Our much anticipated "spring break" has come and gone and now it's the final sprint to the finish line of our first year in Honduras. Only about four or so weeks in the school year and then "recuperations" (students' last-chance-cafe to pass onto the next grade). Before we get into too much excitement over that its important to look back on the great break that we just had last week.
Semana Santa or "Holy Week" a big break for Catholic countries like Honduras. Unlike in the U.S. where schools have spring break and they often vary, pretty much everyone in Central and South America has all or part of the week before Easter off. In Honduras, it was practically official that everyone's work week ended on the Wednesday before Easter Sunday.
Anah and I couldn't get out of San Pedro Sula fast enough! We're into the hot stretch and hitting the beaches of Roatan (where we spent our belated honeymoon) is much preferable to the hot and dusty streets of Honduras' industrial capital, where daily temps hover between 90 and 100 this time of the year with the "feels like" temperature even higher.
We boarded our flight and in less that 45 minutes we were making our way off the runway in Roatan. We had arrived right behind Mom (Diane), Dad (Mitch), and my two sisters (Katie and Emily) and the moment we approached the gate there they were waiting in the customs line.
Being the part-Hondurans Anah and I are, we were able to skip the customs baloney and wait for the fam on the other side.
We all made our way to one of Roatan's finer establishments, the Mayan Princess. Only the best for my family!
The pool view from our room. With a baby blue sea just beyond, what's the point of being pool-side?For Anah and I, Roatan was mostly about family and relaxation. We weren't looking for too much excitement and either were the Wiersemas. Days at the beach went by and with the exception of a little too much sun here and there, we were all content to sit around and soak in the atmosphere.
Anah and my middle sister, Katie, were in Roatan for other reasons, too. Both had been taking scuba diving classes in their respective cities and now were ready to complete their certifications exploring one of the world's best coral reefs. The two of them were off many early mornings checking out all of the underwater sites around Roatan and by mid-week, joined the exclusive club of scuba-certified divers. I'll let her tell more about that in another post.
Days on the beach were mixed with nice dinners around the island. Roatan experiences a population boom during Semana Santa and the islands power grid sometimes has a hard time keeping up. One dinner we finished by candle light!
The second day on Roatan was filled with a nice day trip across the island. Anah's sister Erin also spent her honeymoon on the island of Roatan a few years back (before we knew we were headed here... small world) and dined at a unique place called "Hole in the Wall." We weren't able to hit it up the first time we visited, but figured it would be a nice time with the fam.
A taxi-van ride for about an hour brought us to the edge of a bay where two old motorboats ferried people across to this rickety building hanging over the water. Story goes a trio of American hippies' boat died here and they set up shop on Roatan. Now they serve great big Sunday lunches for all-comers. Lots of food and drink? Sounds like a place for the Wiersemas!
It's a "hole" all right.
Katie demonstrating some important point to Dad. Emily looks skeptical (so does Dad, actually).The beach, drink, and eat pattern worked well for all of the Wiersemas (and us too!) who were breaking out of their long winter slump. Its kinda of amusing to think that the Celsius temperature in Roatan (40) was roughly the same the Fahrenheit temperature back in Wisconsin while they were down here!
Obviously the most important thing was the we got to spend important time with my parents and my two sisters. Its been a long run since winter break and even though we've done some fantastic things down in Honduras, the best things are being able to see, talk to, and hang out with a bit of home right here in Honduras.



- Dan