Hot Soup, Cold Night

Didn't get to spend the day in La Tigra as planned b/c both Jose and Walter had car problems to take care of that ended up taking the first half of the day. I just hung out around the house. Tried to fix my computer. It is seeming more and more hopeless. At this point I am lucky to get on line at all.

The La Tigra youth group was meeting. Most of them are teens. They walk forever to get there and some of the girls had on high spikey heels. Youth group is the place to see and be seen in La Tigra, I think. We picked up some of them on the way up, but I think some of them walk a couple of miles to get there. The kids seemed really sweet. They ended up watching Honduras play futbol against Canada, which wasn't so bad b/c Honduras won. (For once) But the also did some readings from the bible and one kid said an incredible prayer of gratitude and they sang some cute songs and gave an offering of $. Then the boys went ouside and played futbol and the girls pulled out mattresses and watched the first Home Alone. I watched the sun set. It is amazing from up there. The sun sets behind other mountains but I was on the highest one. It got pretty cold up there. On the way home we had to drop off some things for a family whom I've met before briefly. Once inside they wanted us to sit down and eat some warm soup. At first I was hesitant - who knows where they got the water from, but man that soup was good. It is very typical and is called Verduras, only it did have a bone it it, so it is not just veggies.

I felt a little awkward b/c the house is small and there were only two chairs so as guests, we were told to sit. But the oldest lady of the house is really old and I would have preferred to give her my chair. Also there were these pieces in my soup that looked like big chunks of fat. Given the fact that I don't really love meat, I was dreading having to choke down these pieces of fat. But it turns out they were not fat at all - they were "camote" some sort of root vegetable that is actually really good. I have grown to love Yuca too. We have soup at home about once/week and I get as much yuca in my serving as possible without being too obvious.

So far I am still alive, and I was invited back the next time I go to La Tigra, so I must have behaved ok. But the other bit of awkwardness was the fact that the US was playing Nicaragua.
(I think. I know it was some Central American Country.) Everyone kept getting frustrated b/c the Gringas were winning. Hondurans are astonished at how well the US is doing this year in soccer. Honduras plays the US at Soldier Field on Thursday. I'm not really looking forward to it because the US has won twice against Honduras and I have a feeling they will win a third time. It's not fun to be a gringita among Hondurans when the gringos are beating them at futbol.

Anyway, the game ended and we hurried home to make it before the curfew. I haven't heard of any problems, but I also haven't gone out of my way to learn anything. As long as we can go to Olancho Friday and get home again, Mel can do whatever the heck he wants to this week.

Jairo is out on a fishing trip, so I'm not sure who will give the message at church this week.

Tony and I are planning a North American night this week. We were so used to spending a lot of quality time together and since he left for Utila I haven't seen much of him. It'll be nice to catch up, eat some sushi, and have a couple of good beers. That's our plan.

Wonder if the orphanage will be open Monday? Have to see what the weekend brings. In the little bit that I've been out I haven't seen a very strong police presence today, and the curfew tonight was pushed back to 11pm, which is much later than when it was 6:30 or 8:30 pm.

Tranquilo, for now (or "Todo Tranqui" as Karla would say)

Yesterday we didn't do much. My phone and my computer were both on the fritz so I spent the day trying to fix them. Got my phone fixed, think my computer is just getting old.

We didn't watch any news yesterday. Karina went to school and Jose went to work. Everything seemed normal in my little world. We ate dinner and while Jose was putting the girls to be Karla, Karina and I had a dance party downstairs until we couldn't dance anymore. Luckily we've had tons of water for the past 24 hours!!!! so we washed up and got into our pj's, then hung out in the bedroom Karina and I share while Jose was downstairs preparing for his youth group today.

They tell me I am quite a good dancer, which I find hard to believe since I am not even a good dancer when it comes to gringo dancing. But we certainly had a good time. We danced to all kinds of music - I just followed along. Of course it was when I was practicing just shaking only my butt, while keeping the rest of my body still, that Jose came downstairs and I didn't notice him there at first. That was embarrassing. They told me that people from different parts of Honduras dance differently, but the men from the North dance the best. Guess I should keep my eye out for a man from Northern Honduras ;-)

This morning, after avoiding the news all day I got a scary article from my mom about crazy Mel. HE BETTER NOT RUIN MY TRIP TO OLANCHO NEXT WEEKEND!!!! I hope he comes soon, so they can arrest him and things can calm down. Our latest plan is to leave Friday and return Monday. I really hope we can go!

I was supposed to go up to La Tigra this morning, but they are tuning up the car for the trip to Olancho, so I am trying to be patient.

I got my article done for Tony's newsletter. It didn't end up saying what I expected to write, but I guess I said what I am supposed to.

Wonder if I'll be able to work at the orphanage next week?