La Vida: ¡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