Hard rock in Honduras

Well I had a good weekend, but busy. On Friday I spent the day with the new youth group I am working with - they have Friday, Saturday, and Sunday capacitations/workshops with people who come from Tegucigalpa to teach them stuff like self-esteem and theater and music, and I hang out to help out and learn stuff too, such as guitar. I was helping with piano, which reminded me how much I love to play! Mom, maybe you can send me some of my music and some of those beginner books I still have to give to the kids learning down here. I might continue giving lessons every now and then. I taught them how to play "Heart and Soul", every piano and music teacher's nightmare in the states, but here it is a novelty :) But it was a lot of fun. A few of them are getting pretty good on their stilts, and are getting ready for a show for the community.

Saturday I went to a barbecue all day with Carmen and the family I used to live with. It was a lot of fun. I went to their house early and helped them make a mountain of fresh salsa, then around midday we piled into the pickup truck and made our way into the beautiful countryside, sooo green and mountainous. We got to the very nice ranch of their uncle with a pool and tons of chairs and tables set up, and tons of food, soft drinks, and of course, beer and tequila. The men went off to the barn to start getting drunk and I went for the food first, of course :) Steak on the grill, salsa, refried beans, tortillas, cheese...the typical cookout fare. I was hesitant to drink a beer there because a lot of the time women aren't supposed to drink, but I was basically with family and they were very chill and convinced me that it was fine. So I found a couple women who I clicked with and sat with them and drank beers and chatted all afternoon. About 30 people were there I'd say. It was a very chill laidback time. I got a ride back around 7 pm, and then called my friend Sarah in Santa Rosa to see what she was up to. She said she was going to see a popular rock band that sings American songs, so I decided to go. I went in to Santa Rosa with my friend Geovani and some other muchachos, and since the month-long feria has started, we stopped off at the carnival area first. I don't know if it was the smartest thing but I got on the ferris wheel that was going double time from what I have seen in the states. So I got on the Honduran ferris wheel and sped around in circles, front and backwards, for about 10 or 15 minutes. You could see all of Santa Rosa, but it had just rained so it was kinda chilly and muddy. Very fun though, I was laughing the whole time, hoping I wouldn't die on that thing. We finally made it to the restaurant where the band was playing, got a table in front, and ordered some Honduran beers (Salva Vida for me) and french fries, Sarah came in, and we enjoyed a great show from the band, called Instinto. I requested a U2 song but they never got to it, sniff sniff. But all in all a great time. We made our way back to Dulce Nombre about 1 a.m. and I went to bed happily exhausted.

This morning I got up at 8 to go help with the youth group, ugh, not a morning person, but I went, and after my usual amazing cup of Honduran coffee, I was feeling almost human. Spent the morning there and then went home, hung out with the post office lady for a while, shared some of my music with her son, helped some students with their English homework, then made some spaghetti and went to visit my friend Maria Luisa after dinner. Now I am in the internet cafe, and you know basically my last few days down to the hour :) No seriously, my life is pretty normal here, not that different from the states even though I don't have a fridge and speak in Spanish all day.

Ok well lots of love to you all, I miss you as always. Hugs and smooches...