Two weeks ago (back in the days without Internet!), when my sister Kate and Anah's friend Maria were still in town we witnessed an Austin institution in action. At Ginny's Little Longhorn Saloon the idea is simple:
- Purchase $2 ticket in between $2 Lone Star beers - Have one (1) chicken - Feed it a bunch of food - Let it shit on a numbered piece of plywood over the pool table - Have the corresponding number and YOU WIN!
Unfortunately, despite having three numbers in the pot the chicken did not shit on our numbers. But it quite the spectacle none-the-less.
Here's video of the first shitting of the afternoon:
Over Christmas, Anah and I bought a new toy. We had gone back and forth over whether or not we wanted a big fancy camera down here in Honduras. Pro: ability to take super-sweet pictures and pretend we're professional photographers; Cons: big fancy cameras make us stand out more than we already do.
We settled one getting the camera and just being smart about which vacations we took it on. Here's our new baby:
I'm not sure how many people care about this (and probably heard/read about this a million times), but living in a soccer-loving nation is great.
Back in Milwaukee it was extremely difficult to get any soccer games under my belt. Sure, I played indoor once a week, but if I ever wanted to find a pick up game or get any practice in for said indoor games... sorry no dice. Made doubly painful was the fact that I couldn't just go to any nearby field (there were plenty of those) and practice by myself. Being a goalie doesn't allow oneself the luxury of practicing alone (you kinda need someone to shoot on you).
Early yesterday afternoon, Anah and I returned from Lago de Yajoa (more on this in another post). I certainly was in no mood to begin any school-related work (I save that for the last minute!) and was bored just channel surfing.
I decided that I needed to find some action. I threw my cleats and goalie gloves into a bag and grabbed my soccer ball.
I was going on a soccer-walk.
Like I said before, our place in Milwaukee didn't lack convenient nearby fields, it just lacked the bodies to field a full game. Within a 1/2 mile radius of our apartment in San Pedro I have four futbolito (indoor/outdoor small fields) fields and at least three full-sized fields.
Two of the fields were occupied by Sunday league games and you can't just walk onto one of those. But the other full field was a pick up game. Using exaggerated hand gestures and broken Spanish ("I am goalie. Can I play?") I managed to get in a game.
One of the great things about being a "portero" is that pick up games normally don't have someone that plays the position so the field player stuck in goal will gladly allow you to stand between the sticks.
The tough part is earning your keep. Playing keeper is a sink or swim sort of situation. You play well and you earn your keep; play poorly and leave with your tail between your legs (and the extra embarrassment as the 'gringo' who tried to run with the Hondurans).
It didn't start out well. Not a minute in one of my defenders gave up a hand ball and the subsequent free kick ricocheted off another defender and into the back of the goal. Not my fault really, but it certainly raises the tide on the whole sink/swim situation.
Luckily it was an aberration and the rest of the game I had much better luck. Add into the equation a torrential downpour and it was totally awesome. I had earned my keep and earned an invitation to return and play next Sunday.
I returned covered in mud and soaked to the bone, but the smile on my face certainly erased any frustration that Anah might of had with the mess I brought home.
Finding decent beer in Honduras is an ongoing challenge for Anah and I. Our friend Jesse had warned us that, although cheap and plentiful, we would soon tire of the local beers. Thinking we were smartypants declaring "that no one gets sick of a cold beer in a hot country" we quickly dismissed Jesse's dire warnings.
He was right.
Like many things down in Honduras, he was right. Having returned from the land of dark beers and varied tastes (USA) drinking the local fare was becoming incredibly dull. The local beers (Salva Vida, Port Royal, Barena, and Imperial) range in taste from Bud Light to Miller Lite so the differences are not vast. Beer drinkers will also be disappointed to discover that the international choices are not much better. Heineken (along with American standards Budweiser and Miller Lite) shows up as the only other beer that could possibly be palatable to Hondurans.
I have attempted to literally "spice" up my beer drinking by incorporating the bland local brews into a Mexican concoction known as the "Michelada"." This wonder-drink is a mix of ice, lime juice, Worcester sauce, hot sauce and beer over the top of it with a salted rim. It goes without saying (but I will) that this is a much needed improvement.
Anah is still drinking the rum without complaints.
Still, an unmolested beer is desired from time to time and our salvation came in the form of an old friend. I had heard a rumor that this old friend had come to town and while there is no explanation how he got here or how long he would be sticking around, Anah and I welcomed him with open arms into our home. Meet our new friend:
Just like Boca Burgers, occasionally, a product that you would never imagine finding in Honduras shows up on the grocery store shelves. Without asking too many questions, my friend Sava and I picked up a case (not pictured) of the old Milwaukee standard and brought it to a party last night; a quick hit it was.
Now some may debate the quality of a beer like Schlitz, but let us set aside such petty squabbles and bask in the glory that is a piece of Milwaukee made such a journey to the remote corners of the world.
And just for the record, you still get the "Schlitzs" the morning after down here.
Inbetween all the work at school my mind wanders and inevitably I find myself at the computer looking for something on the Internet. Today, its a tie between political porno (i.e. Barak Cabinet Updates, Liberman getting the shaft, etc) and a bit of homesickness.
Officially, the countdown is on. In exactly one month Anah and I will be back in Wisconsin with friends and family. For all the adventures and good times down here its nothing compared to a home-cooked-mom-meal and a few (or a lot?) of beers (Riverwest Stein, please?!?!??!) with friends.
Here's the result of a combination of Internet and homesickness; ladies and gentlemen, Milwaukee's Best (like that?). The Candliers!
Anah didn't want me to post this, but after giving it a few weeks I've decided that I absolutely have to share something with you. The following are the contents of an e-mail I received early one morning:
Subject: Bird Flu- When birds attack
Just something to make you laugh...So, I am sitting at my desk this morning, with only 1 other student in the room. I'm checking my email and updating a few things. All of a sudden, I feel something big hit the side of my head. I assume it is a ball, my guess is that my student has accidentally hit me in the head with a beach ball we have in our class. Then, I look down. It is a BIRD. A BIRD FLU INTO THE SIDE OF MY HEAD. The BIRD DIED. Yes, it's true. My head is so gigantic that a bird hit the side of my head and died.
I am traumatized. I went screaming into Kim's room and I think she thought I was crazy, not to mention the poor student that was in my room at the time.
The end.
Big Head
Yes, blog readers, Anah killed a bird. I'm not really sure what to add to this whole story, but I'm assuming its safe now to post this because she's laughing at it all too.
A funny addition to this all is that the weekend following this terrible ordeal Anah and I went to a bird sanctuary in Copan with her parents. In the course of walking through the park I made my fair share of bird-to-head-to-death jokes, but since the birds were in cages no one (Anah) was in real danger until we met the toucans:
The video of the whole situation is pretty funny, too:
Down here in Honduras we've turned Anah's birthday into a week-long event. First the government closed the schools on Tuesday in national celebration for Anah (or there was too much rain and flooding... you decide), Wednesday her students and parents threw Anah a classroom party, and last night we hosted all of the teachers for "Fancy Feast 2008," the official birthday party for Anah/another excuse to drink.
What is "Fancy Feast" you ask (OK, maybe you didn't ask)? The answer:
Honestly, we didn't think that people would take the "fancy" part all that seriously. Our school has a dress code and the teachers have to wear nice stuff everyday so we thought most wouldn't want to pull that off on the weekend. The whole theme was kinda just an excuse to Photoshop the image on the invite (picture first... idea second). But not only did the comfort food come out in droves so did the fancy-ness.
The teachers went all out! Ties, dresses, etc... they were dressed to the nines. It was great to see. The house was packed and most every teacher was there last night. We put together a bumpin' soundtrack (Bob Dylan meets Dr. Dre meets The Fiest meets Old Crow Medicine Show).
The teachers brought so much food I had to bring the desk from upstairs down and put the coffee table up on blocks to make room for it all. PB&J, pot pies, chip dip (yes.. THAT chip dip), and more... it was a smorgasboard of delicious comfort food.
There was a lot of imbibing (one of my weekly vocab words!) last night and Anah hit the sack and I ushered the last of the guests out at about 3am. Thinking it was a good idea I decided to clean the house. Even though I was exhausted this morning it certainly made the rest of the day more tolerable having only to mop the floor.
As we relaxed today I was thinking more about the party. Even though it was a hit and it was great to hang out with all of our new teacher friends it was a harsh reminder of how much Anah and I miss our friends back home.
Back in Milwaukee we threw a few, and attended even more, of the same sort of parties we had last night. Last night was missing Nic, Anna, Rob, Tara, Nick, Pree, Kevin, Emily and all of the people (you know who you are!)that had made our time in Milwaukee so much fun. It was exactly the type of party that they would have loved. Now, more than ever, we can't wait to get home to see everyone for New Year's.
Yesterday Anah's student's parents were planning on throwing her a surprise birthday party during lunch, but because of the rain cancellation to school it was not held. Not to be so easily deterred, they went at it again today.
I was invited to participate and by this time her party was no longer a surprise. Either way I made the jaunt down to the elementary part of EIS (a good 10 min walk) to join in the festivities.
Myself and Anah's teaching partner, Kim, kept her busy while her students planned her "surprise." She walked back into her classroom and the kids went nuts! They all ran over to her and I thought she might be buried alive in the combination of hugs and handmade cards the students had for her. Too cute!
Examining their handiwork.
The card carrying mob.
One more card!
This guy wasn't quite finished with his card so her was working on it under Ms. Tatiana's desk so she couldn't see it until it was done.
The moms made about a million balleadas (a Honduran favorite: tortilla, beans, cheese, and butter... awesomely delicious) for lunch and brought a cake as well. I was the recipient of many balleadas which I had no complaints about.
Then it was cake time. Trick candles and frosting up the wazoo... the kids loved the fact that the candles wouldn't go out. I think the whole cake had a bonus layer of first-grader spittle from their attempts to snuff out the flames.
Of course no party is complete without "Happy Birthday."
Now let them eat cake! Anah's students break to their desks like mad to sit and get their cake.
The big news in our neighborhood right now is the opening of a gigantic new mall, "Gallerias del Valle". It is only 3 blocks down the street from our apartment and given our lack of car and a general lack of accessibility to banks, restaurants and shopping this new opening is a pretty exciting event. We walked to the mall this morning, and although only about 50% of the stores are actually open at this point, we were still pretty impressed. San Pedro residents are crazy about malls, there are already 4 huge ones in the city, but this one is going to be the biggest. As you can see with the ferris wheel, they are not holding anything back! Today we visited the book store, and were pleasantly surprised to find a good selection of English books, and Dan and I both found books. I chose, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Husseini and Dan walked out with "The Strategies of War" by Robert Greene. Not exactly sure what he's planning with that book, but I guess we'll be prepared in the event of an uprising.
We also visited the fantastic "Ace Femosa" which is a relative apparently of Ace Hardware in the States. It has many lovely treasures, ranging from board games to home furnishings to garden supplies. We stocked up in the garden department and this afternoon I've been putting our new purchases to use. A few weeks ago we went to the greenhouse and bought several plants and now they're finally in the ground.
I also was able to find some basil, chive, cilantro, watermelon and squash seeds so I got those planted as well. I'm confident the herbs will do well, less sure about the watermelon and squash, but I figured I'd give it a shot. So, all in all, a successful shopping trip! I never thought I'd be so enthusiastic about the opening of a mall, but I never thought I'd be living in San Pedro Sula either, so life is full of surprises.
Last night Dan and I made a rare venture out into the city to explore a little San Pedro nightlife. We began the evening at fellow teachers Karen and Kim's house for a little get-together. It was a great chance to catch up with our fellow teachers; even though we technically all work together we don't always see each other as much as we'd like! Everyone had lots of stories about their week off and their travels.
Afterwards, several teachers were going to check out a new bar called "TreeHouse" so we thought we'd tag along as well. We've been a little hesitant to go out in San Pedro, primarily because we don't know where to go and are unsure of what to expect. I'm happy to report we were pleasantly surprised and enjoyed a great night of talking and dancing. We will definitely be back!
On Wednesday, Jesse, his mail-order girlfriend Jenna*, and I went to a football (soccer) match. Now this isn't any old game; not some Major League Soccer pedestrian affair or even the little ball kicking contests that are the USA international games... this is a Latin American football feast!
A little background: the Honduran national football team (along with the US and many other nations) are in the midst of trying to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Even though its only 2008, the process takes quite a long time and there are several rounds that each team has to fight through in order to whittle down the 200 or so national teams to the 32 that ultimately qualify for the WC. Currently, Honduras is in the second-to-last round of qualifying and needless to say that is very exciting for the nation as a whole.
Last Saturday Honduras faced Canada in the second game of this round. Previously the "Catrachos" lost 2-1 to Mexico and were staring at a difficult game away from home. But the Hondurans pulled out a 2-1 stunner in Canada and came home to face Jamaica.
A win would put Honduras in the driving seat in their four team group. Mexico is clearly going to qualify for the next round, but the second of two spots is up for grabs between Jamaica, Canada, and Honduras.
I have to admit, even though I love football and supporting the local team is exciting I have very selfish motives for cheering for the Catrachos. If Honduras makes it to the final qualifying group there is huge chance that I will be able to see them play the United States down here. That's a huge deal. The U.S. is kicking ass and taking names in their respective group so Honduras just needs to do their part and then the two will face off twice, once in the U.S. and once down here. As long as its not in the summer of 2009 (which it very well could be) you can count me as an attendee of that match.
Anyways, back to Wednesday. International match days are huge in football mad countries. Many of my students were going to the game and those that weren't wanted to. They were super excited that I was going to match and I even ran into a few waiting in line to get into the stadium. Its a bit surreal to have your favorite sport, which is so maligned back in the U.S., sitting center stage.
Getting to the game an hour early the stadium was already packed. People are everywhere and there are dozens of lines zig-zagging all over the place. There is no rhyme or reason as to how to get to our section. Between fake tickets and just plain over-selling, finding a spot to stand without getting crushed, much less a seat, will be difficult.
Jesse, Jenna, and I tried one entrance only to be met by a mass of people shoving themselves to get to an open space. From there we found a quieter entrance and tucked ourselves in the corner of one section.
Our view of the game.
From there I witnessed one of the more spectacular things I have seen since I've come to Honduras. It was just such a local take on a standard American thing it was easy to chuckle at it.
Our spot in the stadium put us with our backs up against a high fence that separated us in "preferencia" with the more expensive "silla" seats. That did little to dis-sway the numerous "concessionaires" that roamed the stadium. Now, unless I'm mistaken the stadium has no formally food/drink distribution system like in your standard American stadia, but many "entrepreneurs" that smuggle soda, beer, and various other food stuffs into the stadium to sell to the fans. I noticed, before we went into the stadium all sorts of Pepsi products nearly some isolated parts of the gate, but didn't make the connection until we were being served these goods.
Whether known or unknown (I find it hard to believe that this is under the radar...someone at the stadium must be getting a cut) there are guys running sacks of bottles of Coca-Cola up and over these fences, I'm watching kids selling beers and running out only to have to pour more from bottles in the back, and random people pulling out trays of homemade sandwiches to hawk.
Even though this is all wildly entertaining there is also a game going on, but not just any game, but qualification for the largest sporting event in the world and Honduras actually has a shot. Its been over 20 years since the Catrachos qualified for a World Cup, but the team has several very good player on their squad.
The atmosphere is unbelievable. The crowd is pulsing and screaming long before the match even starts. We've got a guy with a horn, another one on a drum, and most awesomely a guy with a turtle shell he's banging all night.
Oh and the wave is pretty cool:
If you've ever been to a United States international game they are pretty timid events. Soccer moms and dads with the kids, a few Europeans catching the only quality football around, the small, unoriginal American soccer support. In most cases the visiting team is the most exciting part of the crowd and the noise they create can make it feel like you're the away team.
Not the case in Honduras. If the visitors made a sound I wouldn't have known because there was no chance for them to. Honduran fans climbing on fences, banging the aforementioned objects, and general screaming-your-head-off noisiness. Pure bliss from a football fans perspective.
All of this was enhanced by the dominating play of the Honduran national team. Jamaica spent the whole game on their back feet. The first half ended scoreless, but the Catrachos had the run of play and a goal was imminent. The second half was just as dominating. A beautiful string of passes resulted in Honduras' first goal sending the crowd out of their minds. Beer and whatever else was thrown into the air sending me for cover. Fences were climbed, flags were waving. Pure, unadulterated pandemonium.
But a 1-0 a win is never safe. Honduras, to their credit, pushed for the second decisive goal. They were rewarded when one of their forwards was tripped up inside the 18-yard box resulting in a penalty kick. I captured it on film:
As you can see, people were pretty excited. The game ended 2-0 to the home side and Honduras, if it can keep up the momentum, could book themselves a place in the next round of qualifying.
If you haven't been able to tell, these sporting contests are hugely important to the Hondurans and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they do make it to South Africa (as long as its not at the expense of the U.S.). A success like that would be awesome to witness.
We escaped the stadium, beat the traffic, and got a good night's sleep after a mind-blowing experience. Honduras has two more home games and right now were not sure if their in San Pedro Sula or the capitol, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there are a few more international dates on my calendar, including a USA vs. Honduras match in there.
- By Dan
* By "mail-order" I mean, arrived later than us. She is a returning teacher from last year, but just got here this week. Jesse is obviously excited about her arrival.
Last night I went to a bar with Jesse and a few other teachers (Anah stayed home... she wasn't feeling well) to see a local San Pedro Sula band. The lead singer of Montuca Sound System is the boyfriend of one of the second year foreign-hires, Ashley, at EIS. They're a reggae group that plays a bunch of their own stuff and also covers other reggae music, which of course means Bob Marley.
The played in a little second-story bar in a bar-bones part of the city. With the exception of this place I could even begin to tell you what went for entertainment anywhere else nearby. The bar was in this ancient building and as the night went on and got more rockin' the whole place shook. The floor kinda bounced around like it was the wrestling mat in a WWF competition. I joked with Anah and Jesse that this was definitely once of those places that you might read on CNN.com "100 people killed in club collapse" (those types of stories show up from developing countries all the time).
We lived and the concert was awesome. I manged to take a bunch of pictures and videotaped two songs. Here's one of Montuca's own songs:
And here's their last song of the night, a Bob Marley cover:
All in all... a great night and a great way to get a little taste of the San Pedro Sula nightlife.
