Crusin' Copan

About two weekends ago (sorry for the delaying in posting!), Anah and I were joined in Honduras by her parents, PJ and Nancy. This is obviously a great thing to have a set of parents come down and experience just a little bit of what is going on down here (mine will be coming for spring break!). Having arrived on Thursday, with a departure on Monday, it was imperative that we get the 'rents out of SPS ASAP.

Anah left PJ and Nancy very specific and phonetic Spanish directions from the airport and to our school and so their arrival went without fanfare. Having arrived before school was out they happened, by chance, to stop in the school's cafetorium where the middle was having their Halloween Talent Show. Luckily they left before seeing myself and the shop teacher sing (another story at another time).

On Friday, PJ and Nancy joined Anah at school and were classroom helpers. I'm told that their assistance in the class was very nice and the kids seem to get a real kick out of having them around. Nancy read to the kids and PJ showed the kids how to carve a pumpkin.

After school we were off to Copan Ruinas, a small town about three hours from the city. Copan is set in the Honduran highlands about 8 miles from the Guatemala border. Even though SPS is cooler right now it can still be hot and Copan is even more so, providing consistent cooler temps.

We stayed at a place called "La Casa de Cafe" (The House of Coffee) which was run by a former teacher at our school (of many years ago). The hotel was very beautiful and not too expensive.

On Saturday morning it was early rising for us all (as usual for any occasion with Sikorskys). We even beat the morning coffee from the hotel. It was well worth the wait... very delicious. We drank so much I think the owner of the hotel, Howard, was annoyed when we requested the stuff at all hours of the day.

Getting up early also had its upside because it meant that we could hit up the nearby Mayan ruins and beat the crowds that fill up the place later in the day. Just outside of Copan Ruinas is the site of one of the greatest Mayan cities in all of Central America. I won't give you all the details (you can read a bit about it here), but it was an amazing sight.

I've never been super interested in ancient history. Most of the books I've read from these periods have been super dry, are usually ambiguous in their facts ("some believe" or "scholars dispute...") and thus make for poor reading. However, going to Copan hit all of my history-nerd buttons. We paid a guide to take us around the ruins for a couple of hours and he basically just told is the story of them. It was so fascinating and since (apparently) the scholarship on the Mayans is getting more solid and historians have learned to write, the books on them is supposed to be halfway decent.

Beyond the ruins, Copan Ruinas (the town) is a quaint little place. They are obviously trying to follow the model of a place like Antigua, Guatemala (our adventures there) and beef up the tourist industry with their small-town-nature-closeness-colonial-beauty-lifestyle-approach.

It goes without saying, but the best part of it all wasn't being able to see ancient history or cruise a nice little Honduran town, but to see family. It was comforting to have family nearby when, until this weekend, they were all so far away.

It only gets me more excited to start planning spring break when I get to introduce my family to Honduras.

This is Nice

There certainly isn't more that needs to be said, but I can give it a shot.

Watching from afar I was terribly worried that somehow the moment where Barack Obama would be declared the winner of the US Presidential election would never come. Indeed I had been watching NBC for so long last night without earth-shattering news that I sort of zoned out when Brian Williams came back from commercial to announce Obama as the United States' 44th President.

Anah had gone to bed not too much earlier satisfied in the fact that all of the numbers were in Obama's favor. I, too, was pretty confident, but I needed to see/hear it for my own soul. I love politics and I love following all of this stuff for better or worse; tonight was no different.

I had five different electoral map trackers running. All of the major network websites up and running, and a few other sites to see if they were watching stuff I wasn't just so I could center on that moment when Ohio went to Obama, or maybe Virginia, or maybe Florida.

Its hard to put stuff like this into an appropriate context. I have not been personal wronged by the nation's racism that for so long has prevented African-Americans from not only running for president, but running for local office in most places. I am not a person who's job has been cut in this crippling economic recession. I am not a parent, sibling, or spouse of someone who had given life for their country in Iraq or Afghanistan. These most difficult experiences I have avoided.

To me, a student of history, I can always read about the injustices that we as a people have suffered, but experienced very few of them. To me, as to many Americans (and others around the world) it was less about overcoming the past and our faults, but an optimistic view of the future.

I believed that Obama provided the best opportunity to propel us forward as Americans; I believed that rather than relying on what we can't do or shouldn't do, we should look for what we can and might be able to accomplish. People with many more years of experience have warned me that this view is overly optimistic and that politics will always be politics. They may be right, but I suggest that there is nothing wrong with believing once in a while.

Every so often an individual comes along that transforms the world we live in. Without being overly dramatic Obama, given his rhetorical skills and strong beliefs in his ideals, has provided this current generation of Americans another opportunity to witness history in action.

Will he match the high ideas and soaring eloquence of a Martin Luther King Jr. or John F Kennedy? Will he transform the way government works for the people like Franklin D. Roosevelt? Will he crash to the ground in partisan gridlock?

These questions remain to be answered, but for one night and the following days Americans should take note that for the first time we have elected an African-American to the presidency. Once again, we have chosen hope over fear and change over continuity. Here's to hoping that this President lives up to his words and fills America with the strength and resolve that has guided us through so many other trying times.

After those nice words.. here's something more vulgar (yey, reassuring):

Vote!

It is that simple. Walk down the street and cast you ballot. I know this blog is pretty popular and has all sorts of followers so I'm using my influence to help push the political process forward. I'm not making any suggestions as to whom to vote for, but...



Just saying...

Fancy Feast 2008

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.



WE MISS YOU ALL!!!!!!

Red Peppers, Limes and Rum

No, not a funky cocktail, but rather things that I love that are plentiful and cheap in our new hometown. A giant bag of limes is less than a dollar, and a 4 pack of gorgeous red peppers is only slightly more, and a bottle of rum far more delicious than any rum available in the States is only around $7.

There are loads of things that I love that are not-so-plentiful in our new hometown. Things like fresh air, green space or bike-friendly roads (geez, how much of a hippie can I sound like?) are not easily found, so whenever I am missing things like this I remind myself of the many things I can appreciate here.

Tonight while Dan naps I am enjoying all three of my new friends at once; the rum working with the lime in my rum and coke, and the red peppers smelling delicious as they cool after roasting them for some red pepper hummus. Tomorrow my after-school Spanish class is having a little party, and I am going to be bringing some homemade pita and hummus.

Tonight was my first try at roasting my own peppers, and it was a lot of easy fun. I was under the impression you could only roast them on a grill or with a gas stove, but a little research showed me another method of roasting them in the oven under the broiler. Enjoy the pictures and give it a try yourself...even if you have to pay a little more than a Honduran might. Fix yourself a rum and coke, and you're practically here!

First, burn the heck out the peppers under the broiler (turn 'em often).

Peel off the burned skin to reveal the lovely red flesh. Enjoy!

Anah's Kids Celebrate Her Birthday

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.



- Dan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANAH!!!!!!!!

Rain Day, but.....

Wisconsin has its snow day and Honduras has its... rain days. Due to the effects of Tropical Depression 16, which, yes, a week later, is still hanging around, the country has declared a "estado de emergencia" and school was canceled.

Some of Anah's students sent her e-cards (psst... because its her birthday) today and wondering if we had school canceled not because of the rain, but because the government made their teacher's b-day a national holiday! Cute!

Obviously the rain is pretty intense, but just to calm those who might be thinking of sending us ark supplies... everything is fine with us. One of the difficulties in living in a developing nation is that these sort of natural "troubles" hit the poor disproportionately. So while our habitations, our school, and students have little or no troubles its the rest of the country that has to deal with the real impacts of these rains.

Yeah... my roof came in, but that's nothing to a whole school disappearing, yeah.... the street in front of our house has a mini-lake, but our house isn't in the middle of a river, and yeah.... our students have giant SUVs so rain is easily forded unlike the rest of the countryside which travels by foot, bike, or donkey-cart. Its easy to see why a state of emergency was called.

While we enjoy the day off... more time to plan for the rest of the week and Anah's birthday party this weekend... I'm also thinking about those here who are really suffering.

Checking out our neighbor

Last weekend we decided to explore something other than an island, and decided it was time to visit our neighbor Guatemala. We'd been hearing wonderful things about a town called Antigua, so we packed our bags and hopped on the bus.

The first night after an eight-hour bus ride, we made it to Guatemala City. There was a giant convention in the city, so the only available rooms were at the Howard Johnson Hotel. It was a bit fancier and more expensive than most of the places we've been staying, but it was quite lovely. Much nicer than most HoJos in the States. The best part was after the 8 hour trek, we pulled into the bus station and there was a little man with a sign that said "Howard Johnson welcomes Daniel Wiersema"- it was a total surprise because we hadn't requested a shuttle, but it was a more than welcome turn-of-events at 10 p.m., especially in a city that was unfamiliar to us.

The next morning we got up early, enjoyed a free breakfast courtesy of our friend Howard, and took a cab to a "Chicken Bus" station. Chicken buses are all over Central America- basically, they are the buses locals ride and are WAY cheaper than the buses that tourists use. For instance, if we would have taken the tourist bus to Antigua it would have been US $17, but for the chicken bus it was only US $1. The ride to Antigua is only an hour, so it was an obvious choice! In addition to the cost factor, chicken buses have a whole lot more character than tourist buses and are a lot more entertaining. The best part was the entire 1 hour trip there is a guy who hangs out the door yelling at people on the side of the street to get on the bus and if there are any takers he reaches out as the bus slows down and he helps hoist them on. We were entertained the whole way wondering if he would lose anyone! Although for long trips the chicken bus isn't ideal, we will definitely be using them more for local jaunts.


We arrived in Antigua around 9:30 a.m. and walked to our hotel, "La Casa de Cristina" to drop off our bag and get our bearings. The hotel was only $30/night, and it was perfect. The room was nicely decorated with Guatemalan textiles and there was an awesome view of the volcano that Antigua is at the base of.


We spent the remainder of the day bumming around the city, primarily at the fantastic artisan market. The market is huge, and full of Guatemalan goods; paintings, blankets, embroidery, pottery...it was fantastic. It was hard to decide on any particular vendor, because like most markets every stall had pretty much the same wares. We ended up finding a painting we loved of people picking coffee as well as a great quilt. Of course, we also found some awesome Christmas presents.

After the market we roamed around town, checking out the various pubs and eateries. We managed to sample several different treats, including lots of great nachos and delicious "Gallo" beer, a close relative of Honduran "Salva Vida". At the end of the day we found a great dinner, and also Dan was pleased to find a bar that was playing the USA vs. Cuba soccer match. We were content to just walk around (something we can't do in SPS, unfortunately) and enjoy the safe and cool climate Antigua offers.



Sunday started off on a slightly sour note, with the previous evening's lovely dinner making me quite sick. Our original plan had been to hike the Volcano, but that had to postponed for a later trip as I was in no condition to exert myself too much. We were disappointed, but still found plenty of less strenuous things to do in town. Antigua is full of old churches, mostly from the 1600-1700s, many of which were destroyed in an earthquake in 1770. However, the ruins are still present, and are open for visitors to explore. They were gorgeous and fascinating and provided endless photo opportunities.

One of the remaining operational churches

Some of the less operational!

Can you see the volcano?

The rest of Sunday was just spent walking, with intermittent drink/food breaks to refuel. We headed to bed early, as we had to catch the bus out of town at 3 a.m. on Monday in order to make our connection in Guatemala City to get back to San Pedro. It made for a long day, as we didn't get back to SPS until 2 p.m. that afternoon, but it was well worth it. We will certainly be going back again, hopefully with a little better luck health-wise so we can attempt the volcano!

Tropical Depression Number 16

If you're a fan of the National Hurricane Center like I am you'll know that our lovely country is currently experiencing Tropical Depression 16. While it is not expected to become a tropical storm or hurricane, that doesn't mean we haven't been experience some "nice" weather here.

Tropical Depressions, by definition, are nothing serious (don't worry, moms). It usually means a lot of rain, but the wind speeds are harmless. Like I said its just rain... lots and lots of rain. Check it out:



Over the last couple of weeks the oppressive heat that has blanketed San Pedro Sula has transitioned to cooler temps (70s and 80s) and frequent showers. About a week or so ago it rained pretty hard and thundered about as loud as I have ever heard. Given we're living in the Sula Valley those in the area without adequate shelter has been at a big risk.

Suffice to say, I (Dan) was surprised to show up at school and be greeted by this outside my classroom:



Yup... the ceiling outside my classroom has become separated from the rest of the building. Not cool. Luckily, my classroom is fine and the damage is all outside it.

That was until today. As TD16 came into town the last 24 hours has been extremely wet. All day it has been raining and the state of the ceiling became perilous. After reporting the damage over a week ago, maintenance finally came over to the middle school to fix it.

Oh wait... I'm just kidding. They put a bunch of red tape (ironic huh?) around the area that I had already cornered off with tape last week (you can see my handiwork in the above picture). So I spent I significant amount of time after school today scolding kids who we're trying to wander into the closed off area (which now included one set of stairs). Their logical assumed that convenience was more important than safety.

My fear-mongering finally paid off when about 10 minutes later the ceiling collapsed blocking access to my classroom. Here are some pictures:







Needless to say it was relatively entertaining to hear the creaking of the ceiling, watch it slowly shift in a downwards trajectory, and then see it all come down in its drywall and aluminum-braced (I've got a guess why it fell!) glory.

So lucky Mr. Wiersema gets to be the roving teacher for the next couple of days while our top-notch maintenance men will clean up the mess and then leave the ceiling exposed for the next couple of months (just a guess).

Good times!

Home of the Pirates

This past weekend we had an extra day off, so we hit up Utila, another island off the coast of Honduras. It's a much smaller island than Roatan, but we'd heard many good things and our friends Jesse and Jenna were going so we figured we could check it out. We were glad we did.
In addition to being smaller, it is much less developed than Roatan, and also much less tourist-y. It's main business is diving, so the majority of the hotels there also offer diving. We saw very few people we'd call "locals" and I think that's because of two reasons. The biggest reason being that most of the people living on Utila are kids our age who came to Utila for a weekend to dive and then never left. Because there are so many diving businesses these kids can work as instructors at there pick of places and basically work for their room and board, plus maybe a little drinking money. Not bad work if you can get it, I suppose! The second reason we saw no "locals" is because an Utila local doesn't look like a typical Honduran. Many of them are blonde with blue eyes because they are actually descendants of pirates that long ago landed on the island! This information has not been fact-checked, and is only from our favorite source, Jesse who has proved to be generally reliable. We will of course look into this and let you know if we can verify this information.

We enjoyed the less-developed nature of Utila which made the hotels much cheaper but still we were able to find great food and plenty of ways to entertain ourselves. Because of the large number of young ex-pats in the town, there were many restaurants with VEGETARIAN options and that was unbelievably exciting. Our favorite restaurant find was "Bundu"- we ate there 3 times! We enjoyed 2 great breakfasts there- featuring homemade yogurt with fruit salad and plenty of eggs and bacon for Dan.

The highlight of the trip had to be on Sunday when we rented kayaks and explored the mangrove canal on the island. We had read about the canal in our trusty Lonely Planet guidebook but it gave limited details so we were a little nervous about finding the entrance to it on our own. But, we've been getting used to trying new things since being down here, so we figured we'd be able to handle it. We rented the kayaks and started out.
The trip began with some early excitement when we passed a fisherman who was speaking the bizarre island mix of English, Spanish and what sounds like Jamaican but essentially he flagged us down to check out a giant fish he caught. Turns out the giant "fish" was a shark! We paddled up to his boat and spanning nearly half the boat is a giant shark, complete with the giant Jaws fin. Yikes! He assured us he caught it way out in the ocean, and that we had nothing to worry about where we were. Sure.



Undeterred, we continued on and managed to make our way to the canal. We were a little timid to start down the skinny path of water, okay I was a little timid but Dan convinced me it was fine so into the mangroves we went. It was awesome. I honestly felt like we were on a National Geographic special- loads of birds, creepy crawlies and the classic mangrove stink. We paddled very quickly, mainly because I figured if we were going quickly enough a snake couldn't crawl into my boat or fall into it from the trees above.

At the end of the canal, we were greeted by the desolate north side of Utila and the open water. There were absolutely no people, buildings or any signs of life on the north side but there was a gorgeous beach as well as water full of funky coral and fish so we sat on the beach and enjoyed a snack and paddled around to check out the coral.

Since we were more sure of where we were going on the way back, the paddle back seemed much shorter and a little less nerve-racking. We made it back in good time, about the same time Jesse and Jenna finished up diving so we headed back to the hotel to shower up and then back out for a few relaxing drinks and a lovely wood-fired pizza dinner.
Tuesday was back to work for another 4 days and this weekend is another 3-dayer so we're off to Guatemala. Hmm...some might say great work if you can get it, right?


You can see all of our photos from Utila HERE.

Baila Tipico

What is cuter than first graders? First graders dressed up in traditional Honduran outfits. And cuter yet? First graders in traditional clothing doing traditional dances.

My "Varones" (Honduran Boys)


A few of the Chicas

Last Wednesday we celebrated "Dia Tipico" which means typical day, and on this day all elementary students come to school wearing their traditional Honduran clothes and then each grade level performs a traditional dance for the entire school as well as loads of parents. Of course, since my students were the youngest they were the most adorable and yes, I'm completely unbiased. They were very excited to dance and I was amazed at how bold they were! I was very proud of my boys especially, as they were full of confidence and were not embarrassed at all to show off their skills.

Getting ready to strut their stuff!

Following the dancing we returned to our classroom and had a little Dia Tipico party, where the moms from our class brought in various "Typical" treats- some of which were actually pretty good. Including a candy that's called "Dulce de Leche" or milk sweet, which is basically a caramel fudge.

You can judge for yourself, but I am pretty sure I have the coolest and most adorable students. But now, I've worked at two schools where the kids can dance better than me...


Check out the rest of the photos from Dia Tipico HERE.