Hola amigos.
Well, the rooster and I are fighting. I predicted this would happen, and I tried to sweet talk him into understanding that 4am cock-a-doodles are not ok. Sang to him through the window, played a little Maná, told him he looked pretty, even fed him once!!!! However, to no avail. About 330am last night my two roommates and I rounded the corner into our backyard after our night out with some locals and he came at me with his spurs and started making scary noises!! The German, though, in his mighty ways, threw out some cuss words that actually sounded quite full of hate when spoken out of the mouth of an actual German, as well as some stiff and uncoordinated hand gestures that seemed appropriately in sync with his demeanor, and el gallo backed down. It was actually pretty hilarious, and as much as we tried to be quiet I´m sure it was quite the scene. When everything settled, I could hear the grandma in the household, mi nueva abuela, giggling outloud probably at the ridiculousness that awoke her... she´s certainly young at heart and I think she likes having us around ((more to come on her later)). However, at this point it´s a lost cause with el gallo, and I´m going to just have to avoid him, plus either somehow start sleeping more heavily or buy earplugs. I think he enjoys the sound of his own gobble more than any of my futile attempts at smooth-talkin spanish, so it´s time to just give in to his kingly ways. But, regardless, it´s made for some ridiculous confrontations and gives everyone in the house something to laugh about.
I also think I totally jinxed myself. My first couple of days here were super super hot... really sunny and humid. But the past 4 days and nights have been raining like crazy. And I mean like crazy. At times I feel like we must be in a hurricane... the rain comes down SO HARD onto the tin roofs here that it makes it nearly impossible to hear someone talking to you 5 feet away... plus it floods the streets and all of the yard. Luckily, though, though we´re not in rainy season and this is a bit bizarre for them to be getting so much rain right now, they do get this kind of rain during rainy season so the city actually has a pretty decent drainage system to prevent extensive flooding. We are on the ocean too, obviously, so the water doesn´t have to travel far after it is drained. The rain and clouds have cooled things off, but they´ve also gotten in the way of my big weekend plans. Desafortunatamente (my recently learned and newest favorite spanish word to say.. ´´unfortunately´´..), the city has tons to do but it´s all outdoor and active activities. Absolutely positively nothing to do if it´s raining, especially with this debilitating rain. Tomorrow is supposed to at least dry up a little bit, though will still be pretty humid and overcast. The girl from Vermont and I have made plans with a local tour agency to head to Pico Bonito National Park, just outside of La Ceiba. There we´re going to go on a nature hike, learn about some of the local birds/monkeys/flowers/other wildlife, and then end up in pools by an apparently beautiful waterfall. With the (cheap) trip we also get free lodging in their beautiful jungle lodge for a night.. so tomorrow should be fun. Even if it rains, we´ll be in a rainforest so I guess that´ll be ok :)
Other things around here that I´ve been thinking about doing include heading to the Bay Islands to learn to scuba dive (though in general the thought of scuba diving is a bit frightening to me, plus the weather is certainly not cooperating for that): going to another national park close to here next to the ocean famous for its mangroves, marine life, and bird watching; and going white water rafting on this river called Río Cangrejal which has all class III-V rapids and is supposed to be some of the best rafting in central america. However, the river comes out of the rainforest (and from the moutaintop of the mountain Pico Bonito where I´m going tomorrow), and given all the rain we´ve gotten in the past 4 days, I´m sure the river is high and dangerous so it´s pretty much out of the question at this point. ((you can breathe a sigh of relief, mom)). Plus, the beach!!!! I didn´t go in my first few days because I figured that there´d be plenty of time for that.. but I haven´t had one good day to go since, so that´s on my to-do list as well.
Spanish lessons are going great... everyday is so intense.. 4 hours of lessons, all in spanish and all with someone who will correct me when I make a mistake. It´s fantastic. My teacher is great. He´s young and hip, and he´s very much up to date with local culture/politics/health care, so it´s made for some very interesting discussions and I´m learning a lot. I think that we get a new teacher each week, though, in order to provide variety of teaching styles and vocabulary and listening.. so I´m looking forward to seeing who Monday brings. More students will probably be coming too. The volunteer option has progressed a little bit, but has been set back by the weather. We contacted a local clinic and I spoke with them about my interests in medicine and public health and we decided on a really sweet project for me to help them with. The clinic actually is going around house by house within their service area and are interviewing all the people about their health status and making referrals etc as appropriate, plus are giving needed vaccines. They want me to help with the interviewing of people and giving some medical advice as much as I can. Sounds perfect to me!!! I was supposed to work there in the afternoons the past Thursday and Friday and went both days after my spanish lessons, but the clinic was CLOSED. The local people there told me that they closed because of the rain. (???? -- a latinamerican thing I guess.. clinics can´t be open when it´s raining??) So it´s a bit disappointing for me, but I´m hoping that this coming week the weather will shape up more and we´ll get things rolling. Plenty to learn here from a public health perspective, as well as practice my spanish, so I couldn´t be happier about the project. If.. it.. happens...
¿Que mas? Ah yes, mi abuela. The grandma of the house and I are becoming buddies. She´s great. She is pretty old and her and el abuelo never leave the house, mostly because they have a pretty difficult time getting around. But oh boy does she love her telenovelas.. To be honest, she´s gotten me to like them too! They are these overly dramatic soap operas basically, and she watches them day and night. She knows her time schedule and knows the character and all the stories and every day at lunch she fills me in on what happened during the morning episodes. And she has this giggle that just makes me die. Something will happen on tv and she´ll start laughing and then look at me out of the corner of her eye with a smirk and then I´ll start giggling and pretty soon both of us can´t stop. It´s so cute and it happens at least every day. I´m going to try to get it on video so I´ll remember it forever. Ah yes, she´s the best. She´s also a fantastic cook.
Life in the house is hectic, though, and at times I feel a bit overstimulated. The TV is ALWAYS on.. usually game shows or the telenovelas, plus music sometimes, plus lots of loud talking above the tv and music. It´s also a small space with a lot of people living there. Plus, latinamericans are notoriously close-talkers and touchy feely (which I think in general is welcoming and comforting), but sometimes it´s too much. I do feel blessed that I have been so warmly welcomed into their home, and I know that they give up all of their privacy to have foreigners in all of the time, but at times it´s been overwhelming because I basically never have any time to myself as sound travels from the house into my bedroom through the walls, and the city is a bustling place with little quiet refuge. But here at the internet cafe life has slowed a bit and I´m feeling pretty relaxed.
Life is good. I´m learning a ton. The German and the girl from Vermont have also taught me quite a bit about life, and we´ve had some really really interesting discussions about the world as we know it. We talk, war, politics, religion, gun control, education, environment, energy... and both of them are quite smart so it´s been awesome to hash out our different opinions. He´s an engineer for Audi and she´s a very liberal chica with interests in art and literature but wants to go to medschool. Bernie the German left today (on to Nicargua to complete his 7 month tour...), and Hadley from Vermont is heading to the Bay Islands Monday through Wednesday, so life may slow down a bit with them gone as well. We will see.
Heading to Church tonight with Pamela, my 9-year old house sister, and then off to find trouble with some students and new local friends at una discoteca. Should be fun. I´ve made them promise to teach me La Punta -- a type of dance here done by the Garífuna (African-American) community -- so we´ll see how sore I am in the morning.
Hope all is well at home!!!!!!!!!
Talk soon and updates always welcome!!!!!!
Tarita
make that rooster lunch...
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