Funny Business

Wednesday afternoon we were officially on vacation!  Before a little rest and relaxation, I needed to take care of some business.  I've had a small cyst on my side for a year, and it has been increasing in size.  I met with the doctor, and he said that he would be able to remove it at the clinic here in Gracias.  30 minutes and 4 stitches later, I'm cyst-free and doing great.  I headed to Copan with some of the teachers for a couple of nights. 

The hotel I normally stay in was booked, so we stayed at a hostel, the Iguana Azul.  We behaved and followed all of the rules...

Copan is always a different world. The streets are paved.  The food is delicious. And since there are so many tourists, most things are translated into English  (although things are often lost in translation)...

Since this was my 4th visit to Copan in 6 months, I opted to forgo the tourist attractions and enjoy a couple of days reading, dining out and relaxing.  The night life was great.  We even got to see the "sexys" girls perform...

 

All good things must come to an end.  I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with these lovely ladies (and Cristian).  I feel refreshed and ready for first grade!



April 2011: La Boda Real

 Easter came late this year, which means so did Spring Break.  I felt like April was just one big countdown until Semana Santa.  We get the whole week off before Easter.  And you know what I did?  Absolutely nothing.  I decided to stay in town and truly relax.  Like I mentioned in the last post, we were in the heat of summer.  Much of my free time was spent trying to keep cool.  (Remember we have no A/C here!!!)  I took walks to the river...

 And enjoyed afternoons at the pool...

I think this may be the first Spring Break where I came back to school completely refreshed and reenergized to come back to class.

Sadly I didn't get to watch the Royal Wedding (we don't have T.V. this year).  However, the weekend after Spring Break my friend, Orson, invited me to attend the wedding of a childhood friend and it was GRAND!  Orson is from a small town called Santa Rita, located right outside Copan Ruinas.

The wedding itself took place in Copan Ruinas.  We arrived a few minutes before 6:00 (the start time on the invitation).  We were one of a handful of tables actually on time for the wedding.  The wedding finally began around 8:00!!!  We had lots of time to waste waiting on the wedding to begin...

The setup was beautiful.  It was an outdoor wedding and the weather was perfect and cool.  There must have been around 400 guests invited...

The ceremony in Honduras is very different.  There was a procession of people carrying various props that would be used in the wedding- bread and wine for communion, oils, and finally a treasure box (I'll get to the significance later).  There were no attendants.  In Honduran weddings, the bride and groom choose a couple to be the "padrinos" of the wedding.  They serve as mentors throughout the marriage.  The ceremony lasted about an hour.  It was very sweet and personal.  The groom dropped to his knee to say his vows...

During the first kiss there were fireworks...



It really was a fairytale wedding.  At the end of the ceremony the bride picked up the treasure box.  I was dying to know what was inside.  She held it up and explained that when she was a young girl she made a vow to give God her virginity.  He had guarded it for her and today was the day that she would give it to her husband.  On that note, she passed the box to her husband.  T.M.I.???  Really it made for some good jokes between the groom's friends throughout the night.

The troublemakers and lifelong friends with the groom...

After the ceremony there was a slide show and a short dinner (which was one of the tastiest meals I've eaten in Honduras).  It was very different from the receptions that I am used to.  There was no dancing.  There was no cake.  Everyone just left after they finished eating.  We stayed around and visited with the bride and groom a while....

It was a lovely affair and I was privileged to be invited to share such a special night. 



December 2010 (Part 2): Guatemala

The day after Christmas, we took the first chicken bus out of town and headed towards Guatemala to meet Mom, Alex and Annie.  To break up the trip, we spent the night in Copan Ruinas.  We enjoyed a nice dinner and a movie at the Via Via Cafe...

Karen really enjoyed the 2 for 1 drink specials...

The next morning we took an early morning shuttle to Guatemala City to pick up the family from the airport.  Then we all continued on to La Antigua, Guatemala.  We spent the afternoon getting to know the sights and exploring the architecture.  It was really impressive seeing all this beauty at the base of that massive volcano...

 

Over the next few days we explored more of Antigua and the surrounding areas.  We found the best view...

And enjoyed a nice back walk into the city...

Where we stumbled upon some great art...

Our day trips included a tour of a coffee plantation (in style)...

 

A visit to the gorgeous Lago Atitlan, Guatemala...

Where we got to hike and enjoy the wildlife in the Lake Atitlan Nature Reserve....

On our walk back into town we caught some local artisans at work.  This might be my favorite photo of all time...

We spent another afternoon exploring some Mayan Ruins...

Just as we walked up to the last temple, we stumbled upon some families performing a real Mayan ritual.  We watched from a respectful distance and imagined what it might have been like when this Mayan village was thriving.  It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience...

The streets of Antigua were full of entertainment and excitement on New Year's Eve...

Since the streets were so crowded, we rang in the New Year watching fireworks on the roof of our hotel.  We had a 360 degree view of all of the celebration.  It was amazing...

It was a great end to 2010.