Panos on the Mountain

::January 15, 2011::

The second day of our trip started with a "dirty" suprise... The water in the shower was not only cold but also hardly dripping. As a result, no one showered this morning (Valerie's edit: I showered this morning). We wouldn't need it as much, anyways, as today things were about to get a little muddy! The schedule involved meeting the kids from Fativa and hiking the nearby rainforest "La Tigra" with them.

The day started as awesomely as yesterday with the three lovely ladies (Miriam, Lourdes and Lupe) greeting us with a broad smile and a delicious breakfast consisting of boiled plantains, red beans, scrambled eggs with sausages, tortillas, sour cream, milk, cereal, bread, and coffee. After the breakfast, while waiting for the bus that would take us to the rainforest, some people were engaging in various chit chats and some of us played with a game Valerie brought. They're called bucky balls, little silver shiny balls with magnetic abilities. As we were about to meet the little boys, Monica and Robert went to the mini market and not the 'pulperia' (the difference is the first is barred for security purposes) and got lolipops while Adrian and I got potato chips to give them.

The van arrived cleaner than ever before and took us to the La Tigra rainforest which is just outside Tegucigalpa. I wondered if there are actually any tigers there this season or other animals that we could encounter. On the way, as the hills surrounding the city got steeper, we saw some very big houses with beautiful colorful gardens, making us realize the social differences of the citizens within the country. Although the ride was short (about an hour van ride), it was eventful! At some point the van stopped and we had to push the van to get back on road (see video). After a while we finally arrived at the rainforest and to no one's surprise, it was raining a little bit.

We were excited to meet the children and they were excited to meet us too. Some of the boys were younger, some of them older but they were all well dressed (better than us), smiley and energetic. We also met 'la madre', a female symbolic figure that acted as a mother for all the kids. Sadly, none of them spoke english (and only Adrian and Shreema could speak Spanish) so we had to find other ways to communicate and keep them entertained. We walked in a circle across the rainforest for about two hours with a small stop for lunch where we ate the sandwiches that the house ladies had prepared for us and gave to the children the potato chips and lolipops. During that time Valerie taught them how to make a funny noise with a leaf between their thumbs and they tried to teach us how to whistle. When we arrived tired at the point where we started, we cleaned our shoes as well as we could as both vans (the little boys and us) were about to head to the zoo (Pecatsu?).

Pecatsu offered us a panoramic view of the valley in which Tegucialpa was built. The weather was sunny and clear so we were able to take some very good pictures of the city. Although we didn't see any zoo or animals there either, there was a giant statue of Jesus Christ with his arms extended giving the feeling that he was embracing the city. It takes a minute for every tourist to realize that Honduras is a deeply religious country of Catholics and that giant statue attested to that. Across the statue there was also a temple, the ones you see in Central and South America with steep steps. This setting was perfect for our first group picture! After that, we greeted the kids and 'la madre' and returned back to Villa Olimpica.

Back home we waited for the water to be fixed so we could take a shower as most of us got muddy at the rainforest. We had tostadas with chicken/pork (questionable), lettuce, tomatoes/onions/peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, blackberry juice, and milk for dinner. I still havent figured out if that was any of that or the lunch that made Adrian, Monica, Femi and me feel sick the next day...

Today was our first SWOT analysis and it was for Prisma that we visited yesterday. We also tried to install a network (internet) card that Jose gave us but to no avail. Xuan needed that most of all as for the past couple of days was working on her assignment that was due at midnight! Eventually she sent her assignment from Jose's house so all was good. The night ended with some poeple reading their books and Amos, Robert, Kun, and me playing a game of Poker. We were ready to go to bed tired after the long day to get some rest for the next day that we hoped to be as amazing as the one that was just ending.