Goodbye Honduras

Whether its leaving Summer Camp, moving out of your college dorms, or leaving a foreign country after 25 days, its always hard saying goodbye to your new found friends. In my case today, it was saying bye to my new family. I felt very much a member of the Gutierrez family. We ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. More importantly, we bonded greatly over the times we spent together. For example, my brothers and I, built a garden in the backyard for our Mom here, because she wants to plant some flowers. Whats great about the Gutierrez family, they love to learn and they love to teach. Just like me! Some things I was able to pass on to my fam
1. Shared the Povertees story along with some Povergoodies
2. Taught my brothers each a Led Zeppelin song on the guitar.
3. Shared some English curse words.
4. Showed that its Ok for grown men to be scared of oversized bugs

Some things my Honduran siblings taught me
1. How to play street soccer(see blogs below)
2. A few Honduran bad words
3. How to get 6 guys 2 miles down the road with 3 bikes.
4. How to get rid of a GIGANTIC buttefly. (see blog below)
5. That avocados go with every meal.
6. Most importantly, they showed me how to be truly generous. They showed me that Generosity isn't limited to people you already care about or even people who deserve it for that matter. Generosity is for everyone. Its for strangers who ask for a place to sleep for 25 days. Its a quality I hope my family will have someday, but I know it will never quite be the truly humble and generous Gutierrez family of 13.

Thank you so much Gutierrez Family. I love you guys.

Spirit Animals

So, I only have 3 days left here in Honduras, and as expected, its a very bittersweet feeling. I’m finally grasping most of the language, growing closer to my Honduran family and friends, almost getting used to the roosters, and just thoroughly enjoying my time here with John and the people. On the other hand I’m more than ready for a shower that is a little more comfortable and efficient than pouring 5-6 buckets of cold water over my head. More importantly, I’m very ready to give a big ‘ol kiss to my beautiful girlfriend, Gianna Lucia! After that, I could use a burrito from Chipotle(rice, black beans, extra chicken, medium salsa, corn, sourcream, cheese, and maybe even some guac!)

Lastly, I’m ready to ride a refreshing wave… something like this…

The point of this blog is to share how I’ve connected to different animals here in Honduras. Honduras is filled with so much wildlife its overwhelming and mostly just scary. In my short time here, I connected with one animal in a negative way and one in a very positive way. First, the negative…

I pretty much feel 100% negative towards all my insect encounters here, but the one in particular is with the Honduran Ginormous Butterfly… How did we meet, you might ask? Well, I was innocently washing my dishes after a delicious meal made up of some assortment of beans, rice, and torillas, when a gigantic butterfly flew out from the sink area and flew directly into my face. I dropped my dishes, screamed, and ran into the other room. You’re probably thinking I’m a big pansy, but this isn’t an ordinary huge butterfly with just big wings and such. You know the body part of a butterfly between the wings?(thorax maybe?). well, this mofo had one the size and girth of my thumb. So, its all good, I just left my dishes on the floor and went into my room, no big deal. Ill never see that monster again. Nope. The next morning, I wake up and walk outside my bedroom and there he is… watching me from the wall in the hallway. Why? I hurry out to start my day to avoid another brawl of sorts. I come home from work, and he seems to be gone. Sweet! I grab a towel, some chonies, and head to the bathroom for a nice cold bucket shower. I open the door, and THERE HE IS! In the shower up on the wall 5 inches from where I would be bathing. No shot that I’m gonna deal with this. I grab my brother, Oscar. I politely tell him in Spanish that I would like to take a shower but I’m way too scared of the giant mariposa(butterfly, and also is a derogatory term for a gay boy) Oscars laughs and laughs and grabs a dish towel. Seems like a decent weapon of choice. He tries to strike the thing with the towel, but it takes off and starts flying in circles around the bathroom, while I timidly peek from behind the door. Oscar tries to smack him at least 20 times and every time is a miss. How can you miss him? He is the size a young parakeet! Finally he killed the little effer and eliminated my enemy! We started laughing about how crazy that thing was and then I headed for the shower. Then, a small little butterfly or moth flies directly into my face! So naturally, I flail around until I don’t see the buggard any more. Did that sasquatch butterfly call for backup, or put me on a butterfly hitlist? Lol, but things are definitely looking up! Haven’t seen a mariposa in 3 days.

There is one animal that I connected with almost like a family member. Well he sorta is family! Jack Bauer is one of my family’s dogs, and he just loves me. He follows me every morning while I ride on my bike for about 3-4 blocks until I get to the main road. When he sees me he runs up and waits for me to show him some love, and if I show any attention to another dog, Jack barks at the other dog and tries to regain my attention. While contemplating why a pup like Jack would love me so much, I ruled out the fact that I give him all my chicken bones and any other food that I don’t particularly like, I ruled out the fact that I’m the only one that will sit and pet him because he kinda smells bad and has fleas, but I think I figured it out! We share a deep bond based on our similarities: we are both gringos with ginger colored hair trying to make it in a place that doesn’t seem suited for us! Anyway, I love Jack!

Honduras vs. Venezuela 2-0

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Before I start, I didn’t explain much about my trip in the last blog. I am here in Honduras for 24 days fulfilling my International Business in Spanish Internship requirement. Also, I visited my favorite Jesuit Priest and Uncle John here 3 years ago with my cousin Andrew, and we loved it. We loved the people, we loved the land, and we loved how John started such great projects for the poor who want to pursue their education. When assigned an internship in a Spanish speaking nation, I was given the perfect excuse to comeback and contribute in any way that I possible could. So I’m here trying to fundraise and get creative in getting these projects and this Parish more self-sustaining financially. OK now about my fun day today…

Today was great. It wasn’t as much productive as it was just fun and carefree for a change. I worked at the parish for a few hours putting some of our new fundraising plans into motion. I also had some delicious sopa(soup). It was Sopa de Chicharrón or pigskin soup. Soooo good tasting, but it looked very gross.

I got a ride back to mi casa for a change, which saved me from my daily near death experience fighting the incline and sun. I got to Skype with Gianna<3 which as always makes me feel rejuvenated. Its good to have someone so sweet, but also someone who will just listen to you complain about the things that everyone here are so accustomed to(cold water buckets for showers, a huge-ass butterfly that wont go away, my sunburn, that rooster that wont go away, the list goes on…) Anyway, thanks Gi.

Then, I went to play fútbol for my 3^rd time here. The first day, I had a bit of beginners luck and with my height, scored a couple headers somehow. The second day, I was the worst one on the field! But today, I don’t know how it happened, but I caught fire!

Before I tell you my awesome soccer story, picture this: a soccer field, well actually, a 20 square yard uneven dirt square. Rocks a plenty, the goals are three branches tied together, and the cheerleaders are a couple tied down caballos(horses). So I love sports, but mainly basketball. I haven’t played soccer since like 6^th grade, and have never particularly loved it. But I wanted to be a part of the community here so, what the heck. PLUS, Kobe Bryant wanted to be a pro soccer player before he decided to be the best basketball player in the world, so that more than enough reason to try it.

Anyway, I get on the field today and play a couple warm up games, and feel pretty decent but I lost both of the warm up games. Then, the main game of the evening started. I got put on the team of my two brothers that I live with along with a goalie. I was beyond stoked to be on a team with my brothers because 1. They don’t get mad even when I miss wide-open shots 2. They really love to play fútbol and 3. They are pretty big dudes, especially for Hondurans (I am guessing height and girth don’t matter as much in official soccer, but it there’s a lotta bump’n’grind playing street soccer).

The game starts and within a minute. I get the ball near the goal and swing my leg and try to kick it straight. It went in! I’m shocked. The next time down, someone heaved it high to me and I knocked in with my head! It helps that I’m at least 4 inches taller than everyone on the field. I went on and scored 3 more headers and 1 more goal with my foot! We ended up winning 9-3 and I contributed 6 of our 9 goals! Our family won! I was super stoked!

We went home, bucket showered, and watched the Honduras vs Venezuela game. Honduras won too! I won again when dinner was served and it was carne asada tacos con avacado with fresh limeade! So much victory on one plate lol!

So I guess the moral of the story is: if Kobe Bryant can like soccer, then it can’t be that bad…

This is what 2 hours of soccer does to Toms shoes

¡Estoy aqui en Honduras!

I've decided to resurrect my blog for my Centroamerican excursion. Mainly, because when people ask how is Honduras, I can answer with things like "Really effing HOT!" or people look at a few of my FB updates that only give a tiny glimpse on everyday life here. I'd like to give a closer look (for anyone who cares). There is so much to be said about Honduras that, for this post, I think Ill just walk you through a normal day in the life for me here in El Progresso, Honduras. :]

5:00am(or sometimes earlier): The roosters begin to cockadoodledoo at the top of their lungs. I am also pretty sure that they situate themselves directly outside my window for maximum waking up efficiency.

6:00am after hitting the doodledoo-snooze button a few times I get myself up, because its not worth cockfighting any more (struggling to sleep against the rooster will lol)

7:00am I've usually gotten dressed and applied appropriate products (sunscreen/aloe/mosquito repellent) (I'm also burnt to a crisp right now) Now I usually do my daily prayer, which is something new for me. John showed me one with a little more structure that is meant to be done daily for an hour, but Im lucky for 30 minutes, but thats a good start for me, because I usually don't know what to pray about and end up getting distracted and what not, but this one is simple and the people here do it everyday and are really having good results from it.

7:30am Breakfast! Its always ready in the kitchen. My Honduran mom, Lydia, is one of the sweetest people in the world. She is the best cook in Honduras, and a mother of 12! She leads a prayer group, is a widow, supports 3 college students currently, and other notable children include an English teacher, and also her son, Mario, who is a couple months away from being the first Jesuit ordained out of El Progresso in 30 years! Breakfast usually consists of either these ham, cheese and ketchup sandwiches (one of the few foods I'm not a fan of) or a plate of beans, eggs, and tortillas! I'm always stoked with the later dish.

7:45-8:15 After giving my ham and cheese to the dogs(I'm their best friend because of it) I hop on my rikity old bike and head for the Parish office. Heading to the office is a breeze! Its 4 miles away, but getting there in the morning is all down hill. The only bummer is if I leave too late the Sun is incredible strong and I cook like bacon. I actually have a pretty bad sunburn from my day off (My day off will be my next blog, so stay tuned.)

8:30-11:30 I start my day. This is where I work with either the Parish team or one of their three educational projects to help improve them, with either efficiency or fundraising plans/goals.
These 3 educational projects that John started are: the La Esperanza school for special needs children, San Alberto Hurtado Scholarship Community for High School and College students who need financial, and Padre Faustino Boada program for public grade school children who cant afford uniforms, books, shoes, or any other school essentials. Its been an amazing experience thus far, but I still have a lot of work to go with these programs.(more details soon so stay tuned!)

11:30-1:30 Lunch and Siesta time. John and I usually eat and someone's house in the community and they treat us like royalty and cook us some of their best dishes which is usually Sopa(soup)
The siestas are needed since those dang roosters got me up too early.

2-4:00 finish up work, drink some water and prepare for my bike ride back!

4-4:30 Bike ride home! Its sooo much harder than riding in the morning. Its about 20 degrees hotter(if thats even possible) and its ALL up hill(like a really steep 4 mile up hill ride) I'd like to take this time to thank my wonderful girlfriend Gianna for making me take those cycling classes every once in a while! To make it up the final incredibly steep quest, I have to pop out of the saddle and give it all Ive got. Luckily, I made it everytime haha. Drenched in sweat, and when I make it my family ask me, estás bien?( are you ok) because Ive basically died.

5:00-8:00 family time and dinner. I love dinner here. Super tasty! Includes most of my favs: beans, rice, tortillas, avocado, and pollo. Tonight we ate beans, eggs, and this familiar noodle they called espagettis haha Before dinner Ive been playing fútbol(soccer) and getting wooped by the locals, but I still play as hard as if I was playing basketball with the donahues in g-ma's back yard. (Why are Donahues so competitive?) I only score headers because I'm 5 inches taller than everyone lol.

8:00-9:30 I hang out with the fam. I love playing guitar with my brothers and watching novelas with my sisters lol. I also take some time here to update everyone and call and/or skype loved ones

After 9:30 I lie in my bed, but I'm so excited for the rooster alarm clock its hard to sleep lol

But guys, Its not all fun and games. Theres lots of huge effing bugs, I have a million mosquito bites, and theres this Ginormous butterfly(10 in wingspan) in the house that scared the poop out of me when I touched it trying to wash my cereal bowl and it flew into my face. Its still chillin outside my bedroom door in the hall watching me.

Overall, The people and the land are what make Honduras special. My Family is so amazing, I hope I can have something similar when I have one of my own. The environment is a rough switch from being so comfortable in the States. Im always sweating, I have to work extra hard to hold a conversation with people whom I'm truly interested, I'm not able to see the ones I love most everyday, there's no Pacific Ocean, but what is here is so authentic. Its real people living off the land to survive, its people going to church because they truly feel apart of a christian community(they don't go because of guilt or any other reason), its a real family taking me in and caring for me as if I had been apart of the family for years and making me feel like I can depend on them for anything. Overall, plain and simple, El Progresso, Honduras is as real as it gets.

Before I go make sure you check back for blogs about: The Mountains, My One Day off, and A day at the Beach

Here are some pics

Some of my family and I went to cultural night at the high school. Oscar, Gloria, Doris, and some kid
Baleadas are incredible. Breakfast burritos inside thick flour tortillas Tejadas are like banana chip nachos with meat!
Just another cockroach in my room
John kills a deadly snake(stay tuned)
Another Picture of some of my Fam
I hope you enjoyed the blog, because I can tell that Puppy is very pleased...