El Camino

Mayatan Snowboarding

This video was made by my friend and coworker Blair. He teaches 5th grade at Mayatan.

Ride to School

Our daily commute to school is usually done by foot, but occasionally we snag a ride with a parent or teacher. This day I happened to have the camera handy when our Home Ec teacher offered us a lift.

Ants in Mexico

The much anticipated sequel to the original “Ants in Honduras” this roller coaster features an all new cast, an impressive tracking shot, and the catchy music you’ve come to expect from the Ants series. Shot in Oaxaca, Mexico over Christmas, 2007.

Oaxacan Christmas Scene

This was the second time we bumped into this 3-boy street band. They were really good and adorable. I wanted to get a short video of their music but I pressed record seconds before they got surprised by another admirer in the crowd.

Ants in Honduras

A 50-second documentary filmed during our trip to the botanical gardens in Tela.

Zapatos

Kids at the nearby village of La Pintata

Dear Lou of Random Order,

Thank you for teaching me how to make your delicious iced coffee. Since arriving in Honduras I´ve realized:

• how much warmer it is here than anywhere else I can think of
• how delicious, fresh, and cheap coffee beans are here
• how much I desire coffee cold

Thanks to Lou and the recent aquisition of a plastic pitcher I´m now enjoying home made iced coffee regularly, apparently with 67% less acidity. While you can buy a brand name Toddy maker (see previous link), it’s simple to do without. Take a pitcher of cold water, spoon in ground coffee (erring on the generous side), and let it sit for 12 hours. Then, filter your coffee and store in the fridge. Serve post-siesta over ice, milk, and some simple syrup.

The hurricane has passed, the sun is shinning, and people are smiling again in Copan. While the rivers rose quickly and were apparently washing over one of the main bridges at one point, no one was hurt in town. Folks on the Nicaraguan coast were sadly not so lucky.

It was back to normal at school today, with the day beginning with marching practice in preparation for Honduran Independence Day. Celebrated on this coming Friday, Mayatan School will take it to the streets with our drums squad and our adorable plaid pants/skirts uniforms. With Independence Day, marching practice, two days off for the hurricane, and Children’s Day (Monday) coming up we haven’t done all that much actual teaching yet. I, however, will take all the planning time I can get.

Hurricane Felix has hit the Honduran coast today, but has been downgraded from Category 5 status to “a much more modest tropical storm.” Copan Ruinas, where we are living, is thankfully inland in Western Honduras, so we won’t be bearing the brunt of the storm. Local teachers have told us not to worry, although apparently we should stock up on milk and bread which usually comes from San Pedro Sula. I only learned of Felix’s approach yesterday and found out tonight that my family has been up all hours googling it’s approach. It is strange to be so involved yet so out of the loop.

Everything is quite here in Copan right now but we’re expecting heavy rain tomorrow (and perhaps no school). I’ll post again tomorrow power allowing.