A Canucks Life in Honduras

Copan, Honduras

2005-02-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

The first stop of the Christmas adventure was Copan. The town of Copan is pretty cool itself and on top of that it has the famous Copan ruins. We spent some time tooling around the town and enjoying the culinary arts. Of course we also went to the ruins and had a guide show us around and tell us the history of the ruins and the Mayan civilization. We also did some horse back riding up to a local village where we hung out with some kids and checked out the great views. Copan is a pretty great place and I will be heading back very soon for the junior trip with my school.

2005-02-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

These little colf cart/trike taxis were awesome to whip around town in.

2005-02-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this picture does justice to exactly how skinny our horses were. They were so skinny and refused to do anything other than a walk. We had little motivational sticks and ropes that we used and it took a serious beating to get these things up to a canter. I ended up whipping myself a few times in the process of getting this guy moving.

2005-02-05T12:17:00.000-08:00

This was at a village at the top of the mountain where we rode up to with our pathetic horses. The kids were fun and playfull although most of them were trying to sell us little things they made and were constantly yelling prices out to us. Veinte....Veinte.....Veinte!

2005-02-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

I'm imitating the kingly pose of 18 conejos (the king's name--18 rabbits) This is at the Copan Ruins which is in Honduras.

2005-02-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

People were beheaded (for winning a game) on this rock and the blood would run down a groove that is cut out of the rock.

2005-02-05T12:06:00.000-08:00

Ok kids lets put out imagination caps on and imagine what it might have been like to live during the height of the mayan civilization. How would life be different? Would it be harder? What might a regular day look like?

2005-02-05T12:02:00.000-08:00

Ahh ruins....There so....How do you say it...Oh ya, cool and old.

2005-02-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

I'm holding up a lempira bill because the background is the picture that is on the bill. The strip to the right of my left elbow is an area where they used to play a crazy game. The game involved trying to knock a giant rubber ball around using your thighs or hips to score points. The winner recieved all the glory and was given the privelege of sacrificing one of the members of their team to please the gods. No wonder the Mayan civilization was destroyed...they were joyfully sacrificing the best and the brightest as a way to bring glory to the gods and leaving all the losers around to run a civilization.

Chichicastenango

2005-02-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

We made it to chichi in time for their festival. They have a week long party for their patron Saint who was Santo Tomas. Usually the town is an attraction because it is a market town but now it had all the festival celebrations and the market going on. The colors of this place was incredible. Evryone was dressed up in traditional outfits and it was a great cultural experience. The women have fantastic dresses with little babies inside a matching pouch that is flung around their back. We spent all of our time just walking around, eating food, trying not to go deaf from fireworks and soaking up Guetemalan culture at its best. It was one of my favorite spots but it was also nice to leave and move on to a more tranquilo place.

2005-02-05T11:44:00.000-08:00

I developed a fungus on my face and Tara called me my little mushroom the whole time because the doctor told me I had hongo. (mushrooms or fungus) So I strutted around town like this and I think I was more scary than the street people with masks. Maybe I should have worn a mask. Dont look at me!!! I'm hideous!!!

2005-02-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

It was a seriously colorful place.

2005-02-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

The street here had two catholic churches facing one another about 120 yards apart. The one in this picture had steps leading up to it where crazy men would set fireworks off of all day and night. After a couple days of fireworks I was going crazy!

2005-02-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

The town was like this all week long with crazy costumes, dancers, tons of market area, and constant fireworks.

2005-02-05T11:30:00.000-08:00

Check out the height of this full grown women with her kid strapped to the back. She's at Tara's elbow! Rachel I found someone you are taller than...hee hee...So the people in Guetemala and this town particularly are really tiny. I felt like a giant and I practically was in comparison to them. So you can imagine how small they are knowing how big I am....

2005-02-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

This is Tara's other boyfriend she met in Guetemala. We decided to explore our options in chichi and this is what she found. I didn't feel too threatened. His eyes are even more beady and his head even more floppy then this canuck.

2005-02-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

This is what gravesites look like in Central America. Crazy tombstones. From a distance it looks more like a mini little carnival then a gravesite.

2005-02-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

Video games are popular everywhere. I was showing hem how to play tetris....They didn't seem to get the point of it.

2005-02-05T11:14:00.000-08:00

Even the little babies strapped to the back of mothers are dressed up!

2005-02-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

Who wouldn't want to buy a birdie from this man?

2005-02-05T11:05:00.000-08:00

These guys know the true meaning of being fashionable. The outfits in this place were incredible!

San Pedro

2005-02-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

We went to a lakeside town called San Pedro on lago Atitlan. It is kinda a hippy pot smoking town full of traveling Europeans that hang out on the main strip by the water. Up the hill side is where the local Guetemalans live and where the market is. We spent our time chilling at restaurants, walking around, climbing a volcano (which was really tough but worth it) and doing a little horse back riding.

2005-02-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

I've been there....seriously.

2005-02-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Nice.....

2005-02-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

Dana and I at the top of the lake town San Pedro.

2005-02-04T07:21:00.000-08:00

Tara and I at the top of the volcano we climbed. Unfortunatley it was an inactive volcano but it was a really challenging three hour (vertical) hike with a fantastic view of the lake and surrounding towns below.

2005-02-04T07:09:00.000-08:00

See the face in the volcano in the background? The nose is the highest peak. This is Dana trying to imitate the face but she's backwards.

2005-02-04T07:04:00.000-08:00

What a cowgirl!

2005-02-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

Tara and I went horsbackriding in San Pedro with these horses that were way better then the horses in Copan. We didn't have to beat our horses like crazy to get them moving..... We rode through town a little and galloped on the roads outside of town. The building to the left was our motel and for some reason they had this ok corral sign in front.

2005-02-03T07:23:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve in Antigua Guatemala. That night we went up on the roof of the place we were staying at and watched the crazy fireworks that were going off everywhere. The streets were filled with explosions and the skies filled with light. Ecspecially at Midnight! That night while Dana and I were sleeping, Tara set up our little Christmas tree which was palm branches she bought at the market. The gifts we bought eachother were on the table and she took our socks to use as stockings! The next morning we of course woke up and exchanged gifts. I got a cigar from each of them! It was a Christmas I will never forget.

2005-02-03T07:13:00.000-08:00

Tara and Dana in Antigua Guatemala!!!

2005-02-03T07:08:00.000-08:00

Antigua is great for strolling down cobblestone streets. Doing some shopping, hitting up the market and eating! It's very picturesque too as it is surrounded by Volcanoes.

2005-02-03T07:02:00.000-08:00

Antigua had some beautiful buildings and architecture.

Belize

2005-02-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

Belize is an interesting country. It is very rural and sparcely populated. The capital city only has 2 stoplights and there are very few reminders of the U.S. like no Macdonalds or other American fast food joints which was really nice for a change. The offical language is english but many other languages are spoken as well such as spanish, indiginous mayan languages, creole (broken english) and german as there are many german mennonites and omish in Belize. It was wierd to hear the english and pay in american dollers....Belize is very beautiful and seeing the countyside (with palmtrees!) was incredible. The interaction with all the other cultures was neat and the wierdest thing was seeing these Omish Mennonites around and trying to interact with them. One Mennonite lady who worked in a store didn't know what a mirror was and when I asked if they had a bathroom she responded by saying "For Sale?" She later went on to say that they had no bathrooms but there was a restroom out in the parking lot.......I was asking myself "what planet am I on"

We spent about a week in Belize doing some work and checking out the country. Two other teachers from the school met up with us in Belize and we stayed with a missionary family.
The family we stayed with had all their real kids back in the States but had several other kids that they adopted or who lived with them. They do a couple different things for outreach. One is that they have a mobile library in a fifth wheel that they take around to different villages every week. They set up shop in the village, read to the kids, and check out books to them. The kids love it and go crazy. Every one in the village comes out to read or play. We went to a village down south and while all the girls read to the kids I played soccer with the little boys. They were good and I worked up a serious sweat playing these little kids. We also managed to play a game of whiffle ball which they caught on to pretty fast. The dirty, snotty and shoeless little kids were really cute and loved having us there. The other thing the family does is build homes. They have nice bunk houses on their property and teams from the states come in, stay with them, and help Ron build homes. We saw some incredibly impovershed areas and met some families that Ron was waiting to help when more money and teams came in. Even though the people lived in nothing more than a run down shack and had almost nothing, they were so friendly and inviting. It was both really nice and difficult to see at the same time. There is a picture below of us starting to build a house.

We also had a chance to go out to an island off the coast of Belize called caye caulker. We chilled on the beach and were mostly there to be in the water and do some snorkeling. Tara and I went out snorkeling and saw cool stuff. Several years ago a hurricane ripped the island up and there was some sunken wreckage and a sunken concrete sidewalk that the fish chilled around. We saw plenty of starfish, a giant goofy looking fish and a bunch of stingray which was my favorite. I followed them around and dove down a little but didn't want to get too close...

Other than that we hung out at the house, playing games with the kids, or helping out around the house. Oh and there are some pics of a local swimming hole we went to.

2005-02-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

This was the house that we began work on. We spent one morning putting these posts in the ground, squaring them up, mixing concrete and filling the holes. Ron was having a team come in a couple of days and they would finish the house. Many houses in Belize are up on these posts to keep the bugs out. Also they do most of the cooking and everything underneath the house and go up into the house to sleep.

2005-02-03T06:49:00.000-08:00

This is in a village in Belize. We stopped by this place to check out the site where Ron was going to build a church. This shack here was a man's home and his church at the same time.

2005-02-03T06:45:00.000-08:00

Tara jumping off a rock cliff into the local swimming hole in Belize! Crazy chica.....

2005-02-03T06:43:00.000-08:00

Check out these sexy models. This was a beautiful local swimming hole in Belize. There was water running down these rocks into the swimming hole where we dove off of cliffs into to. You had to be careful to land in the right spot though because there were some rocks in the water too!

2005-02-03T06:40:00.000-08:00

The lodge we stayed at near La Ceiba. It was right on the river where we did our white water rafting and canopy tour. This place was very rustic....Lit by candles, only the sound of the rushing river, and some very musty rooms with no space for more than one bed. I loved it!

2005-02-03T06:33:00.000-08:00

This is me ziplining over the river! We did a canopy tour that had about 9 ziplines and some really cool information about the rainforest as we walked up to the ziplines. We also white water rafted down this river the day before! This is in La Ceiba on the North coast of Honduras.

Christmas celebrations

2005-01-13T14:30:00.000-08:00

At the school we managed to celebrate Christmas very well although it never really felt like Christmas without snow. I was a part of the pre-kinder and kindergarten Christmas program as an angel along with two other teachers. We stood center stage and danced around doing motions and singing. The kids were all dressed up really cute and were doing the same thing. Hondurans like to make sure everything looks just right.....so.......the backdrop and costumes were pretty fantastic for a kindergarten program. The kids also sang along to a track so that they would sound good. I would have rather them screamed it out on their own like little kids do but it had to have the appearance (even in sound) of being just right. The performance was a ton of fun but the laughing at the kids and goofing around in rehearsals was more fun.

The elementary also has their own program the next night and Tara helped alot by choreographing and teaching the dances to first through 5th grade. Her first graders were also dressed up as angels.

A week before the programs the school puts on a Christmas fiesta for all the kids and parents to come to. All kinds of games were set up and there was food and some entertainment. Such as a couple huge pythons which you could hold if you paid. They were also selling little baby chicks in brown paper bags that you could take home!!! It was really random but the whole country is that way. An employee at the school bought one for her kindergarten son (all the little kids bought them) and it only lasted a few days as their maid at home stepped on it! I was thinking of all the things that could happen to these chicks which were in the control of these 5 year olds and this confirmed my worst fears.

2005-01-13T14:28:00.000-08:00

This was at the Christmas party at the school. Its called the Euro bungy and you basically bungy up and down doing flips and all that jazz. It was pretty sweet except for the riding up the harness provided.

2005-01-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Tara is about to get slimmed in the grinch at our Christmas party at the school. There were all kinds of games set up and this was the kids favorite. Teaches would be in the grinch for 20 minutes at a time and anyone who bought a token could line up and fire a big wet sponge at you. There was some giant 7 year old who practically stood taller than myself and he was riffling sponges at my face from 4 feet away because that's where his age group was allowed to throw from. It sucked.....but anything to raise money for the school right.

2005-01-13T14:18:00.000-08:00

Goofin around....trying to take a nice Christmas photo. That night we went to a nice hotel in Teguc that has a sweet jazz night for your listening pleasure in their lounge. The jazz band was really good.

2005-01-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

What a ladies man........I wish!

2005-01-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

Tara and I standing outside her classroom after the elementary Christmas program. We wish you a merry Chistmas!....and a happy new year.

2005-01-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

Tara tickling one of her kids after her Christmas program for the elementary.

2005-01-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

Me, Tara (right), and Dana (left). Dana is a kindergarten teacher so she was involved in the show but Tara was not because she is a first grade teacher.

2005-01-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

The three stars of the kindergarten Christmas program...jk....the kids were the stars! Although the Honduran mothers seemed to like us alot. Plenty of pictures with their kids and themselves after the show. As angels we stood center stage of this big production (Hondurans like to be showy) and danced around and sang. It was fun but most of the fun came goofing around in rehearsals and laughing at all the crazy kids around us.

Exploring marine life on the island of Utila

2005-01-13T13:42:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving break, 7 of us teachers went to the bay island Utila. We rented out a sweet house on the water outside of town for 5 days. The water had plenty of rock coral and snorkeling right off the dock was great. We also used the bikes and kayaks they had. We cooked our food at the house and grilled up some fine cuisine. We also explored the chill little town which had a very laid back vibe with typical island life. The people on the island speak some kind of crazy pirate/Jamaican english that I could'nt really understand although I desperately tried.

I also went Diving for my first time in salt water.....It was incredible, ecspecially compared to the freezing cold Canadian lake I was certified in. I saw a pretty sweet green Morae eel chillin under a wrecked boat. I also saw a few huge groupers and some trumpet fish. The others I didnt know what they were but they were colorful and the schools of fish were really cool. If anyone wants to dive you should go to Utila. The certification is really cheap and it's a great place to go.

2005-01-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

Peter Harkema grillin up some fish that he and Eric Kooyman (both Calvin grads) caught.

2005-01-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Me and some buds about to go on a snorkeling adventure....We ended up walking to a place where we had to crawl/torpedo through a foot of crab grass water for about 15 minutes before we got out far enough where it was deep and had coral. All four of us on the right are Calvin grads. Recognize Matt Weeman (second guy in) as a bolt boy? He left after his freshman year.

2005-01-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

The sweet house we rented out on the island of Utila. It was right on the water where there was good snorkeling and had bikes and kayaks to use.

The big volleyball tournament

2005-01-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

I coached the mens ages 15-16 volleyball team. We entered into a new leaugue and the competition was a little better than what they are normally used to but we actually were very successful. In the big tournament up in San Pedro Sula we ended up getting 4th out of 12 teams and earned alot of respect from other teams and fans. This was by far the best showing out of any team from our school so it was very good that at least one team was quite successful. After Round Robin play we were ranked 1st in the category and had a bye to the semi-final. We were playing the home school and it was very close and intense. We ended up losing the first set 30-28 after the ref blew an obviously out ball that would have won us the set. The next set we lost 25-23....This kinda deflated our spirits and our match for 3rd wasnt quite so close. However, it was a very fun tournament and the first time these kids experienced traveliing away for a weekend for a tournament. It was a 5 day thing so it was long......

I really enjoyed the guys on the team and was fortunate to have some very mature guys and some great leaders on the team. Coaching here is alot different however than coaching in N.A. It is very difficult to motivate the students and there understanding of work ethic and what it takes to be a successful team isnt really that great. But they are learning and with some patience things will get much better.

2005-01-10T14:19:00.000-08:00

Our star player about to go for a backrow. Looks like he might be dirty on the line...Refs in this country dont really notice these things thankfully.

2005-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

A timeout to rally the troops. Check out the diaper butt on the coach...

2005-01-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

The team lining up for a picture right before our game.

2005-01-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

A team prayer right before our 3rd place game with city rivals.

Muddin around La Tigra

2005-01-10T14:11:00.000-08:00

These pictures were taken at a national park near Teguc called La Tigra. (the tiger) A bunch of teachers took a hike through this place to a waterfall and a few of us stayed the night at a youth hostile just outside the park. La Tigra is a cloud forest which basically means your up in the clouds. There is a ton of moisture and the hike is muddy and a bit wet. It's kinda eery when a bigger cloud rolls through and you are in the middle of it. There was a little house near by that the owner also used for a restaurant and we ate some typical Honduran meals for about a dollar. The best thing was finding some vines to swing over a ravine. A scary rush...the vines are incredibly strong and all you have to do is make sure you hold on!

2005-01-10T13:51:00.000-08:00

The bus got stuck on the way up to La Tigra trying to take a corner and sliding into the ditch. We had to hike the rest of the way to the park.

2005-01-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

Me and my roomate posing for the ladies...

2005-01-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

Me swinging on a vine in the cloud forest over a ravine. It's actually a video but all you get is the picture.

2005-01-10T13:41:00.000-08:00

Tara standing under a waterfall in La Tigra cloud forest.

2005-01-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

A village near La Tigra called San Juancito where we caught a ride back to Teguc.

Living it up in Tela

2005-01-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

The next five pictures are from Tela, Honduras which is on the North Coast. Some friends and I went to Tela for quince which is a holiday (on the 15th) in Honduras which celebrates there independance. We stayed in a beautiful resort which was on the beach, had a great pool, entertainment, tennis courts and a restaurant. The weather was great. (actually crazy hot for me) Tela itself is ok but there are some great day trips where you can go hiking and go to some sweet villages. On the coast of Honduras their are many Garifuna people and villages. The Garifunans are of African descent and came over probably during the slave trade in the 1700's. My history isnt the best....But they have their own culture and language and have some great vilages to visit. My favorite was a little village called Miama which is right on the white beaches and only has thatched roof huts in the village. The people are very energetic, friendly, and loud! We road in the back of a truck with alot of Garifunans who were going to work in Miami for the day (catch crabs or make food etc.) and they were alot of fun to listen to as they laughed and goofed around. We also went to a national park near the village and hiked through the rainforest to an inslet where we swam and climbed rocks. Another highlight included eating some traditional Garifunan food which was rice, fried platinos, and a whole fish with it's nasty eyes staring at me!

2005-01-10T07:58:00.000-08:00

mmmmm......a tasy Garifunan meal!

2005-01-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

A hut in the village of Miami!

2005-01-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

A group of us teachers on a beach near the village of Miami.

2005-01-10T07:49:00.000-08:00

Chillin under a giant leaf in a forest near Tela.

2005-01-10T07:47:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the good life on the beach. I was eating a mini banana that was the most incredible tasting fruit i have ever had!

2005-01-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

Me and some friends dressed up in traditional Honduran wear for a dance we participated in and a party celebrating Honduras at the school.