Lesson 15: Semana Santa, Squished Banana

And now, for the account of my family's visit to Honduras for Easter! (a month ago... I know, I'm falling behind!)
My Mom, Dad and Amy all came to see me in my current home. They arrived on the Monday of Semana Santa ("Holy Week", the week before Easter). It was great for them to get to see all the places that they have read about and heard about from me (yes, it's all real!)
After the obligatory picture-taking and tours of my house and the school, and naps, we set out the next day to visit a local hospital. My friend Harold visits the hospital to give stuffed animals and snacks to ailing children. Last time he went was at Christmas, so he had some pamphlets with a picture of Santa on them that talked about God's Gift and Jesus' birth. Even though it was April, we still used the Christmas theme (Harold's white beard and jolly laugh help with the whole Santa thing). It was really great to do a service project with my family and for me to reach out to people outside of the school setting.

The next several days were spent on an adventure to the jungles, mountains, and lakes of Honduras! We rented a car and drove to Lago de Yojoa ("Lake of Yojoa"). We stayed in a really interesting hostel place with cabins and a pool and a restaurant and lots of connections for cool things to do. A fellow teacher named George (the one from Hershey who I recognized in the airport; see Lesson 1) came with us to the lake. He had never really had good coffee before, so we had the privilege of touring a coffee farm with him and watching as he took his first sip of a good brew. He said it needed more sugar (he had already used three spoonfuls). By the time he drank it, I think it was mostly sugar. At least he tried!

Mom and Amy went on an early-morning birdwatching extravaganza with Malcolm who works at the hostel. He's very knowledgeable. And very British. He's a self-proclaimed hippy who seems to have never left the 60's. Classic.

Definitely the highlight of the trip was visiting the Pulhapanzak Waterfall. When we first arrived, there were a bunch of people crowded around a dirty, shallow river eating junk food and smoking. I started to think I had wandered into New Jersey when we walked a little farther and heard the roar of a giant waterfall. We hired a guide to take us up close and personal with the cascading deluge. And I mean personal. Seriously, this guy actually took us right into the water and behind the falls! Our only instructions were "hold hands, breathe through your mouth, and don't look up". Tempting as it was, the pounding water on our heads and shoulders made it so we had no choice but to follow those rules. It was loud, powerful, crazy, ridiculous, and awesome. We went into a small cave behind the falls to take a little breather. On the way back up, we jumped off a 25-foot cliff into the water at the bottom of the falls. Truly epic!

As if that wasn't enough, Amy and I decided we could stand to be a little more adventurous. Not long after getting pummeled by thousands of gallons of gravity-propelled agua, we signed up to experience the waterfall again, but this time from a different angle. We got into some harnesses and took off across the river on a zipline. It zigzagged back and forth over the Jersey segment of the river before going into the trees near the top of the waterfall. The last section of the zipline was the longest, and it stretched right over the top of the waterfall! One second I was in a tree, the next I was flying hundreds of feet in the air through the mist of the waterfall below me. Epic is really the only word to describe it. Oh, and my sister did it too - we're probably the most epic people you know.

finishing touches 

On Good Friday, we drove to a small city called Comayagua, which is famous for a unique Holy Week festival. The townsfolk section off the road and spend all night Thursday using colored sawdust to make elaborate murals on the street.  We're talking like ten feet wide and twenty feet long for most of them, some even longer. Most had many bright colors depicting scenes of the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, or the Resurrection. Others had obscure saints and scenes that were very Catholic and pretty much unrecogizable to Protestant eyes. The other interesting part is that there's a parade that goes through the streets, and the people walk right through the sawdust, scattering the colors and images as they go. The parade floats are statues of saints and Jesus that people carry on their shoulders as they run back and forth down the street. It's a baffling but beautiful tradition that we were able to witness firsthand.

We all went to the Easter service at my church. It was great for my Church Family to meet my biological family. My mom was gearing up to meet my church friends by quizzing herself on their names. She used the photo from my birthday party, so it was hard for her to recognize them in real life without their mustaches.
We also had a great time visiting El Picacho park, home of the giant Jesus statue, with some of my church friends.

Oh yeah - we visited a cave too!

After Easter, classes resumed, and my family stayed in Honduras long enough to meet my students. I told them to ask interesting questions, but apparently their idea of "interesting" mostly concerns favorite colors and sports. Although, the students were probably pretty confused; they thought my parents looked really young, considering I told them I was 93 years old...

After hospitals, road trips, waterfalls, coffee farms, and fifth grade, my family had seen it all. I was really glad they got to share my life in Honduras and see what I do here. And we got to experience some new (and epic!) things together, too! And don't worry, we may have done alot, but there's more to do in Honduras, so they'll just have to come back!!

P.S. As always, there are tons more pictures on Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/108864169548752234306