up, some kids were cutting the grass with machetes.

Then we dropped by Flore Azul school to do the same. However, we didn't know it was a day off for them, so it was locked and no one was around. We got off the bus and waited to hear what the plan was. There were some kids who hovered along the fence, and so I went over to talk to them. Instead of us all awkwardly standing around, my mom busted out some bubbles, Sydney (accidentally) picked the lock to the gate, and we played with the kids in the school yard. Soon, lots of kids showed up and we ended up doing different activities with them for a bit.

We ended the day at Casa Noble, interviewing the boys. I had lots of great conversations with the boys, learning about their lives. I had a long conversation with one of them where he was only allowed to talk in English and I was only allowed to talk in Spanish. I liked being able to practicar mi espanol.
Some of the boys also taught me how to do a Honduran dance called Punta. Let's just say, they weren't expecting a gringa to it pick it up. It was one of my FAVORITE parts of the trip! (I'm still searching for video of it :) )

DAY 7
Friday was our second day at San Juan de Rancho. I taught music to a second grade class. We did a Spanish song about a farm and another song about sheep. We made egg shakers with beans and rice. I read to them about animals, and I'm sure their real teacher just cringed at my pronunciation.
The second half of the time at de Rancho was spent de-lousing at the clinic that my parents set up for health check-ups.

A Honduran traffic jam

We joked the whole trip about making sure my mom didn't "adopt" the adorable kids at each school.

That afternoon, some of the boys took us on a hike up in the mountains of Santa Lucia. One of my favorite things to do in a new place is to walk around the town to see the people and places. However, for safety reasons, we weren't allowed to wander without the group. So this hike/walk was the coolest for me.