Summer Camp, Protests

Yesterday I helped Karla with a welcoming program for 63 kids who went to a weekend retreat through the church. I had been hearing helicopters overhead all morning, but was too lazy to get out of bed and turn on the news.

When Karina got home from school she said I wouldn´t believe it. Right out at the bridge where I always meet my rides the street was full of people marching. Traffic was held back for miles and miles. Apparently people had been lining up since 3 am to march to the university. They blocked all traffic on The Anillo, which is the highway right by my house.

Getting a cab to go to the church was impossible. We called Muncho, but he said he couldn´t take us because once he got us to the church there was no way for him to get home. Then we tried to take a ¨collectivo¨, but there were a ton of people in line and no cabs - because although the cabs could leave from my colonia, no cabs could get through the protestors to pick us up. Karina said they would be charging a lot of money too. So we walked up to the bridge, thinking we could catch a cab already headed toward the church.

We were surprised to see that the highway was clear of protestors, as the live news had just shown the very spot where we stood full of people, only 10 minutes before. We waited and waited for a cab, but none came which was very strange. Usually when I meet my rides there I have cabs beeping at me constantly to see if I need a cab.

After waiting for a while, we realized we needed a new plan so we hopped on a bus - my first bus experience! It was pretty normal. A little yellow school bus with only a few people. Karina said the buses are packed during rush hour. We went to the nearest mall, thinking we could catch a ¨collectivo¨ from there, but no such luck. Since there were so few cabs on the street we couldn´t find anyone who wanted to drive us to the church. Finally we ended up paying more money for a private cab directly to the church. We were really late, but we made it!

The camp was about 45 mins outside of Teguc. It was really nice. We did our opening welcome program, which was a hit. Then we hung out and ate dinner. By the time we got home we were exhausted. I tried to watch a scarey movie with Karla and Jose, but ended up going to bed half way through.

Today I am making eclairs to take to dinner at Lourdes and Jairo´s house. We are also supposed to go to see Karla´s father´s house. The house I where I will live if I come back to Honduras.

I was just sitting here worrying because Karla and Jose were speaking to each other more loudly than usual. I didn´t know what they were talking about until Karina came into the room laughing. I asked what she was laughing about. She said Karla and Jose are disagreeing about who will marry Dana Sophia (age 1 & 1/2). Funny.

Oh, we also passed another protest on the way to the camp. It was small. They were carrying Honduran flags, chanting that their village wanted peace. We beeped our horns and waved. They cheered back at us. Once again, they were holding up traffic. And once again, it was in the opposite direction of the way we were traveling. That´s the closest I´ve gotten to any protests.

Karina´s school was invaded by police on Wednesday, which is a huge deal because her school is autonomous. Police are not allowed on campus. However, the police were mad because the day before one of the men who is running for president in November visited the campus. The students didn´t like him. They threw water on him and followed him out as he left the campus very quickly. Some of his body guards were fighting with students.

So the next day police were stationed outside of the school. Students taunted the police through the fence until the police barged into the university wearing riot gear. Karina was studying inside when people came rushing into the building after having been tear gassed. The police attacked numerous students who were agressive toward them, and some who weren´t. It looked pretty crazy on t.v. Karina said it was very, very ¨feo¨ (ugly). She was a little shaken up, but classes resumed as normal the next day. I don´t know if anything was done about the police setting foot on the autonomous campus.