Friday 11 April 2008

I know England had an earthquake but...




When I went to Antigua, I joined some of the other volunteers on a trip to the Pacaya volcano. There are several active volcanoes around Antigua. This was just after the earthquake in England. The group that I went with took you up in the evening so that you have sunset by the volcano. Afterwards, we had a picnic on the mountain, we all felt terribly cold and piled on the fleeces. The conversation in the group turned to the recent earthquake in England. The english guys (including me) expressed regret about missing the earthquake but the lady from San Francisco pulled us up by reminding

us that we should be careful what we wish for. Very true. She had been through two earthquakes and does not want to repeat the experience. Anyway, I doubt if you can get this close to a volcano in the western world, close enough for sticking marshmallows on the end of a stick. What was also surprising, was the number of people who were going to camp on the mountain. Some people expressed surprise with all the noxious gases around. Anyway, all in all, it is very impressive.









Sunday 6 April 2008

End of Visit

All good things have to come to an end. I had these plans for my last week in Copan but they came to nothing as I went down with a stomach bug on Monday evening. It certainly knocked me over, so much so that I was in the local clinic on Wed afternoon attached to a drip. As I was planning to start my trip home on Friday at 12 midday with a 6-7 hour trip to Guatemala, this was not a good sign. However, David can be quite determined at times and with the boost from the drugs, I had made a good enough recovery to make the trip. Indeed, I also managed to get a tuk-tuk up to the school to say goodbye to the kids. The 20 minute bumpy ride in a suspension free vehicle certainly tested my delicate constitution. It was certainly a different way to leave in a tuk-tuk with the kids waving goodbye. They had made me a wonderful farewall card and lovely get-well cards. Lucy was very kind and gave me a bag of San Rafael coffee (it was on my souvenier shopping for the last week which did not happen) and a SalvaVida T-shirt.

My fragile state was probably ideal for the 13 hour plane journey to Madrid(via Panama) which seemed to pass OK except that my bag did not appear on the carousel at Heathrow. Iberia delivered it the following evening which was great.

Now that I am back in England, I am delighted and yet I also want to be in Copan. I think I left more than the contents of my stomach in Copan. I know the kids have many volunteers who teach them (Darcey has taken over from me and I hope that she has a great time with them also) but I like to think that they will remember me in the future.

I may have some photos taken by the others that they may well post to me when convenient (fast internet connection) so I may update the blog if and when these arrive.

To all that I met in Copan, thank you very much for your love and my sincere best wishes for whatever you do in the future.

___________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday 2 April 2008

Tree of life

Lucy and I decided on another project. We would make a tree to show the things needs for life but each of the kids would have a leaf. We would print a thumbnail picture of them and get them to write three positive words about themselves. Charlotte was always emphasising that we need to boost their self-esteem. Besides, we want more Art to decorate the walls!

Market

Caroline has to get fruit for the school every day (sometimes every other) so we have call at the market just as it opens. This is the stall we use. The fruit always looks so tasty.



As we are early birds, the market is opening when we get there _________________________________________________________________________

Sunday night is movie night.

Every Sunday at Cafe ViaVia they show a current movie. I think it is a lovely spot on a terrace under palm roof with a gentle warm breeze and I have seen some good movies there.

No Country for Old Men
Let there be blood
Juno
Sweeney Todd
Before the devil takes you
Mosquito Coast

I must watch more movies when I get back.
___________________________________________________________________________

Climbing a hill


This is tallest hill around Copan and I decided to

get up one Sunday to climb it. I did not know a route but there is a road that runs along the bottom so I walked along and looked for a track. I followed a route parallel to the ridge and it was steep, when a stone was knocked, you could see it roll down so it was quite exhilirating.

Of course, when I got to the top, I found there was a track on the other side that led almost to the top so I took that back down.

__________________________________________________________________

Dead head


You always find something going on in Copan. I was walking home one day and I met this guy(Jesse) outside his house. I asked him what the noise was in his house. He almost went through the roof, muttering how I could describe Grateful Dead as noise. I asked to be educated and was invited in for a beer where I could see that the whole house was a Grateful Dead tribute.
We chatted about music and he followed the Dead around the world, I think I got some merit when I dragged up the name of Hot Tuna from the past.
___________________________________________________________________

Alfumbra completion

In the morning, it was stunning.

















On the evening of Good Friday, there was a procession which went over the alfumbra and afterwards the work was swept away on Saturday.
I was very impressed. There were also others made elsewhere in the streets but these were single elements. In Antigua, I am told that there are many more alfumbras.
___________________________________________________________________






Alfumbra preparation


On the evening of Maundy Thursday, there started work on a big community project to create an Alfumbra(carpet of sawdust) in one of the roads by Central Square.


The first step is to make a fill in the cobbles with a base layer of sawdust.




The next step was to draw grids with string and then to use cardboard boxes with a template cut in them. Coloured sawdust is then used to draw an outline.






The next step is then to fill in with different coloured sawdust.
and then the all important touching up.


They kept going all night, I decided to return at 6:00 am.
____________________________________________________________________

Sunset on Copan Street



Arty image....




and Solar lighting...

Livingston


Livingston is a two hour boat journey down the Rio Dulce where the river meets the Caribbean. Livingston is a Garifuna village which are people descended from slaves deported from islands as the British and Spanish fought over the Caribbean.



The journey is very beautiful and pictures do not show the beauty of the trip.




Birds are all over the place.




I would like to live in this house!





Lilies in the river.















Livingston has a buzzy but lazy feel. We ate lunch in a restaurant overlooking the harbour where we watched the supplies being unloaded. All supplies have to come in by boat.




It was a bit of a cliche lunch, listening to Bob Marley and eating fish stew.
The beach at Livingston is not much to write home about.


__________________________________________________________________





































Fishing at Rio Dulce

There is a busy fish market, the local speciality fish is Snook












The poorer locals fish from a canoe for themselves, it looks precarious to me especially when throwing out the net.






___________________________________________________________________________

Howler Monkeys


The hotel offer a trip, meet at 5:30 am (no problem for us as School starts early), to go in a kayak to see the howler monkeys which you can hear in the hotel. Julie and I were in one kayak and Lucy and the guide were in the other. Lucy and the guide powered on ahead and we gently made our way across the lake to the monkeys.





Lucy photoing me photoing her.


Although we saw plenty of monkeys, there are not any good shots, dark monkeys in dark trees in the early morning light. However, I did record their sound, sorry not much action going on visually as I was concentrating on the sound.
Press the arrow to hear....

Hacienda Tijax






This is our hotel, we splashed out a bit but the girls assured me that their budgets were OK with this. The hotel (www.tijax.com) is really only reached by water, and as we arrived at Sunset over the water, it was a perfect arrival.
The arrival to the jetty.
The rooms are bungalows and cabins in the grounds. A view from our balcony.


My room.
and must not forget the hammock, spent many a pleasant hour reading in it.
Rio Dulce is famous for its bridge which is claims in the longest in Central America, here it is at night.



Rio Dulce - to go or not to go?


In Honduras, Easter is known as Semana Santa (Holy Week) and school is closed for this week. This is the big national holiday and the whole of Latin America is on the move to see family, to the beach etc. We had decided to go away for a few days also and had arranged to stay at a lovely sounding hotel in Rio Dulce which is in Guatemala.
I arrived to catch the shuttle and there was Lucy and Julie already waiting but so were all the other volunteers. Strange I thought but once I arrived, Caroline said that as well as wishing us well for the trip that she was there in an official capacity. She had to inform us that four Belgian tourists had been kidnapped in Rio Dulce yesterday. It later turned out that the Foreign Office were only advising essential travel only. A quick discussion amongst ourselves revealed the following thoughts, that the place was likely to be swamped with Army and Police and probably be pretty safe and we liked an adventure so we were off.
The minibus shuttle took us as far as Rio Hondo and from there we had to catch bus to Rio Dulce. We ended up with a 90 minute wait at Rio Hondo and then to stand on the bus for a couple of hours before we could get a seat. While I was waiting at Rio Hondo I took this picture of the food vendors selling refreshments to the passengers on the bus going in the other direction.
Anyway, you may be wondering about the kidnap. The background is that there is this guy Sr. Choc who is either a fighter for indigenous rights or a money grabbing extortionist bandit depending on which side of the fence. Anyway, he has been stirring up matters for some time claiming the land belongs to the indigenous community (we also have the same debate in Copan). He was arrested last year and his supporters have been agitating for his release. They had kidnapped some police for a couple of days earlier this year. There was a rally the weekend before and the police arrested Choc supporters. The Belgians were kidnapped with the demand for the supporters release. There was some negotiation and the Belgians were released 48 hours later while we were in Rio Dulce.

___________________________________________________________________